Held Rapt

It may have come to your attention that I find the minutiae of detail and complexity in the natural world utterly fascinating. It also happens that the place I currently reside is a convergence of many interwoven ecosystems.

Sea

A few minutes inland all was sunny, brilliant and clear.

Every seen sandstone with ripples in it? Here's the process in motion....

Unfortunately....

....the snail shell I wanted to take home was occupied.

The very next morning and viola, you can see the Canadian Cascades...

Crabs are molting (undergoing ecdysis) and leaving behind carapaces with eye casings intact

Flats, sloughs, estuaries....

Thrilled as I was to see the first two, imagine my glee at seeing trees full of Bald Eagles (mostly juvenile)

 There was a lady out with her dog. Here she is preparing to scare away a bald eagle.

 And here it is making its escape...

Northern Pygmy Owls (small and diurnal hunters but still a ?)

Martha asks "how do you know they were owls?" Well apparently other raptors can digest bone so when you find one of these beauties and see a vole's pelvic bone in it, its probably from an owl.
Also...

Northern Harrier who repeatedly got harried by that stationary owl.

Never an end to red winged blackbirds

Someday I'll have a fancy telephoto lens; this will have to so for now.

Juvenile bald, surveying his vast and magnificent world

Blue herons make a terrible squawking ruckus, in case you were wondering...

Forest

This is my favorite kind of moss, it looks almost fernlike

Skeletal remains of a maple  leaf

Some delightful fungus

Plenty of beaver action

We saw a belted kingfisher in the little lakes, this isn't the same one, but you get the idea

Bits and Bobs

It hit home recently (when I was requested to update my drivers license which you can do online if between the ages of 24 & 70, which category I then did not fit) that I have been in Washington rather a long time. This is year six!

Tulips are one of my favorites; early, without strong scent, and long lived, and best of all, phototropic (growing about an inch a day in the direction of the best light source).

Baking is still a thing I like to do. Unfortunately finding the energy or motivation to do so has been lackluster of late. 

Have an aggregating anemone, and a lovely day!