Great blue heron

An absolutely amazing morning at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. Just before I got there I saw two eagles in a territorial fight over the freeway. Going in, the eagle chatter was everywhere. Coming out to the northernmost dyke lookout, I could see the trees lining the river filled with eagles. I scanned with my binoculars and counted 37 just in those trees. I overheard someone else's eagle count at 51. Many were hunting. It was a sight to behold.

I moved over to the overlook of the river, and almost immediately a great blue heron flew within 20 feet of me and started hunting along a creek feeding into the river. I followed him as he walked down, finally catching and eating a frog. I have a couple closeups where he looks kind of ostrich like. He was so beautiful. Then someone told me there were some seals in the river, so I watched them for awhile.

On my way out I found the American bittern again, and got some decent shots of him this time, even though he was underneath some blackberry brambles. I can see how much better my current camera is comparing them to the previously posted bittern shot.

Checked the logbook at the store on the way out, someone saw the Snowy owl yesterday, but not to be found today. At least not by me.

Today's interesting checkoff list: Northern pintail, green-winged teal, Northern shovelers, gadwalls, Northern harrier, ruby crowned kinglet, spotted towhee, belted kingfisher, American and Eurasian wigeons, and snow geese.