May 17, 2011 – Tue. – Ridgefield NWR – Part One

I arrived at the refuge at about 5:45 a.m. but the automatic gate was closed.  I had to wait 20 minutes for it to open.  I decided to use the time getting my gear set up and into position.  Hopefully, they’ll move the gate opening time to 5:30 a.m. sometime soon.

It’s May 17 — a special day–my fantastic wife’s birthday!  I want to dedicate this day’s photo shoot to Kathy, the woman I love and have been married to for almost 40 years.  Happy Birthday Kath! (even though I’m posting this a week afterwards!).

I also want to say that I have decided to try breaking up my day’s photos into parts so that hopefully, I can post more often but with shorter posts.  It’s a huge impact to try to process 30 – 60 photos and get them uploaded and inserted into the blog.  Today’s Part One has eight photos and the rest of the shots for the day will follow in whatever parts are necessary to get them all in.

Let’s get going with the shots!  I believe I took these Ring-necked Duck shots between posts 9&10.  He was very cooperative!

And here he gives a little head spin.

Back at the parking lot I see this Barn Swallow on a teasel to my right.

Here’s a female Yellowthroat peeking out between the branches of a tree.

As I approached post #5, I spotted this Mourning Dove on the road but he quickly flew up to a branch on the left side of the road.  He kept a close eye on me all the while!

And, to bring Part One to a close, here is a plump little Song Sparrow giving me the eye.

Stay tuned for the next parts of this day’s shoot.  I have some shots of Great Horned Owls, Killdeer, Western Tanagers, and Black-headed Grosbeaks, to name a few that I will be posting.

What a super day at the refuge!