This weekend (June 9-10) was free fishing weekend in Oregon. It happens so far as I know, one weekend a year. It is where folks of all ages can fish for fish, and shellfish (clams, crabs) without a license. http://www.dfw.state.or.us
On Saturday I took the kids about a mile from our house to a place on Cow Creek known by gold prospectors as Lawson’s Bar. I took them there, because in a certain area where we had swam last year, I saw fish. lol, good reason! I figured if nothing else, they’d get some practice. The next day we took them to Hemlock Lake where people were reeling in tons and tons of trout. How we ended with only two, when other folks were taking home stringers of 10 fish or more, I’ll never know.
Anyways, while the kids fished on Lawson’s Bar, I crocheted, and was just casually watching this little bird flit around on the rocks on the bar itself. She kind of had a high pitched peep… she sang the same note pretty much over and over again. I pointed her out to Diane and told her that the bird must be hunting for bugs on the rocks…
Diane ran out of patience for fishing and she played, and Wes continued to fish.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/lawsons%20bar%20bird/diane0… (Diane playing)
Wesley LOVES to fish! I think he inherited more than my father’s good looks, he also inherited from his grandpa the love of fishing! lol, he finds that fishing is relaxing and that all his cares kind of go away. He was fun to watch this weekend… he put on his oldest, most beat up ball cap, pinned on his little jig holder to his hat and adorned it with his special jig that Pastor Hilary gave him years ago. I was very surprised when I looked at his tackle box and found it very well taken care of… I knew he always loved fishing, I had not realized he was still taking care of his fishing tackle so well. On Saturday, the only useable rod he had was the one the same pastor had given him, so that is what he used.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/lawsons%20bar%20bird/wes.jpg (Wes Fishing-distance,blurry photo)
My attention’s were basically on this bird… I wanted to know what kind she was, and what kind of bugs she was hunting,etc., etc. Finally I saw her go under a bushy plant and sit down.. and that is when I wondered if perhaps she had a nest. She got scared and ran away a few more times, and each time I watched her as she ran around, and now, I was realizing she was trying to lead us away from her nest, and then she’d eventually when things felt safe for her, she’d go back and try to sit again.
(I took a picture of her sitting on a rock watching me…. it’s bit blurry.http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/lawsons%20bar%20bird/birdon… )
Now, I knew she had a nest. So, I grabbed camera and walked over and found four beautiful speckled eggs lieing in a nest of twigs. The eggs were big in porportion of the bird’s size… I felt the sympathy pains for this poor little bird trying to lay these eggs…lol, and needless to say, I took photos.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/lawsons%20bar%20bird/eggs01…
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/lawsons%20bar%20bird/nest01… (not as close up of the nest)
Eventually, Clyde joined us after he was done with this jaunt into the wilds looking for gold…
By the time he got to us, I had switched over to the telephoto lense and was in active pursuit of this poor little bird. I was trying very hard to get as close as I could to her while she was on her nest. This lense requires that we be as still as we can be, and I’m fairly shaky, so eventually, Clyde took the camera and rested in my car window and got an ok picture of the bird on her nest. Maybe you can find her, I was amazed at how well camoflaughed she really was….
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/lawsons%20bar%20bird/onthen…
Have a really wonderful day!!! peg
