Marion County Barn Drive

Earlier, I went out in search of a barn I saw about a year ago, only to settle on taking a picture of another barn I could not locate the one I was searching for. The only thing I don't like about the image is the road in the bottom left corner...

Photowalk at Minto Brown Island Park with the Salem Audubon Society

As a way to learn more about the birds that I take pictures of, I decided to meet up with members of the Salem Audubon Society at Minto Brown Island Park in Salem. The upside, I got to see some birds I may have not noticed--the downside, the other people (all retired) walked a little too slow when they wanted to count birds and then walked a little too fast when I wanted to get pictures. Basically it means the photographers and Audubon Society members don't mix well on outings. At any rate, here is the only good picture I took while hiking...

Canadian Geese at the local wildlife refuge.

This morning, I decided to go out to Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge to get some pictures of the waterfowl there. Aside from raptors like the Bald Eagle and shorebirds like the various seagulls that call the Oregon Coast their home, I love to photograph waterfowl for two reasons. First, they are easy to locate due to their large size in relation to songbirds; and secondly, they tend to move slow and don't scare as easily. I was in luck as two of my pictures of the Canadian Geese came out pretty good. Another picture, this one of a blue-winged teal, also came out good, though I wish it had sharper focus--oh well...

This morning's sunrise and a trip to Aumsville Ponds County Park

I have been wanting to get a good sunrise picture for a while now, so early this morning, I headed out to a nearby county park known as Aumsville Ponds to get a shot with the sun rising through the trees and reflecting off Young Lake. Unfortunately, the park was not yet opened and the sunrise was not a spectacular one, so I drove a little further south and got a picture of the Cascade Mountains silhouetted against the sunrise...

Once at Aumsville Ponds, I took some pictures of the Pied-billed Grebes (birds that look like ugly duckings) and some pictures of the tree colors reflecting off the small lake...