Mt. Rainier National Park.

I tired out the dogs really well on Friday afternoon so I would feel less guilty about leaving them home on Saturday morning while I visited Mt. Rainier without them.  Jake swam for about an hour and a half straight, while Ralph spent time digging holes.


I had grand visions of my trip up there- foxes frolicking and Pine Grosbeaks dancing... None of that.  I didn't even hear a single grouse.  It was pretty at least...


Oh right, I forgot to mention that upon arriving at the park I realized my camera battery was almost dead.  Don't worry I brought my extra one that I know I fully charged a few days ago.  I popped it into the camera and... nope that one was almost dead too.  The little battery image on the LCD screen was flashing up a storm.  AWESOME.

Despite this I managed to take 200 photos.  It helped that I didn't find a whole lot of birds (or foxes dang it!) but here is what I got...


Lots of Dark-eyed Juncos.   And Pine Siskins...


And this next one I think is a young siskin? 


The Paradise parking area seemed to the birdiest area I could find.  A pair of Clark's Nutcrackers were making a racket at one end...


Along one of the trails I found a Varied Thrush peeking over some dirty snow...


 Its pale supercilium really stood out...  Female?  Juvenile?  Both?



So as I have mentioned I was bummed I didn't see any foxes.  They are quite common here and I have never seen one ever.  My parents even started having one visit them after I left for college.  Ah well, next time.   There were plenty of deer for entertainment...


Knobby knees!!


The road from the Paradise parking area travels down and around a big meadow with trees and streams and such.  Most of it is still covered in snow which made for  cool-looking waterways...


By this stream were a couple of Gray Jays just begging for their photos to be taken.  These are actually the best photos I've ever gotten of Gray Jays, they don't like me usually.




I love a good itch shot.  My last stop in the park was at Reflection Lake...


All of my scenery photos on this trip were taken with my phone to save the camera battery, so of course I had to play around with the photos with different apps.  Here's another reflection shot after I messed with it a bit:


Yeah, I love photo apps.  I had a fun little trip despite all the misses...  Good times!!

Comments

  1. I'm jealous about those nutcrackers! I love the reflection shots too.

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  2. That is my photography nightmare: in a cool place with dead batteries. I guess I thought it was too far to go there for a day trip. Perhaps I will have to try sometime- I want to see a fox too- the one my parent's got was the first they had seen at their place in the 30 years there. Love the last photo too.

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    1. Not too far! It takes about 2 hours and fifteen minutes (and that's with stopping for gas/snacks).

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  3. Jen, what a great day at Mt Rainier Nat'l park. You did see some great birds, at least I think so. The Varied Thrush is one bird I would like to see and I love the Gray Jay shots. The deer are pretty and always neat to see. Your reflection shot of Mr Rainier is gorgeous. Well done. Happy Birding and have a great week ahead.

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  4. Snow???

    Isn't it enough that you can tease and taunt with your Gray Jays and Clark's Nutcrackers, with your Varied Thrushes and rare Woodpeckers? No, you just had to show amazing reflection shots of snowy mountains in glacial lakes, in July.

    grumble grumble thanks for sharing.

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    1. Ha. Come January you will be the one with the upper hand...

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  5. Great views and a super selection of wildlife. I'd hate to be without a working back-up battery as I'm damn sure my ancient phone would produce those sort of images. Well done Jen.

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  6. What a gorgeous place Jen! OH so nice to see Snow..kinda hot here. Lovely deer shots and the gray jay with the flowers is RELLY a good one too.
    Ive had that same problem with my batteries. ITs time to buy some new ones I guess...thats what I had to do when they stopped holding a charge..ONE good thing they will still run some small items around the house!

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  7. A note on the battery issue: I did a google search and figured I'd try the easiest possible fix I found- cleaning the battery compartment. I used a q-tip and just wiped out the area and presto! Camera battery is now showing fully charged.

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  8. Amazing scenery! I love reflection lake~gorgeous! The snow looks so refeshing...

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  9. Im sorry your trip was horrible, it doesnt look like it. That last phone picture is hella good.

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  10. Great pix, and really good birds too (jealous ;o)!

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