Wildlife Refuge & Ocean Shores

It was a beautiful day so we decided to go to the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is a maintained boardwalk that allows for good shore bird viewing preferably at high tide. You have to walk past a small plane airport which was rather interesting. We got to see a couple of take-offs and landings.

When we got to the boardwalk, it was low tide. Still, we were able to see some shorebirds. Apparently, the best viewing time is April/May when birds are migrating.

We got to see various species of swallows, terns, sea gulls, and waterfowl including Canadian Geese.

One of our best viewings was of the bird below. John and I enlarged the photo and compared the bird to different birds in our bird books and we feel confident that our bird is a Northern Harrier. It was spectacular as I was viewing it through binoculars and John was able to get this shot. Remember, you can click on the picture to enlarge it.

We were walking out of the refuge, when a bald eagle flew over. Of course, we weren't able to get a picture. If it had flown over 10 minutes earlier, we would have been sitting at one of the viewing stations and could have had a great picture. Darn.

We had packed a lunch so since there wasn't a good place to stop and enjoy the scenery, we decided to head toward Ocean Shores. We actually went further than that and ended up on a wide expanse of beach that was hard packed. We were actually able to drive out on the sand and enjoy the beach and have lunch. The beach wasn't particularly pretty so we didn't take any pictures. While there, John checked his cell phone reception and he had full bars so John placed a call to Bonnie and we had the opportunity to get caught up.

We then drove to Ocean Shores which is a sort of resort community. We almost got ourselves caught in some loose sand on one of the beaches. John said he was a bit concerned we were going to get stuff but kept applying the fuel pedal and got us out. Dodged that bullet.

While in Ocean Shores we found an ice cream shop that made their own ice cream. John got a large, of course, and I got a small. It was a rather nice treat.

Got home and settled in for the evening.