Mushrooms Galore

Over four-day fall break, my mom and I delved deep into the woods of the Blue Mountains. Armed only with a photocopied map from my environmental studies professor -- the trail roughly delineated by a yellow highlighter -- and the Google Maps app, we were in a little over our heads.

We finally knew our location when we crossed the North Fork Walla Walla River.

Though the hike was rather nerve-wracking, and we lost my notebook and ourselves more than once, we found time to admire the plethora of mushrooms all around!

  

And just so you don't get fungal overload... here are some photosynthesizing plants! The three species of conifer were identified by everyone's favorite underqualified dendroligst, yours truly, so take the captions as guesses more than facts.

Grand fir. (Coulda sworn it was a hemlock...)

Douglas fir.

Engelmann spruce.

Those poisonous snowberries, straight from a Disney movie.

Abstract insect artwork.

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Tri-State Birding in Washington, Oregon and Idaho

I got to bird-watch all autumn long with my mom, my old friend Amanda, and my new friends at the Whitman Outdoor Program. I've whittled down my photos so you can enjoy the BEST of our tri-state birding adventures.

(And remember, you can watch a high-resolution slideshow by clicking on any photo.)

Washington

A great horned owl watches us at Bennington Lake.

Two frogs were left high-and-dry at the edge of the low lake.

This noisy northern flicker lives in the tree outside my bedroom window!

A northern flicker was also our Outdoor Program trip's first sighting at McNary National Wildlife Refuge.

A white-crowned and a golden-crowned sparrow show off their different head wear.

A western grebe repels water like Gortex.

She caught a fish!

A murder of crows heads... somewhere.

Amanda and Mom look out over the Snake River from Chief Timothy State Park. Could the lighting be any more perfect?

Every clump of brown grass was crowned with a voluptuous black lady in her web.

This spider had a minuscule suitor on her blade of grass!

Take a moment to admire those pin-striped eyeballs...

Wait a minute... these aren't birds anymore! I digress.

A yellow-rumped warbler shows off what its mama gave it.

A prairie falcon or a male merlin?! The topic of hot debate!
Update: thanks to iNaturalist we have confirmation that this is a merlin!

Can you pick out one of these things that doesn't belong?

A snow goose among the Canada geese!

An old steamboat passes by a grain elevator.

Amanda and I overlook the Snake River.

Oregon

A red-breasted nuthatch picks at bark in the Blue Mountains.

A mystery bird! A off-color American robin? A Townsend's solitaire?
Update: this has been identified as a female western bluebird!

A varied thrush peeks out from the boughs of a Douglas fir.

Mother and fawn white-tailed deer.

I had to balance my camera on a signpost and set a timer... I was terrified the wind would knock it off!

Idaho

A red-tailed hawk displays that red tail as it soars over Mann Lake.

They have beautiful wings, too! 

One killdeer and two pectoral sandpipers.

Canada geese take flight.

A woolly bear on the muddy bank of Mann Lake.

A Bonaparte's gull herds his sheep... I mean his long-billed dowitchers.

A flock of female common mergansers.

We took a tumble in the mud! Like mother like daughter.

Amanda to the rescue! Just like that time she pulled me out of the salt-lick mud in the Amazon. <3

Dozens of large freshwater snails were burrowed in the exposed mud banks.

A small flock of American pipits flitted along the railroad berm.

Tri-State Birders conquer Mann Lake!

Thanks to all the birds and birders, and the occasional bug, too. It wouldn't have been any fun at all without you!

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