It's in the Waihou Spring Forest Reserve
We, I got chewed out this past Spring by some trail passer-by when, beside my tripod, I pointed out how happy I was to see such a variety of hawks that day. He was interested in how I knew so much about them, and in the ensuing conversation I told him I had raised certain kinds as pets when I was young. That triggered a really nasty retort that I had broken the law (one not written yet!). Heck, every kid in the country raised local critters as pets, and even brought them to school on Show n Tell days. Our neighbor Sheriff kept a pet red tailed hawk named Henry. You needed a really thick jacket on when you called him down from the air to your arm with a whistle.
It amazes me how "correct" people can be who don't know enough to understand what they are discussing. Looks like any moment now the lost feather police will come with a battering ram and knock my door down, and drag me off to a concentration camp. I Can't imagine the condemnation my potential serial killer kittens will face. A crow recently lost a feather next to my backyard reading chair; should I call the Avian Lost and Found Hotline and have somebody in a nitrile-gloved wing come and legally pick it up? I even printed a dead tern print last week. Is is sellable without an attached formal release stating that all the bird's respective religious rites were first performed? Sacrilege?
Windows, Tin Can? Yep. We had to double glaze them - two sheets. Song birds would fly into them and fall back to the ground unconscious. If any of us saw that, we'd rush out there and try to revive it before the cats spotted it. That generally worked, and then they'd fly off again out of your hand. But woodpeckers were something else entirely. Their heads are amazing shock absorbers; and their bills are like jackhammer points. They fly into a window pane and it breaks, and they just sit there asking, What the heck was that?, and instantly fly off on their own.
Not exactly a hike when it is done on the water with one's arms (kayak), but here is an image from the water on Stone Lagoon, northern California. A little warmth added to the image by the local fires to the east.
Sitka Spruce, September 2021
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
Nice shot from your kayak. That's a favorite tree of mine. No tree loves the damp, mild climate of the Pacific Northwest more than the Sitka Spruce.
Some famous one in Olympic NP – Gigantic!
Now for a smaller scale:
I passed a healthy tree with a bit of missing bark, walked up, looked close, really close, and the glints and colors of the cambium layer bewitched me.
A treasure chest of jewels had been opened.
Went solo backpacking for a couple nights up Redwood Creek. I saw that we were going to have some rain and wanted to be out there for the first rain of the season (about an inch -- warm weather returning).
Took the 5x7. Re-weighed all the camera gear I was taking...a mistake. About 28 pounds. We'll see if I have the energy tonight to develop the film. I took 9 loaded holders, but brought back 4 not exposed. I had all day Friday to photograph -- but it was clear and it was breezy at times. I knew photographing might be iffy on Saturday with the rain...and it kept up until noon. In the afternoon, photographing under the redwoods was out -- it was still raining in there. One hikes along and/or in the creek.
The drought and the extra weight of the water in the trees brought down limbs and some dead trees. Listening to branches dropping a hundred feet or two is interesting. I had a 2 foot diameter dead tanoak fall into the creek about 30 yards in front of me -- I was warned by an earlier 'crack!' and seeing tree tops swaying in front of me, so I approached carefully.
An image looking up Redwood Creek towards the Confluence with Emerald Creek.
And, looking down Redwood Creek from Bridge Creek.
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
Taken while hiking through Lost Maples State Natural Area in Texas a few years back...getting ready to head back out in a few weeks in attempt to catch peak color.
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