Still More From Sweetwater Wetlands

In addition to the Bobcats, Green Herons, and Warblers there were many other nice photo opportunities at Sweetwater two weeks ago:

Black Phoebe

Brown Crested Flycatcher with Dragonfly in Bill

Cooper's Hawk Eyeing Lunch

Great Egret

Ladder backed Woodpecker

Red Skimmer

Snowy Egret

Song Sparrow

Verdin Gathering Material for his Nest

Vermillion Flycatcher

Dry Falls Lake, Washington

Dry Falls is a 3.5 mile long scalloped precipice in central Washington on the opposite side of the Upper Grand Coulee from the Columbia River, and at the head of the Lower Grand Coulee. Ten times the size of Niagara Falls, Dry Falls is thought to be the greatest known waterfall that ever existed. According to the current geological model, catastrophic flooding channeled water at 65 miles per hour through the Upper Grand Coulee and over this 400-foot rock face at the end of the last ice age. At this time, it is estimated that the flow of the falls was ten times the current flow of all the rivers in the world combined. 

Today, this massive cliff can be viewed above from the Dry Falls Interpretive Center, part of Sun Lakes State Park between the towns of Soap Lake and Coulee City. Dry Falls Lake which sits at the base of -- what else -- Dry Falls, is a Fly Fishing only lake. Although there is a "one fish limit" nearly all anglers practice catch and release there. I am embarrassed to admit, that I caught 74 fish there one day, and over 150 for the weekend. Most of the fish caught were between 18 and 20 inches, although there were some around 16. It is an absolutely beautiful setting for fishing. 

I missed many photo ops while my main focus was fishing. But, once I bought a camera I did get a few photos at Dry Falls before turning entirely to Wildlife Photography: 

American Avocet

Black Crowned Night Heron (Juvenile)

Dragonfly

Porcupine

Violet Green Swallow

Butterflies to Dragonflies

Although they don't have the beautiful colorful patterns of the butterflies, dragonflies can also be photographed in "fine art." These next two photos both have soft green backgrounds and one element to offset the dragonfly itself: in one case a broken branch of a tree and in the second a blade of grass. The Red Skimmer in the second photo provides some color, while the unidentified dragonfly in the first photo is almost a silhouette with just enough light green behind it to provide some contrast.

Unidentified Dragonfly

Red Skimmer Dragonfly

Ramsey Canyon, Another Trip with Pierr

The Painted Redstart (first photo) is a regular at Ramsey Canyon. Fairly reliable to find and photograph. I took many photos of him zooming around the tree trunks pecking away looking for bugs. But this photo I chose because it was a "close-up" and you can see just how beautiful they are. The female Blue Throat Hummingbird can only be found in the United States in the lower end of the Huachuca Mountains. It has a very small range into Mexico as well. We were hiking and she zipped right by me and up into this tree where she started cleaning herself. Almost immediately into our hike a sharp shinned hawk few across the trail from one side to the other. On the way back we found its nest. The fourth photo was a red skimmer (dragonfly). There were many in the various pools only the canyon's creek. Then the last photo is a vinca, a wildflower often found in the gardens of Arizona.