Out for a walk today (way too pretty to stay inside!) and spotted this young bald eagle defending his rodent prey from a marauding crow. The mouse ended up at the bottom of the cliff, the crow took off, and the hungry juvenile swooped down to the water but came back empty-taloned. He perched on this fallen log that hangs over the cliff, eyeballing the shoreline and water 130 feet below for his next meal. This young 'un has mottled brown coloring, and he won't get his white head until he's around four years old. But he already has a near-six-foot wing span.
Just two hours west of Seattle and two hours east of the Hoh Rainforest, which gets 12 feet of rain a year, my town of Sequim gets only 16 inches of precipitation. In fact, we see the sun about 300 days a year. That doesn't mean 300 full days of sun; it can mean just an hour or two, but plenty to take the dog for a long walk, ride my bike, or work in the garden. Irrigation was introduced to Sequim 120 years ago. Before that it was pretty desert-like. No one could grow crops, so why would anyone want to live here? All that changed with irrigation. This week Sequim celebrates its 120th annual Irrigation Festival--the longest consecutively running festival in the state of Washington. And yes, they have a royal court who ride in the parade. I always dreamed of living in a place like Sequim, but I have to admit I never once aspired to become "Irrigation Queen." Drone-shot photo by John Gussman, www.dcproductions.com
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AuthorBonnie, a nature lover, is the author of twenty-eight heart-to-heart gift books full of animal and nature images, plus one inspiring book on interfaith understanding. Archives
June 2021
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