La Grande (Continued)

You can double click on the pictures to make them larger.

We have had a packed week. Glen has attended some seminars in connection with Arctic Fox trailers that have been helpful and I spent the day Wednesday quilting with new friends. I will quilt again tomorrow and take some pictures for the next posting. We both took the Northwood Manufacturing factory tour and if we weren’t convinced before, we are now that our purchase of an Arctic Fox was a good one. We were impressed with what we learned and saw there. We attended an ice cream social on Wednesday mid-afternoon that pretty much killed any appetite for dinner. But YUM!!!!!! Glen played 18 holes of golf Thursday at Buffalo Peak in Union,OR and had a wonderful time. He said he finally had a decent drive on the 18th hole! For us, golf is for the fun of being outdoors and being with friends, not for competition. The highlight for me this week was the walking tour of the Ladd Marsh Wildlife Preserve. The pictures below are all from that walk. Maybe next time we’ll include some people pictures???

Tree Swallow nesting at the entrance to the marsh.



She had a nest full of young ones. She let me get about 8 feet from her to take this picture. As soon as she flew off Papa arrived to feed the babies.





Looking from the marsh area back to our RV Park.















Yellow-headed blackbird at the marsh



This area is a birder’s paradise. We saw so many but most were too distant for my little Nikon. I did the best I could. Other than the Yellow-headed Blackbird we saw some common and uncommon birds. They included Mergansers, Ruddy Ducks, a Double Crested Cormorant and a flock of American White Pelicans. We scared up several American Bitterns….some, our guide said were just fledglings. She could identify them by the way they flew. They are an uncommon sighting. We saw Great Blue Herons and Snowy Egrets. Most exciting was a male Swainson’s Hawk in flight being pestered by blackbirds. Finally there were Sandhill Cranes, recognizable by their call. The Yellow-headed Blackbird was the only one in the marsh itself I got a picture of.

A view of the marsh.



We were walking along the dike that surrounds the marsh. The walk was about 2 miles total. Weather was warm, about 88 degrees but there was a nice breeze. What a great day and good exercise!
We hope you are enjoying your summer activities as much as we are ours.



………until next time.