Skagit Valley Tulip Festival and Wildlife Area

Wednesday, 30 March 2016

Spring formally arrived in the Seattle area at 9:30 pm on the 19th of March.  The last few days have been glorious and are just fabulous.  The skies are cloudless and  deep blue.  The air is fresh, the trees are in bud or bloom. It's just a wonderful time to feel alive and enjoy all the beauty that nature has to offer.

Last year my son Keith and his family visited from Maryland.  We made the trek to the tulip fields of the Skagit Tulip festival.  Spring arrived much earlier last year and it was hard to find any of the tulips still in bloom.  This year it was different as some of the pictures that follow will show.

I received an email a few weeks ago about the Skagit Wildlife area.  Here's a link with more information:  http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/big-ditch-skagit-wildlife-refuge

It seemed like an ideal time for aroad trip to visit the Tulip Festival and the wildlife area.  They are both less than an hour from home.

Like every morning I was up several hours before daylight.  It seems to be the plight of some of us "old timers", early to bed and earlier and earlier to rise.  I had my constitutional cup of coffee and took care of emails, Facebook postings, book sales, bank account review and other online daily activity.  The sun started showing the first light of day so it was hop in the shower, pack the camera bag, and head out.

I'm just off of the Boeing freeway so a quick turn and I'm headed to I5 to go north to Mount Vernon.  As I head east and approach I5 I am greeted by the most intense sunrise I've seen in some time.  It's a huge light yellow, almost white blinding sphere rising over the Cascade mountains.  Normally you could see the snow capped blue gray mountains.  The sun was so bright you could barely see the mountains much less the snow capped peaks.  From the Boeing freeway I have turned onto I5 north.  The valley to the east at the foot of the Cascades is filled with low hanging fog.  It looks like a blanket of white puffy cotton batting.  The tips of the Douglas firs, the tall cedars, the spruce are all peaking above the fog.  It's so beautiful.

First stop is Mount Vernon for breakfast.

The Calico Cupboard is one of my favorite Cafe's north of Seattle.

 

They have the most amazing selection of pastries.  Fortunately for me, my all time favorite, a cream puff the size of a grape fruit wasn't on display this morning.  They are irresistible.  I passed on all of the wonderful pastries for a more appropriate breakfast, pancake, one egg over easy, and fabulous extra crispy bacon.  That, along with a cup of coffee was enough to fill my energy reserves for the day ahead.

Next stop, the tulip fields of the Skagit Tulip festival, just south and east of Mount Vernon.  To find out more here is a link:  http://www.tulipfestival.org/

My timing was perfect this year.  The fields were full of a rainbow of colors of tulips along with the daffodils.  The daffodils normally proceed the tulips

The daffodils in full bloom as far as the eye could see.

 

The fields were so beautiful.

Next stop the wildlife area and bird just a few miles south of the Tulip Festival just off of Fir Island road.  The area is huge.  I hiked for about three hours and only covered a brief section of the refuge.  The trails are flat and an easy hike.  I was hoping to see a variety of birds and was not disappointed.

Just after starting the hike I saw a number of nesting boxes and was surrounded by the flurry of the beautiful blue-green iridescent Tree Swallow.  They were everywhere singing and flying from tree to tree.

 

Tree Swallows

Water is everywhere throughout the reserve.  Various ducks and waterfowl abound.  I didn't get a picture of the mallards but they were certainly present.  As they heard me approach they would take flight to a location further away.

 

Just a few shots of the plentiful waterfowl

I thought this was a rather cool shot of a bird just landing.

 

On the left the male standing guard.  The nest was several hundred yards away.  The male stayed on post for the three hours that I hiked, never leaving his post.

 

These photos are enlargements of the nesting photo above.  I'm surprised that I was able to get the detail you see here.  I could only see the eagle on the nest through the 300 mm lens on my camera.  I could barely make out the white head above the nest.  I ran into some people that said this is the first time in 8 years that this nest has been in use.

The other great bird in the reserve is one of my favorite, the blue heron.

 

The heron in flight reminds me of what a pterodactyl might have resembled.  They look so awkward in flight.

I wasn't quite close enough to determine the species of this bird.

 

Lots of common birds too and  not easily spooked. I was able to walk quite close to this robin and sparrow.

 

There were so many amazing views of Mt. Baker at every turn.  I loved the reflection in the water of this particular view.

These are our other beautiful mountains to the west, The Olympics, still very snow capped.

I'm not sure of the type of plain I photographed here.  About every five minutes you could hear the training flights from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.  Between the sounds of the planes the air was filled with the songs of the various birds making their mating calls.

I don't know if its old age or I'm just way out of shape but my legs were telling me it was time to head back.  After all, it had been about three hours by this time.  Not bad for a first day out in a number of months.  As I'm heading out I pass fields of Snow Geese.  I see another wildlife area, Talking Field area number three, the Fir Island Farms Snow Goose Reserve, 225 acres of farm land, used as a habitat for the Snow Goose and salmon.  The fields are full of the geese so I decide to stop for a few photos. As I enter the area I'm greeted with the sight of a pair of bald eagles.  The male standing guard not far from the nest and the mother on the nest.

Proud parents doing their duty.

 

Just a bit closer through the lens.

Snow geese, they're everywhere.

 

On the left you can barely see the geese I flight near the top of the blue hillside. On the right I was lucky enough to catch their flight overhead.

Geese at lunch.

Time to head onward.  I decide to stay away from the interstate.  The day is just too beautiful.  I open the sun roof and enjoy the wind blowing through my thinning hair.  What a glorious day.

 

I pass this beautiful old style Lutheran Church that services Fir and Conway.  There was a cross of daffodils at the entrance.

Just east of I5 you enter the town of Conway.  I noticed this shop of art sculptures made from found objects.  I had to stop and look around.

 

The row of yellow objects at the top caught my attention.  They were foot forms that may have been used by a shoe maker.  If you looked long enough you would likely find most anything.

More cool stuff.

 

I loved the bird on the left and the smartly dressed person on the right.

 

Even building fronts.  As I said you probably could find most anything.

From here I headed east through the country side.  When I came upon Washington highway 9 I headed south.  I passed a beautiful 1959 red Ford Fairlane convertible.  I would have swapped cars with the owner in a heartbeat.  It was the ideal car for back country exploring on this beautiful spring  day.  All to soon I approached Everett, grabbed a burger, and headed home.