September, 2024
Oh those elk, just when you think you know where they are, how they act, what their plans are, they change! Rather like humans, eh? 🙂
After the elk left the campground the other day, and I didn’t see them the next day, I figured they had left and headed back up into the hills. So this morning I didn’t wait for them to show up, instead I walked through the Dosewallips State Park, exploring various areas (A, B, C on that other map in that other blog post). Then this afternoon I visited the Quilcene Fish Hatchery. When I got back to my campsite in the Dosewallips campground, it was such a lovely late afternoon that I decided to simply take a walk from my campsite, walk across highway 101, and over to the campgrounds and picnic areas still inside this state park but on the Hood Canal side of highway 101. Here’s a map.
The RED dot is my campsite. The GREEN line is the route I walked from my campsite, across highway 101, and then down into the state park area east of 101 and next to Hood Canal. That walk took me all of about five minutes. 🙂
Walking across highway 101 was easy. This late in the day there’s almost no traffic.
I thought it might be lovely and peaceful to watch the sky and the water of Hood Canal on this early evening here, maybe chat with anyone else who was over there (there was only one other person and we didn’t chat). Oh, but it was beautiful there.
The sky was stunning … with both fluffy white clouds and dark grey clouds. There was a very slight breeze, just enough, with the temperature in the mid 70’s. There was no noise except for bird calls and such. It was so pretty and so relaxing.
I walked towards the water of Hood Canal, but saw a woman already standing out there so I stopped and waited, respectful of her space and her thoughts.
But at one point she leaned WAY forward and a little to the side, like she was seeing something but couldn’t quite make it out. Do you see it? Right in the middle of the grasses out there … the top of a head and two large ears. Guess who!
I was still waiting, back in the parking lot, and soon enough that woman did walk on following another path. So I then headed over to where she had been standing, just past the picnic table in the photo below.
Just past that picnic table is a stream of water that is one of the arms of the Dosey that flows into Hood Canal. There’s no way for humans to cross it and stay dry. 🙂
But the elk cross it! They don’t mind getting their legs wet. If you click on the photos above, and even enlarge them a tiny bit, you will see the elk lying in the grass.
I got as close to that stream as I dared and zoomed in with my camera. In the photo above, there’s Henry, on the right side of the herd, with his rack of antlers and I bet Clarice is right there too. I counted 24 elk, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were asleep so their heads didn’t show so I didn’t get an accurate count. (Always “left click” on a photo to enlarge the photo if you’d like.)
Here’s a better close-up below.
So the elk had NOT left … they had simply moved five minutes away over to that large, private (no humans allowed) grassy area right next to Hood Canal for a day. I can appreciate that. Humans can be noisy and stinky with their motors and vehicles that move all about the place, and with their dogs, and the humans always seem to stand around and take photos! sheesh.
I stood there quite awhile, enjoying the bird calls, the sky, the water, the elk. And finally I noticed something else … it’s in image #8 above (the map is image #1). In image #8, the thing that I noticed is over to the left, way out there, next to the water, near that tall bush.
I zoomed in a bit for the photo below. It’s a large bird!
More zooming. It’s an osprey! How spectacular. 🙂
If anyone wonders whether it is an osprey or not, here’s a photo (to the right) that I borrowed off the internet of another osprey that had a slight breeze behind it that was blowing the feathers on its head just like the breeze was doing to the osprey here on the edge of Hood Canal. There are lots of osprey here in the Pacific NW, but I don’t often see them. This was a thrill.
Gosh it sure pays to stop and look and listen, doesn’t it?
I’m so glad I went for that walk, it would have been so easy to just call it a day and sit around the campsite for the rest of the afternoon rather than take that walk over to Hood Canal and discover the elk, and the osprey.
But then I did head back to my campsite to fix my supper.
As soon as I opened the door to the trailer, Little Towhee (that bird) jumped down out of the trailer and started hopping around. I hadn’t dared take her to the fish hatchery. She would have flown right into those pens and tried to eat those little fish! But when I finally got home to the trailer, I knew she had been cooped up all afternoon and she deserved some free time outside.
I put all my things away inside the trailer, started to fix my supper, set up my laptop so I could upload the day’s photos after supper. And then I went outside again to see what Little Towhee was up to. Gosh, at first I couldn’t find her! I walked around and around the trailer calling to her, no answer. Ah, but eventually I spotted her. Do you see her in the photo below? She’s hard to spot.
She had gotten herself up into that mass of blackberry bushes right behind the trailer. She was just sitting there bobbing up and down. What in the heck is she doing?
Well, turns out this little stuffed towhee bird, Little Towhee, had discovered juicy ripe blackberries … and she liked them!
She had already eaten three or four of them by this time, and was figuring out how to pluck another off the vine without getting pricked by the blackberry thorns. What could I do? I went back into the trailer and brought out a small bucket and then I picked a whole mess of juicy ripe blackberries. She and I enjoyed as many as we wanted for our dessert that evening. Mmm, mmm, mmm, they were good! 🙂
Thanks Little Towhee, I’m not sure I would have noticed those luscious berries. You are one smart bird. 🙂
More cool stuff! That osprey is wonderful, the elk too. You’ve said before “stop, look, and listen” … I need to heed that!! 🙂
The need to heed! 🙂 Clever saying. Thanks Emily.
Little Towhee is so clever! And she is sure a good friend.
She sure is! 🙂
I like lots about this blog post, but mostly I like how you (ok, maybe in just your own mind since that stuffed bird Towhee doesn’t REALLY have a voice) … but how you respect another person’s (or bird’s) voice. You don’t criticize Little Towhee for not answering you, or for getting into a pickle in that blackberry patch … you just go get a bucket and HELP her. Same with the woman out on the edge of Hood Canal. You stand back and wait your turn. You have such a wonderful spirit and soul. Thank you for sharing your view of the world. It helps me.
Oh, I’m stunned, Little Towhee does not have a voice? You should hear her! Ok, maybe you’re right, Steve. 🙂
Thanks for the very kind words. I hope kindness can prevail in these times.
Brilliant! Indeed you are so kind, and so adventurous.
Thank you Henry. Your comments are always so very welcome.
Just a really cool campground. I think the guy elk has quite a harem surrounding him. And originally when I read your title I wondered exactly how something as big as an elk hides, but I see how now!
Oh yes, the elk guys have lots of females around them. I’ve read that, before European immigrants arrived here, there were more males (so fewer females per male), but the European immigrants killed the males to get their antlers, to hang them on the wall and so have pride in their ability to kill, so the culture of the elk changed, and is still so today. Still today, mostly the males are killed, and somewhere I think maybe there are even laws or restrictions on killing female elk. You’ll notice that male elk never have collars on them, because they get killed too frequently to use as animals to track … only female elk have collars on them. Sigh. What a world eh? And yes, it was so cool to find them hiding. 🙂 Or at least they found a large place where they knew humans almost never went. I liked that.
That picture of the elk lying in the grass with just their heads showing up is great! After all your posts on it, I have the impression that is a great little park to visit.
Oh, I love this state park, FG. This was my second trip here and I’ll be back for sure! So more elk photos coming in the next year or two.
The clouds and the sky are beautiful. The osprey, the elk, a little towhee bird eating blackberries, so much to see and do here.
Indeed. 🙂 Thanks June.
I love your maps. I used to live in Ellensburg, WA, eastern WA, but don’t know much about western WA. I still have friends thereabouts and have now started trying to get them to go see stuff, and take me along! 🙂
Nevada, if you ever want more info about the places I’ve been or things I’ve seen, just post a comment here about that and I’ll share more info. There is so much to see and do here in western Washington. And yet, I’ve just begun to explore eastern Washington and find it’s packed full of fascinating things too. More adventures to come. 🙂
The elk weren’t hiding, they were just napping! 🙂 Like I do sometimes, especially when I just don’t want to answer the doorbell. Smart elk. Ok maybe they were hiding, like I do sometimes. 🙂
Yes, exactly Fran, they were just napping! Ha, I like that. And yes, sometimes I’m just “not home” too. 🙂 Clever folks we are, just like the elk.
Sweetness. The woman at Hood Canal, the elk, the osprey, little Towhee. Awareness and sweetness. And a really cool photo of the elk in the grass with just those ears showing, that was fun.
Thank you Olivia, what a sweet comment. 🙂
What fun. Little Towhee is the best. Well, after you of course. 🙂 Thank you.
Thank you Ruby. I read your comment to Little Towhee … well, I read just the first part of your comment to Little Towhee, and she fluttered and strutted and peeped and cheeped. That made her day. 🙂