I was awake at 3 a.m. with a sore shoulder and
running a bit of a fever; presumably this is a result of the Shingles vaccine
that I received yesterday. A bit of a
reaction to the vaccine is a bit of a hassle, but not nearly the agony of
contracting shingles. When I was a
child, there was no vaccine for Chicken Pox, and parents used to get their kids
over to visit other kids that had the pox, to get the disease out of the
way. I don’t know that the thought of
people getting shingles later in life ever entered their minds. In any event, I recommend getting your shots.
At
8:30, I drove over to Tumwater Automotive to have the oil changed on the
CrossTrek, and have them do a safety check for my upcoming journey to Ohio and
beyond. While I was waiting for the job
to finish, I walked down Capitol Way to do a bit of birding at Tumwater Falls Park.
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| Landscape-level development change along Old Highway 99 |
The
Park is owned and maintained by the Olympia Tumwater Foundation, and reflects
the history and legacy of the Schmidt family, who used to own Olympia
Brewing. There are 15 acres of park land,
with a loop trail along the river that overlooks all three waterfalls.
The crews are still working on the cleanup of the February transformer spill from the old brewery property. PCBs are bad, I know. But removing all of the streamside vegetation and scrubbing the rocks?
In spite of the disruption from the Dept of Ecology, this park is the best and easiest place in town to take visitors to see an American Dipper. These wonderful sprites are passerines, which technically are birds that have feet adapted for perching. Think Song Sparrows, wrens, swallows, warblers and the other birds that you see teed-up on a telephone wire, fence post or your garden rose.
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| Upper Falls |
The crews are still working on the cleanup of the February transformer spill from the old brewery property. PCBs are bad, I know. But removing all of the streamside vegetation and scrubbing the rocks?
In spite of the disruption from the Dept of Ecology, this park is the best and easiest place in town to take visitors to see an American Dipper. These wonderful sprites are passerines, which technically are birds that have feet adapted for perching. Think Song Sparrows, wrens, swallows, warblers and the other birds that you see teed-up on a telephone wire, fence post or your garden rose.
The
Dipper, though, is usually seen perched on a rock at the edge of flowing
water. Then, amazingly, it will just hop
in and ‘fly’ underwater, popping up to the surface to eat the morsel that it
pulled off the bottom of the stream, or swimming with its face in the water,
searching for the next caddis fly larva.
Since I’m leaving early next week, I walked back to pick up my car and headed home to begin packing.
Tumwater Falls eBird Checklist is Here
Since I’m leaving early next week, I walked back to pick up my car and headed home to begin packing.
Tumwater Falls eBird Checklist is Here
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