Sunday Sketches

One day I was driving to our favorite walking spot and I saw my friends on the bridge at Woodard Bay in Olympia, Washington, watching and taking photos of what?

Stopping I learned that the Mama Mergansers will carry her babies on her back to move them. Later when I got home Barry sent me an e-mail with photos! Barry Troutman is not only a great photographer but also a wildlife specialist who shares his knowledge about what you are looking at when you are with him. Even in his e-mails!

"Here are some of the birds we were watching today down by the bridge. The Mergansers nest upstream, then move downstream with their broods within a day of hatching. Once they head out, they don't return, but spend their early days growing up out in Chapman Bay or outer Woodard Bay beyond the trestle."

The photo is dated July 1st, but it has taken me this long to capture Mama and her ducklings in my sketchbook.

Mergansers at Woodard Bay

As we (Ebony, Ginger, and I) were coming back from our morning time on the Chehalis Western Trail, I saw my friends on the Woodard Bay Bridge. You cannot miss Barry because he always has a camera with a huge lens protruding from his head.......at least that is what it looks like from a distance.

Today his wife, Linda, was with him and I was very curious what they were viewing. I stopped (in the middle of the road which sometimes you can do if no one is around) and asked. Linda described how the Mama Mergansers would carry her babies on her back to move them. I thought about stopping to watch, but having skated 10 miles with the doggies my hunger won over watching ducks.

What a treat when Barry sent me an e-mail with photos! Now I wished I had stayed to watch. Barry is not only a great photographer but also a wildlife specialist who shares his knowledge about what you are looking at when you are with him. Even in his e-mails!

"Here are some of the birds we were watching today down by the bridge. The Mergansers nest upstream, then move downstream with their broods within a day of hatching. Once they head out, they don't return, but spend their early days growing up out in Chapman Bay or outer Woodard Bay beyond the trestle."


Barry Troutman
(reproduced with permission from the artist)

Cute, wouldn't you agree?