The Skagit River is renown for the migration of Bald Eagles who flock to the shores waiting to feast on the spawning salmon. On Thursday my uncle and I floated down the river with Blue Sky Outfitters to view and photograph the eagles.

We love the sunset and have been seeing plenty of really striking ones recently. Yesterday we viewed the show at Fort Ward State Park and while the sky was decent I think the next set of photos work because of the bird flying through the frame – scroll quickly to make it all movie-like.

We always enjoy our time in Port Townsend and so we decided to spend another perfect Saturday in November in our “Madison of the Pacific Northwest”.

The would-be naturalists chose Dungeness Spit as this year’s Father’s Day destination. Some research on the web unearthed The 3 Crabs as a highly recommended crab shack right on the Sound with birding on the adjacent beach. Lunch plans decided, we packed the car and drove up to Dungeness.

Sunday found yet another day blanketed under clouds but the budding naturalists ventured to the Theler Wetlands despite the gloomy weather. The wetlands promised some outstanding birding, a chance for our daughter to run around and some photo opportunities for me among its 75 acres of trails and wildlife.

We accepted IslandWood’s invitation today for a bird walk, our first foray into proper birding with a guide, binoculars, book and camera. Actually arriving on-time for the 8 am start was accomplishment enough; had we not seen a bird at least the get-everyone-ready time trial resulted in victory.