Crown Point Vista House
Jun. 8th, 2025 01:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yourlibrarian posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
common_nature
Just returned from a road trip through Oregon and part of Northern California. On leaving Portland we followed the route of a tourist trolley and started out at Crown Point Vista House. The views of the Colombia River were indeed impressive and well worth the twisty drive up to its height. The structure itself with its stone and stained glass was also interesting to see. The bathrooms on the basement level were all marbled -- not the usual for tourist stops!
Above is the overall view east. ( Read more... )
Sunset between storm fronts, en route to Publix and Walgreen’s.
Jun. 1st, 2025 03:35 pmfull_metal_ox posting in common_natureTaken on 21 June 2024 at 20:33 US Eastern Daylight Savings Time, as I hurried up the street through the break in the rain.
My limited equipment does the scene nothing even remotely resembling justice: neither the gauzy rainbow-sherbet luminosity nor the grand theatricality of the skyscape, with the air of a vintage book illustration or a meticulously painted film backdrop. A detail I particularly like is the small dark cumulus cloud at bottom center that suggests a person astride a charging (pig? bear? huge dog?)
My limited equipment does the scene nothing even remotely resembling justice: neither the gauzy rainbow-sherbet luminosity nor the grand theatricality of the skyscape, with the air of a vintage book illustration or a meticulously painted film backdrop. A detail I particularly like is the small dark cumulus cloud at bottom center that suggests a person astride a charging (pig? bear? huge dog?)
Photos: House Yard
Jun. 2nd, 2025 12:17 amysabetwordsmith posting in common_natureThese pictures are from Sunday, but it's after midnight, so the post says Monday.
( Walk with me ... )
( Walk with me ... )
Osprey nesting
May. 29th, 2025 10:41 ampauraque posting in common_natureI got to see an Osprey sitting on its nest!
When I came back later to show my partner, we talked to another birder who said this nesting platform has been there for a long time but in past years Ospreys have only stayed for a short time and not fledged any young. This year they've stayed much longer than usual so hopes are high for a baby! The other adult was perched in a tree nearby.
Ospreys eat only fish. (The platform is above a river.) It's interesting that small birds seem to realize they're no threat, and completely ignore them. While we were there, we saw a flock of blackbirds furiously mob and chase away a Cooper's Hawk while the Ospreys calmly looked on.
When I came back later to show my partner, we talked to another birder who said this nesting platform has been there for a long time but in past years Ospreys have only stayed for a short time and not fledged any young. This year they've stayed much longer than usual so hopes are high for a baby! The other adult was perched in a tree nearby.
Ospreys eat only fish. (The platform is above a river.) It's interesting that small birds seem to realize they're no threat, and completely ignore them. While we were there, we saw a flock of blackbirds furiously mob and chase away a Cooper's Hawk while the Ospreys calmly looked on.
Turtle from the Kyzylkum desert
May. 28th, 2025 02:43 pmpilottttt posting in common_nature
For more details about our trip to this desert (in Russian), see here: https://pilottttt.dreamwidth.org/445028.html
