Sweetwater / Sentinel Peak

February 9, 2025

Name that Frame!

CycleBlaze and the open and welcoming community that’s developed around it is such an excellent resource. We really owe a big debt of gratitude (and a donation from time to time) to the webmaster for envisioning and creating it for us.

And it’s surprising once you’ve built a field of dreams like this to see what people will bring to it when they come. Here’s a new one that just dropped in the mail, and a way that you can put yourself in the picture if it’s too cold and wet and dark out wherever you are now or you’ve aged out of putting your own wheels on the road any longer: virtual jigsaw puzzles! Bonus points to the first person who drops a comment correctly identifying this recent photo (except for the one who submitted it, of course).

Sweetwater

Another day, another birding outing for me, another hike for Rachael. I’m ready for a shorter ride and we’re not eating out tonight, so it’s a perfect setup for me to get out to the refuge early, spend a few hours wandering around to see what’s new today, and then bike back to town for a midday breakfast. I’ve got a script for this scenario, and even though it’s pretty completely internalized by now I decide to open it up and see if I’ve forgotten any details. And there is one - a reminder to consider taking the iPad and photo importer in case I want to unload and review photos at the restaurant. Saves me a stop by the house when I return to town, so thanks, script!

For a nice change, no train slows me down on my way to the Saint Mary’s access. I’ve done my part and gotten an early start, and I just bike straight through the five miles to the refuge up the east side of the river, stopping only once. Surprisingly, even though there are plenty of birds out at the refuge this morning the only new one for the year I come away with is this first shot just past the Grant Street underpass when I come up upon a loose flock of around thirty Brewer’s blackbirds perched on the railing above the wash, foraging in the trailside brush, and working the bikepath itself. I’ve got the camera stowed away in the rucksack but I’ve seen them far enough in advance that there’s time for me to haul it out and fire off a few shots before they all fly off in ones and twos to the opposite side.

I’m at Sweetwater for around two hours. There’s nothing new seen today even though there are many birds and birders out, but I’m sure I heard a few of the elusive thrashers and ladder-backed woodpeckers I’ve had my ear out for. They’re around for sure, so it’s just a matter of luck and time. I’ve still got four weeks here. And if for nothing else it was worth it this morning just for the thrilling sight of a pair of snowy egrets soaring from their treetop roost in an elegant pas de deux.

I’m back in town not long past lunch and head straight to the Cup Cafe, the venue in the Congress Hotel where Rachael and I watched Jeff Foucault perform two nights ago. It’s a brilliant day to sit outside, and I liked the look of the breakfast half of their menu when I scoped it out this morning. I find a safe spot where I can keep an eye on my unlocked bike, sit down at a nearby table, and after my order has been placed I go back to the bike to retrieve the iPad and loader the script reminded me to bring along.