photography

November

Hazel G

30 Nov 2025 — 4 min read

A young Scrub Jay in Hood River

It's been warm for November. There are nasturtiums and calendula blooming in the yard and I've been weeding out borage and California poppy that are trying to sprout. I know this is the new normal, which is really just everything being abnormal. It has also meant some birds have been sticking around later in the season. There was a Pipit and a Horned Lark hanging out at Broughton Beach a few days ago when I went to see the Snow Bunting that decided to make a stopover in town. They generally just fly by so it was nice to see this little toasted marshmallow of a bird really close to my house

They are just so cute with their rusty colored cheeks!

We also had a Cocos Booby show up in town. It was very far away across the river so I wasn't able to get a great picture but it'll have to do. This bird is very far away from where it should be and quite possibly hitched a ride on a ship that docked here. Really hoping it made it's way back out to the ocean ok.

I'm stilling figuring out the million settings on my newish camera. Still haven't dialed things in but slowly working on it and having fun trying to get some good shots. Here's a few more from the month.

This is the first fall where I realized just how cool fall birding in the PNW is. The ducks that overwinter here start showing up and I love duck season! We also get a lot of birding stopping in on their way south for the winter and some that show up unexpectedly like the Booby. Next month is the annual Christmas Bird count and I'll be doing a handful and I'm super excited to see what we find!

I'm really trying to do at least one watercolor painting each month with a goal of doing two or more. I just did one in November. I mostly like it but really need to put some work in on improving my tree painting skills. It felt really hard to trying and put so many trees in and try to keep them from looking the same.

I've been volunteering doing a lot of trail maintenance and had the chance to go on a hike in the Gorge to scout Devil's Rest for some future maintenance. It was a gorgeous fall day and we saw all of one other hiker while we were out there. If you want to go on some nice hikes in the Gorge away from the crowds, the trails higher up on Larch Mountain are regularly very quiet.