Taking in Life Around Me.....#Sundaystills...Theme: Feed the birds

This #sundaystills challenge is hosted by Terri from Second Wind Leisure. It's a great themed photography challenge that you'll enjoy. I love seeing the other participants interpretation of the theme each week...it causes me to think outside the box. I joined in hopes of it pushing me to get out and take more photos...I have to some degree, but I also like that Terri is okay with us finding photos in our archives, which is also a lot of fun. So check out my photos and then head over to Terri's page to participate or visit other's posts. There are some awesome contributors who always inspire me.

This weeks theme is Feed the birds. I put out some bread and pumpkin seeds in hopes of luring the birds so I could take photos. I got a few. I even took my camera on a few walks to see if I saw something worthy of taking a photo of. 

The one thing I was so disappointed about and it would have been perfect for this week was that the bald eagles were on the river because the smelt are running. Last year I said "next year I'm going to rent a lens so I can go out and take some great photos". Well, this year came and I completely missed it. I drove down one day and there were just a few, and when I went another day, they were gone. Next year! Ha! I should just put it on my calendar. I'll share a few from other years. It's a pretty cool thing to see literally hundreds of bald eagles along with a handful of sea lions and quite a few seagulls feeding on smelt that come up the Lewis River from the Columbia. 

I would have more bird feeders around the house and yard, however, my husband equates bird feeders with birds pooping on everything. I do have a hummingbird feeder though. 

I tried to come up with some photos I haven't shared the last few times we did this theme, though I know perhaps people have never seen the past posts, but we'll see if I can come up with any new ones. 

I know I've shared this one, but it's one of my favorites. I was so excited I caught this guy in action. I keep saying I need to get back to the refuge, but just haven't made the time to do it. In March I will begin having Tuesdays off from work so I think that will work for me to go then. 

The other day I drove along the river with my grandkids to look for eagles waiting for smelt and spied these two a bit further down the road. I cropped the photo a bit so you could see better. I love having a full frame camera, but sometimes I miss my crop sensor lens.

I did capture a few birds in my dead flower pot this week taking some of the seeds I put out. Not the best exposure but I was just trying to capture them before they flew away.

Haha...this guy above was in Plymouth, Ma so I just had to add him..these clam shells were all around town. I took photo of many along the waterfront, and if I had more time I would've explored and gotten photos of more of them. 

These eagle photo were from last year. It's just so fun watching them and the sea lions catching smelt.

This part of our town is known as the bottoms...where the Lewis River and the Columbia river meet. It's always been mostly farmland, but the future is unknown as many farmers, aside from a berry farm, have had to quit farming, my son in laws family included. 

The next series of three photos was taken last fall when I went to Ft. Vancouver with Terri and Marsha. I saw this little guy helping himself to some sunflower seeds. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin