Life in the Half-Light

Frequently secretive and always precious, the Pacific Northwest's December light holds surprising colors and wondrous activity for those who seek it out in places like southwest Washington's Porter Falls.

I visited the falls on a short hike last Tuesday afternoon and discovered a place half lit and full of life. Whether on the forest trail, covered by trees of varying ages, or standing beside Porter Creek in the shadow of the surrounding hills, I found comfortable and picture-perfect light.

The lower section of Porter Falls.

The birds, including varied thrushes, hermit thrushes, golden-crowned kinglets, and a melodious American dipper, must have felt the same way. They moved through the area with a flourish of activity, taking advantage of the traces of sunlight for foraging and the shadows for concealment.

Along the falls, the subtle reds and greens of late autumn glowed in the light permitted by the gully walls and the trees overhead. A light mist rose up from the rushing, tumbling water, adding a hazy quality to the place. It all made for great photography opportunities, and I happily captured as many as I could. When my mom and I left the creek to the bubbly sound of that dipper, I felt completely satisfied with the results of the hike.

Not everyone can see the special qualities of the PNW's wintry light, but people who look closely into its shadows find pieces of life the sunniest summer day could never reveal.

Seeing the Hermit

Sometimes, hermits come for a visit.

Each of the last few days, I've seen a thrush-like bird. It's brown and lacks any particularly obvious markings. Birds like that can be hard to tell apart. However, knowing it looked like a thrush helped.

I was pretty sure the bird was not a Swainson's thrush because I vaguely remembered that they leave during the winter. With that information in mind, I guessed the bird was a hermit thrush.

After checking All About Birds and WhatBird last night, I found that my memory was correct. Swainson's thrushes move south in the winter, and the hermit thrush is the only member of the thrush family that looks like the bird I saw and lives in the Pacific Northwest this time of year.

Last night's investigation left one thing to do: wait for the bird to come back so I could confirm the species. Sure enough, it came back today, and I was able to get pictures (not the one above) that provided enough evidence to show it was a hermit thrush.

It was exciting to realize I had accumulated enough birding knowledge to make such a guess about a rather plain bird. I'm glad it decided to stop by and give me a chance to get to know it.