The evening glow ... and a red-throated loon

A couple weekends ago in Hoquiaum, Wash., I took a nice evening photowalk in Dog Marsh along the Grays Harbor bay.

Hoquiam is located about 25 miles off the Pacific coast. Our Mediterranean climate has two seasons: wet (winter) and dry (summer). We're just entering the dry season, but already the marsh looks more like a piece of the Great Plains: you wouldn't know looking at it that certain areas of the 45-acre site are officially designated wetlands.^Source

I spent some time walking the land, since it is dry, but of course I went over the riprap that surrounds the marsh on three sides to visit the water.

In the tidal inlet to the west, the geese had gathered for the night, and along the bay to the south, the driftwood reflected the evening glow.

In the east, the air scrubbing towers at Ocean Protein, (our fishmeal processing plant, which doesn't stink up the town thanks to those towers) also reflected the light, and I worked for a time to compose a shot of them behind the railroad's swing bridge over the Hoquiam River.

While I was on the riverbank looking for a shot of the bridge, I just barely noticed the loon bobbing in the gathering shadows.

I've ID'ed this bird as an immature red-throated loon, using its page on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds website. There the red-throated loon is described as a "small loon with a thin bill typically held raised."

And here I thought it was just throwing me a cocky what's up gesture.

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