One of the things I love about the Northwest is how green and lush everything is. The trees in Nisqually are covered in Moss.

This weekend I rented a Nikkor 400mm F2.8 lens and a 2x teleconverter.  I decided to make the trek from Seattle to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge 40 miles to the south to see what the day would bring me.

Nisqually is a haven for all types of birds.  I always see bald eagles, hawks, falcons, blue herons and ducks of all kinds.  Today, however, I found out that a family of great horned owls lives there.  There are apparently two adults (I only saw one today) and three owlets (I saw all three!).

There is almost nothing I like more than photographing nature.  I get to hike around outside (the 400mm is not the friendliest lens in the world for that, by the way) and witness all kinds of amazing things.  The world is an amazing, brutal and beautiful place.  Enjoy the photos below.

The Nisqually Wildlife Refuge is in a tidal flat and has a view of the Olympic Mountains to the West and Mount Rainier to the East.

This is the great horned owl parent that I saw today. He/she sat on this tree with a clear view of the owlets in the nest the entire time I was in the park (over 4 hours).

One of the owlets plays peek-a-boo.

Being cute is exhausting work.

The views today were incredible.