Our Pacific Northwest Postcard Revealed

This is Clear Lake.

Our home cannot be dictated by a particular location, nor is it determined by a time zone. Even in today’s world, our marriage is not what most would call a normal situation. For significant periods we must live separated by eleven time zones and two hemispheres between us. North and South… East and West… Created by our choice to let our love flourish with faith in our God… and by the bureaucratic circumstances of a fearful world created by human means beyond our control. However, despite these circumstances we are truly blessed with a sense of wonder and excitement seen from beyond the realm of the mundane every day to a world of spectacular! As if we are seeing a most amazing little bird for the first time … experiences opening our hearts and minds, recognizing witness to small miracles that pass us by every single day!

Our home cannot be a place. It can only be a feeling in our hearts with each other wherever that may be. Whether we are together holding hands, or 10,000 miles apart bound by our Love in spirit… To the other side of the world and back again…. To the equator and beyond…Our home is this planet shared by every living thing on it.

Our windows look out over two continents… two countries…. Overwhelmed with the beauty of nature and culture… sometimes disappointed by human disregard for both. Challenged by everyday struggle, we are grateful and blessed to be witnessing a world far beyond the comfort nurtured in our childhood… Our world is far brighter than before... defined by our diverse cultures… beyond any perceived expectations of our future! Far beyond excitement and curiosity ever intended!

Flying in our hearts like the birds above… though chained by imposed limitations and borders, we fly with our love for each other and faith in God, Family and Friends…

our story continues….

There are at least twelve lakes in Washington State with the identity of Clear. Ours is the one as far east as the road will go within Thurston County... butting adjacent to the foothill wilderness of the Cascade Mountains sixty-five miles from Mount Rainier. The house we purchased together sits on a small bluff with a panoramic view west and north of the 180-acre lake from our back decks. We don't see the mountains as much as we see the sunsets. A trail wraps around the shore providing access to a year-round paradise... a global and regional migratory refuge for a multitude of North American birds.

Additionally, the smaller 11-acre Blue Lake provides a beautiful setting adjacent to our front drive allowing intimate access to waterfowl and woodland species native to the Northwest forests and wetlands. We saw this location during the height of the world's COVID-19 pandemic, excited when we first heard the majestic screech of an American Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) from the branches above the house we were to purchase. The American Bald Eagle is larger than the similar Fish Eagle found in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The beak and talons are large and strong allowing mature birds to carry large fish and ducks from the lake. This one was sitting on a dead alder tree only thirty feet from our window in a manner where we could view one another eye to eye!

Several of these magnificent creatures live around the lake throughout the year. A nest is known on the north end of the lake occupied for years by a pair. Throughout the year, we are treated to spectacular mid-air battles as resident pairs fight off migrating or visiting neighbors, their own second- or third-year juveniles, or an occasional osprey. Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before this perfect perch was to rot away and that time was this winter when a large, third year juvenile landed only to see it crash down into the lake below as the startled bird flew off to the north. Unfortunately, it happened as I reached for the camera. No photo that time! One fact we learned about eagles is that they can swim, although awkwardly... flapping wings over the head as if doing the butterfly stroke. We witnessed this several times deducing the motivation for this action is greed... grasping in its talons a fish too large to carry aloft for a meal. Therefore, they swim to a branch in the middle of the lake holding their treasure as they struggle not to drown!

The log in the middle of Clear Lake is a popular perch for many bird species including the Bald Eagle. When aloft, the eagle skims close to the water searching for the next meal as well as soaring high in the sky and then dive-bombing into the lake below!

Several other Species compete with the Bald Eagle for the same prey. One of the most dramatic is the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) whose distinct shrill informs us its presence while attacking the fish less than one hundred meters from our back deck. Although more common along the Pacific Ocean shores and Puget Sound, this species is a regular visitor to our lake. Where the eagle will pluck an occasional duck or coot, the osprey focuses mainly

on fish. Our lake has kokanee, green sunfish, largemouth bass, and smallmouth bass as well annually stocked rainbow trout. Often the osprey will come to the lake for several days at a

time to feed and harass the local eagles leaving for a period and then returning many times from the late spring to early fall. Being only a third the size of the eagle, these birds seem

to be more a nuisance than a threat to the eagle. However, the aerial dance of the eagle showing its dominance over the osprey is spectacular!

From autumn through winter and spring, the Double-Crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auratus) provides a never-ending assault on the fish in the lake. Over a hundred noisy birds roost through the months at the lake in the trees directly above our house. Sounding like old men grumbling incoherently the woes of the world barking like seals when one bird lands among them... The constant rumble becomes white noise as we sleep through the night. In the sun, their eyes radiate a brilliant turquoise that seem to shine

straight through the beak to the sky above. Ironically, despite life around water, their wings are not water repellent. As a result, they spend much time perched in the trees or on the lake branch with wings spread in the image of a bat. There is a hierarchy among them as

certain birds are allowed on the branch in the lake, while others are relegated to swim with wings outstretched side by side. Every evening as the sun sets, they fill the skies passing the house in a dance to determine who roosts with who on the trees above. Although graceful in flight, their take-off and landings can be awkward. But the real skill of this species is how they swim underwater. Like formations in flight the local flock sometimes work together as a

natural net, swimming from the south end of the lake to creek inlet ... corralling fish into a chaotic underwater hunt in front of our house lasting only a moment. But with many of the birds surfacing with dinner in their mouths. The Double-crested is the only cormorant species residing at Clear Lake through the winter months, often leaving prior opening day

for fishing season in late April. If there are species on the lake that can control the actions of the larger birds of prey, it's the American Crow (Corvus brachyrynchos). Quite common throughout North America, these intelligent birds work as a team to regularly chase the eagles, ospreys, and other birds of prey. At times, a large murder would chase the eagle from the perch in front of our window, holding a noisy court while grooming each other.

Like the Bald Eagle, the Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) is a year-round resident of the lake whose prey includes smaller fish and other creatures. With a loud, brash squawk when in flight, it is easy to tell when it has landed near you. Unlike the previously mentioned birds in this post, the male and female are dimorphic with the female more colorful than the male.

The male Belted Kingfisher, sitting on the same tree as the eagle was on, waits to dive for smaller fish such as the Green Sunfish or young trout. Its name is derived from the band across the breast... Black for the male and brown for the female.

When in flight, the wings reveal striking black and white patterns. Like other kingfishers, they may hit the water like a bomb, briefly submerged, then coming out with a fish or frog.

This Kingfisher caught a green sunfish which is considered an invasive species in Western Washington lakes. Juveniles show both gray and brown plumage with a patchy white chest.

There are a significant population of kingfishers on the lakes surrounding our house, however they are often solitary or in breeding pairs. They are always noisy when they fly.

Unlike the Juveniles, females have brilliant brown and gray plumage with clear less patchy markings. Nature's beauty surrounds us every day. But it requires us to stop... Looking...

Listening... and embracing the moment... Hoping for the joy of togetherness... but also recognizing blessings for what we have today... more to come... From the other side of the world and back! To the equator and beyond!