Tag: Dungeness River Audubon Center

Owl be seeing you

We paid a visit to the Dungeness River Audubon Center when we went to Railroad Bridge Park recently. The Center has an extensive collection of taxidermied birds and some mammals. While I prefer to look at critters in their live forms there are advantages to still displays like this one. I rarely otherwise see owls. The views I’ve had have usually been brief and in low light. I think this may be a northern saw-whet.

And here’s another guess: this may be a barn owl. I was visiting with our guests as we explored the Center. If the owls were labeled I failed to check. What I can tell you about barn owls is that they dine on rodents, a help to farmers and those of us who prefer not to live with them.

This skeleton is also on display. I’m guessing it’s an owl. Whatever it is, the long, graceful wings are a mute testament to the beauty of flight.

Dungeness River Audubon Center

Audubon Center

I don’t think I’ve shown the Dungeness River Audubon Center before. It’s a great local resource for birding and natural history information in addition to being a site for other community education events. A garden next to the building provides signage identifying many native plants and feeders draw lots of birds. Railroad Bridge Park nearby borders the Dungeness River although the historic railroad trestle bridge is closed due to flood damage that undermined one part of the bridge. (I have to return another time to retake photos of the bridge. They weren’t up to par.)