Reasons 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20

Reason No. 15

of 55 Reasons to Take Care of Mother Earth:
Healthy Food From Beautiful Farmlands

photo copyright 2010 Susan Faye

Reason No. 16

of 55 Reasons to Take Care of Mother Earth:
The Song of a Red-Winged Blackbird

photo copyright 2010 Susan Faye

Reason No. 17

of 55 Reasons to Take Care of Mother Earth:
Thriving Wetlands

photo copyright 2010 Susan Faye

Reason No. 18

of 55 Reasons to Take Care of Mother Earth:
Dusky Canada Geese

photo copyright 2010 Susan Faye

Reason No. 19

of 55 Reasons to Take Care of Mother Earth:
Great Blue Herons

photo copyright 2010 Susan Faye

Reason No. 20

of 55 Reasons to Take Care of Mother Earth:
A Favorite Swimming Hole

photo copyright 2010 Susan Faye

All of these photos were taken on a glorious autumn day last week at the Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. The 2,492 acre refuge sits in the middle of Willamette Valley farmlands and was created to provide vital wintering habitat for dusky Canada geese, the smallest of the Canada geese sub-species. They nest on Alaska's Copper River Delta and winter almost exclusively in the Willamette Valley.

See that dark cloud in the last photo? No, that's not a swarm of locusts, it's GEESE, all honking with wild abandon! You haven't lived until you've heard several hundred geese all honking at once right over your head. You can't help but laugh out loud.

Over the next few weeks I will be posting photos or artwork of 55 reasons why I think it's a good idea to take care of Mother Earth. If you find any of my 55 reasons compelling, please consider making a small donation if you can: 55 cents, $1.55, 5.50, or $55.00 (you get the drift...) to the Susan Faye Double Nickel Birthday Fund for Mother Nature to benefit the Nature Conservancy.

Your donation will support the many programs of the Nature Conservancy, an efficient and effective organization that has been working around the world for 60 years to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. My goal is to raise $550 to help with their important work.

If you would like to donate, please click here:
Double Nickel Fund

Thanks for stopping by!

Featured Photo...GOODBYE DUSKY GEESE

Honk if you love geese! The weather is finally warming up, so it's time to say goodbye to the thousands of Dusky Geese (a subspecies of the Canadian Goose) who winter here in the Willamette Valley. The skies are filled every day with great V's of happily honking geese as they make their way north to their summer homes.

To find out more information about the Baskett Slough, a wildlife preserve designed with the Dusky Goose in mind (whose specialized winter habitat had been shrinking down to nothing), please visit this link: Baskett Slough National Wildlife Preserve

Thanks for visiting!