Fun at the Petrified Forest

Truman and I have been on the road, and during our travels we stopped at the Gingko Petrified Forest site near Vantage (WA), which has fabulous views of the Columbia River gorge.

This is a reliable spot for Say's Phoebes, and sure enough, one was busy declaring its territorial rights.  A Canyon Wren also spoke up for its nesting site under the eaves of the interpretative center.  I got just a brief glimpse of the wren, but the phoebe posed nicely:

Truman, as always, was unimpressed by birds, and failed to understand why I spent an hour there.

He also did not get why I got super excited by the highlight of the visit -- a raven and a Red-tailed Hawk having a swooping, diving, territory battle.  This was incredible -- the two birds spent a good twenty minutes chasing each other around, up, and down the cliff sides, and it went both ways.  First the hawk chased the raven, then the raven chased the hawk, and it was very hard to track them with my little point-and-shoot.  I did get some decent shots, though -- here is a teaser:

I shall post the rest tomorrow.