Bobcat In The Rain

 We were relieved to see a bobcat on our trail cam near the river yesterday.  It has been a few weeks since we've seen one and feared that some human caused action was impacting them.  

Leucism In Birds

I recently had an experience where I learned about leucism in birds.  About a month ago, Catherine Lucido down at the forks showed me and Wally some very blurry cell phone pictures of a small bird at her feeder that she had never seen before. It had a lot of white, and was at her feeder with a flock of Dark-eyed Juncos.  After scouring Sibley’s and other resources, I had no good ID guesses.  I sent copies of the photos to Marty Bray, biologist and expert birder.  He and his wife Jeannie both thought the bird was a Dark-eyed Junco with leucism.  Incidentally, they were in Columbia birding at the time.

A few days ago Catherine called to say the mystery bird returned and was at her feeder.  I rushed down with my camera and took pictures.  It's safe to say this bird is a leucistic Dark-eyed Junco.

I found out that Leucism is a genetic condition that causes some or all feathers to be white.  It is not the same as albinism in which the eyes would be pink.  Reptiles can also be leucistic.  Here is a link that shows various birds with leucism, including a Dark-eyed Junco.   

 https://www.birdnote.org/explore/field-notes/2018/04/why-bird-part-white-leucism

A normal Dark-eyed Junco has a little white on the outside edges of the tail feathers. This junco with leucism has one all brown tail feather and an all white one on the other side.

The Dark-eyed Junco with leucism.  Notice that the eye is not pink, meaning that it is not albino.

On the left is a normal Dark-eyed Junco for comparison.  In the middle is the leucistic junco.  The bird on the right is a Spotted Tohee.

Windy Day at the Coast

 After we lost power for 30 hours Saturday and Sunday due to ice storms in the region, the sun came out yesterday.  I took Daisy to the coast to let her romp on the beach.  When we got there, however, the tide was too high, and the wind was blowing offshore with almost gale force. It was also 37 degrees.  Daisy was never so eager to get back into the car!

More Holiday Celebrations

New Year's Day

 We were invited to a New Year's Day dinner at our friends Josh and Susan's home.  They bought the old grange meeting hall down the road which had been abandoned and very run-down.  They have turned it into a modern, comfortable home which looks out over a large pasture where elk often graze.  

Susan, front left, was a sailmaker in the Bay Area who even made sails for some America's Cup racing yachts.  She still uses her industrial sewing equipment at the house for various customers.  Back left is author Andrea Scharf who also started the Portland farmer's market and Yachats View the Future.  On the right is Jim Adler, blacksmith, who with his wife Ursula, ceramicist, purple sweater, were the first two locals that befriended us when we moved here.

Colorado Trip

On January 3rd, I flew back to Colorado to celebrate the holidays with Andria's family. Nick and Elaine came back, also.  We shared an Airbnb which worked out nicely.  Traveling after the Christmas rush was also more relaxed and cheaper, too.  

Left to right: Elaine, Soren, Susanna, Jeremy, Andria, and Nick.  Dave joined us for dinner a couple following nights.  Our Airbnb host left us an Italian pasta dinner to pop into the oven for our late arrival - very thoughtful!

We had a fun evening of gift sharing.

Jeremy is working as a full time electrician intern, taking night classes offered by his company, and working to becoming a journeyman electrician.  He is pleased with his new work belt. 

Jeremy and Nick

Andria and I with a book she gave me, There There by Tommy Orange.  I'm really liking the book so far!

The snow came down on our faux Christmas celebration eve.  Nice timing!  Our host Timothy was out there at 11:00 at night shoveling the driveway for us!

Nick, Jeremy, and I took an afternoon hike on our last day despite the cold.