Jerry and Wanda Come to Yachats

 Our good friends and past neighbors from Carlsbad came to Yachats for a week, leaving yesterday.  They stayed in a beautiful Airbnb home overlooking Yachats and its little bay.  We enjoyed walks, meals, happy hours, and conversation almost daily.

We loved hanging out at their place and enjoying the view.

Wanda and Gail on the beach north of the 804 Trail.

The 804 Trail follows the shore along rocky shelves.  In the foreground is a monument to two young men who drowned in less than eight minutes after being swept off the rocks by a sneaker wave.  

Pileated Woodpecker

 Yesterday, we had a Pileated Woodpecker spending a long time chiseling away at a dying alder tree.  This woodpecker was cooperative and didn't fly away, but interfering leaves and facing the sun made it impossible to get great pictures.

North America's largest woodpecker, about the size of a crow.  This one is a male as evidenced by the red patch behind the base of its bill.

Pileated Woodpeckers dig for carpenter ants, grubs, and other insects.  

They are monogamous and the pair will defend its territory.  Since they use a nest hole only once, the holes left behind are used by other birds such owls and ducks, and also animals like martins.

I should have had a tripod.  Hand holding a telephoto lens aiming up, looking at a screen rather than being able to press a viewfinder against your head, while standing on a soft slope is a challenge (not to mention my less than steady hands).

Mountain Beaver

 Not far from our home, across the road, along an unused logging road we call "Bear Scratch", we noticed fresh burrows big enough to place a football in.  We suspected the two holes to be the work of Mountain Beavers, which are not beavers at all.  I placed a trail cam near the entrances and left it there for about 5 days.  I recommend enlarging the video to fully appreciate this unique animal.

Mountain Beavers are also called "boomers".  They are not beavers, but are more closely related to squirrels.  They are the only living members of their genus, Aplodontia.  Their primitive renal system requires them to have a constant supply of water or moisture as they cannot concentrate urine.  They are known as "living fossils".

Mountain Beavers are mostly solitary, and their burrow can have many entrances.  They are mostly nocturnal and crepuscular, and eat ferns and seedling trees.  They are seldom seen.

It's possible that this rabbit is using the Mountain Beaver's burrow, as it was recorded on the camera near this entrance on several occasions.  Mountain Beavers have tiny ears and a little stub of a tail.  They can climb trees to nibble on branches and leaves.  The forrest industry considers them pests.

Great Blue Heron

 This Great Blue Heron posed right in front of my trail cam late Saturday afternoon.