This Black Bear came through our property at around 3:30 in the afternoon this past Friday. It had been eating our neighbors apples a couple days before that. It looks to be quite big.
Yesterday, around 8:00 AM, we saw a large owl perched on our bird feeder pole. I hustled to get my camera. When I returned, it had dropped to the ground and was hunched over something. It was a Barred Owl, a large owl that has made its way west from eastern North America. Barred Owls have aggressively forced out the Northern Spotted Owl, a federally listed threatened species.
On the ground and probably swallowing one of our many rodents. Yeah! The low light pushed the limits of my long lens.
Moments later, it flew across the river and landed about 20 feet up on a Douglas Fir branch.
Although we often hear Barred Owls making their "Who cooks for you" call, we seldom see them.
I moved to a different angle to show why we seldom see them.
The owl flew to the stair railing on our cabana, then up to a low branch. We need more owls here as we have been overrun by chipmunks, mice, rats, and squirrels this year, exacerbated by feeding the birds this spring. I stopped feeding the birds about a month ago. Owls, do your work!
I have a trail cam below our big Sitka Spruce aimed at the rock shelf that becomes dry in summer allowing animals to cross the river easily.
A Turkey Vulture lands for a splash and a drink.
A bear crosses in nimble fashion. This is one of Daisy's favorite spots to wade around in and cool off.
This bear cooled off in the water just like Daisy does!
This is a cell phone picture at South Beaver Creek I took when retrieving duck boxes. An elk apparently knocked off the top scratching an itch on its head. About 6 Tree Swallow nestlings who are about to fledge are staring into the sky as a parent flies overhead.
Nick and Lauren were married Sunday, May 31st. The festivities included square dancing. I am normally dance phobic, but got in the action from the start up until this last square dance. It was a hoot! I think you will have to copy and paste the link below into your browser to make it work.
https://youtu.be/uV5ODYOohvk
On the 23rd, we saw Lucky and her ducklings in our swimming hole. When I checked the camera pointed at the river, it was fun to see that they had swum by minutes earlier. I counted 9 ducklings out of the original 11. It looks like they are growing fast. Notice the one duckling that pops up from a dive. Hooded Mergansers eat mostly fish, insect larvae on submerged rocks, and crayfish.
I think Common Mergansers are uncommonly striking. These were cruising by below the house, caught on my trail cam.
A pair of Common Mergansers with the male still in breeding plummage.
I love how one of the ducklings gets to ride on mom's back.
I made a rather crude 7 minute video of "Lucky's" nesting and fledging of her ducklings. Warning, the exit of the ducklings from the box gets dramatic. The link is below. For some reason you have to highlight the link and right click open this link to get it to open up.
https://youtu.be/gdkXbBp8EDg
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Rufous Hummingbirds have returned from Mexico, with some headed for Alaska. I took pictures of these yesterday at our feeder.
Wednesday, February 18, we were greeted by falling snow. It was about 2-3" deep by later in the morning. We are having a cold snap this week after a rather warm, dry winter.
Click the link below to snow falling towards the river.
The first week of this month was rainy and relatively warm for January. Since then, it has been dry, clear, and cold. The morning lows have been below freezing with the past two mornings being 22 degrees. We still have been doing walks and hikes almost daily. Below are some pictures of from the past couple weeks.
The coast temperatures have been much milder than at our home 8 miles inland.
There have been a lot of gulls resting at the bay in Yachats. Notice how far up the rocks driftwood logs have been hurled by tides and surf.
Yesterday, we drove up to Lincoln City and hiked the trail up to God's Thumb. The thumb is that steep mound of rock on the left that resembles the thumb of God. There is a group of people clustered on the top, 400 feet above the water.
A closer view of the folks on top. It was looking a little crowded for our taste, so we sat on the grassy knoll above the thumb.
My Grandson Jeremy drove from Colorado Springs to Yachats to visit us on his way to Napa. It was quite an effort, a long detour, and we were honored he would do this. He is an apprentice electrician and hopes to find work in the SF Bay Area. His grandmother is generously letting him stay in her cottage behind her house. He arrived on New Year's Eve, and left on the 5th.
We had so much good food! Black-eyed peas from Nick and Lauren with collard greens, chowder from Luna Sea, food from Taste of India, and the last night at The Drift Inn.
The friendly woman at the Bait and Tackle Shop in Waldport suggested we fish for steelhead 18 miles up the Alsea River at Mike Bauer's Plunking Shack. The shack was occupied, so we fished in the open. Fortunately, it didn't rain the 5 hours we were there.
From the bridge looking down at Jeremy, on the right. You can see the roof of the plunking shack on the right, which is open in front, and has a wood burning stove.
Fishing was slow, as it was early in the season we were told. This woman caught a nice sized steelhead. We saw a couple other steelhead caught, but Jeremy didn't have luck. We learned a lot from the other fisherpersons there. They went out of their way to help Jeremy and show him the best set-up. We'll be better prepared the next time.
I also watched a Black Phoebe catching insects. Only recently have they been this far north as climate change seems to be expanding their range.
Sunday the fourth, we went to City Lights in Florence and saw Marty Supreme. Timothee Chalamet's acting was superb!
On December 29, we headed down to Winchester Bay, just south of Reedsport, to meet Paula and her dog Iggy. We met Paula through Lorie, as they have been long time friends.
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Unfortunately, Gail was struck by an arrow. |
On the way home, we drove down to the beach below the Haceta lighthouse keeper's house to watch the sun go down.
