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.

Recent Photos

 Below are some photos from the past two weeks.

Red-spotted Garter Snake

Northern Red-legged Frog

While tidepooling on a minus tide, I saw this nudibranch.  I don't know the species of this one (or any for that matter).  Okay, iNaturalist helped me determine this is a Sea Lemon.  Although this one is about 1.5 inches in length, they can get about 7 inches long.

Sea stars have made a remarkable recovery after having been decimated by sea star wasting disease.  Here, they are feeding on mussels.

 A family of Common Mergansers have been around, lately.  They are sure speedy underwater when chasing fish!

August 2nd, SWIFTY did a trip up to North Lincoln County to monitor Purple Martin nest boxes in several locations, and scope out possibilities for adding more boxes.  This is an area on the Siletz River where there are numerous Purple Martin boxes attached to old pilings.  I believe they were made and attached by Eric Horvath about 30 years ago.  He was a good friend of my brother Steve.  We plan to assist Eric build more boxes this winter, as many are falling apart.

Four of these five boxes had active Purple Martin nests, even the one missing its front.  

Paul, Jim, and Wally here.  We stopped at Devil's Lake to check out this potential spot.

This is a picture Jim took of Purple Martins in Florence.  The adult is flying in with an insect to feed one of the nestlings.

Unusual looking thistles we saw in the North County.  Update:  with the help of iNturalist, I learned this plant is wild teasel which is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa.  The dried seed heads were used in the textile industry to raise (tease) the nap of fabrics.

We made a butterfly garden this year, planting butterfly bush, penstemon, Russian sage, sedum, Jerusalem sage, and devil's tobacco.  The poppies volunteered.  Weirdly,  we have had almost zero butterflies this year.  Last year, we had scads of swallowtail butterflies and had to constantly rescue them out of the greenhouse.  The native bees have been loving the garden, though.

Butterfly garden

I went overboard on squash this year, and can barely walk through the vegetable garden.  I like squash because it thrives and the deer don't eat it ( well, maybe a little nip here and there).

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What's This Owl Up To?

 Two nights ago my trail cam pointed at the river caught this owl, probably a Barred Owl.  I'm not sure if it was trying to catch something, bathing, or getting a drink. What do you think?

Below are some frame shots from the above video.

The Birds and the Bees

 "Let me tell you 'bout the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees... "    Jewel Akens would be in his glory here right now, as we certainly have birds and bees, and other natural delights, (although maybe his lyrics weren't literally about bees and flowers). 

Last Friday I rode my e-bike over the mountains to Eckman Lake east of Waldport.  It was a 31 mile round trip with about 25 miles being on gravel Forest Service roads.  It is a bit of a maze of logging roads, usually unmarked.  Fortunately, I have a good map app that shows my location via satellite.   

Bye for now 😎

Bears

 We left a trail cam on the Carson Creek abandoned logging road for the past 8 days.  This is about 3 miles from our home.  We didn't get much, but we did get a couple different bears on their commute.

This bear looks plump and healthy.

This skinny bear went off the trail to come sniff out the camera and give it a good whack.  

La De Da!

 July 4th is the annual La De Da Parade in Yachats.  It seems that half the town is in it, including SWIFTY.

Gail and I carried the banner followed by a puffin, otter, and swallow kites.  My birdhouse played musical bird themed earworms; Rockin' Robin, Surfin' Bird, and Fly Like An Eagle. Gail got a lot of attention for her creative costume!

Wally was ahead of us with the Trails Committee, but I know he really wanted to be with SWIFTY.

It was a beautiful day for a parade.  The vibe was all smiles and no partisan politics. Photo by Quinton Smith.

The temperature was in the 60's at the parade, but 8 miles up the river at our house it was 96.  The next day, the 5th, it reached 103 degrees.  It is 103 again today.  We have spent the last two afternoons floating and swimming in the river.