An Inquisitive Look

This little squirrel seems to be asking, “are looking at me?”, or “what are you doing?” I was actually out roaming around looking to get some bird photos, but this little Douglas Squirrel seemed willing to pose so I took over thirty photos of him.  I discovered that in the early morning before the Welcome Center is opened and people are around, that the wildlife seems a little freer to use the area. In particular, the Steller’s Jays and the Douglas Squirrels were both quite boisterous in their claim of ownership of the Welcome Center. 

Falcon Chicks

Yesterday was a day off for us, so while Jeanette had a perm in Newport, I checked out Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. The draw for birders right now is these Peregrine Falcon chicks in their “scrape”.  I learned that yesterday that they do not technically make a “nest”, but place a little bit of material in a “scrape”. The chicks are replacing their down with feathers, making quite a messy area as you can see in the photo with bits of down all over the place. 

A Colorful Suprise

I was quite surprised to find this image in my camera today, it’s one I had taken a couple of days ago, and never checked out. On that day I had taken Buster for an afternoon walk on the Beaver Marsh Trail and was zeroing in on this brightly colored Cardinal Meadowhawk Dragonfly when I was interrupted by a noisy family coming along the trail.  The commotion chased the dragonfly away, but I managed a grimaced smile and walked away cursing my luck. 

A Magical Evening

We were dead tired tonight after a busy afternoon at the Welcome Center, but Buster had other ideas as he had been cooped up in the RV all afternoon. He wanted to go for his evening walk, and was so persistent, that we finally gave up in total frustration and went for a walk.  We took a short route that we often do down to the Beaver Marsh Trail.  We could hear the song of the Common Yellow-throats that we so often enjoy on this trail, and the Swallows were busy swooping for the last bugs of the day.  All of a sudden we heard the unmistakable grunting noise of a Virginia Rail, and then another one answered on the other side of the trail, a third chimed in from a short distance further.  Jeanette got out her iPhone and using a birding App attempting to lure them into further conversation.  Three times I was close enough to see the grass move, but never spotted a bird.  That’s the way it is with Virginia Rails, easy to recognize by their grunts and clicks, but usually impossible to see.  We forgot all about our frustration with Buster and embraced the magic of the evening. 

Cascade Ramblings goes Big Screen

For the past two weeks at Beaver Creek State Natural Area we have been using the large screen wall monitor in the Welcome Center to display (via a live cam) the inside of a bird box which contained baby Tree Swallows. Today they fledged and left, leaving us will an empty nest. This afternoon, Brian Fowler our Ranger, connected the monitor to the Internet which, for me means that I can now display Critters and Wildflowers from Cascade Ramblings. This makes it helpful to show visitors photos of certain birds or flowers, or as in this post an Eight-spotted Skimmer.

Dragonflies

This Dragonfly is an Eight-spotted Skimmer that I photographed yesterday on the Beaver Marsh Trail. Dragonflies are numerous in the marsh of Beaver Creek State Natural Area.  The shallow, slow moving waters of nutrient rich Beaver Creek provide excellent habitat for them to reproduce and live. This in turn provides a good food source for the birds and particularly the swallows.  Dragonflies have been the favorite insect for us to observe being fed to the baby Tree Swallows on our live cam in the Welcome Center. They are large enough that everyone can have a bite.  

Spotted Towhee

This is a juvenile Spotted Towhee, not the most handsome bird, still wearing the typical drab colors of baby birds, which I am sure is important for their survival. Spotted Towhees are one of the birds we hear singing the most frequently and consistently from our camp site here at Beaver CreekSNA. But yesterday I had a brand new experience with Spotted Towhees when this juvenile appeared out of the bushes at the Welcome Center.  Birding guides don’t seem to ever include photos of juveniles, so I had no idea what a juvenile looked like, but luckily for me this juvenile appeared with a parent who also feed him.