New Animal Friends: BIG update!

Wonderful photos and and great wildlife!!

I think you're getting used to your new place and taking advantage of the wonderful wildlife around. It seems to be a perfect place for you. Are there wolverines where you live. Well, maybe not, those long-eared friends seem quite confortable although they can easily escape from a wolverine.

Thank you everyone!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], if you had asked me that a month ago I would have said no! But recently there have many(!) reports of wolverine sightings in areas near me! Most notably, just outside of Portland Oregon metropolitan areas! Look it up online, it seems that they are begining to resettle these areas of the West that they haven't occupied in 100 years.


Now, some new content. Nothing too exciting...

My local hereford bull "friend" I have dubbed Amos, shortly before winter set in, got a new angus bull friend. I have not had a chance to get a great photo yet as I am usually unprepared to take a photo or they are farther afield than I can manage to get a picture of on my morning work commute... But I figured you guys know what an angus bull looks like anyhow. I have nicknamed him Seamus. They seem quite companionable. They are almost always within about 5 yards of each other when I see them.
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This uniquely colored pigeon kept me entertained at work one day. The photo does little justice, in person he had many more patches of metallic sheen to his feathers. He was chasing what I assumed to be a prospective mate, but she didn't seem as interested as I was in him.
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I encountered this on our last snowy day before I left for work. I assume a corvid, likely a magpie or blue jay in our area, was attempting to get a late night snack or at least a rest from on top of our garbage can.
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Friday morning was bustling with birds before I headed in to work. So I snapped a few photos in the parking lot of the American robins and starlings. I enjoy watching starlings, as I rescued 2 of them in my youth. I find them to be interesting to watch and look at. There are some different sparrows here I am not sure what they are. Hopefully I can get a pic sometime.
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And lastly a surprise... turtles! I drive over a bridge to get home, this is the same area most of my duck photos are from. I noticed something on the log that sits in the middle of the river. It is no less than 9 turtles sunning themselves! I did not realize there were turtles here so that was exciting. This weekend it got to be 80 degree weather so they are just barely waking up. I think they are native Western pond turtles, but they could very well be an invasive variety. (not great photos at some 50 yards away but I even tried through binoculars...)
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Wonderful pics. Do you have a camera or a smartphone?

Great pics,the turtles/terrapins look great!!There are some introduced populations of Red eared terrapins in the UK and they appear just like yours but it has to be a lot hotter here in the UK than it is at the moment!!Hopefully you may have a Wolverine in your area soon!

Most of the time, these pictures are taken on just my smart phone. I have a nicer camera but its fairly old at this point. They take long distance photos of about the same quality (that is grainy )

I don't think directly around me is quite wild and remote enough for a wolverine. But Crater Lake National Park a few hours away probably is. That is where "Journey" the wolf (a dispersal, the first to walk on California soil in like 150 years) settled there and now his offspring are furthering his work! He has great grandkids that now live in Northern California!

Love the footprints, you can kind of see where it must have tried the edge to see if it could get in.

I love those unique colored pigeons! We have a flock at our local grocery store, of course, with some crazy colors in it.

It is indeed turtle time, nice to see you have some as neighbors. Looks like they could use another basking spot to share, ha!

Thank you Jill. Yes, the turtles need some more waterfront property!

Quick update.

Some quail friends at work! Theres a small flock that visit me at home but I have yet to snap good photos. These two were much more brazen.
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Sorry for the window glare, I didn't want to disturb them by rolling my window down.
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We have several blue jays visit, but they are hard to photograph because the buggers are smart!
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I have seen a stellar's jay nearby, I hope to snag a photo sometime.

A very brazen pigeon outside a pizza joint I got dinner at one night.
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Photos of a hare taking advantage of an evening rainstorm.
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Lastly... the bald eagles are migrating back. I am not 100% sure, but I think this one got a turtle.
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Oh! I missed one. The fence lizards are coming out too.
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Really nice

Quail are so simple but so beautiful birds

Oh those quails are so cool!! Never seen on in life before. And love fence lizards, look at those chunky lads. :)

Thanks for letting me know about the wolverines. I really like those lizards.

Thank you everyone. :)

More terrible long distance phone pictures!

This is a blue heron thay frequents my nearby river. He is infamously hard to photograph! He spooks and flies off the SECOND I start to slow my car for a photo... these are the closest I have gotten.
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Another terrible photo from the local lake. With it being backlit I never could get an ID. I just know that it was pretty big, so my best guess would be sandhill crane.
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There are LOTS of local robins, and they are very bold indeed. I have counted over 20 in the yard once.
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And a small yellow songbird and his lady friend. They never got close enough for ID or better photos... tanager maybe? I really have no idea.
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This poor thing got stuck between a board and some chicken fencing. Sadly by the time I came upon it it had already passed.
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But it was a great opportunity to get a close up look at such a gorgeous creature that holds some significance for my family.
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A young and energetic Western fence lizard!
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Behind one of my favorite restaurants in town there is a yellow bellied marmot family. There is another family on my drive to and from work.
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Sunning on the road one day was a garter snake. He was pretty big! I stopped and carefully shooed him off the road.
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Thank you everyone. :)

More terrible long distance phone pictures!

This is a blue heron thay frequents my nearby river. He is infamously hard to photograph! He spooks and flies off the SECOND I start to slow my car for a photo... these are the closest I have gotten.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Another terrible photo from the local lake. With it being backlit I never could get an ID. I just know that it was pretty big, so my best guess would be sandhill crane.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

There are LOTS of local robins, and they are very bold indeed. I have counted over 20 in the yard once.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

And a small yellow songbird and his lady friend. They never got close enough for ID or better photos... tanager maybe? I really have no idea.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

This poor thing got stuck between a board and some chicken fencing. Sadly by the time I came upon it it had already passed.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

But it was a great opportunity to get a close up look at such a gorgeous creature that holds some significance for my family.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

A young and energetic Western fence lizard!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Behind one of my favorite restaurants in town there is a yellow bellied marmot family. There is another family on my drive to and from work.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Sunning on the road one day was a garter snake. He was pretty big! I stopped and carefully shooed him off the road.
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Then a rather pretty moth species that hangs around.
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Continued!

On our trip back to visit family, instead of donkeys we were greeted by 2 pairs of yellow headed blackbirds that had no concern and actually were entreating us for snacks.
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Too far away to ID these guys passing through. They look a lot like the Safari Ltd. Anhinga.
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And then... leporid babies! These 2 had no fear of the car, and it wasn't until I turned my wheel in the gravel that they bounded off. Hopefully it was a gentle life lesson to not hang out on the road! Hawks or vehicles will prey on them.

A cottontail
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and a hare
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And a turtle was rescued by my niece and sister. I got to peek at him before they took him back to the river from his road excursion.
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A small herd of short horn cattle made my day this weekend.
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Lastly, 3 buzzards (turkey vultures) were circling rather low on the road when I got home yesterday. I stopped and watched their amazing aerial acrobatics. There were 3, one looked like a juvenile to 2 parents.
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Beautiful robins and the hare ,

Beautieful

It's wonderful to read how you observe each creature in nature and, above all, how you care about their well-being and safety. Some pictures are really hard to get the animal identification and some are really good. I don't know if the yellow bird is supposed to be a Baltimore oriole, they're orange but with so many mosquitos sucking their blood, they might fade to yellow.
Those anhingas are probably double-crested cormorants and the unfortunate butterfly is a Anise swallowtail.

What an amazing place you live in Paige with so much wild variety! Great to see all these photos and hear your stories.
That's so interesting about the marmot family, and there they are all together in your pic?!
Wonderful that your sister and niece saved the turtle! and glad you helped the garter snake get safely off the road.
The baby jackrabbit is amazing, those ears are ginormous!

You live in a nice place with a rich fauna, beautiful pictures!

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

A small herd of short horn cattle made my day this weekend.
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I forgot to ask - what are the straps over the cows horns ?
I've never seen that before.

Absolute wonderful wildlife!!!!!!!.I wonder is your little bird is an American Goldfinch.The cattle look great as well and they look a little like Corriente cattle.

Great pictures! Love all the reptile friends! That snake looks sort of like a Western ribbon snake with such bold stripes on the side as well, but then,you saw him better than me haha! Nice to see you making sure all these creatures cross the road safely. The turtle looks like a western pond turtle? Maybe?

Gosh the ears on that hare. I know they are large anyway but wow. Still growing into them I guess!