Bald Eagle

Last Saturday the Aububon Society of Portland (Oregon) hosted a Raptor Road Trip at Sauvie Island. A map was given out at the start which showed 4 locations at which volunteers had set up spotting scopes and located any birds in the area. There were Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, American Kestrels, and much to my delight someone had located a Prairie Falcon. Also there were Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese, and big variety of ducks. I think the thing that impressed me the most was the huge turnout of birders. Many of them brought their children to insure we will have future birders. Pictured here is an immature eagle in flight and having breakfast. There were several eagles in the area and while I was retrieving my camera my son-in-law saw 12 soaring overhead. Awesome!

Roosevelt Elk

The elk pictured were second only to the bison in numbers before the west was settled. Hunting almost drove this huge animal (male bull can weigh up to 1000 pounds) to extinction. Theodore Roosevelt helped save the elk with hunting restrictions and by starting wildlife refuges where they are protected. Consequently, they were named Roosevelt Elk.
The Roosevelt Elk are different from the Rocky Mountain Elk in several different ways. The Roosevelt Elk have much stockier bodies than the Rocky Mountain Elk. Also, the Roosevelt Elk's antlers are much thinner and the spread between the two antlers is much smaller than their Rocky Mountain counterparts. The reason for this is because the Roosevelt Elk's home turf is heavily forested. It would be difficult to run through these massive forests with antlers that have a very wide spread. While visiting the elk refuge, we were able to hear them vocalize, which is called bugling. It is a truly astonishing sound. We also were able to see the bulls jousting with their antlers. You could hear the clack-clack-clack of the antlers engaging. These jousts were just practice for the real thing during the rut season and were fairly low key but very fun to watch and hear.
The pictures shown here were taken at Jewel Meadows Wildlife Area in northwestern Oregon. There is a herd of 200 to 300 which live there year round. They are fed in the winter months which makes viewing easier. Interestingly, the wildlife area is operated with funds generated from the sale of Oregon hunting licenses and tags.

Mountain Bluebird

The Mountain Bluebird is most likely to be confused with other bluebirds. Male Mountain Bluebirds lack any reddish coloration on their underparts unlike Eastern and Western Bluebirds. Females are more difficult to separate.
In the winter they sometimes travel in flocks and feed on berries. I happened to catch this guy flying away with a prized Juniper berry. The picture was taken at Bosque del Apache visitor center.

Greater Roadrunner

The Greater Roadrunner is a signature bird of the desert Southwest. During the 20th century, its range expanded all the way to southern Missouri and western Louisiana. A ground-dwelling cuckoo, it feeds on snakes, scorpions, and any other small animal it can catch and subdue.
The Greater Roadrunner can reach running speeds of 30 km/hr (18.6 mi/hr). It holds its head and tail flat and parallel to the ground when running at its top speed.
To warm up after a cold desert night, a roadrunner will turn its back to the sun, fluff its back feathers, and expose skin along its back. This skin is black in order to absorb more solar energy.
Photographers new to the southwest are always asking where Roadrunners can be found. Luckily I found one and not surprisingly it was crossing the road.

Sandhill Crane Takeoff

At night Sandhill Cranes stay in shallow ponds. In the early morning they depart and head for the corn fields to feed. As they prepare for flight they start by pointing their heads in the direction of the wind. Shown here is flight preparation, takeoff, and flight.

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhills are one of two crane species found in North America. The other is the whooping crane, an endangered species, which has been recently reintroduced to Wisconsin. Unlike its' white whooping crane cousin, the sandhill crane is a tall gray bird. It has a huge wingspan of 6-7 feet! While the birds are tall, they only weigh between 8 and 11 pounds. Adults have yellow eyes, black bills, legs and feet, with a bright red patch on the crest of their head. Males and females look nearly alike. In the spring, they actually "paint" their feathers with mud to camouflage themselves in brown grasses. These birds also date back several million years and are highly revered in Asia.
Over 15000 Sandhills call Bosque del Apache their winter home.

Snow Geese

We are presently in southern New Mexico at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. This is the winter home of tens of thousands of birds. Pictured here are Snow Geese. One picture shows a very large group taken during one of their "blast offs". The noise and sight of thousands of birds lifting off at once is an incredible sight.

Trail camera pictures

I recently got a trail camera and hung it from a tree in the woods. My first pictures were of a 9 point buck. Even though the quality isn't that of my Canon camera it wasn't that bad either.

Mount St. Helens is most famous for its catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980 which was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. The eruption caused a massive debris avalanche, reducing the elevation of the mountain's summit from 9,677 feet to 8,365 feetand replacing it with a mile-wide horseshoe-shaped crater.
The picture shows the side of the volcano and its reflection with a fishman getting ready to cast.

My Favorite

I have taken a few hundred deer pictures this fall and so far this one is my favorite. I like how he is sandwiched between white oaks and the remains of understory flora are in front of him.

Leaping Buck

I was lucky to capture this young buck starting to leap and in mid air.

More Big Bucks

Whitetail deer have over populated in East Central Illinois as they have in many areas of the United States. I remember as boy hardly ever seeing deer and if one photographed in the county it would surely make the front page of the paper. Now during the rut season I drive my four wheeler through the country side and take pictures regularly and since they are very common they never make the front page. Well I take that back I did have one on the front page last year but he was white. Pictured are three bucks I have taken in the last couple of weeks.

Big Antlers

In the late winter and early spring of the midwest buck white-tail deer lose or shed their antlers and then proceed to grow them back. Shed hunting is very popular and good exercise. Fall shed hunting is a bit more unusual. I found the antlers pictured recently but in this case the old guy shed head and all. I also found the shed to this buck in the spring which I am guessing would be a rarity to find the same shed in one year. If I find his shed next spring I am writing Ripley's.

Big Buck

The Rut is the period of time when white-tailed deer mate. During the rut (also known as the rutting period), males rub their antlers on trees or shrubs, fight with each other, and pursue estrus females by their scent.The Rut is the time when white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), especially bucks, are more active and less cautious than usual. This makes them easier to hunt, as well as more susceptible to being hit by motor vehicles or in my case easier to photograph. I caught this guy this morning more interested in his mate than me.

One Antler Buck

This the season when Big Bucks fight to see who is the toughest and gets to breed the Does. This guy apparently lost since he only has one antler.

Common Buckeye

Pictured is the Common Buckeye. It is thought that the eyespots of the Common Buckeye Butterfly may be used to scare away predators. The Common Buckeye was featured on the 2006 United States Postal Service 24-cent postage stamp.

Viceroy

The viceroy butterfly is dark orange with black veins. A row of white spots edge its wings. Its color and pattern mimics the monarch butterfly's pattern except for a black horizontal stripe that crosses the bottom of its back wings. The viceroy caterpillar is white and olive-brown. The viceroy and monarch were once thought to exhibit Batesian mimicry where a harmless species mimics a toxic species. Studies conducted in the early 1990's suggest that the viceroy and the monarch are actually examples of Mullerian mimicry where two equally toxic species mimic each other to the benefit of each. Just goes to show you there's always something new to discover in the natural world!
The picture shown is two Viceroys in copula and was taken today in Coles County.

Coyote

The coyote is a member of the dog family. In size and shape the coyote is like a medium-sized Collie dog, but its tail is round and bushy and is carried straight out below the level of its back.
One of the most adaptable animals in the world, the coyote can change its breeding habits, diet and social dynamics to survive in a wide variety of habitats.
Alone, in pairs or in packs, coyotes maintain their territories by marking them with urine. They also use calls to defend this territory, as well as for strengthening social bonds and general communication. Coyotes can easily leap an 8 foot fence or wall. They have been spotted climbing over a 14 foot cyclone fence.
Environmentalists firmly believe that the coyotes are necessary to preserve the balance of nature. Some sportsmen feel the coyote is responsible for the declines in game species. Biologists agree that individual animals preying on livestock and poultry should be destroyed but that the species as a whole is not necessarily harmful, because much of its diet is made up of destructive rodents. Biologists also agree that coyote populations have no lasting effects on other wildlife populations. So the controversy rages on.

Red-tailed Hawk

The most common and widespread hawk in North America, the Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of open country. It is frequently seen sitting on utility poles where it watches for rodents in the grass along the roadsides. The hawk pictured is an immature bird and testimony to this was that he let me get quite close before he/she flew. Also notice the tail has not turned red yet.

Albino Deer

Last year I posted this same deer. He definitely has grown and has added 4 points to his rack. The rack is still covered with velvet and has a pinkish tint. He has moved about a mile from where I saw him last year. He is shown here eating soybeans about a mile south of Charleston.