Found in a discarded beer can along a forest road. The shrew likely entered to seek beer remnants, got trapped behind the flap at the opening, and died from hypothermia or starvation in the wet conditions. The sheared fur and exposed skin suggests the shrew may have also suffered injury from the sharp metal in trying to escape.
Female. Feather in first picture has a pinched shaft giving a more pronounced bend. Last picture is coverts?
Squarish owl tracks in a dust patch near an old barn where 3 individual owls of this species were seen roosting a few minutes later.
La longitud de la navaja es de 60 mm.
This mother had three cubs with her.
Otters making more otters!!!!
In a trot. Rights at top (and inset), lefts below.
Medida del ancho 4 cm
Medida promedio entre ondulaciones 16.9 cm
Se observan dos tipos de locomoción:
Ondulación lateral
Rectilinear
Se infiere por las medidas y lugar que pueda ser Boa
with Microtus spp. for size comparison
Eggs coll. 23 April, 2024 on Quercus nigra
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/209184166
Maybe... on Liquidambar styraciflua leaf. Reared from egg.
Definite grouse scats to the left on (likely drumming) log, but some comparatively large scats to right. They almost seem too large and oddly shaped for grouse, but they are not a great fit for turkey either, which is likely the only other possibility.
Beautiful clear prints. Note claws and print on toe 1. Fur is present in tracks as well.
American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)
Scoggins Valley Park
50250 SW Scoggins Valley Road
Gaston, Washington County, Oregon
While driving around the road that circles the large lake at this state park, we encountered and briefly observed a smallish black bear that appeared to be alone and busy foraging. It was eating berries from the many berry bushes adjacent to the road.
Cutting the base of the flower from the petiole. Presumably feeding on nectar or embryo at the base of the flower. Thousands of cut flower beneath the tree. Seem to focus on many flowers in single clusters.
Pellet. Beneath perch commonly used by bald eagles.
Roaring River Ridge, Willamette national Forest, Oregon, USA.
R.I.P. Beaver.
Tracks
I think these are little marks where fish nibbled the algae off the rocks.
lots of nests dug into ground, birds present in nests.
Grey squirrel eating tree buds! I like how you can see her cutting twigs to hold like little popsicles so she doesn’t have to reach precariously the whole time. Even a city squirrel doesn’t ONLY eat from bird feeders and garbage cans; I like seeing them perform natural behaviors. (Though as clever, adaptable, opportunistic omnivores, almost anything they eat could be considered “natural”… kind of like dogs and humans in that way. Still: congrats on the healthy eating habits, random squirrel!)
I believe these are oak trees but I’m rusty on my tree ID when no leaves are present so I could be wrong; one of my plans for later in the year is to go up and down the riverbank path and ID all the good-sized trees.
Update: also this is more photography practice for me, trying out camera settings and then editing backlit shots once I get home - I think they’re getting better than the last chunk of super backlit photos?
It didn’t really hit me until I saw this bird that the heron from last year probably wasn’t just in non-breeding plumage, but was an immature bird. This site has actual professional photography of different heron plumages: http://gustaviatex.com/blog/2020/2/21/great-blue-herons-are-ready-for-spring
(Side note, frustrating that iNat only offers “adult” or “juvenile” for mammals and birds and not infant/adolescent/juvenile/1st year immature/etc… but I peeked at the topic on the forums and there are way too many people who care way more than I do arguing about it and as I have no intention of volunteering my time to wrangle the database, I will stay out of it! For my own personal rule I will use “juvenile” for babies/fledglings and consider full-size independent birds as “adult” even if they don’t have full adult plumage yet.)
I have now read that it takes 4 years for herons to grow up enough to sport this look, and that at first things like the cap are a little messy. So I don’t believe this is “Slim” suddenly all grown up and returning to a haunt from a few months ago, because that black and white cap is SHARP. I think this is a different, much more mature bird. Look at those PLUMES! And the black and rust inside the wings! As well as the bright orange beak (difficult to see the blue lore). Very different. And compare the “flying past the dock” shot to the other bird I noticed a few days prior which is still mostly grey everywhere including beak and legs, no snazzy plumes. THAT one could theoretically be Slim… remains to be seen if they hang around and get noticed in the same few spots on a regular basis like s/he did.
It was raining pretty hard when I noticed this bird from the west side of the path just south of the Belmont bridge (near where that huge gull landed!) and I decided it was worth it to risk getting my camera out of my backpack and try to get photos, but in the struggle to get it out of its waterproof case (a little reusable silicon snack pouch) while huddling under the umbrella, I evidently messed up a bunch of settings, and ended up with a lot of garbage! Also the bird kept moving north as I crossed the river and headed towards the boathouse in the park. All told I took more than 500 shots over the course of about an hour trying to get something usable, because I could tell the camera was unhappy with how dim it was in the rain, especially if I tried to make the shutter speed faster to catch the plumes blowing in the wind even though they were soaking wet. Trying to get something artsy framed by the dripping twigs was fun though. These are my favorites, plus a couple shots to see how far away s/he was, one emphasizing what a weird skinny creature they are from the front, and one flying past the dock for better direct comparison with the previous bird. Even from the opposite bank through the trees, that bird was DEFINITELY looking right at me a lot of the time - not difficult when my umbrella is both neon and reflective - and the black and white pattern over the eyes really gives it a smug condescending impression at times, LOL. I’m simultaneously happy with some of these shots and disappointed they didn’t measure up to my hopes; maybe I’ll have to paint the scene instead,
Wasp chewing off bits of wood, I included photos of the chewed parts.
5.0 inches in length
Two, one brown and one green. The brown one left droppings while I watched them. In the wider photo, the brown one is on the right.
The toes appear much more slender than those of Great-horned Owl. Size appears to match this observation of Barred Owl feet:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/162574018
They appear similar in size to these confirmed (though very obscure) Barred Owl tracks:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/69318561
And track morphology appears to match these reported Barred Owl tracks:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/81068916
Track length about 3.25" which is at the low range for great horned owl. Tracks seem less bulbous/robust than typical great horned owl tracks though. Barred owl maybe?
Found amongst mesquite woodland. Possibly/probably transported here by humans but bears and bear habitat are not terribly far from here and a starving/sick animal may have wandered onto the desert to die
This is more a didactic upload showing 2 types of leaf damage in the same leaf (mining and shotgun-ish)
tracks show lion broke through the ice crossing the creek
Great horned owl pouncing on a chorus frog
Raccoon moving in 2x2 gait through deep, loose, dry sand onto firm damp sand. A pretty clear example of how substrate can affect the appearance of animal tracks
There were also muskrat and beaver tracks at this location
I’m not positive on the ID here as I’ve never seen chukar tracks. But the stride length and size seem to rule out quail. Another possibility is gray partridge.
Egg cases
Tracks and trail in damp sand. Coin 24mm in diameter. Garden Wash. San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.
Found in the ceiling of Dillard's Department Store
Jon Poppele's Bird Tracks books as reference here, comparing duck to gull
Jaguar footprints on the beach of Tortuguero.
Jaguar footprints on the beach of Tortuguero.
Largest tracks. Smaller tracks are Sanderling. And the holes are from the Whimbrel's bill.
Willow tree adjacent to pond
Most of the Stripped Maple had evidence of the bark being stripped off.
Perhaps the same individual as here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/201066235. These tracks were only about a half mile apart from the other observation.
seen during our monthly tracking club outing. these mounds are curiously pocket gopher like. (we’re outside of their known range).
Enormous goose track. Just under 5" for both length and width.
Tracks. First time to see burrowing owl tracks!
Tracking with Earth Native at Monahans Sandhills state park