Eeeek! Peeeep! Just who is that screaming from the mountain rocks?

They are elusive to see some of the time, but equally as up close and curious to be checking you out the next. One moment they are silent, the next they utter an amazing “Eeeek!” type of panic call and dash away to hide! These curious little fury creatures don’t live here in the lowlands. But anyone who has ventured up into the Cascades where high elevation open rocky slopes dot the landscape knows what I mean. The pika is a fascinating little mammal and survives in one of the harshest environments around us!
The pika is a small, industrious mammal that lives in our mountain regions, typically inhabiting the boulder-covered hillsides and rock-piles (aka talus) near timberline. Talus might seem like an inhospitable environment to us as we find it difficult and dangerous to traverse. But pikas can use the talus to escape predators and nasty weather. Under the surface is a labyrinth of pika-sized caves and passages. Still air trapped between the rocks, combined with a layer of snow over the surface, can insulate pikas from sub-zero temperatures and wind chill! Pikas lack the large hind legs that allow hares and rabbits to outrun some predators. But in talus, they can outmaneuver most predators!

They also are called "rock rabbits" by some. The 8-inch long, 7-ounce pika spends the summer busily cutting, gathering and drying leaves and grasses. It eats a variety of green plants like grasses, sedges, thistles, and fireweed. Some it will eat on the spot while some of it will be carried away and stored in a pile or "haystack." A pika haystack can contain as much as a bushel of plants! The pika will often move the pile to protect it from rain or to find a better drying spot. After the vegetation dries the pika will move it to its den deep in the rocks. The dried plants are then stored for use as a food source during the long high-altitude winters. They do not hibernate even in these harsh long snowy periods and thus have these food stores they worked all summer long to build to survive off of! When their food source starts to run low they will also supplement their needs by foraging on whatever is available under the snow, such as bark and lichen. A relative of the rabbit and hare, the pika is the size and shape of a guinea pig with a stocky, grayish-brown body. It has short legs, round ears, a tiny virtually invisible tail, and sharp curved claws. It is very alert and has excellent hearing and vision which helps protect it from predators like coyotes, weasels, martens and hawks. They emit a sharp, high-pitched whistle to alert other nearby pikas when predators are detected. Therefore they may well see the approach of a human as a similar threat and sound the alarms!
Females usually bear one or two litters, with two to four young in each. When the young are born, they have no hair and are blind. But within a short time they grow rapidly and are able to open their eyes. Amazing as it may sound, the babies will leave their mother after four weeks and are adult size in about three months. Pikas usually live for about four to seven years, which I find fascinating for such a small creature in the wild! So give them you attention the next time you see or hear one---they live in an amazing world of their own!

Boring Beetles aren't so boring: The Banded Alder Borer

Beetles aren't necessarily the most exciting critter to many people. In fact they can give some people the absolute creeps! But some play a positive role in nature and are downright beautiful. Mention the phrase "borer beetles" and usually the reaction isn’t going to be a positive one. Most species of this “long-horned borer” beetle family can cause extensive damage to nature as they bore into live wood. Some of you may recall hearing about the dangerous imported Asian Long-horned Beetle, which devastated mature trees in several Eastern US cities during 1999 and 2000. This caused thousands of trees to be destroyed in Chicago and New York in particular! Harmful boring beetles will attack forest trees including maple, poplar, and alder. They kill the trees by boring large holes through the heartwood of the tree. This in turn causes serious damage to the live tree. Most of these long-horned beetle species which are harmful to trees have the long antennae and long bodies which are characteristic of this family. However, we are fortunate to have a native beetle to our area in this family which actually is beneficial to nature! Introducing: the Banded Alder Borer.
The Banded Alder Borer is very striking as it is 1-1.5 inches long with large black and white striped ("banded") antennae and black and white markings on the body. The antennae are longer than the body! It feeds on alder, ash and other hardwood trees. However, it feeds on the dead or decaying wood of these trees. This in turn is helping with the promotion of the decay of the dead wood in the ecosystem. They lay their eggs on the surface of the tree bark. As the larvae develop they then tunnel inward and later prepare pupal chambers which will be home until the beetle is "born" to life.
Typically you will only see single individuals of them during the summer. Occasionally, however, they are strangely attracted in groups to fresh paint on the sides of buildings during warm/hot weather! Speculation is that a volatile chemical in paint can mimic a certain attracting scent ("pheromone") which draws the beetles to each other. Some painters have returned from a lunch break only to find a number of them unfortunately dead in their open cans of paint. The Banded Alder Borer is the only known beetle that seems to display this potential attraction to freshly painted areas.
Don't expect to come across these lovely beetles very often as they actually are quite uncommon to see. But if you should be lucky enough to see one take a moment to get close and watch it. They do not bite and are not a pest in any way---there is no need for taking any actions to control them!

What a beak...the Evening Grosbeak

Here we have a rather uncommon bird that many of you may not have experienced yet. But one thing is almost for certain: if you see one, you will see many more! Moving around often in large flocks, the evening grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) can fill your surrounding trees with a loud chorus and also drain your large birdfeeders of sunflower seeds in a hurry.
About 140 years ago, English-speaking settlers in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains came across a beautiful big-beaked bird that appeared mysteriously from somewhere in the distant west. They named it evening grosbeak in the mistaken belief that it came out of the woods to sing only after sundown. The species today has expanded its range---prior to 1890, they were unknown east of the Great Lakes, whereas today they continue to expand their breeding range throughout the East. Thus not until recent times (historically speaking) have they even been known to exist to white settlers. The modern day abundance of sunflower seeds at feeding stations is one of the keys to its range expansion as the seeds available have extended the chances of them being able to survive the winters in areas their native wintering seeds (primarily seeds from the cones of spruce, balsam fir, and pine trees) never existed!

The evening grosbeak is considered a very common bird…if you are lucky enough to have them around. However, they are very spotty in their distribution and while one area might be overwhelmed with dozens of them the next areas will not have a single specimen. They are an erratic migrant in winter as the occurrence of their flocks is unpredictable. They are large, gregarious, nomadic finches that travel in raucous flocks. During the winter, evening grosbeaks are irregularly common, sometimes appearing in large flocks at feeders where they can devour huge amounts of sunflower seeds. I can’t describe the amazing sense you experience when getting the opportunity to stand outside and listen to a flock of 30 or 40 of them all chirping! The chorus of chatter they create is absolutely lovely!
A fascinating feature about this bird is of course its beak. The evening grosbeak's bill is bone color during winter, but it undergoes a dramatic change in pigmentation in early spring. Its new color matches precisely the green of fresh deciduous buds and leaves and also the new needles that will tip the spruce boughs around the site where the bird's nest will be built a few weeks thereafter. The evening grosbeak conceals its body in the trees and in order to see lifts only its head and bill, which looks like a young green spruce or balsam cone. This is a terrific example of protection through appropriate coloration!

Certainly no farmer will wish to take away from them the weed seeds they devour. A grosbeak getting all its daily energy from budworm larvae would eat 1000 a day. These birds crowd into budworm infested areas to breed and raise young, then move elsewhere when the infestation declines. Because of its appetite for this destructive pest, the evening grosbeak is one of our most beneficial birds! So while they are not as common as our summer visitors, the black-headed grosbeaks, they certainly are a joy to experience if you are so lucky to have them at your feeders during their times passing here in the area!

Can we adapt to changes as well as nature?

So, can we humans adapt to changes around us as well as nature usually shows us grand shows of how well it is done? Well, I certainly hope so but I'm constantly amazed at examples where we see a dramatic effect to the environment around some creature of our natural world and boom, they know ways to deal with it. Most of us are all aware of the tremendous cold weather that push into 2/3 of the country. I mean, it was 18* last Saturday morning in New Orleans. Yes! And many temperatures in the 20's in the northern half of Florida, where stores ran out of space heaters. But speaking of Florida, that is where my story is taking us today. Manatees are a spectacular mammal of the warm waters and show strong signs of becoming very ill if water temperatures drop below 68*. The story HERE from the Tampa Bay newspaper covers what has happened this week very well. The Manatees are suddenly gathering in a natural spring area where biologists are speechless at the sight, never having see so many of them in the area as this. Why? The warm springs that feed this special place discussed keeps the water at a constant 72*, and with the cold weather the waters have cooled too much in the normal wintering waters for them! I simply love reading and learning about the adaptation of nature. I would bet that the Manatees didn't go into a few decades of arguing over the change (in climate, or "insert your modifying factor here" type of change to an environment), spend billions of dollars arguing over it, and then another decade or two discussing what the solution would be for the problem. I'm guessing they figured it out a lot quicker than that! Every bad doom and gloom problem...there is a bright answer.

Just like every dark gloomy part of a rainbow...has a spectacular bright sunny part to it!

Glowing gold of alpine larch trees

This time of year an annual march to the high country by avid hikers is going at a frantic pace. Larch tree lovers are roaming for a fix of the golden glow of fall larch trees everywhere and the current nice weather has them really in a fit over where to go this coming weekend! Sad to say, most alpine larch trees are turning color later than the typical first week or two of October this year and what I have seen shows that we are a good week away from the prime showing of these magical golden autumn trees. But with the weather forecast turning wet and gray next week I went on with a personal wish to enjoy the hike to Ingalls Lake yesterday and was a little bit surprised and lucky! I expected mostly green needle larch trees but found that a few areas are quite nice if you look hard enough.

A great day to enjoy not only good company of a friend, golden larch trees trying to encourage the masses of other larch trees to hurry up and give up the green color, but also seeing well over 50 wild turkeys driving to/from the trailhead, three coyotes, and then two mountain goats in Headlight Basin before Ingalls Lake! See? If Alan leaves his big lens at home to save weight, the wildlife will come!

Might it be autumn yet?

Maybe by looking at the plant life in the mountains you won't quite yet think fall is in full swing. Sure, there are some colors starting to show as vine maples are red in a few places, huckleberries are barely starting to turn crimson but for the highest elevations where vivid red is already happening. But the wildlife is not waiting for some weatherman to indicate to them things are changing – they are busy doing their thing! Wait at most any ridge along the Cascade Crest east slopes and you’ll see numerous raptors soaring over them in their migration southward (turkey vultures, many hawk species, etc…). And as the photo shows, hiking virtually any trail will show signs of the Douglas Squirrel busy dropping the huge fir cones to the ground to then later scurry down to get the seeds out of. A hike into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness to Melakwa Lake yesterday brought me to this lovely cone, and while looking at it two other cones came crashing down from high in the trees above me – bombs away and watch out!

Racoon stampede...or how to enjoy baby animals

It was a calm morning today and I hardly was awake enough to pay attention to what was happening outside. Lucky for me a family member was paying attention and while eating his breakfast yelled out, "Something is crawling down that tree!". Sure enough, not only was he right, but right x 3! A raccoon family had just scrambled up into a cedar tree, two adults and one adorable 2009 baby. While we watched them go up a bit and then come right back down it was fun to watch the antics of them either trying to find a nice area on our property to "roost" in a tree for the day or keep checking if I actually had any food in a local bird feeder.

After enjoying watching them a few minutes I went outside to photograph them and that is when the young one was showing it wasn't quite as agile in tree climbing quickly as its parents. The two adults were at the bottom of the tree while the little one wanted to go down but was clearly worried about my being nearby. After seeing this, I headed back inside...no photos are worth risking putting undo pressure on a species, and simple raccoons are no different. By the time I was back in and looking out the window where the others were watching, the baby showed it knew how to do thing - zoom, down the tree and off the family went together! A great start to a great day.

The Whistling Pigs of Summer

There are some fun critters that live around us that lead what appear to be pretty good lives. Chipmunks seem to just have fun scurrying about all day zipping in and out of the rocks. Otters never seem to have to take life seriously! But how can you beat the life of marmots? They roam around during the day ever so slowly eating the lush vegetation. When they tire of that, it's time to nap on a sunny rock. Then they eat some more and to finish off autumn they head underground for a seven month snooze far underneath the snow!
The Pacific Northwest is filled with prime habitat supporting large marmot populations. In fact the best areas for viewing marmots are in Washington State! The Paradise and Sunrise areas in Mount Rainier National Park are typically thick with Hoary Marmot activity. Their close cousin the Olympic Marmot can easily be viewed around Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. Yet a third species of marmot, the Yellow-bellied Marmot, lives throughout Eastern Washington! I have seen many of them at Palouse Falls State Park as well as the hills between Ellensburg and Cle Elum. It is worth noting that the Yellow-bellied Marmot is a host for the tick that carries Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Many people think that all marmots live in colonies, but this is only typically true if there is a large food source available for all of them. More often they need to disperse over a larger range and thus live more isolated with their mate. In this case the increased range means the male will not be able to guard more than one female and feed himself at the same time. They feed on the lush green vegetation of the alpine meadows (or shrub steppe in the case of the Yellow-bellied Marmot) extensively. They will often perform an entertaining form of "playful" wrestling when one feels another is moving in on their own personal stash of food! They won't hurt one another however, as a simple call from one will end the match.
All marmots have many vocalizations. A common call is the alarm call which is given anytime anything comes near a burrow. This typically would be a natural predator such as a coyote, fox, eagle, or even people in areas where marmots are not accustomed to seeing them. The alarm call is a high-pitched shrill whistle. Marmots who hear them respond by immediately looking around and returning to their burrows if they are not already at one!
I fondly remember my first encounter with a marmot in Moraine Park on the north side of Mount Rainier National Park. Visibility wasn’t more than 100 feet in the thick fog. As I hiked up through the avalanche lily filled meadows of the area a sudden loud shrill broke the peaceful silence. There through the fog I spotted a lone huge marmot standing tall and showing me why they have the nickname “Whistler”. At the same time I then saw at least five other marmots scurrying rapidly to hide under the rocks!

I’m always eager to roam high alpine meadows this summer to watch the antics of these wonderful creatures…the “Whistling Pigs of Summer”!

An "Owl" of a day

Last week I was in Seattle every day while my son was working hard in the heat at a baseball camp. I used the chance to tour around some places I normally wouldn't have made the time to travel all the way into the city to visit and it was a lot of fun! One hot day I went to the Arboretum and walked many of the paths there. Just when I was thinking "pretty place, but need to come in late spring for flowering shrubs and in fall for color" I passed a small pond and for some reason looked up.

Staring at me just above the pond on a tree branch? A lovely Barred Owl! After photographing it for a minute or so, it flew to another branch farther away, up in a maple tree. I left it alone after another minute and enjoyed my luck! I passed by the area on my hike out about an hour later and went to see if it was still there. Knowing it had been I looked more closely at all areas around the pond, and after a couple of minutes indeed did locate the lovely bird again! It had worked its way far up into a top notch of a different big-leaf maple tree and appeared to be napping.

Oh, I saw a Great Gray Owl also!!! But for that one...I was cheating. Woodland Park Zoo has a great way to photograph them if you see it out in a very natural setting. Ha!

Break from the action....

Hello to everyone - quiet here, isn't it? Well, that always means one thing: I'm busy out enjoying trips to places and not at the computer adding blog entries! I just got back from 4.5 days with my family around the Olympic Peninsula and while I could add a lot of information as well as my next part of my journey to Oregon (Newberry National Volcanic Monument is up next!), I can't. I'm leaving in just 14 hours to go for a five day journey to the North Oregon Coast with my son for much hiking, fishing, biking, fishing, fishing, kite flying, hiking, fishing, biking, s'mores roasting fun!

Back at you on a regular basis in a week - take care and hey, make summer a good one for you right now!

(photo: very small black-tailed fawn nursing with mama in avalanche lilies on Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park)

Gallery showing June-July 2009 in the Snoqualmie Valley

Hello to many friends and acquaintances in and near the lovely Snoqualmie Valley.

I’m honored to invite you to drop by lovely downtown Fall City at the Fall City Roadhouse & Inn tomorrow June 3rd between 5:00-7:00pm. The wonderful owners of this cozy establishment are kicking off my two-month showing of “Wildlife and Wilderness” with a fun artist reception and viewing of the 30+ framed prints throughout their walls.

http://www.fcroadhouse.com/

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=4200+Preston+Fall+City+Road+SE,+Fall+City,+WA+98024&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=50.424342,79.101563&ie=UTF8&ll=47.56839,-121.887088&spn=0.010583,0.019312&z=16&iwloc=addr

I hope you can come say hello! If not, don’t forget I’ll be there in two weeks on the evening of June 16th for a 7:00pm presentation on the stories behind my latest guidebook project for The Mountaineers Books, “Day Hiking-Central Cascades” that just was released. An hour of images and stories from this latest effort!Thanks again for your time and support!

Nice annual visits from the bird world

I've always enjoyed watching how the world of birds changes as we move into the warmer spring months (finally!). First off well back in April the Turkey Vultures came back for their annual summer stay in the area. Then I started seeing the Varied Thrushes slowly start to disappear as they headed back to the forested elevations a bit further away from the lowest valley areas. Suddenly Black-headed Grosbeaks showed up. Then one of the more fascinating large birds made their annual visit and still are hanging around here at our place, the Band-tailed Pigeons.
Unlike the tame pigeons found in city parks, our native Band-tailed Pigeon is a very shy bird and will avoid human contact wherever possible. They can roam alone but most often move in flocks of up to 50 birds! I always am in awe of the sight of 8, 12, or even sometimes 20 individuals booming off from our trees or feeders at the first sign of our presence. Their wings bang together to form a loud chorus of 'clapping' as they launch to the sky. They are very nomadic creatures as they move frequently in search of food. They typically will move over 20 miles daily and once they have found a persistent food source they will hit it hard and stick around. With seeds being one of their preferred foods (along with nuts, berries, and a few insects) this is an obvious story to follow once they have declared our sunflower feeding stations as a good food source. Mid-morning a single bird will come in...then a few more...and more...and suddenly we have 15-18 of them knocking each other off the feeders and the party is underway! Any quick motion on our part and poof: they are gone. But they have been known to empty a 12 lb stockpile of seeds over the course of two feeding visits during a single day!
While this habit of feeding can be hard on the birdseed budget, these birds are a special sight to have present. The purplish-grey upper body and head is almost an unreal color! This color combined with their yellow bill and legs is striking and adults have a thin white band on the back of the neck. And as its name implies, the Band-tailed Pigeon has a black band across its tail feathers. They also have many rather uncommon traits within the bird world. Only a single white egg is laid each year and only in very rare cases will there be two. One trick that I find fascinating about them is that unlike most birds, including other pigeon species, the Band-tailed pigeon is able to drink water without raising its head. It took me many years of observing them before I noted this!
Now, just yesterday we noted a visit by a stunning male Western Tanager, with its bright yellow body and orange head clearly one of the most beautiful song birds that might occasionally pass by on the west side of the Cascades! What will pay a visit next? I’ll keep my eyes open and I hope you do also – share what might be going on out there!
(photo: Band-tailed Pigeon resting on the bent branch of a western red cedar tree)

Listening For Coyote

I have a love for clear calm nights. As the night slows down and humans turn their attention to indoor activities, nature’s choir is just getting warmed up. Suddenly one piercing yelp cry leads to at least a half dozen more: the nighttime social life of the coyote has begun!

The coyote is a member of the dog family. In size and shape the coyote is like a medium-sized collie dog. However its tail is round and bushy and is carried straight out below the level of its back. They are one of the few wild animals whose vocalizations are commonly heard. At night coyotes both howl (a high quavering cry) and emit a series of short, high-pitched yips. Howls are used to keep in touch with other coyotes in the area (“I am here and this is my area!”). Sometimes, when it is first heard, the listener may experience a tingling fear of danger. But to those seasoned to the outdoors the howl of the coyote is truly “a song of the West”.

Coyotes typically dig their own dens and on average give birth to six pups in early spring. At this time food is abundant also which makes the timing of this event critical. The pups will live and play in the den for 6-10 weeks before beginning to venture out to hunt with Mom as a group. The family gradually disbands and by fall pups are hunting on their own and venturing away forming their own territory within a year of birth. Small mammals such as squirrels and rabbits make up a bulk of their diet but they also will diet on mice, insects, fruit and carrion, and even reptiles! Biologists now feel that only 10-14% of their diet comes from livestock such as poultry or young/sick sheep, etc…. Obviously great controversy exists over this very aspect of their being: are they really vicious killers or simply opportunistic hunters?

Coyotes are one of the most adaptable animals in the world. They have long been one of the most controversial of all non-game animals. Agricultural interests have urged its control by whatever means necessary so that actual and potential livestock losses may be eliminated. Environmentalists firmly believe that they are necessary to preserve the balance of nature. Actually the nearly successful attempt to exterminate the gray wolf (the coyote’s primary predator!) has been largely responsible for the coyote’s great expansion across the continent! Biologists do agree that individual animals preying on livestock and poultry should be destroyed. But they also agree 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.

The adaptability of this cleaver creature brings humans into play as well. They can quickly learn to associate us as a food source and have been known to beg for food from people! The most important thing you can do is at no time ever leave any pet food outdoors, especially overnight. Equally as critical is to realize that they love nothing more than cats and often will take small dogs. Be responsible and keep your small pets indoors and don’t attract the coyote to your domain in the first place by leaving pet food outdoors. This alone will greatly aid in keeping the likelihood of a confrontation to a minimum and allow us all to co-exist and enjoy our signing neighbors! Listen for them this spring…they have a lot to say.

The duck went "quack!" and the owl said "Whooo!"

Snow one day, sunshine the next. Yesterday I took advantage of the bright day to pay a visit between Tacoma and Olympia to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. The bright low late spring light left me with wonderful opportunities to both hone my birdwatching skills just as much as my photography skills on these very same creatures of our natural world! I was hanging out low photographing Hooded Mergansers, Green-winged Teals, Pied-billed Grebes, Common Mergansers, Horned Grebes, Mallards, Northern Pintails, Northern Shoveler, and the list goes on. Of course the refuge was scattered with literally dozens of Great Blue Herons including one who was the standing guards-bird of the path that led to the photo blind area.

What a rascal! Bald Eagles were in the high cottonwood trees along the Nisqually River, and I was lucky to find a small group who had found the resting Great Horned Owl in the large trees near the barns.

All this while thousands of Canada Geese circled in and out of the refuge. Winter is still here but the birds were looking cozy paired up in many cases with mates and life was wonderful for them all. It should be fun to pay a re-visit to see some babies from our avian friends within the coming month or so!

(photos top-to-bottom: Male Hooded Merganser; Heron standing guard on trail; Great Horned Owl sleeping in tree; Male/Female pair of Hooded Mergansers; Male/Female pair of Northern Pintails swimming; Male Green-winged Teal)

Calls for spring from nature

Oh how today brought thoughts of spring to my head. It wasn't warm by any means, just typical, but some sun breaks didn't hurt either. However it was nature that was telling me, "Hey there, we're starting to think about spring!" and that was what had me dropping what I was up to and just take in the story taking place around the property. Douglas Squirrels were tearing around the trees chasing each other (and that drove my border collie CRAZY!). Robins have replaced the presence of Varied Thrushes around the grounds, there even seems to be far fewer Dark-eyed Juncos roaming about. I had a drive-by stop at a feeder by an Evening Grosbeak, maybe since not being here all winter like they sometimes are it was passing by starting to migrate? Slugs seemed to be forming their assault forces ready to pounce on the property at moments notice once we have a warm evening. I'm sure the first night chorus of Pacific Tree Frogs can't be that far off! So on that note, I announce it to be the official start to the "Watch For Spring 2009" and I'll await hearing what stories you all might be starting to see as well. What a fun way to finish a weekend!

(photo - Douglas Squirrel, known to our border collie as "Douggie", works his way down a Western Red Cedar tree head first watching to see if our wonder dog is stalking it down below!)

The Battle of the Bighorn

No, I'm not talking about the great historic battle that happened in Montana many moons ago - you will need to head to Billings, MT and take a right turn there to see that battlefield memorial! I'm talking about the Bighorn Sheep at the Oak Creek Wildlife Area and how they performed for me the other day before the Badger sighting took over my short-term memory span.

This year there are nearly 170 sheep in this unit of the Oak Creek management region. However they are behaving somewhat differently than some years as most often they all aren't just rushing down Cleman Mountain to the feeding station in the morning. Many days no rams have been seen, as was the case when my friend Don Geyer went less than two weeks ago. The biologist that I spoke with there mentioned this as well that many days only a few are down. But then again, about five days ago nearly 160 were present!

I was fortunate to not only have 80-90 Bighorns down briefly on Wednesday morning, but to have lovely warm low-angle sunlight all morning. I have visited these magnificent critters six times now, and never have I had anything but fog, drizzle, low clouds, howling wind, and more often than not the temperatures were only 5-15* above zero! So, the day was an extra special treat --- sometimes life is pretty good to me.

Peek-a-boo with a Badger

Yesterday was one of those days that everything came together for me just about perfectly. I had plans to be out all day photographing wildlife in Central Washington, the weather was amazingly calm, warm, and sunny so I didn't freeze like usual, and the wildlife kept surprising me to make it a memorable day! I first spent the better part of 4+ hours at the Oak Creek Wildlife Area just west of Naches. It was remarkable to find virtually no snow around but it didn't matter as the California Bighorn Sheep were down at the feeding area where they have been inconsistent with their visits this winter. Wildlife officials feed them bags of pellet size feed which is rich with vitamins and also allows them to treat the animals so they don't get diseases from domestic sheep which can be fatal to them. It was a great show! Then it was another couple of hours watching 1050 elk (yes, you read that correctly) all gathered at the wildlife area headquarters area on US 12 enjoying the warm sun, tussling with a fellow critter when bored, and waiting for the handouts from the feeding trucks. Bald eagles soared and perched on the basalt cliffs around here as well (they are natures clean-up crew for the unfortunate few elk who don't survive the winter).

But what stuck in my mind the most as I came back last night was my drive home over Ellensburg Pass via the Wenas Road, a wonderful 20'ish mile long paved and gravel road cutting over Umtanum and Manastash Ridges connecting the Wenas and Kittitas Valleys, taking you right through the Wenas Wildlife Area and L.T. Murray Wildlife Area. Not far from the trailhead for Umtanum Creek Falls (see Best Desert Hikes-Washington for more details) I spotted a beautiful Badger scurry down the hill just as the sun was getting low in the western sky. He dove into his burrow, but then for the next 10 minutes played peek-a-boo with me as I had the opportunity to not only see my first Badger in the wild, but photograph it! I'll get back to sharing a bit of my time with the Bighorn Sheep tomorrow -- I'm still too pleased with my time given me by this friendly daytime Badger buddy!