Towheeblog

Above: wild horses and marmot on south end of Steens Loop.  North end closed on May 25.  Below: denizens of the headquarters, the Belding’s ground squirrels and friend, least chipmunk on tree trunk.

Above: black-tailed jackrabbit, hightailing it; eight large hominids listening to a single Sora calling and calling…unseen though not more than a few feet away.  Final score: Sora 8, birders 0. Below: young Nuttall’s cottontail, adult, three pronghorn females.

Other mammals we saw but did not get pictures of: numerous mule deer, river otter in Krumbo Reservoir,  badger, golden-mantled ground squirrel in the Steens, coyote.  Here’s the porcupine in the cottonwood at HQ, again:NOW FOR SOME BIRDS:

First little guy is Brewer’s Sparrow on top of juniper; Clark’s Grebe; nesting coot…

Above there are two images of a female curlew in the grass, and on her nest, not far off the road.  She was hard to spot and my colorblindness came through again…her horizontal dark beak stood out to my eyes but disappeared to many who could see all the subtle shades of green and brown and such.  The Mountain Bluebirds were on nest boxes at Sage Hen Rest Area along US20 west of Burns.

We had missed them all week, then on our last afternoon we suffered a Black Tern attack along Green House Lane.  A thrill, a chill, a zooming flurry of dark feathers through the air.

The first two images show Sage Thrasher taking to the air from sagebrush at Chickahominy Reservoir; then Tree Swallow in nest box there; Turkey Vultures being disturbed at Chickahominy; White Pelicans floating high above headquarters; snipe on post on Hwy 205 near milepost 4; one of a surfeit of tanagers we saw; Yellow-headed Blackbird male and in penultimate shot the wind ruffles the yellow feathers to reveal the soft, white down beneath.