2021 Wildlife Gallery

One of the most enjoyable experiences while hiking is encountering wildlife. Oddly enough it’s also one of the worst (see ticks, mosquitos, and yellow jackets). From creatures great to small we were blessed to see a wide variety of God’s creations this past year. While there remain a number of critters on our “bucket list” of animals we haven’t encountered yet in 2021 we were able to put a check mark by river otters, American bitterns, and raccoons.
River Otters on a boom at Dorena Lake

American bittern flying over Fern Ridge Wildlife Area

Raccoons at South Slough Estuary

We are working on learning to identify the various birds and butterflies we see and have made our best efforts (guesses), but as with our attempted identification of wildflowers (post) any help and or corrections is appreciated. With that here is a collection of the rest of the wildlife we encountered in 2021 starting with caterpillars, butterflies and moths.

Several species

One of the sulphurs

Another sulphur

Becker’s white

A hairstreak

Also a hairstreak

Cabbage white

California tortoiseshell

A checkerspot

Chlosyne acastus – sagebrush checkerspot, female

Chlosyne acastus – sagebrush checkerspot, male?

Cloudis parnassian

Cedar hairstreak

Green comma?

Hoary comma

Juba skipper – Hesperia juba

Langton’s Forester Moth

Lorquin’s admiral

Milbert’s tortoiseshell

Moth

A moth, possibly Gnophaela latipennis

Moth

Mylitta crescents

Ochre ringlet

Orange tip

Possibly a Boisduval’s blue – Icaricia icarioides

Propertius duskywing – Erynnis propertius

Purplish copper

Possibly another purplish copper, Steens Mountain Wilderness 8/17.

Sheep moth

Silvery blue?

A skipper

Anise swallowtail

Indra swallowtail

Possibly a pale swallowtail -Ninemile Ridge

Possibly a western swallowtail -Devil’s Staircase Wilderness

Viceroy

Wood nymphs
July 19th, Ochoco Mountains

August 17th Steens Mountain Wilderness

August 19th Steens Mountain Wilderness

One of the fritillary butterflies I think.

Flying ants at the summit of Mt. Bachelor

Cicada

Ladybug

Find the beetle

Dictyoptera aurora?

Crab spider

Spot the spider

Praying mantis

June bug

Damsel fly

Dragon fly

Dragon fly

Dragon fly

Dragon fly

Alligator lizard

Ring necked snake

Turtle

Western fence lizards

Dunn’s salamander?

Rough skinned newt

Crawdad surrounded by rough skinned newts

Fish in Black Canyon Creek

Seals

Sea lions

Nutria

Hindquarters of what we believe to have been a mole.

There are several species of chipmunks in the area and I think these are two different species but I’m not sure which ones.
Indian Heaven Wilderness

Badger Creek Wilderness

Likewise there are several different squirrels and ground squirrels.
Golden mantled-ground squirrel

Pikas at first glance might seem to be related to ground squirrels but they are actually closely related to rabbits.
Pika

Mountain cottontail

Eastern cottontail

Snowshoe hare

Jack rabbit

Ring-necked duck and a lesser scaup

American coot, spotted sandpiper and mallards on a log

American wigeons

Green-winged teals

Cinnamon teal

Mallards, a cinnamon teal and a pied billed grebe

Common merganser

A female hooded merganser? and buffleheads

Northern pintails

Northern shovelers

Ducklings

Canada geese

Western grebe

Bird at the Formal Gardens at Shore Acres State Park

At least two types of egrets and a bunch of ducks at Malhuer Wildlife Refuge

Egret

Great blue heron

Black-necked stilt

Dunlins

Yellowlegs?

White faced ibis

Whimbrels

Spotted sandpiper

Another sandpiper

A couple of types of shorebirds

White pelican

Seagull

Cormorants

Kingfisher

American dipper aka ouzel

A couple of American bushtits

Bewick’s wren?

Canyon wren?

Wren? at Horsethief Butte near The Dalles.

No idea, seen along the Alder Springs Trail in Central Oregon.

Possibly a flycatcher?

A flycatcher

Flycatcher?

Another no clue, seen near a creek in the Ochoco Mountains.

Crossbills? (based on the crossed beaks)

Black headed grosebeak

Black phoebe

California scrub jays

Gray jay

Stellar’s jay

Pinyon jay

Clark’s nutcracker

Brewer’s blackbird

Yellow headed blackbird

Red winged blackbird

Starling

Cedar waxwings

Common yellowthroat

Dark eyed junco

Chestnut-backed chickadee

Mountain chickadee

Possibly an orange crowned warbler

Ruby crowned kinglet

A finch

A finch

A finch

Green-tailed towhee

Spotted towhee

Pipit

Townsend’s solitaire

Robin, western bluebird and swallows

Mountain bluebird

Lazuli bunting

Red breasted nuthatch

Yellow-rumped warbler

Western meadowlark

Western tanager – male

Western tanager – female

Western wood-pewee

Rufous sided hummingbird

Chipping sparrow?

White crowned sparrows

Savannah sparrow

Sparrow

Sparrow?

Lark sparrow

Downy woodpecker?

Lewis’s woodpecker

Northern flicker

Red breasted sapsucker

A woodpecker

A woodpecker

Killdeer

Mourning dove

Grouse, leaning toward sooty

Not sure which type of grouse this is.

Ruffed grouse?

Sage grouse

California quail

Turkeys

Rooster at Cape Arago State Park

Crow

Turkey vulture

A magpie and some sort of hawk

A hawk

Hawk in flight

Cooper’s hawk?

Hawk in the Pueblo Mountains

Red-tailed hawk

Hawk or?

Northern harrier

Osprey (with meal)

Bald eagle

Great horned owl

American kestral

Common nightwawk

Northern shrike

Coyote

Wild horses at Steens Mountain

Not wild cows along the Little Malhuer Trail

Columbian black-tailed deer

Columbian white-tailed deer

Mule deer fawn

Elk in the Aldrich Mountains

Mountain goat

At the top of our list of animals we haven’t seen is a cougar (at a distance please), beaver, and porcupine along with a number of others. Good luck out there in 2022 and Happy Trails!