This year we split our wildlife gallery into two posts starting with our feather friends (post). We now move on to our featherless friends which ranged from tiny ants to bull elk and an almost too friendly black bear. It was an especially good year for deer including several encounters with does and fawns.
We’ll start out small and work our way up to the larger mammals.
Ants dropping sawdust from a log along the Catherine Creek Trail. We sat and watched these busy ants for quite a while. They had created a good-sized pile on the ground below.
We see a lot of beetles but usually not all at once like these lady bugs on Observation Peak.
Lady bug – Upper Table Rock
Yellow & black beetle – Mule Mountain
Redish brown beetle – Siskiyou Wilderness
Green beetle – Siskiyou Wilderness
Hitchhiker – Mt. Ireland
Blueish green beetle – Catherine Creek Meadows
Small beetle – Catherine Creek Meadows
Green beetle on a geranium – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Green beetle on a wallflower – Silver Star Mountain
Stripped beetle – Spring Valley Greenway
Water skippers – Big Twin Lake
Spider on thimbleberry – Siskiyou Wilderness
Crab spider – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Another crab spider – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Cricket – Pacific Crest Trail
We are often literally struck by grasshoppers as we hike. Sometimes they stick when they hit us such as this one along the PCT.
Bee on phacelia – Mule Mountain
Wet bee on lupine – Julia Butler Hanson Wildlife Refuge
Bumble bee – Hemlock Creek Trail
Lots of pollen – Mt. Adams Wilderness
Bee landing on a marsh marigold along the PCT
Bee approaching penstemon – Siskiyou Wilderness
Bee and a tiny ant in a bindweed – Siskiyou Wilderness
Insects on thistle – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Wasp? – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Some sort of wasp – Silver Star Mountain
Insect along Bear Creek – Eagle Cap Wilderness
My brother and I used to call these “weird things”; I have no idea what it actually is – Trinity Alps Wilderness
Damsel fly – Denman Wildlife Area
Damsel fly – Hemlock Lake
Dragon fly – Goat Marsh Lake
Dragon fly – Siskiyou Wilderness
Dragon fly – Siskiyou Wilderness
Dragon fly – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Dragon fly along the Wallowa River – Wallowa Homeland
Dragon fly – E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area
Dragon fly – Hemlock Lake
Dragon fly – Sky Lakes Wilderness
Snail – Rock Creek Trail
Snail – Applegate Lake
Snail – North Siouxon Trail
Snail – Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge
Snail – Siskiyou Wilderness
Snail – Cascade Head
Slug – Larch Mountain Trail
Slug (and a fly) – Susan Creek Trail
Slug – Fish Lake
Slug on lupine – Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge
Slug and an unfortunate earth worm – Rock Creek Trail
Worms – Chehalem Ridge Nature Park
Millipede – North Siouxon Trail
Millipede – Rock Creek Trail
Millipede – Illahee Rock
Millipede – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Wet caterpillar – Yakona Nature Preserve
Dry version – Larch Mountain Trail
Caterpillar – Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge
Caterpillar – Siskiyou Wilderness
Caterpillar – Siskiyou Wilderness
Caterpillar – Larch Mountain Trail
Caterpillar – Larch Mountain Trail
Caterpillar – Larch Mountain Trail
Moth – Klickitat Trail
Moth -Eagle Cap Wilderness
Moth – Twin Lakes
Moth – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Moth – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Moth – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Moth – Wolf Creek Falls Trail
Moth – Cascade Head
Propertius duskywing (Erynnis propertius) – Klickitat Trail
Duskywing – Siskiyou Wilderness
Northern Cloudywing? – Siskiyou Wilderness
Silver-spotted skipper – Siskiyou Wilderness
Skipper – Grizzly Peak
Skipper – Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness
Skipper – E. E. Wilson Wildlife Area
Hairstreak (bramble?) – Siskiyou Mountains
Cedar hairstreak – Siskiyou Wilderness
Hairstreak (possibly thicket) – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Ochre ringlet – Jack Ash Trail
Butterfly – Siskiyou Wilderness
Butterfly – Trinity Alps Wilderness
Butterfly – Trinity Alps Wilderness
Butterfly – Upper Table Rock
Butterfly – Mule Mountain
Butterfly – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Butterfly – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Butterfly – Mt. Adams Wilderness
Butterfly – Mt. Adams Wilderness
Butterfly – Mt. Ireland
Butterfly – Trinity Alps Wilderness
Butterfly – Silver Star Mountain
Butterfly – Russian Wilderness
Butterfly – Trinity Alps Wilderness
Sara’s orangetip – Klickitat Trail
Common woodnymph – E. E. Wilson Wildlife Area
Another woodnymph – Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness
Orange sulphur – Siskiyou Wilderness
Mountain parnassian – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Clodius parnassian – Hemlock Lake
Western white? – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Western white – Trinty Alps Wilderness
Pine white – Russian Wilderness
Butterfly – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Butterfly – Russian Wilderness
Butterfly – Mt. Adams Wilderness
Butterfly – Mule Mountain
Butterfly – Silver Star Mountain
Butterfly – Silver Star Mountain
Butterfly – Silver Star Mountain
Western meadow fritillary? – Silver Star Mountain
A fritillary – Silver Star Mountain
A fritillary – Trinity Alps Wilderness
A fritillary -Russian Wilderness
A fritillary – Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness
Mourning cloak – Klickitat Trail
California tortoiseshell – Siskiyou Wilderness
Milbert’s tortoiseshell – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Lorquin’s admiral – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Common buckeye – Mt. Shasta Wilderness
Hoary comma – Sky Lakes Wilderness
Green comma? – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Swallowtails:
Klickitat Trail
Julia Butler Hanson Wildlife Refuge
Eagle Cap Wilderness
Tadpoles – Russian Wilderness
Tadpole transforming – Mt. Adams Wilderness
Frog – Russian Wilderness
Frog – Goat Marsh Lake
Tree frog – Siskiyou Wilderness
Frog – Trinity Alps Wilderness
Toad – Trinity Alps Wilderness
Toad – Mt. Jefferson Wilderness
Fish – Siphon Lake
Rough skinned newt – Yakona Nature Preserve
Western painted turtle – Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge
Baby snake – Miller Woods
Garter snake – Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge
Lizard – Mule Mountain
Lizard – Upper Table Rock
Lizard – Russian Wilderness
Lizard – Siskiyou Wilderness
Lizard – Klickitat Trail
Lizard – Upper Table Rock
Alligator lizard – Mule Mountain
Chipmunk – Observation Peak
Ground squirrel – Russian Wilderness
Ground squirrel – Klickitat Trail
Ground squirrel – Eagle Cap Wilderness
Ground squirrel – Upper Table Rock
Squirrel – Rock Creek Trail
Squirrel – Twin Lakes
Squirrel – Larch Mountain Trail
Marmot – Wallowa Homeland
Jack rabbit – Denman Wildlife Area
Rabbit – E. E. Wilson Wildlife Area
Pika – Silver Star Mountain
Muskrat – Julia Butler Hansen – Wildlife Refuge
Otter – Killin Wetlands
Sea lion – Hart’s Cove
Deer – Memaloose Hills
Doe – Miller Woods
Mamma – Roxy Ann Peak
Fawn – Roxy Ann Peak
Columbian white-tailed buck – Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge
Doe & fawn – Donomore Meadows
Three bucks – Siskiyou Wilderness
Buck – Siskiyou Wilderness
Buck – Trinity Alps Wilderness
Doe & fawn – Russian Wilderness
Buck and does – Russian Wilderness
Two bucks – Crater Lake National Park
Elk – Yakona Nature Preserve
Bull elk – Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge
Mountain goat below the Mt. Ireland Lookout – Mt. Ireland
Domestic goat – Near the Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge
Black bear – Siskiyou Wilderness
The same black bear making eye contact the day before.
A damp and cloudy morning.
Swallow
Indian Jack Slough and the garage from Refuge HQ.
Elochoman Slough
The first of many bald eagles we spotted (atop the dead tree across the slough).
Working on drying out.
Lots of non-native yellow flag iris in the area.
Little birds such as this sparrow were everywhere but rarely sat still.
A different eagle waiting to dry.
There are at least 5 birds in the tree including four goldfinches.
A male goldfinch takes off.
The morning clouds were starting to break up as forecasted.
One of many great blue herons.
A male wood duck.
Another great blue heron with the female wood duck on the log below.
The first of several osprey.
Cattle in a field along the road.
Geese
Snail crossing the road.
Maybe a yellow warbler. I had to use the digital zoom to get between the branches so it’s not the clearest photo.
There was a pole with a bunch of bird nests hung from it near the start of the trail. We’d never seen one like it before.
Bald eagle in the same area.
Slug on lupine
A different type of lupine.
Lupine, daisies and yellow gland-weed.
Bumble bee needing to dry out.
A look at the white tail. He gave us a better look but in that one he was also doing his business so we stuck with this uncentered, slightly blurry version.
Guessing marsh wren.
Ducks
Goose with goslings.
Common yellow throat.
Male gadwall?
There was pretty much non-stop bird song throughout the day.
Traffic on the Columbia River.
The Santa Maria on the Columbia.
Female brown-headed cowbird?
Flowers along the levee.
American robin
Red-winged blackbird chasing a heron.
Note the sign does not indicate that you cannot reach the HQ from the road, it simply says it is 5 miles round trip. Online it adds that hikers must exit the trail the way they entered.
Roses along the road.
Muskrat
Warbler
Osprey
Brooks Slough Road junction.
Another eagle sitting near the top of the first tall tree on the far side of the slough.
Interesting shrub along the road.
The partly sunny skies had indeed materialized.
Kingfisher
California scrub jay
White pelicans
Some sort of ornamental shrub/tree but it had cool flowers.
Turkey vulture
Couldn’t tell what type of ducks they were.
Alger Creek somewhere in the grass flowing into Brooks Slough.
Pond on the other side of the road.
Black pheobe?
Red-tailed hawk
American goldfinch
Swallowtail
Cedar waxwing with a salmonberry.
Goat lounging in a driveway across the highway. There had actually been a black goat in nearly the same spot on our first pass.
Caterpillar
The elk is in the center of the photo near the tree line.
Here is a not so decent picture of the egrets.
One of the bitterns in flight.
Heather spotted this garter snake along Center Road. Another animal to add to the days list.
Back at the White-tail Trail.
It had cooled down again which provided some relief as we trudged back.
A second turtle
Mallards
Way more water in the afternoon.
Another kingfisher. It was in the same tree as the heron had been earlier that morning when we were watching the bucks.
Family swim
By Steamboat Slough Road we had all kinds of blisters/hotspots on our feet.
Arriving back at the refuge HQ.
wanderingyuncks 