Birds of a feather (not)

A turkey vulture and a great blue heron share a perch on a dead tree as the morning sun warms the day along the Umpqua River near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021.

The same heron also shared the tree with an osprey.

It seems that I've been photographing a lot of osprey and herons lately. Today I didn't need to choose sides.

 

Aw, Nuts!

With a mouth full of hazelnuts, a ground squirrel pauses while raiding a nut harvesting machine on a farm near Elkton in rural western Oregon. The farmer set a live trap with hopes of catching and relocating the bandit.

 

@rloznak

Aw, ##nuts ##squirrel ##cute ##farming ##wildlife

♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod

Birds feasting on smallmouth bass

 

An osprey cruises over the Umpqua river with a freshly caught smallmouth bass in its talons near Elkton in southwestern Oregon on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. The fish eating raptor flew with its catch to a nearby nest and presented the fresh meal to its fledgling. 

A great blue heron catches a smallmouth bass along the Umpqua River near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. Smallmouth bass are not native to the Umpqua River and are a threat to native fish species in the river system. 

Kiss of death

An osprey feeds on a freshly caught smallmouth bass while perched in a dead tree along the Umpqua River near Elkton in rural western Oregon.

 

Deer season (for photography not hunting)

A pair of young black-tailed deer bucks spar and rub antlers in a field along a country road near Elkton in rural western Oregon. I've been seeing lots of deer in the area recently. As the hot summer continues the deer are out and about looking for food and beginning to form herds as the first hints of fall are in the air. 

As dusk falls on a hot day, a black-tailed deer doe and her two fawns walk in the shallows along the Umpqua River near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Monday, Sept. 7, 2021

Take that! A black-tailed deer doe smacks a fawn in the shoulder with her hoof in a pasture along a country road near Elkton in rural western Oregon. The fawn in the background belongs to the doe and the one she is hitting appeared to be the fawn of a rival doe. 

 

Wildfire smoke sunrise

A jet crosses the sky as smoke from numerous wildfires burning in the Pacific Northwest and California colors the rising sun and sky orange as seen from near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021.

 

Video: mobile medical teams from Heart to Heart International response to the Aug. 14, 2021 Earthquake