February showers bring March spiders

A small spider clings to the stem of a rain soaked daffodil flower blooming near a barn on a farm near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021. The National Weather Service is predicting mild spring-like weather for the area aver the next week.

 

Nature's bird feeders

A golden-crowned sparrow feeds on early blooming forsythia blossoms near a home in rural western Oregon near Elkton on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. Forsythia flowers are produced in the early spring before the leaves. 

A red-breasted nuthatch forages for Douglas fir seeds on a hillside near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021. Douglas-firs, along with many other conifers, produce a heavy crop of cones only once every several years. A cycle for Douglas-fir cone production is typically 5 to 7 years long.

 

Birds of a feather

A sub-adult bald eagle and a jaunty starling share the branch of a dead tree along the Umpqua River near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021. 

 

A new beginning

A cow licks the afterbirth from her minutes old calf in a pasture on a farm near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2021. A healthy calf can normally stand within a half hour of being born. Experts believe cows consume the afterbirth and placenta because the smell of fresh blood and fluid may attract predators to the cow and her calf.

Puddle luscious

It rained all day on Thursday, except for a few minutes just before sunset.

A golden-crowned sparrow slicks water as it stands in a sidewalk puddle during a rain shower outside a home near Oakland in southwestern Oregon on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. According to AllAboutBirds.com, miners in the Yukon at the turn of the twentieth century woefully referred to the golden-crowned sparrow as the “no gold here” bird, because its song resembled that depressing phrase. 

A large raindrop splashes down in the puddle

 

Hunting heron on land

On a damp cool afternoon, a great blue heron hunts for rodents in a hazelnut orchard along a country road near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. The trees are laden with yellow pollen bearing catkins.

 

Tony hawk (as in fancy, not skateboarding)

A red-shouldered hawk shows off its talons while grooming on a fencepost along a country road near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021.

 

Good 'till the last drop

 

A pair of young goat kids get the last drops of milk from their mother before she steps away in a pasture along a country road near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021.

Muddy playtime for the kids.

Wild turkey crossing

A flock of wild turkeys cross a residential street in Elkton on a rainy morning in southwestern Oregon on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021.

 

Sounds of spring in the air

A male red-winged blackbird belts out his song while perched on a cattail reed in a swampy area near Sutherlin in southwestern Oregon on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. Male red-winged blackbirds spend much of the breeding season sitting on a high perch over their territories and singing their hearts out.

 

Hop on mom: lambing season in Oregon

A flock of lambs play in their green pasture on a sunny morning on a farm near Sutherlin in rural western Oregon on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. According the the United States Department of Agriculture there are about 5.2 million sheep in the United States. Lambing season primarily takes place in the late winter and early spring.

Salvage logging after Oregon's wildfires

A loaded log truck drives past a stack of cut trees at a massive salvage logging operation taking place on private land inside the burn area of last summer’s Archie Creek Fire near Glide in western Oregon on Monday, Feb. 8, 2021. The fire destroyed 109 homes and burned 131,542 acres of land in the North Umpqua River corridor on state, private and federal land. 

 

High stepping

A black tailed deer runs through a pasture on a hillside near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. The black tailed deer which inhabit far western North America from Northern California into British Columbia are considered a subspecies of mule deer.

 

Ruffed grouse in Oregon

A wild ruffed grouse forages on the grassy edge of a forested hillside near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Ruffed grouse are known to digest bitter, often toxic plants that many birds can’t handle.

 

Subadult bald eagle

A subadult bald eagle spreads its wings and takes flight from a dead tree on a ridge overlooking the Umpqua River near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Tuesday, feb. 2, 2021. Adult bald eagles take on their impressive white-headed plumage at about age five. While there is a good deal of variation in size, overall, females bald eagles are 25% larger than males.