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| A wild black-tailed deer shakes off rainwater while feeding in a roadside clearing near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. |
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| The National Weather Service is calling for rain showers for the area through Tuesday. |
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| A rain spattered rufous hummingbird perches on a sapling. |
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| A common merganser gains speed for flight on the Umpqua River near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. A fish-eating duck the merganser forages by diving and swimming underwater, propelled by its feet. |
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| Perched on a dead tree along the Umpqua River, a bald eagle shakes its feathers as the early morning sun warms the day near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021. |
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| A bald eagle takes flight from the branch of an old-growth Douglas fir tree along the Umpqua River near Elkton in southwestern Oregon on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. According to the The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, bald eagle populations have flourished in recent years, growing to more than 71,400 nesting pairs and an estimated 316,700 individual birds. The bald eagle was removed from the list of threatened or endangered species in 2007. |
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| My photo, via ZUMApress.com, in The Guardian's Week in Wildlife photo gallery. |
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| A large black and yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia) hangs in its dew coated web on a hillside near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. A bite by Argiope aurantia is comparable to a bee sting with redness and swelling. |
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| A large bull Roosevelt elk check the sexual receptivity of a female cow elk on a hillside near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2021. The courtship signals of elk involve vocalizations and fighting between males. The bulls will often also coat themselves with urine “perfume” to attract females. |
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| 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. |
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| The same heron also shared the tree with an osprey. |
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| It seems that I've been photographing a lot of osprey and herons lately. Today I didn't need to choose sides. |
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| 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
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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 |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| My story and photos about Heart to Heart International's response to the Aug. 14th earthquake in Haiti. |
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Two days after the Aug. 14, 2021 Haitian earthquake struck I packed my gear and was on a jet bound for Port au Prince to meet up with a mobile medical team from the Kansas based non-governmental organization Heart to Heart International. My job with HHI is to be the eyes on the ground for disaster and recovery managers outside of the zone. I provide images, video, and stories for donors, social media, and outside media to see HHI in action helping people in need. |
On Aug. 14 at 8:29 a.m., a magnitude 7.2 earthquake stuck the small island nation of Haiti. The quake was centered in a rural mountainous region about 93 miles west of the capital city of Port au Prince. At least 2,207 people have been confirmed killed as of Aug. 22 and over 12,000 injured. At least 136,800 buildings were damaged or destroyed.
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Since 2010, Heart to Heart has had a significant presence in Haiti. Currently about 70 Haitians are employed by HHI working in healthcare, community resilience, and economic development. |
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When the earthquake struck, the organization quickly pivoted to providing mobile medical aid to communities in the remote regions rocked by the tumbler. |
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| A U.S. Amy Blackhawk helicopter transports an injured toddler from the remote village of Mita in the Nippes Department Southwest of Haiti on Tuesday. The toddler is unable to walk and has a suspected spinal injury sustained in the Haitian earthquake. A team of doctors and nurses from the Kansas City based Heart to Heart International hiked into the remote village on Tuesday and provided medical care to the residents for the first time since the quake. |
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| The mobile medical teams from Heart to Heart are made up of all Haitian doctors and nurses. |
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| A 14-year-old girl in advanced labor is transported in the back of a pickup truck from a mobile medical clinic set up by Kansas City based Heart to Heart International in the small village of Barnate in southwestern Haiti near the epicenter of last week's earthquake. The girl took a 45 minute ride to the nearest hospital and gave birth 30 minutes after arrival. |
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| Adults and children are treated by an all Haitian mobile medical team in the small village of Melon in southwestern Haiti near the epicenter of last week's earthquake. The woman holding her baby said she had been trapped with her 2-year-old daughter infant when her house collapsed after the quake. |
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The recovery from the August earthquake in Haiti will be long and difficult, but the people are strong and resilient. Heart to Heart International is on the ground now and will stay for the long term. My time in Haiti came to an end after two weeks. One day I hope to meet up with my new Haitian friends under better circumstances. |