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Tag Archives: coyote

Mud Season Break

The girls and I took a little break from Mud Season last week. We drove about 100 miles south of here for a change of scenery and also a chance to walk on dry ground – no snow or mud, well, maybe a little mud. We walked through the sagebrush and coulees, the girls jumped in various lakes and I saw some tiny wildflowers and birds too. Ken joined us for an afternoon to celebrate my birthday. We ended the trip with a good six mile hike with a friend and her dog. I am pleased that Sky was able to do the whole hike despite her arthritis and spondylosis. She is moving around thanks to modern meds.

Yellowstone Wildlife

Yellowstone is famous for its wildlife. We drove around and glassed hillsides and watched for animal traffic jams. Some people hire guides (and there seems to be no shortage of guide services) so we watched for their signs too. We saw wolves several times but mostly had distant views through scopes or binoculars. Same with the mountain goats. Bison, on the other hand, were common and often close, too close for comfort. Somehow I missed getting any photos of elk although we did see a lot of them. We only saw two moose and then in the deep dark forest on a gray day. Coyotes were relatively common but generally not in camera range.

Wildlife Viewing

We camped at Page Springs campground, located at the south end of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and on the road to Steens Mountain. At night I enjoyed listening to owls – Great Horned and also Western Screech Owls and the singing of coyotes. Ruby-crowned Kinglets positively dripped off of every shrub and tree. There were lots of raptors everyday wherever we went.

The girls and I ventured onto the Refuge a couple of times – more gravel roads. It is very dry as is much of the northwest this year. Hopefully recent rains have improved the situation. I did manage to see a few birds and a very beautiful coyote on the main road. The canid stayed on the road til an oncoming truck forced it to choose another pathway. American White Pelicans moved round and round a pond cooperatively fishing at the Malheur NWR headquarters.

Light juvenile Red-tailed Hawk

Driving in to Winter

Just three weeks after the unfortunate accident with the deer, I have a new car! What a relief to get through all that. I was anxious to see how well it handles in snow and on rough roads so I called a friend and asked if she wanted to go Harts Pass. Who knows, we might see a few cool winter time birds too. On the way up we were treated to three Varied Thrushes. A good sign.

View of the North Cascades, looking south

 

Looking west

 

We hit snow not far above the goat lick area. Not too much and it was cold and powdery. We passed Harts Pass and parked at the horse loading and unloading parking lot and got out to walk. Very shortly we heard and saw Pine Grosbeaks! Several of them coming and going from the tops of spruce trees. We looked away and began to walk up the road some more and I looked back and I saw a Northern Hawk Owl! A first for my friend. She only got a short look at it before it flew down and maybe towards the road to Meadows where I have seen it in past years. It was in the same grove of trees where we saw the grosbeaks. We kept walking up to the last switchback before the road goes UP to Slate Peak, seeing other flocks of birds we judged to be more Pine Grosbeaks all coming from and going the same general direction. The view from the ridge top to the basin below the lookout was beautiful. Lots of big animal tracks in the snow crossed and crisscrossed the openings. We turned back towards the car, again following the road. Below the PCT trailhead, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and looked and stopped my friend – there was a flock of 7 Gray-crowned Rosy-finches feeding on the open spots right next to us on the cut bank! What a treat to see them so close. They were perfectly silent.

Gray-crowned Rosy-finches

Back at the parking lot we saw Mountain Chickadees. We also saw Ravens and a Red-tailed Hawk on our walk. We heard Clark’s Nutcrackers and a Stellar’s Jay. There were bicycle tracks in the snow too! Someone had ridden all the way up, perhaps even to the lookout. We didn’t get that far on foot.

Bicycle tracks in the snow

Slate Peak lookout

We had lunch and drove down to the road that goes to Meadows. Again, lots of interesting tracks. Maybe a lynx? Weasels, coyotes, and no doubt others.

Here are two sets of tracks. One set that we thought might be coyote had been going down the road. The other set that we guessed to be a lynx, had come from the side, then intersected the first set and followed it for quite a ways. There’s a story there, we were sure of it.

We parked and walked back along the road towards Harts Pass. One more highlight was an American Three-toed Woodpecker working the snags. I wondered how often the bird was finding something to eat for all of its efforts. It was joined for a short time by a White-breasted Nuthatch.

The car performed as advertised. I imagine I’ll be happy with it in the long run. Still, I miss the old Honda.

Skies were blue, the snow was powdery, wind was mostly calm, good time spent with a close friend; the whole day was enchanting!