The day we saw the bighorn sheep, we also saw some other fun animals. Otters running and sliding on the ice and ducking in and out of the frigid water with their friends, the swans. Bald Eagles maybe digesting or waiting for their next meal to come along. Clark’s Nutcrackers foraging for their pine seed caches. More swans and a group of partridges near the road as the sun finally started to show up.
We went on an outing to see if we could find some wintering birds the other day. They are few and far between here at home except at the feeders. Imagine our surprise when we found four bighorn sheep right alongside the road. There was a ram, two ewes and a youngster. At first we thought they had pawed into the snow to find food but as we watched, we realized that they were licking dirt. I wonder if it’s a natural salt lick or if it has some other sort of mineral they need? Regardless, they were intent on what they were doing and did not leave as we watched and photographed. At one point, the big ram moved away from his dirt hole and the youngster started in on it. Shortly, the male came along and butted the little one on the butt, telling them to get out of his hole.
A couple weeks ago, a friend and I took our dogs for a long birding drive to another part of the county. As is our luck, the weather was not in our favor despite a better forecast. As we drove, we observed swans on the river and a few other birds but mostly it was going pretty slow til one of our last stops. There, we found at least 65 Trumpeter Swans! These massive birds can weigh 25 pounds or more and have a six-foot wingspan! They have a distinctive, trumpeting call. Many of the pairs of birds were engaged in head bobbing and waving their wings at each other. Is this part of pair bonding? They mate for life. Sometimes they’d get up and fly to another part of the slush-covered shallow lake. Why? It was fascinating to watch and listen to them. The range map on All About Birds does not show them wintering here and yet they are seen most years and there have been quite a few reports of Trumpeter Swans in the county this winter.
Their name says loons are common, but in this part of the world, they are not. Some do breed in the Okanogan Highlands and it’s always a highlight for me to see and hear them when I am camping. We saw two nests and hope the eggs are hatching now and hope the youngsters can survive the summer and migrate away before fall gets here. Bald Eagles are a primary predator for loons eggs and chicks. It’s hard to not like eagles but their numbers seem to be growing while loons seem to be struggling. All these images were made with a long lens at an appropriate distance from the birds. They are very tolerant of non-motorized boats and often pop up close to my kayak.
And dogs. I had to go to the Okanogan to do some business yesterday and a friend suggested a short field trip to look for birds. I could hardly turn it down given that there are almost no birds around here, not even at the feeders. It was nice to be somewhere that was nearly without snow although it was cold and windy and ice was forming in the littlest places. We saw a few ducks and Bald Eagles and magpies. Geology of the place is very different from here. You really should click through the photos to see the rock details. The dogs were happy to get their feet wet. I did not encourage them to go swimming. They also were delighted to find lots of sticks of various sizes!
My Everyday Photos 