Owl Videos

Here are some video clips I took of our one owl find.


This is when she first approached. Cliff and I both stopped dead in our tracks, grabbed for binoculars, camera, and mice!



This is after she took the first mouse and was preparing to eat it.

This is after she took the third mouse and just sat with it.

Co-workers

Here are my co-workers, Cliff (left) and Michael (right). Cliff is a juggler and he infects everyone he works with, with the juggling bug. Our crew house is in a gated community in Manzanita. We each have our own bedroom, but we all sleep on the floor on foam pads. hehee

Sea of Foxgloves

Unfortunately I'm not a photographer - I don't know how to work with lighting or even how to change settings on my camera (actually my camera is my dad's camera that I sort of took with me when I moved....). Anyway, this area where I was calling (for owls) off Highway 26 was overrun with foxgloves. I was there at sunset and saw amazing potential for fabulous photos. So instead of a gorgeous photo that is worthy of framing, I present a more documentary-style photo. Both sides of the road were covered in grasses, tree stumps (one of which I'm standing on), and foxgloves. What you see here is just a little snippit.

Hooooooo

Finally, on May 29th we found an actual spotted owl. When we hear a bird at night, we return during the daylight and hike around through the brush looking for it. This was our 5th such outing and our first successful find.
When we do locate a bird, we offer it mice to see if it takes the prey to a mate or nestlings. This bird swallowed the first two mice and just sat with the third for about 45 minutes. We had to leave as the sun was setting. Chances are good that this bird is not nesting, as she ate the mice herself.

I took about 20 pictures and only 3 turned out at all decent.

Little Moo

Met these longhorns on Highway 6. I stopped and watched them for awhile and it was really neat to see how they move with those giant horns. The calves are so cute with their little nubs for horns.









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Elk

Located in/near Jewell is Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area. The state manages elk here, feeding them in the winter. This first picture is in "town" off Beneke Creek Road about an hour before sunset.













The following two photos are just off of Highway 202, west of Jewell.


As seen from the highway, a bunch of heads poking out of the grass.













And with a little zoom action....

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Owl Follow-Up

After hearing a spotted owl during the night, we returned during the day to try to locate the bird. No luck though.

Here's Kindra, listening...

Miscellaneous

There's a dot on the map called Jewell at the junction of Highways 103 and 202. There are more dilapidated houses here than functioning houses. This one had a tree growing in to it.












This is our neighbor at the crew house in Manzanita, Sheba.

While trying not to get lost in the maze of logging roads, I came across this one spur that had lupine growing everywhere.











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Back from the Near-Dead

At the beginning of May, our crew leader left us for grad school, so all of her responsibilities fell on me and Cliff. We've been working 70 hour weeks, and with commuting time and household responsibilities, my blog updates have been shoved to the back burner. But now we have a savior, Michael. =) Michael is a grad student in Ohio and a fabulous hooter, staying up most the night while I limp home at 3am.

So now I can play catch up with my photos!