I love it when Mama Merganser parades her little ones past our house on the Alsea River! One or two always seem to hitch a ride on her back.
At least until she dives. If they’re going to get stronger, they’ve got to do it on their own!
We had a report of a bear that chased some feral chickens in a nearby yard. He was not deterred by the home-owners attempts to scare him away. A bear that is not afraid of humans can be dangerous. Fortunately, no human or property was hurt and the feral chicken issue is diminishing.
I enjoy wildlife from a distance – from the safety of my home. We do not leave out garbage cans but they do like the natural food source along the Alsea River on the Oregon Coast.
The fog was so thick this morning that I could hardly see across the Alsea River near the Oregon Coast. Then I heard an elk call from a calf. They sound like a weaker version of the adult cow. So I looked and saw one or two elk making their way across the field making calls to each other like a sonar tracking system. Then the rest of the herd appeared as the fog lightened a little.
The elk keep their newborns hidden for a month or so but we finally saw this herd’s 2 calves today. To see the video, click or tap on the photo or this link: https://youtu.be/AvWTXqUX4dA
This herd has a wide variety of ages.
Here is a yearling bull just starting to grow his antlers. They are just nubs this summer. Next summer he’ll have a set of spikes.
This one looks pretty sickly. You can see her ribs and she doesn’t have much hair.
The rancher’s cows want to chat with the elk but she’s having none of it.
This bull has some interesting antlers.
This is a nice looking bull. Looks like 9 points to me; unless I don’t know which ones count.
Little one asks mom for dinner.
How lucky are we to see this again!!
I saw 2 groups of Mallard ducks across the river. They stopped to look at something on the riverbank of the Alsea River. I saw a very small mink running along the bank so I started recording. Mama-Mallard kept her 5 babies safe again!
If you watch where the duck is looking you’ll see movement under the brush. That’s the mink. He dives in after them and Mama scatters her ducklings. This is a larger mink than I saw at first so I’m wondering about a mink family living nearby??? How cool is THAT!
Click/tap the link to watch the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/9T_Nh9kePiA
This black bear is big enough to reach the low-hanging apples. Well, relatively low. I picked what I could with a 5′ ladder.
Watch this video to see him stand. Maybe I’ll give him a sign to wear that says, “Will dance for apples.”
[youtube https://youtu.be/FawkfPsv3iY]
There is another pile of scat in our driveway that looks way different from the others. See the two kinds below:
Can a bear’s diet change that fast? These were left 2 days apart. Maybe there’s another bear around who is eating something different?
Apple and berry-filled poop piles let us know the bear was hanging around. He checked out our apple trees 3 weeks ago but didn’t stay long. Based on where he pooped he spent a couple nights in the neighbors tree.
But last night was our turn.
