Eagle Being Attacked by Hawks

Mrsroadrunner Photography | Eagle Being Attacked by Hawks




Our town we have quite a few larger birds of prey, as the photograph taken above of the red tailed hawk which is one of a series of photographs of the bird eating.

This short series of photographs is of a eagle being attacked by the local hawks on my walk one day. I admit I heard the commotion before I actually seen anything AND the photographs are not anything that could be a stand alone photograph for they were a distance away.

Where the Eagle is perched and being attacked at is one of my stops on my walk. Many animals are photographed at this spot and the farmer is pretty neat guy and knows this! I had to get permission to be on the land to take these and the other photographs.





Even though I was on foot and no way I could do anything but stop and watch from where I was at I do believe the eagle is one of our Golden Eagles due to the head not being white. However, the eagle could have been a young Bald Eagle. We have both the Golden Eagle and the Bald Eagles here. The Golden Eagles are larger, more dark then white.

The photographs above is a Red Tailed hawk attacking. Their was two Red tails and at least one harrier involved in running what they must consider a threat to their hunting grounds off.



Lake Billy Chinook which I call the "canyon", and the Warm Springs Eagle Watch is not very far away. The eagles fly through here stopping and some fly over the house to go east to other hunting grounds then back to the canyon.

I also notice quite a few folks do not realize that eagles are scavengers, they will eat road kill. Hence seeing eagles around this part of Oregon near roads. Or roads that are considered "back roads", paved or not.





If you have ever been directly yelled at by the eagles, or heard the zip of the hawks diving at you and hearing them screaming at you - you can just imagine what I was hearing while this was going on! That is Mount Jefferson you see a little in the photograph to the right.

When I do not bring my telephoto lens is when I need it and when I bring it I dont need it..... dont figure!



This eagle was clearly not wanted here. To bad I did not start off earlier so I would be further along in my walk. Though I was just photographing a harrier hunting and they are very interesting to watch! Come to think of it this area did have a fire. After this fire which I am so bumbed out about for it burned down a tree the harriers liked to land in, the owners of this land got a lot more pro active of who is on their land which they should be!



The ponds that are in this direction have fish in them, the Osprey hunt the fish on this farm at other times of the year.

By the time I get to that electrical pole the Eagle is on , typically everyone knows I am there! Thanks to the big mouth Magpies usually!! The scrub jays are big mouths as well. These two species of birds typically have to tell on me every dang time! The hawks both Red Tails and the Harriers typically do flybys which are not a huge deal for they keep their mouths shut at least ha! Red tail hawks typically do not come as low as the Harriers to check me out, however the Red Tail Hawks as the first photograph will show they tend to give me some nice photographs and do not take off on me when I do catch up to them perched somewhere. Harriers are just curious and since they hunt by hearing and by eye site they want to see what you are kicking up as you walk.

We also have the Ravens on my walk. Ravens are ravens and they have gotten pretty darn close to me as well! Though they are usually busy elsewhere and dont seam all that curious as to why I am taking my walk. There are barns, holding facilities to the left of this photograph that is on the rail line. Must be better things there for the Ravens to eat?

The owls are also found in those trees down there as well as the shorter trees that you can not see in the above shot anyhoo..... The Harons , racoons , coyotes, rock chucks, mule deer, several species of ducks, lots of song birds, smaller birds and a lot more wildlife is in this area as well. The neighbors out here have seen me and either grin or wave. Unless I am directly on someones property.... and my camera is hard to hide. There is a road behind the trees and such in the photograph above. Just a dirt road, there really is a road haha!

I explained to Guy before where I would be using the road, I promised the farmer I would not have any vehicles or even my dogs with me while on their land. Just in case Guy ever needs to find me for some unknown reason or if I dont come home before night time come looking for me! I typically tell the son I am going here or there.....



I am a little closer at the point. There is a waterline road I take. Well road might be giving what that is to much credit? The farmer and his people use it for the waterline, the pump house.... just a grassy area they drive on when and if they need to get to this part of the farm.

Last time I was down here, new fences were being put in and some other work was being done for planting it looked like to me? The mule deer are a huge problem for the farmers to keep them out around here. Mule deer are pretty and all, but they eat EVERYTHING. Imagine a horse going through your garden you have in your backyard. Sure there is more land here that some of these farmers have but you get the point.



This is the last photographs I am going to show.... this went on and on. Finally the eagle took off to the east. Across hwy 97 where there is good hunting out that direction for the birds of prey. Come to think of it, there is a spot out there I like Guy to drive me too. Many companies have land in our area, with vacation homes or what not. Though some of these places I would love to see the inside of the homes , real nice! Anyhoo, one of these places has designated the land as wildlife habitat NO HUNTING allowed the signs say. The place I am thinking of, I have photographed several eagles there. Without trespassing. I give the owners kudos ! They do have a nice setup out there! Private airport strip and all, the wildlife really like that place! Meaning I like it too!!

Thank you for coming by and seeing what photographs I did get of this experience! Being on foot and all!

Mount Jefferson Oregon

Mrsroadrunner Photography | Mount Jefferson Oregon



Meet Mount. Jefferson on the Cascade Mountain range here in Oregon! Mount Jefferson just happens to also be our counties name sake, Jefferson County Oregon.

Being in Bend Oregon I recall telling the lady just point me in the direction of our mountain and I can get us home ha! Not being from the area she gave me a strange look until I said, "There our mountain is!! Just point the truck in that direction and we will get home just fine"!

Folks who have visited or live in our part of Oregon know we can see 5+ mountains and at least one is a butte. As we joke here at home, who wants to ski a butt...so they changed that ones name to Mountain so and so. Of course not being a mountain if that is one wants to get technical.





On this particular day I got a couple shots of Jefferson. This one was from the frozen pond on one of my walks here in town.





The old fence posts was the next one I shot. The land here is fantastic for growing!! Years and years of volcanic activity, past eruptions has made our soil some of the best in Oregon! Why to, building permits can be a interesting thing to get if the land has been put aside as farm land! One of the saddest things to see is when such great farm land has been tore up for a house to be built on.





Mount Jefferson is the second highest highest mountain here in my state of Oregon. It is rugged, and it is said one of the hard volcano to reach. Some folks who keep up with my photography, blogs etc. have seen photographs of our hikes into the Mount. Jefferson wilderness area. The poor dogs and our boots walking through the volcanic rock is entertaining at best! Of course we have only hiked this side of the mountain though too. I have no clue what the other side of the mountain is like to hike?

This is the mountain I would draw as a child all the time! I have always liked Mount Jefferson..... though being from Oregon it is hard not to like our mountain range here. It is home. I have seen Colorado, Wyoming, Washington have not been to Alaska yet .... however, when I do see these other mountains they just are not the same, they are not home.





Mount Jefferson seams to always have snow up there. I look out my window through the trees and there is snow capped Jefferson! Mount Jefferson has been photographed so much...... even by me!

I tell you what though, if you want to hike this mountain from this side.... just be careful ! Not like there are stores on every corner, or roads for that matter. I spoke to someone a while back who said there is a road on the other side of the mountain he drives up there to the highest point he can..... need to check that out some day? However, getting Guy to go to the other side of the Cascades can be entertaining all on its own haha! Guy claims he can not see over there due to all the trees haha!

We get as far as the Cascades themselves and well, that is all she wrote. So many things to see and do in the Cascades we rarely get to all the cities and towns on the other side which most folks know of when they do come to Oregon. Rarely making the drive over here which I do not understand at all......

I recall the drives to Reno Nevada as a child. We would drive through the area and Crooked River Bob was such a huge deal that father had to see the ranch!! Of course roads were not so good back then as they are now. Bend and Redmond were just bumps in the road..... of course I loved anything that was of the animal world so I loved the area!! I thought it would be neat to move over here and have some land.... land was reasonably priced back then for folks really did not know of the views we had here in Oregon as they have now a days. Plus there were not the stores, shops etc.. there are now.

If I could guess as to what the biggest money draw here is other then outdoor activities it is probably alcohol? We have many places making alcoholic beverages on this side of the mountain.





I would say if you are coming over here to hike Mount Jefferson give yourself a couple days at least. We are big on day hikes, sometimes staying over night in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness area (111,177 acres). Guy jokes why should he sleep on the ground when he has a perfectly good bed at home? It does not take us long to get to the mountains here, so his logic is hard to argue with. Being something for your dogs if you are hiking with them!! It takes quite a lot more energy to go around the lava rock that takes over much of the trails that, well the one we like to take is not maintained real well. Oh and if you have horses there are corrals to put them in while you are getting ready to go..... perhaps not everywhere?? So check before heading over. Of course every time we have been up there we have never ran into anyone, even though we seen their cars and/or livestock trailers.

OMG everyone needs to bring a camera, a cheepy if nothing else! You can pick a cheepy camera up in Madras Oregon for hardly nothing.....at the bimart I seen them anyhoo. We do not get to Bend or Redmond all that much, I am sure they have more there?



What Mount Jefferson has the name sake wilderness area, some of it is the reservation (Warm Springs),Deschutes, um Willamette..... that is 4. Most of this is national land, open to all however I am not sure about the Warm Springs land? I Joke saying you can throw a rock around here and it can land on the Warm Springs land. That is governed by the federal government and the feds seam to have a whole  different rule book they go by.

There is a lot of reading out there of this mountain if you choose to read up on it..... thank you for coming by and seeing the photographs of the walk I took on this day here in our town in the high desert of Oregon!

Common Green Darner Dragonfly Laying Eggs

Mrsroadrunner Photography | Common Green Darner Dragonfly Laying Eggs



Meet the Common Green Darner Dragonfly. Hope you had a nice weekend?

One of my walks here in our town takes me along the canal where water for the farmers gets carried from point to point. This is also where many insects (and other wildlife), get their water and spend time. One such insect I stopped , watched and photographed for some time is this darner or better known as the dragonfly.

This is a lengthy series of shots which shows this Common Green Darner Dragonfly laying eggs. To some the photographs look all the same however, the details of each shot are different.





The water is slowly moving, with dried grasses and in this spot only a few cattails were present.





This next couple of shots I did my best to show what was going on, as for the eggs themselves. Being laid on the dry grass.





I do watch many creatures do what they do if I am around or not. Actually I do this way to much to some peoples way of thinking. Though it is what I enjoy showing my photographs for those who want to see them.







When dealing with natural light in photography you get what you get, I like shadows the sun casts.







Several times I did have to move for my legs were going to sleep on me as I was watching for quite a while! Doing this also changed the natural lighting.





I like the fact that this Darner was a perfect specimen. No ripped wings, no damage that our eyes can see.



I did run across a study of the migration path of these dragonflies I will share the link below. I am watching Alfred Hitchcock "BIRDS", at the moment so figured I would do today's post about this dragonfly instead of birds ha!











I read, seen , picked up somewhere that dragonflies were as big as birds at one time. Could you imagine such a killer being as big as a bird?? Though according to that study I read their migratory habits do resemble the song birds migratory path. Rather interesting.



















This species of dragonfly is common in North America.













Water skippers as well as other insects were at or in the water at this time too. Just life going by , I just happened to take the time to watch and photograph.

Here in the high desert of Oregon we have many such species during our warm summers, even spring into early fall. Transplanting cattails at our small ponds here at home has brought many to the house to help with insect populations. We seam to even have the young dragonflies here at the house who follow which ever one of us who is out in the garden making the quest for food just a little easier on the dragonflies.

This spot which is in town I think? Our town is small, one can cross the road and you are in another town! However it is not far from anyone's home here so this to me is "in town". When the canal water has been released into the canals of course their populations do grow quite considerably. In fact several species of dragonfly and they are all over! Literally!

If you are curious to come to the high desert of Oregon make sure you are on public land, if not get permission from the farm and/or ranch owners. They would appreciate this! Otherwise just stay on the main road..... dont cross fences etc. Plus if you ask permission you wont have a angry property owner telling you to get off his or her land. Many of these land owners it has been my experience that once they see your camera equipment and speak with you, you may even be told where some cool wildlife is hunting at, or at times they will tell you where the wildlife is living and raising young at! Cant beat that right?

Thank you for coming by and seeing my many photographs of this common green darner or just simply dragonfly!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1686212/

Black and Yellow Mud Dauber Wasp

Mrsroadrunner Photography | Black and Yellow Mud Dauber Wasp






Meet the Black and yellow mud dauber wasp who comes around every year for the mud at our ponds. Never have I had a issue with these wasps! This is a shot I took as I was hovering over this one.

These wasps look much more aggressive then they truly are! All of them that show up here for mud fly off to the south, so I can only assume that is where they nest? In fact I watched a little boy harassing some form of bee in which he ran inside his home crying. Some  folks do have to learn the hard way.





One thing I found interesting while researching this wasp is how they have been found to be the direct result of bringing down airplanes killing everyone on board. I thought this was interesting.....

I watch these come and go for several years now. The other "bee", species who are here getting drinks or doing what they do do not appear to distract this wasp from daily duties. Nor have we ever had a issue with this mud dauber coming inside the house, or our  outbuilding in the years it has been coming here. We do actively check for such things since after all I am not one of those who have never been stung before by insects and it is not a pleasant experience.





I do understand the fact that some creatures on our planet are acceptable to kill. At this time these Mud Dauber we do not see as something that needs killing. We do not have children here as I have said these are not coming into the house and are not threatening.

The above photograph is showing the mud that these mud dauber's grab and fly off with.





This one is flying off with the prize of some mud. These Mud Dauber's help keep down the insect population here. Most folks know by now who keep up with my photography, or my blogs I do not use chemicals here. Therefor we do have bad and good insects here, black widow spiders for instance that are killed on site (both the males and the females). I do not put these black and yellow mud daubers on the bad list, I have had no reason to do this.

If you say go to the open web to research these black and yellow mud daubers you may come across pages and pages of how to kill them, however I found it interesting how a simple question as, "what eats the mud dauber", or "what eats the black and yellow mud dauber", will or has shown little results.

We have MANY birds here. Birds that eat insects. Never have I seen a bird pluck one of these black and yellow mud dauber's up and consume it. However, I can only guess the birds are what keep the black and yellow mud daubers in check other then the chemicals so many people LOVE to use......













I will finish this off with this black and yellow mud dauber washing itself on one of the native red rocks we have around the ponds. Some of these photographs have been shown and used before in blogs and such.

Thank you for coming by reading up on my observations of the life we have here at home.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_dauber

English Mastiff IE Side Kick

Mrsroadrunner Photography | English Mastiff IE Side Kick









Meet Dufus , not his real name of course but some of the nicer nick names that he has haha! Dufus is a English Mastiff we drove what 12 hours to another state to pick up him and his litter mate brother. Dufus we did not pick out per say, he picked ME out. Would not leave me alone so Guy perked up and told the owners we will take that pup too!

The brothers have such different personalities! This one likes to make us laugh! He is so nutty!









We joke around with him saying we could have bought a whole new puppy with the price of his vet bills due to taking the "boys", to contaminated mines here in our part of Oregon. I tell everyone do not take your dog to these abandoned mines! Or at least do not let them out of the truck and get into the water! Experience has taught Guy and I this one! Now Dufus is the healthiest dog we ever had ha! Of course his appetite has proven this and he can put on weight which is no good for these large dogs, small dogs too however you can pick up smaller dogs!!





We all hiked into a area of the Metolius River when he got up on this point so he could look down on us. Typical for him to do! He also LOVES the attention of the camera! His brother typically is right next to me unless Guy has to take them away from where I am photographing whatever. The English Mastiff has very good noses, meaning they will push me out of the way if something has gotten into that nose of theirs and then they get in trouble. Guy helps me out by taking the boys and giving them something else to do.

Come to think of it, I will check here soon but I think this is one of the times (there has been several), that a coyote was following us. However this time the coyote was across the Metolius and sat down as if it was told to just to watch us haha! If you notice dufus does not have a collar on? Well there is a reason for this. The boys have been taught voice commands. They listen ok, and we do bring such things with us just in case we need them.... It is very odd for us to run into people where we go. Coyotes and other wildlife on the other hand.......

Nothing other then say a bird, butterfly etc.  is allowed around me oh depends what it is.... , period. This is what the English Mastiff has been bred for , for thousands of years. They are one of the oldest dog breeds there is. In fact dufus here he does not bark, he bays like a bloodhound. I heard somewhere where the bloodhound came from the english mastiff, however true or not??

Their howling can get on peoples nerves...... Guy laughs when they howl though he does not have to hear people complain either these people come to ME haha



The boys are the second pair of English Mastiffs for Guy. This helped us obtain these boys for the breeder did not want the boys going to a house hold who did not understand the breed.





We already had the 6' fencing installed. The other pair of mastiffs already ate or chewed on everything there was to chew on around here ha! The food issues (big dogs eat more just fact). We have been through the hip and bone issues, and the "but we want to see the big dogs".

The "boys", are my constant companions when Guy is at work. Along with the other two dogs they keep life entertaining around here! Dufus here is a huge part of this. They do not have to jump to get anything off the counters here right? If I forget something, or I walk off with something on the counter, he will walk over and take it if I am not constantly watching! Dufus will even grab serving bowls , rather big ones and walk off with it to eat whats inside in the comfort he chooses!! Big stinker!!

Being wet mouths they are constantly shaking the drool from their jowls, so these two have been taught to come to me to get wiped off. Believe it or not they prefer which towel will be used and refuse to let me wipe them with the towels they dont like.  Dufus here likes water, his brother not so much. Dufus hates the cold but loves snow. His brother will sit outside in the below temperatures and well his brother is fearless and I no longer allow him to be out in the snow or ice alone very long.

They also fight amongst themselves as brothers tend to do!! I of course am usually the one to break up these fights which do cause blood shed. This of course is just them figuring out who the boss is, and dufus here usually lets his brother take the lead and sorry to remind them over and over but I am queen bee here!

They blow up like puffer fish if they feel any danger is around, and use that knot head of theirs to ram such things as fences, furniture, anything they feel is in their way. Dufus here will run outside, turn around and run inside at full speed and I tell you what if you are in his way it hurts!!

Dufus here will also play with strangers. He will act all puppy like then go for the person..... One service dude that was here fixing something (not real big community here and not the companies fault their service man acted like a jerk),  right off the bat the service man insulted me, dufus growled at him the whole time he was here and my son had to escort the service man off the property haha

I dont know if we will get another pair of English Mastiffs in the future however I am sold on the breed. They have great personalities, and very loyal to their families.

Thank you for coming by looking at my photographs and listening to me talk about the English Mastiffs.



https://www.akc.org/breeds/mastiff/history.cfm

American Dipper or Water Ouzel by Coralie

Mrsroadrunner Photography | American Dipper or Water Ouzel by Coralie




The Dipper is a great bird to find around unpolluted fast moving waters.

I happened to catch this one along the Metolius River.

When these dippers blink their eyes it looks funky with the white feathers, turns their eyes white!





These dippers have a extra eye lid to allow them to see underwater. Now that would be rather cool to do! It is said they have scales that close there nose when they go underwater where they get their food at.



These are funny to watch, this one just stood there and really did not mind the intrusion. Fact is I walked away before this dipper went away. This dipper new it was safe. 



I wrote the above words back in November of 2010. Not to much has changed of my thoughts of the American Dipper. I still like to watch them when we go to moving waters such as the Metolius River. I did notice photographs never made it to the website as many of my photographs dont, no other reason then another batch of photographs gets my attention.

Conservation issues of 2014. I did a search and did not find anything here in my state. I can only guess their population is doing fine here where we have so many fast running rivers, cascades etc.. ? Sounds like things are different in the east of the USA. Though to be honest the material I read was rather old.

Thank you for coming by checking out my photographs and little write up!

Assassin Fly Robber Fly

Mrsroadrunner Photography | Assassin Fly Robber Fly




Meet the Robber Fly or Assassin Fly. This one was following me around in a part of the High Desert we were at. Guy and the dogs of course did not see it, so when Guy asked what I was doing I told him what I found.

This rather large insect seamed to give off that dont mess with me attitude. I really do not know how to explain it. This insect had nothing to worry about I had no intentions of picking it up.





We do have such things as insects follow us about for we kick up things to eat. Of course you also kick up things to eat when you are out and about as well! Why you will have such things as birds of prey up in the sky checking you out. Same philosophy. Wildlife has learned to follow us about as a hunting technique.

This Robber Fly really did not seam to care that I was hovering over it with my camera. It did seam to keep a eye on me typically moving to face me. Hence this photograph I got before it positioned itself to see what I was doing. I actually walked away from this insect due to thinking it had enough of my invasion.

Thank you for coming by and checking out my write up and my photographs!