Every summer my sisters, my mother, and a changing cast of friends and cousins gather in our hometown. We rent several cottages on the lake we grew up on and for a week we pretend we never left our community. We share meals and memories, catch up and chill out, reconnect and dream of moving back home. None of us ever will but we daydream about it. My sisters fly in from New York and Alaska while one makes the shorter journey from Spokane. I drive 900 miles one way because I like to drive the back roads and look at the country.
After several years of making the drive in an exhausting one-day drive, I decided to break it up into two days, make some short side trips and take some photos if opportunities arose. I’ve settled on my favorite route which takes me through some of my favorite areas in Eastern Oregon and northern Nevada. After saying goodbye to the Interstate at Winnemucca my path takes me through Denio, Fields, Frenchglen, the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, Burns, Seneca, John Day and Pilot Rock. Two lane highways and small towns all the way to the Canadian border.
Because of the more leisurely pace, I could stop and take photos of the wildlife along the way. What follows is an eclectic collection of some of the critters that wandered into my field of view.
Living in the desert, a long way from the ocean, it is always a bit of a shock but a pleasant surprise to see American White Pelicans return in the Spring and Summer. I run into them on the river and lakes in the area. There is a large breeding colony on Anaho Island in Pyramid Lake.
I haven’t posted trail cam photos for a while as I have been busy with my new camera equipment. I have been checking them regularly and am excited to see more bucks showing up than at any other time this early in the season. I usually only have a few small bucks appear during the summer and the big ones seem to hide until autumn romance time. I am also seeing lots of fawns and at least one set of twins. Here are a few of the most recent trail cam pics of bucks. Some look like they may have some decent antlers going into the fall.
I am continuing to fine tune my hummingbird garden and have planted some early blooming flowers. This is the second year I have had this pink bloomer in the garden. I can’t remember what it is called but the Hummingbirds are loving it. Some of my plants didn’t make it through the winter so this one with plentiful pink bells is providing the only flower nectar at this time. I have feeders out to help the birds, but I am not keen on photos of birds and unnatural feeders.
August is the best month with the multitude of the Rufous variety that migrate through here. At this time and into mid-summer I have to work harder and wait longer to get photos of the locals, Anna’s and Black-chinned hummers.
Hummingbirds use spider webs along with other material to build their nests. This is the first time I have caught them gathering the sticky web stuff.
What do insects have to do with wedding photography? Well, after years of turning down gigs using the kind of photography that I have no interest in, weddings, kids, family reunions etc. I have been asked to photograph a wedding that I could not turn down. My nephew and his bride to be, both of whom I love dearly, called me a month ago and asked if I would photograph their upcoming nuptials. They are a lovely couple and since they are having a very small wedding in my hometown in conjunction with our annual family reunion, I said yes.
I have been meaning to update my photography equipment for a while and this presented the perfect excuse. I finally bought a mirrorless camera and some new lenses to go with it. Wildlife lenses of course but also a macro lens I have been wanting for a long time. This lens will also work well for portraits and for most of what I will need at the wedding. I also got a speed lite for the interior of the church photos. Lots of hummingbird photographers use a flash so I am looking forward to trying this on hummingbirds this summer.
I have been playing with the camara lens combo and while I still have some kinks to work out it is exciting to see the level of detail you get with the macro application.
There is no shortage of controversy in the wildlife world right now. This spring wolves have invaded Sierra Valley, a large, flat well-watered agricultural valley 30 miles north of here. This valley is a rich farming area nestled in the eastern Sierra Nevada of California. Ranchers have made the valley home for 150 years raising hay crops and cattle.
Wolves have been absent from California for a hundred years. The last recorded wolf was shot in 1924. In the 2000s wolves have been spreading on their own from packs in eastern Oregon and reintroductions elsewhere. They have been far more successful in reestablishing themselves than anticipated. There are now 7 packs in northern California with approximately 65 pack members.
This spring in Modoc and Lassen County the carnage began. In the Warner Mountains a large cattle ranch lost at least 10 calves to a marauding wolf. In Lake County in southeastern Oregon a ranch suffered similar losses. The wolf responsible showed no fear of humans. The rancher’s family feared to leave the confines of their home due to the proximity of the killings. The rancher’s hands are tied in these situations. They are not allowed to protect their livestock with lethal methods. In the Oregon case, several hazing operations were employed to try to frighten the wolf off. Drones and mounted patrols to chase off the wolf were tried. None of these worked and eventually wildlife officials were forced to kill the wolf.
Now wolves are present in Sierra Valley and the cattle killing began with calving season this month. The ranchers are understandably angry. In addition to the substantial economic loss they suffer, they are the caretakers of these animals, and they anguish over each death and mauling. There are studies that show cows exposed to predation don’t lactate as much and pregnancies are down as a result of stress. Contrary to the rich rancher narrative animal rights people like to characterize cattle producers with margins are thin and making a living as a rancher is a hard scrabble existence in most cases. The loss of a few calves can be a make-or-break situation.
Black-necked stilt, Sierra Valley
Wolf enthusiasts will say that the government will compensate the ranchers, but it isn’t as easy as it sounds. They must prove the loss was due to wolves. Calls to wildlife officials must be made, law enforcement is involved, sometimes DNA tests have to be taken, in short, a lot of extra work for the rancher and the wolf is presumed innocent until it can be proven otherwise, and the onus is on the cattle producer. Compensation is not automatic, guaranteed or a fast solution for farmers.
When the killing started a few weeks ago in the valley, a Sacramento News station sent a film crew up to interview the ranchers involved. They spent about three hours with the ranchers touring the sites and speaking with them about the situation. In a not to be believed turn of events, the wolves showed up at the edge of the cow herd as the news crew was filming and they got footage of the wolves circling mother cows and calves before they were driven off.
Horned Lark, Sierra Valley
As a wildlife photographer and enthusiast these kinds of wildlife human conflicts are a mixed bag for me. I am on one hand thrilled at the return of a long-vanquished apex predator. On the other, the hardships that wolves present to livestock producers and the small communities that depend on agriculture for survival are very real. I ask myself if the return of wolves to central California, the Tahoe Basin can really work? Are we inevitably going to see a tragedy involving wolves and humans? We will definitely have pets killed and frightening encounters between humans and wolves. This is 2025 not 1825 and these areas are full of people now. They are not large tracts of unfractured wilderness that are sparsely populated. There is not enough wildlife to support large wolf populations, and the wolves will prey on livestock for survival as has already been shown.
In other news, the son of a friend of mind took some video of a large gray wolf east of town where I run my trail cameras, so the wolves are already in my immediate area. The Nevada Department of Wildlife confirmed the animal in the video as a wolf. When the young man got out his truck to take the video the wolf snarled at him and pinned back it’s ears and stood its ground showing no fear. That is concerning as these animals are not hunted, they seem to not have any natural fear of humans.
Killdeer, Sierra Valley
It remains to be seen how this will all fall out. I have driven up to Sierra Valley twice this week hoping to see the wolves. It is place I go to photograph birds and other wildlife. It is a birders heaven, and I am sharing some of the photos I took up there. I didn’t see any wolves but as I drove the ranch roads at dawn yesterday, I saw a cowboy sitting in an ATV in the middle of a herd of cows and calves trying to protect them from the wolves. I thought to myself what a difficult situation everyone is in. This isn’t sustainable for ranchers. Is it sustainable for the wolves?
A Loggerhead Shrike, or Butcher Bird pictured in the first photo is a fierce predatory bird. They have a specialized beak for severing the spine of their prey. They are infamous for impaling their captured prey on thorns or the barbs on wire fences. They eat insects, small rodents and amphibians. Their relatively weak legs and inability to hold their prey without talons is the reason they impale their food. It makes it easier for them to hold and eat their catch.
Some recent updates with Bobcats and Mountain Lions from the Trail Cameras follow.
I remain grateful these Lions are waiting until dark to roam the woods.
The Bobcat continues to be a mostly daytime predator. But I did manage to get a photo of two Bobcats together at night.
It may be her kitten or it may be mating season. No way to tell.
I know that I am not alone in loving Autumn. I feel it is by far the shortest of seasons. Maybe it is my imagination because I love it so much, but it always feels like it flies by. It seems like we finally have cooler weather, the leaves turn to bright gold and far too quickly the leaves are gone, and the short dark days of winter descend.
Early Autumn along the river
We don’t have brilliant red foliage, but I love all the subtle shades of gold that paint our autumn days. Most of the leaves are gone now but there is beauty in bare branches and the silence of winter.
Last week the Events center hosted a team roping event. I went down as I was sure there would be some pretty horses. I love a buckskin and there were several.
I never get tired of looking at horses. So please indulge me with all the cow pony photos.
There are wild horses present in the areas I have my cameras set out. I have to carefully place them where the rampaging 1000-pound animals won’t knock them over, rub against them or otherwise play havoc with them. It is disappointing to wait two or three weeks to see what sort of photos you are going to get from a set and then walk up to the camera knocked over or askew. I have gotten better at placement, but it still happens.
A few weeks ago, I looked at one of my cameras in dismay as it had been knocked out of position and faced the bark of a big cottonwood tree that I had hoped would protect it from the horses. Well, that is going to be a complete waste of that set I thought. I was pleasantly surprised to see this little mouse show up on the tree bark at night.
Northern Desert Photography 