There is a period between fall migration and hardcore winter when spotting wildlife along the rivers of Grant County wanes a bit. During this time, mule deer and whitetails are in the rut (breeding season) and elk are still in higher country.  The colorful foliage in riparian zones is stunning, however. Recently, we headed out with our photo gear, expressing that our jaunt up the Middle Fork may produce little more than a very pleasant tour of the colorful autumn day. 

You never know for certain, despite the known trends, how any given day will produce photograph-able wildlife subjects or leave you “skunked.” This was our first road trip together this season. To say we were rusty at synchronizing our ability to spot, stop and shoot is an understatement. Either one of us would “spot,” the driver must instantly “stop,” and the camera must be focused to “shoot” from either side of the vehicle. Most of the day we were very fortunate to be spotting more subjects than expected. Terry insisted to be the driver this day, setting Kay up to do most of the shooting.Osprey, well-fed, in the Douglas Fir above the river. (Kay Steele)

However, most of our subjects were at the extremes of a shoot-able range – either farther out than desired, or too close to focus. Just the same, we were successful in finding some wonderful subjects in beautiful fall colors. The red osier  (dogwood bush) is particularly beautiful  and, after dropping its leaves, reveals the smaller birds we cherish – the black-capped chickadees and the ruby-crowned kinglets.

If there is an American red squirrel (pine squirrel) in the area, it will often find you, and scold! Terry spotted this one, silently perched and felt it appears to be an unusually colored one for Grant County, Oregon.

Birds of prey dominated the day. It was really intriguing to see two phases of the Red-tailed Hawk that we had never photographed before. Topping off our day on the Middle Fork, Terry photographed an adult Intermediate Red-tail, and Kay captured an unusually white juvenile Red-tail, lite-phase. 

The work of this day is dedicated to the memory of our very dear friend, Nancy Kay Hiatt who passed away 10/22/18. She will remain an inspiration to help us focus on all things beautiful and good in this world.