Winter Wildlife Photography (Part III) in Grant County, Oregon

This is the finale of our three part slideshow of winter wildlife photography in Grant County, Oregon. It’s been just over a month, during a brief winter thaw, since we published Part II of this series. When the ice abruptly released from the rivers, and snow melted off the high country benches above the canyons, everything changed. Elk moved to higher country. Quail, chuckar and partridge dispersed from where wildlife had concentrated along the river riparian zones, no doubt looking for newly exposed food sources and less exposure to predators. There remained an abundance of eagles, however, and we definitely took advantage of that. The thrill of perhaps the entire winter, however, was the opportunity to photograph the North American River Otter, catching its antics on both of our forks of the John Day River. It was a rare and exciting happening for us.