Watching Mule Deer

We just spent a few days in the Klamath Basin, northern California.  Its the time of the mule deer rut. This beautiful buck was kind enough to stay still.  He had probably worn himself out chasing does and now needed a rest.

For more about the rutting season go to my blog:
http://elvafieldnotes.blogspot.com

.... and here is a fawn.  They are good sized this late in the fall.

Klamath Basin Sketches

Dale and I just spent three days in the Klamath Basin ... one of my favorite spots to be.  Thousands and thousands of ducks, geese, shorebirds, etc pause in the basin on their way south.  Many other spend the summer and raise their young there.

The sketch has a great blue heron which flew in and landed on a telephone pole while I was sketching the western grebes.  It always surprises me that some grebe chicks are still fluffy at this time of year.  The grebe chicks follow their parents around, begin incessantly.

Late the first the day I spotted this great blue heron fishing amongst the rocks along the shore of Klamath Lake.

The official count of ducks and geese for the Klamath Basin was nearly one million birds!  This is one of them -- a pintail duck.

This is a very wet red-tailed hawk.  Our last day varied between drizzle and rain.  The hawk had gotten himself through drenched and was sitting on top of a pole with his wings and tail spread and dripping.