I found this Banana Slug while walking a trail in the forest. It was off to the side on a mossy embankment. My wife noticed that it was crawling towards a little hole and then we both noticed that a little mushroom was sticking out of the entrance to that hole. I wonder if it visits this location often.

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If you are not a birder you may not know that this bird is called a Killdeer. And now you might be asking yourself why this bird is called a Killdeer. That’s a question that I had as well when I first learned of the name. But it’s not an answer I care to find out. I think it’s funny that this little shorebird has the name Killdeer and I don’t want the answer to disappoint me. So I’m just going to avoid it as long as I can.

I’ve always been intrigued with the red in the Killdeer’s eyes. I’ve seen a lot of birds and it is a very unique feature for the Killdeer.

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This is a group of juvenile Common Merganser. I found them early one morning exhibiting a behavior I had never seen before. Their mother was close by but they certainly were not shy of straying away from her. The juveniles would stop and eat by the edge of the river but sometimes they would all get a burst of energy and take off as if they all decided to have an impromptu race. And that is what they are doing in this photo. The races would only last a few seconds and things would calm down but out of nowhere they would challenge each other once again. It was very fun to watch especially in this decent size grouping.

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I don’t know why I never thought about there being so many different species of Dragonflies and Damselflies but I’m learning that there are. They have some pretty cool names too, like Eight Spotted Skimmer.

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My wife and I liked how this Hares Foot Inkcap was towering out of the leaves. This Mushroom was quite tall in person.

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This is one of my favorite photos I’ve taken. I had a very small window of Sunset light hitting this Mule Deer before it disappeared over the Mountains. The Mule Deer had to walk up a hill to get to this area where the light was actually shining. I only got a small handful of photos with good light but this was by far the best and I love it.

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I had a lot of joy watching this female California Quail and her young. Unfortunately for you I did not get many pictures of them. One reason why is because it was getting late. The Sun had already set at this point and the Quail were only out for a little bit before finding shelter. The other reason is because I’m very cautious to not interrupt wildlife, especially when it comes to babies or juveniles. I generally keep a pretty good distance and I knew the photos were not going to be that great from where I was viewing.

The Quail happen to move up this little hill and were covered by some tall grass so that is when I decided to make my move and sneak a bit closer. In this photo they are running back down the little hill after something else spooked them. There is a track not too far from here where people walk and ride bikes around so the Quail would attempt to go a little higher but always end up running back down after getting startled.  I only got a handful of photos before they made home in a bush and decided to not come back out.

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A Douglas’ Squirrel having a bit of a break in the evening at Lassen Volcanic National Park.

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I love how this photo turned out. This was a very important photograph on my career path.

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