A River Otter having breakfast in the early morning.

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I was watching a family of Mule Deer for a little while as they made their way from a wooded area and into a more open area. I was a ways away from them but they were walking in my direction. I have photos of them coming a little closer and eating some plants and they kept getting closer as they were grazing. The mother didn’t feel like grazing it seemed as she entered a small trail that looks like animals take through the side of the woods close to me.

This young Deer eventually followed their mom. I was on an adjacent trail that people use. But I could slowly sneak around on the opposite side of the Mule Deer to get some great angles that are also very close.

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This is the father of the siblings in Mule Deer 14. I hope to be your favorite wildlife photographer one day.

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This is a pair of young Mule Deer siblings. I hope this image speaks more for itself than anything I have to say about it.

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This Douglas’ Squirrel was very curious of me when it saw me from a distance. I was hiding behind this fallen tree that that you can see in the photo. The Squirrel was a distance away on the opposite side so I would duck down to take photos of it. It happened to come closer to me as it was picking through things on the ground when it spotted my movements.

It stood up curiously and started moving closer to me. As it was nearing me, I slowly backed away. The squirrel climbed up on the fallen tree that I was ducking behind so I knelt down and took a bunch of shots at it as it was checking me out. This is one of those photos.

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This shot was taken at a River offshoot of the Whiskeytown Lake in California. This photograph would generally not be possible but the circumstances worked out perfectly.

You see, this River is usually roaring, but when I arrived the morning of this shot the water level was very low. The width of the water stream was about half the amount it usually is.

There is a trail that people like me use to walk around in nature that parallels one side of the river. The trail is set back, especially in certain areas, and it’s about 10 feet above the normal water level.

So as I was walking this trail I noticed down below some motion in the water, just after texting a photo of some Mushrooms I found to my wife. The motion was farther out since the water level was so low. But I looked through my camera’s long lens and I could see that there was a romp of River Otters (yes, a romp, I looked it up right now). I texted my wife again, “Omg river otter,” and then turned around and ran.

I ran in the opposite direction because I knew of spot where I used to climb down to the edge of the water. I took some earlier Osprey photos at that exact location. But now that the water was so low and the riverbed was exposed, I knew that I could try and walk on it back towards the River Otter after doing down to that spot. This was the only way to take a photo at the River Otters eye level. Being level with your subject matter’s eyes makes for very good photos. That’s one of the only reasons why my photos look better than the photos you take with your phone.

As you can see, the plan worked perfectly, although, the riverbed was very muddy as it wasn’t fully dry. I’m not sure people understand the work that is involved with my photography as I haven’t discussed that anywhere yet. Maybe, if people are interested, I will tell you all the work that is involved. But after I was done for the morning I was drenched in sweat even though it was 50ºF.

Anyways, I did my best to run, and then sneak up closer to the Otters. And I did a pretty good job of not being seen by them for a long time, even though I was the only thing larger than a small rock on that riverbed.

The romp was diving down and grabbing things to eat and chewing away on them when they returned to the surface. This particular Otter in photograph River Otter 01 obviously caught a decent size Fish so it brought it over to the shore. Unfortunately it went to the shoreline that was farther away from where I was posted. Other photographers will understand the struggle of wishing a photograph was a little closer. But I love this photo anyways, even if the River Otter is murdering a Fish.

More River Otter photos coming to Field Notes soon!

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The Squirrel in the back is a juvenile and the one in the front is an adult. They were chasing each other around quite a bit.

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While it looks like this Douglas’ Squirrel is just chilling on the branch, it was actually scratching its face. It laid down on its belly and rubbed its face from one side of the branch to the other to scratch its cheeks and chin. But in this particular frame it looks like it is just resting.

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It’s been abnormally foggy up in Northern California but with rain headed this way I decided to get out and at least try to take photos before the rain arrives. I came up with a plan to visit a wildlife area about an hour and a half from where I live. I thought maybe that would be far enough to get away from the fog. However, I was wrong. Very wrong.

The fog had cleared up when I got through a mountain pass but I could tell in the distance that the valley I was headed to was already getting a fresh blanket. I had driven for over an hour at that point so I decided to trek on and just see what I was dealing with. Upon arriving I knew that photography was going to be a struggle in the foggy conditions but I thought that worst case scenario I would have an enjoyable walk. Which it was.

The fog was very thick and the lack of wildlife sounds was a bit ominous. One cool thing that I kept experiencing was hearing a strange gust of wind getting closer to me and then all of a sudden a flock of blackbirds would fly overhead. The sound that they made while flying towards me was very surreal since I couldn’t see them until the flock was about fifty feet away.

Luckily, I did spot a few Mule Deer through the fog at a couple of locations. I knew that these silhouette shots would at least make for some interesting Nature Content for you to enjoy.

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