I love the composition of this Douglas’ Squirrel climbing up a tree.

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This Mule Deer must have been family to the Mule Deer you are already familiar with; the one with its tongue sticking out. This one was actually following that one around while they were grazing at Lassen Volcanic National Park. The other one happened to always be a little more photogenic so I took quite a few shots of that one but this one will always be remembered in this photograph.

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This is an adult (lower) and juvenile (upper) Douglas’ Squirrel. They were very active while I was hanging around them so you’ll see a few photos of them posted to my website. They would chase each other for a bit and then one would manage to get away. After a bit of time they would meet back up and run around again until eventually splitting up again. Trying to get them both in one photograph was actually quite challenging.

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To be quite honest, I was not aware of how many different species of Squirrels there are prior to becoming a full-time photographer and artist. When photographing these squirrels at Mt. Lassen National Park I knew that I had not seen this specific species before. After my photo session I had to look up what this species is called and it was a surprise to me to learn that they are called Douglas’ Squirrels.

Some animal species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, marine life, etc., have honorific names. These names are usually given to honor the person that notably "discovered” a particular species. Douglas’ Squirrel was named after David Douglas, a Scottish botanist that explored the Pacific Northwest.

Honorific names are being phased out a bit in bird species in favor of names that are more characteristic of the bird or if the person has a controversial past. Honorific names are not being changed as broadly in other species types at the moment.

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I can't get enough of this photograph.

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