A couple juvenile Nutria hanging out with their parent just outside Eugene, Oregon.

BAM☺︎

While photographing some Nutria I heard my wife say loudly, “What is that!” I was so engaged with the Nutria that I just kept my eyes on them and just asked her what she was looking at. She then replied, “Is that a bear?” That got my attention so I looked up at her to see where she was looking. She had her binoculars held to her eyes and was looking across the big pond we were at. I looked over to the other side and saw a rather large mammal. I laughed and told her that can’t be bear because it was definitely too small, but I was also a bit puzzled because it was a very odd size. It was a far distance and I needed to get a better view. I don’t carry binoculars so I held up my camera to get a better view with its long lens. I could see the animal’s webbed feet and oval shaped tail which confirmed it was a Beaver.

This thing was huge. This was near Eugene, Oregon, in an area that was surrounded by a lot of residential housing. This wildlife area is actually a popular place for people to visit as there are boardwalks and such so maybe this thing is finding scraps that people leave behind. It was at least twice the size of the biggest American Beaver that I’ve ever seen.

BAM☺︎

This was a pretty funny encounter. My wife and I were actually at Cannon Beach in Oregon to view the Tufted Puffins, but I saw this Bald Eagle perched off in the distance. I knew that any photograph I was going to take of this Bald Eagle was not going to be that good because it was way high in the tree and that tree was on top of a cliff, while I was down below on the beach. Therefore, to get any sort of good angle I had to stay way far back. The goal was to get trees behind the Bald Eagle rather than just the gray sky because the sky is not very flattering in photos like this.

I actually spent quite a while with this Bald Eagle because what I really wanted was for it to take off. I positioned myself in a way that there was a chance that it would fly towards me if it decided to leave its perch. Spoiler alert, it never did, but occasionally a Seagull would come by and disturb the Bald Eagle. The Seagulls would swoop down a few times and then leave. Another one, or possibly the same one, would show up about 15-20 minutes later and repeat this pattern. I got a few shots that I thought were worth sharing, knowing that they are not fantastic, but entertaining nonetheless.

BAM☺︎

I’m a big fan of Nutria. I only discovered them earlier this year and after learning about them and spending time with them I think they are quite special.

BAM☺︎