Squirrels!

Through the years I have taken many photos of squirrels. I have found them to mostly be curious, cute and dopey. When I was young, my family took in a baby squirrel whose mom was no longer around to care for him. We named him Zoomber. He lived in our house with a cage he could choose to visit, but mostly he ran around our house and visited with us and made nests in our old clothes in our laundry room. He was so entertaining to have around. Luckily after taking care of him for a year we started to reintroduce him to the ourdoors around spring time. He slowly adapted to become a regular wild squirrel who had his own family and peered at us from the trees. Here are random photos of squirrels in nature who I got to visit in their environment.

*** Any native squirrel that has been orphaned or injured should be brought to a wildlife rehab center to properly handle the care of the animal. I am appreciative of my experience with Zoomber and since he was non native, he was best off in our care. ***

A trip to Columbian White-Tailed Deer National Wildlife Refuge

My parents live along the Columbia River in Cathlamet, WA. Their view from their home is beautiful and less than 10 miles down the road is the Columbian White-Tailed Deer National Wildlife Refuge. Every visit I am able, I drive through this refuge at least once. Evenings or morning are best since there is more of a chance to see deer. I discovered last year that elk go to the refuge, to actually find refuge, during hunting season. The most common sighting are great blue herons, and one drive threw 11 were spotted. I often take my niece and nephew with me since it is a great family activity and they enjoy counting the number of different animals we encounter.

A red tail hawk sits in a tree along a marsh area.

The red tail flies off, probably cause he got annoyed with me taking photos.

Three northern pintails swim along a marsh area of the refuge.

A group of northern shovelers looks for food. Shovelers have wider and longer beaks than a regular mallard. The females look similar otherwise, but the males are more unique.


Close ups of the winter vegetation along the waterways of the refuge.

An immature bald eagle flies from a tree. Look at those tallons!