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Continue reading →: Life in the Flood PlainHaving lived by the river for the better part of 52 years I have come to know its ups and downs pretty well. The technology we had for communicating dangerous river levels when I was a teenager was a battery-powered radio reception, usually during power outages, to hear a static-obscured…
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Continue reading →: Red-legged GiantAll raptors have a hold on me, whether a tiny kestrel that looks more like a delicate watercolor study than a predator, or big bulky Red-tailed Hawks that are common enough that I probably don’t pay careful enough attention to every one I see. But the one that floors me…
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Continue reading →: Salmon SeasonThe first good rain we had a couple weeks ago brought the river up a bit and the season’s first run of salmon was on. The anadromous fish whose poignant journey upstream to spawn tugs at human heartstrings in a way that buoys our sense of life affirmation. At the…
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Continue reading →: Octoberfest, Part 2Autumn was no longer fooling around in the second half of October. The subtle blush of oaks, the not so subtle turning of willow leaves to gold punctuated days so crisp and clear that the extreme heat of just a couple weeks ago felt like ancient history. The Tsuchinshan comet…
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Continue reading →: Octoberfest, Part 1Shorter days, chilly mornings, and the beginnings of fall color claim early October as their habitat in time. Spring gets all the headlines for its exciting expectations of new life replacing dormancy, the arrival of colorful neo-tropical migrant birds, and a thaw that warms and loosens old joints, drawing us…
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Continue reading →: Tiny HuntersNorth America’s smallest falcons, the American Kestrel and the Merlin have made recent visits to my neighborhood. Kestrels are year round residents while Merlins only spend the winter here or migrate through. All of our falcons share jet black eyes, long, tapered wings, and a taste for small birds, although…
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Continue reading →: Glimpses of American MinkTiny and quick, when an American Mink makes an appearance it is always a thrill, and then a challenge, to follow the activity of this fierce member of the weasel family as it goes about its business along the river. A couple months ago I was lucky enough to see…
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Continue reading →: Diving for TreasureThis otter spent quite a while diving for small treasures in a fairly stagnant part of the river the other morning and gave me a chance to watch her efforts pretty close up. An otter’s body takes on an almost liquid form as she sleekly enters the water, causing very…
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Continue reading →: September ShenanigansYoung Sharp-shinned Hawks might be accused of having delusions of grandeur as they figure out what kind of prey they can be successful at catching in their first year of life. I have seen them go after Kingfishers, who seem to find them a bother more than a threat. I…
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Continue reading →: Gray Fox Wake-up CallFor the third time I have seen Gray Foxes at this spot, a ledge carved by high water last year over the river with a stand of willows providing some cover, but allowing morning sun to come through. This time there was just one, sound asleep. She didn’t notice me…
Welcome to Free Range Photography, a photo-journal of encounters with birds and wildlife, mostly in Humboldt County, California.
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