Camera Critter #65

When I go out on a photo safari, I am always looking for something strange and unusual to photograph.

Ten days ago, I was out in one of my favorite areas, east of the airport in town, in the bad lands. I was checking on critters flying around and kept seeing a small bright, almost reflective object going from plant to plant. Every time I turned to the object, it was gone again.

Finally, it landed a yellow flower near me (not sure of the flower type) and I got a good look at it and several photos.

It was a Bee Fly, of the Lepidanthrax family.

Only about a quarter of inch long, this little guy looked like he was wrapped in tin foil.


Misty Dawn's Camera Critter Meme is a great way to see critters of all types. Go to the Meme homepage here and check out more entries. Then join the fun and let the world see your critters!

Camera Critters #64

Beetles...they would be a lot easier to identify if they were Beatles...but alas, John, Paul, George and Ringo are in a world of their own.

And so is this Pacific Northwest beetle. There were a lot of them in the area of the Dry Canyon Trail in Redmond, Oregon. Their golden yellow and black coloring standing out on the variety of plants they were investing. There are hundreds of different species in the High Desert. Some day I might be able to name down a name for this bug.


And then there are the birds of the High Desert. I know them...at least I thought I did 8v) One day this gray flycatcher of some type lands near me, I take its photo thinking, Willow Flycatcher, only to find out it isn't what I thought it was...or is it?

The Tyrant Flycatcher family is my worst enemy when it comes to bird identification. Some day I might learn a way to tell one little gray bird from another, but for now, let's just call him a flycatcher.

I guess the best thing to say here is, Bear is good, but he isn't infallible.

Misty Dawn's Camera Critter Meme is a great way to see critters of all types. Go to the Meme homepage here and check out more entries. Then join the fun and let the world see your critters!

Camera Critters #63

As most people who have read my posts here know, I love shooting the local lizards. So once again, it's time for the four-legged, prehistoric looking critters I love so much.

I noticed this Great Basin Fence Lizard sunning on the rocks about 12 feet above in a rocky area of the Dry Canyon Trail in Redmond. He was kind enough to strike a pose for me.


This Great Basin Fence Lizard decided to stop and say hi to me...either that or he was trying to figure out what that big, long black thing sticking out of my head was.


And finally, one of the better looking reptiles in the Dry Canyon is the Side-blotched Lizard.

Misty Dawn's Camera Critter Meme is a great way to see critters of all types. Go to the Meme homepage here and check out more entries. Then join the fun and let the world see your critters!

Camera Critters #62

For the past four years or so, I have spent most of my days wandering around the central Oregon area, looking for any type of critter to photograph. At first, almost everything I would image was a new species for me.

After doing it for so long, I find most of what I photograph these days is something I already have in my collection. However, once in a while, I come across something new.

Friday, June 12, 2009, I was wandering around the departure end of the airport runway when I began to hear a strange buzzing sound. I remembered the buzzing from my childhood, but this was the first time I heard it in central Oregon. As I attempted to track down where the sound was coming from, I began to realize there were more than one and they were above me in Juniper Trees.

Then at one tree, I looked up and silhouetted against the sky was the object of my search. It was an Okanagana bella. There it was, buzzing away, five feet above me. It has been years since I have seen a cicada of any type. It was a pleasing find for me.

Okanagana bella

Misty Dawn's Camera Critter Meme is a great way to see critters of all types. Go to the Meme homepage here and check out more entries. Then join the fun and let the world see your critters!

Camera Critters #61

A week or so ago, I was out shooting in one of my favorite areas. As I walked towards a wooded area, I moved through some wildflowers and notice a black wasp flying around. When it landed on a lone flower stem at the top of a short incline, I lifted my camera and snapped this shot.

For some reason, I really like the shot. I hope you enjoy my Blue Mud Dauber on a Tumble Mustard.


Misty Dawn's Camera Critter Meme is a great way to see critters of all types. Go to the Meme homepage here and check out more entries. Then join the fun and let the world see your critters!

Camera Critters #60

When I was young kid growing up in the Chicago area, I would look forward to our family's trip south to my grandparents. Farm life was so different from life in the big city. But there was something else farm life presented me, city life didn't.

Rain Crows...at least that's what my grandmother called them. She called them that because whenever she heard them "cooing" she would say, "Rain tomorrow."

Rain Crows were nothing more than Mourning Doves, but for a good part of my life, I only knew them as gramma did. Mourning Doves were also the only doves I knew for a long time.

Mourning Dove

Then I moved to central Oregon and took up birding. I learned there were other types of doves, such as the Rock Dove, or Pigeon. I learned of different types of doves elsewhere in the country. These included several types, including Mourning Doves, found in Texas.

When I went there several years ago to visit my brother and his family, I was looking forward to some new birds. Right away, I started critters I didn't see in Oregon. Such as the White-winged Dove and Inca Dove. I made it goal to get good images of both.

White-winged Dove

Inca Doves

The more I learned about the birds around me, the more I realized there were birds I might never see.

However, on Memorial Day, I was at my house getting ready to head out on a safari when I heard a strange sounding bird outside. I walked to my screen door and didn't see anything right away. Then I caught movement on a telephone pole nearby and saw a couple of birds on the cross beams. They looked like Mourning Doves to me and I was just about ready to return to my preparations when one of the birds flew and I knew immediately it wasn't a Mourning Dove.

I quickly got my camera and walked outside. Both birds were again on the pole, so I lifted my camera and fired off several shots. When I went back inside, I uploaded the photos to my computer to verify my identification. Sure enough, the birds were Eurasian Collared Doves.

I had been hearing about these birds in this area for a while now. There were rare reports last Autumn, and a few more this Spring. When I looked on range maps for the bird, it is shown mostly in the southeast, Florida to be specific, but has been seen sporadically around a lot of the eastern half of the country.

However, they seem to be well settled in central Oregon now.

Eurasian Collared Doves

Misty Dawn's Camera Critter Meme is a great way to see critters of all types. Go to the Meme homepage here and check out more entries. Then join the fun and let the world see your critters!

Camera Critters #59

I have been bird watching in central Oregon for about 14 years now. In that time, I have seen most of the common birds in this area. However, there are a few I haven't seen.

One of those birds is the Black-headed Grossbeak. I have had my opportunities to see one. During my one of my early days, my mom and I went out birding. We were scanning the trees opposite of each other when she said, I see an orange bird with black on it. What is it? I turned in her direction, asked where the bird was and she said, "It just flew."

Another time, I was with some friends and one of them said, "Black-headed Grossbeak in the large pine." By the time I turned to focus my binoculars on that spot, nothing was there.

Earlier this week, I was sitting at my computer when I heard a bird singing in the tree outside my door. It sounded very unfamiliar to me, so I went to the door and realized the bird was higher than I could see. I stepped outside, circled the tree, looking upwards and there it was.

I quickly went and grabbed my camera, lifted it and fired off two shots. Just as I was ready to get a third image, my neighbor started her lawn mower, which startled the bird and off it flew.

But I finally saw a Black-headed Grossbeak. I even got a photo to prove I finally saw one. 8v)


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