Now that the weather is nicer and while waiting for the snow to melt in the high country, I'm trying to switch up my daily walk in town. I walk the southern portion of the Deschutes River Trail often and need a break, so I decided to go back to Shevlin Park and see how the season is coming along. From my trip up to Tumalo Falls the day before, I knew that the water would be raging through Shevlin. It was as high as I have ever seen it.
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| Tumalo Creek, Shevlin Park |
I started my usual walk on the west bank of the creek at the parking lot and made my way upstream to the junction with Mrazek trail where I crossed the creek and looped back to my truck. The photos are in the order than I shot them.
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| Dwarf Lupine, Lupinus lepidus |
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| Slender Cinquefoil, Potentilla gracilis |
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| Woodpecker Tree, Favorite Nesting for Pygmy Nuthatches |
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| All the Larkspurs, Delphinium sp., are Pale Here |
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| Chokecherry, Prunus virginiana |
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| Carey's Balsamroot, Balsamorhiza careyana |
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| Healthy Crop of Manzanita Berries, Arctostaphylos patula |
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| Western Sweet-cicely, Osmorhiza occidentalis |
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| First Paintbrush of the Year, Castilleja sp. |
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| Lentil Vetch, Vicia tetrasperma |
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| False Agoseris, Nothocalais troximoides |
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| Rocky Mountain Iris aka Western Blue Flag, Iris missouriensis |
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| Nineleaf Biscuit Root, Lomatium triternatum |
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| Plumed or False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum racemosum |
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| Star-flowered False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum stellatum |
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| Woodland Strawberry, Fragaria vesca |
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| Western Columbine, Aquilegia formosa |
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| Horsetail Rush, Equisetum hyemale |
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| A Rockcress, Boechera sp. |
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A Tall Lupine, Lupinus sp.
We Only Have 31 Potential Species in This Area |
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| Sulphur-flower Wild Buckwheat, Eriogonum umbellatum |
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Western Larch Seedling, Larix occidentalis, Growing on a Rock
at Base of a Ponderosa Pine |
As I was walking through the Ponderosa-Manzanita scrub on the east bank of the creek, about 75 feet above the creek, I noticed a tawny blob a long way off in an open grassy area along the creek. My eyesight is not terribly good and I did not recognize it as anything, but the tawny color certainly did not feel like it belonged. Soon enough, two very large ears emerged on a head above the brown blob of a body, a head with a mouth full of grass hanging out.
It didn't take long to figure out that it was a Mule Deer doe but something seemed off about her shadow. The shadow under her was way too big for what it should have been at noon, when her shadow should have been the smallest all day. A couple seconds later, it dawned on me that she probably had a fawn that was nursing as she grazed. Sure enough, the fawn moved out into the sun where I could see its stripes and spots.
The doe moved downstream a few yards, just enough to put a tree between me and her so I had no choice to move to an open space where I could see her. Unfortunately, I was highlighted against the sky and she detected the motion. As I stood still to become just another object on the horizon, all her senses were focused on finding me and determining if I were a threat.
When she couldn't find me, she relaxed a bit and the fawn wandered about checking things out, only to come back for another nurse. She let him suckle for a minute and then wandered off into the tree line, fawn in tow.
Although deer are ultra-common here (as are elk in the winter when they come down from the mountains), seeing one nursing is not all that common, especially at high noon. My day was made by seeing this sight.
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