Three nights ago, I went for a ride about 6:30 and went out to Euchre Creek Road, about ten miles north of Gold Beach. I saw elk for the first time this summer. After the cows calve, the herds seem to go into hiding, so I haven’t seen them in a few months. But now the calves are viable, so the herds have returned to the fields.

Anyway, the photos aren’t as sharp as I’d like. I don’t know why, but I’ll figure it out.

But, as you can see, the bulls pretty much have full antlers, now. I don’t know how far we are away from the rut, but I’d like to see if I can find and photograph some of the bulls fighting over the right to build their harems.

In the past, I’ve seen some bulls that came pretty close to fighting, but the battles ended in bluffs with the dominant male simply chasing off the others.

These are two photos of the same bull. One of my friends said she’d seen two other bulls in the same field. They weren’t there, that night. I’ll check, tonight, to see what’s out there.

This is a series of ten photos of a great egret looking for food, at low tide, in the shallow waters of the Port of Gold Beach.

Like their cousins, the herons, to me these birds are most beautiful when they’re spreading their wings.

Watching this one I thought, several times, it was going to fly off. But all it was doing was “hopping” to a better spot where it thought it might find better prey. Captured by the camera, it looks like some kind of avian dance.

They seem to get seaweed wrapped around their feet, frequently, but they don’t seem to mind it.

This is a series of sixteen photos of a blue heron landing in the shallow waters of the Port of Gold Beach, at low tide. (The second photo is a bit blurry. I must have shaken the camera. Sorry. But it’s part of the sequence as the heron slows for its landing.)

From the second through the  sixth photos the bird reminds me of a plane trying to land in the short space of the deck of an aircraft carrier. After that, the photos remind me of a ballet dancer until the heron settles down, on one foot, in the final frame.

As big as these birds appear to be, it’s only because of their wings. This shot reveals how skinny their bodies really are.

This begins the ballet as the heron adjusts itself.

Now on one foot, the heron is unmindful of the weeds now wrapped around its feet.