A graceful scrub jay perches in the tops of a tree, turning its head.

Scrub Jay in Scrub (California)

Bycritterlover January 30, 2025June 17, 2025

Paicines, California. This scrub jay showed up almost every morning at our site at San Benito Thousand Trails. Often, right before school (my sister and I are homeschooled, thanks to my mom) I would pull out my camera and look around for anything that might be near our site (see Deer Fawn, Critter Sightings and Chubby Squirrel, Critter Sightings). Sometimes there would be several scrub jays. Also at San Benito there were javelinas. They were cool.

The scrub jays were super fun to watch. Sometimes they would find an acorn (I wonder if they’re rivals with that chubby squirrel), and then I would watch in sheer fascination as they pecked a hole in the ground and–believe it or not–picked up the acorn with their beak and stashed it in the hole!

A scrub jay stands in a short tree, a fat acorn in its beak.

Critter Sightings

Huge Bison, Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming)

Bycritterlover January 14, 2025June 17, 2025

Yellowstone National Park. This big ol’ bison was slurping up muddy, seeping thermal water. Each time after doing that, he would lick his nostrils. You would be alarmed at how deep the tongue went into the nostril. He also had a tendency to yawn.

A young deer grazes on the shores of Lake McDonald, Olympic National Park.

Critter Sightings

White-tailed Deer at Olympic National Park (Washington)

Bycritterlover January 14, 2025June 17, 2025

Olympic National Park. This deer was spotted on the shores of Lake McDonald. (Hint! The rocks are NOT colorful! The lake is pretty, but don’t be deceived by the edited pictures on Instagram. We were.)

A snake nestled in a steep bank coils itself.

Critter Sightings

Snake on Sea Lion Caves Pathway (Oregon)

Bycritterlover February 5, 2025June 17, 2025

Florence, Oregon. We were walking down the Sea Lion Caves Pathway in high hopes of seeing sea lions gathered by the hundreds in the sea caves. The pathway was just basically a sidewalk, one side being a drop-off into the Pacific Ocean, and the other being a steep but short bank. That’s where we saw…

Critter Sightings

Feisty Frizzle (Wyoming)

Bycritterlover January 16, 2025June 17, 2025

Yellowstone National Park. Since we were spending the whole summer in Grant Village, we decided to name the local elk (although, to be honest, there was technically no way to tell if an elk was a different one or not). We came up with Feisty Frizzle. (The “feisty” part came from her charging a dude…

A baby cinnamon black bear stands in the thick, green grass beside a gray boulder.

Critter Sightings

Cinnamon Bear Cub (Wyoming)

Bycritterlover January 23, 2025June 17, 2025

Yellowstone National Park. This cute little guy was right on the side of the road. Unfortunately we were on the opposite side, so I zoomed in to the max to snag this shot. We were also driving slowly down the road, so maybe that’s why the picture is so blurry. (Okay, I’ll quit making excuses….

A boy places his hand beside a large banana slug to measure it.

Critter Sightings

Banana Slug (Washington)

Bycritterlover January 31, 2025June 17, 2025

Fall City, Washington. I was just walking around in our site, and I leapt back–a snake? 😨 But, after the generally general, scary scare, I looked closer. Aha and avast! At last! A banana slug. If it was a banana, it was rather unripe. 🤣 These beastly beasts best even the best of sluggish slugs….

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