"Critters"--Wild couples

July 7, 2026

Male Western Bluebird taking turns with his female partner in feeding a choir of hatchlings in in a woodsy meadow west of Spokane

Glimpses of natural partners

For reasons I can’t perfectly explain, blue is my favorite color. It may have something to do with my affection for the acrobatic Blue-gray tanagers that buzzed around our family home in Panama. That alone may explain why I’ll trade a slab of time for the chance to get a decent photo of a Western Bluebird. If you can find them, it’s the time of year when the bluebird couples are consumed with feeding bugs and grubs to their hatchlings. From where I was sitting (on a log) yesterday I could hear the excited hatchlings inside the tree. Ah, the soundtrack of parenthood….

Bullock’s orioles, the oriole of the inland Northwest. Male on the left, female on the right

Mule deer replace white tail deer in the dry, piney, rocky terrain west and south of Spokane. They are curious, hardy, and remarkable climbers. Mule deer society is matriarchal and I’m all for that.

Belted kingfishers are allergic to photographers, so it takes some work to get close enough for a decent picture. They have keen vision and will selectively fish for prey that will fit the growth of their young. The female (on the left) is distinguishable with the rusty orange belt below her blue gray collar. The males just have the collar.

A pair of Pileated woodpeckers, the largest of the common North American woodpeckers. I met this couple in mid-June in the pines high above the Spokane River. The male (left) is distinguishable by the red streak below its eye, the female (right) has a black streak.

Mass liftoff of Common mergansers on Latah Creek last winter. The males have the greenish heads, the ladies wear the orange.

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—tjc