Wildfires are serious business. This year in Oregon dozens are burning, consuming more than 1 million acres in the last month alone. Some are caused by lightning, others by human activities, some accidental and some not. With the many notifications every day I began wondering about how fires are named. Some seem obvious, based on […]
Debra Merskin
Posted inOutside
A Riot of Robins
Why yes, there is a massive migration of robins—aka Turdus migratorius—going on right now
A rash, a hood, a riot—all collective nouns for a group of robins. And boy, are there ever groups, big groups, of them around central Oregon this fall! Have you seen them, too, as you drive through areas thick with juniper trees? If you, like me, have seen clouds of these beautiful birds dive bombing around […]