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They’re on the Move!

On birds in winter, and all those robins you’re seeing right now

If you haven’t seen them, you’re either not paying attention, or you’re really busy doing something else. It’s really hard to miss them, especially if they’re pooping all over your deck like they are at my place, or on your car if it’s parked under the juniper tree at the edge of your driveway. Robins! […]

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Newts Deserve Respect, or Else…

Victor Berthelsdorf, who lives over in The Swamp on a farm near McMinnville, recently sent me an email with a photo of a great egret posing with a mouthful of rough-skinned newt. Berthelsdorf’s note read: “I was wondering what your take might be on this. Taken Dec. 13. Dazed & confused? Washing it off? Flipping the […]

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A Brush with a Papa Owl

In tales of the great horned owl, Part 2, our columnist recalls nearly losing an ear

I once had a sheep-raising palโ€”one of the Shumway boysโ€”lead me to an active great horned owl pair that was using an old red-tailed hawk’s nest in the top of a juniper that had been blown over near Alfalfa. Telling this tale, you have to realize that old pals have different ways of looking at humor, […]

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The Notorious Nest-Stealers

A tale of the great horned owl, part 1

Well, it’s that time of year (again). If you’re fortunate enough to have a home close to the same habitat great horned owls need to make a living, you’re also hearing them now as they cuddle up and sing love songs to each other. The owls usually begin their courtship in November, about a football […]

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Knapweed, the Persistent Pest

The photo seen here was taken just last week on private ground adjacent to Hwy. 20 east of Sisters. It’s spotted knapweed gone to seedโ€”one of the three species of knapweed, pushing too many of our native plants aside, using precious water and nutrients doing so, and generally becoming a huge nuisance. They gotta’ go! […]

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The Black Widow’s Sister Arrives

Let’s begin this story with the high points regarding the spider genus, Latrodectus and the family Theridiidae, most of which are commonly known as widow spiders. (If you visit Africa, however, you’ll find they have the common name of button spiders.) The accompanying drawing by my son Caleb is an African brown widow recently reported […]

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Sydney the Cygnet Lives On

Eloise, the surviving trumpeter swan from an original pair brought to Aspen Lakes, has lived quite a life. She survived the death of her early partner and has lived long enough to gain some friends among the residents. It was love at first sight for Robin Goldโ€”one of the residents at Aspen Lakes in Sisters, […]

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Coyotes: Clever Rebounders

Columnist confounds trappers, foils the FBI

Way back in the ’50s and ’60s, I was a thorn in the side of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Predator and Rodent Control programโ€”a misnomer if there ever was one. Their main target was the coyote. The trappers thought they could eliminate the coyote on the “open range”โ€”as they termed the millions of […]

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