This epistle is the result of friends’ and my personal experiences with observing—often helplessly—domestic and feral cats killing wildlife, sometimes for food, but more often because they are programmed to do so. A genetic study in 2007 concluded that domestic cats are descended from African wildcats, Felix silvestris lybica, which hunted small birds, mammals, reptiles, […]
Jim Anderson
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Northern Pygmy Owls
The Mighty Killers
The photographs give you some idea of why Northern Pygmy Owls (NOPO) are common and never miss anything throughout their range; that is, they are always looking at you! Another reason is pygmy owls can kill anything the size of a pigeon, and eat it — right then and there. When a pygmy owl shows […]
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Sleeping away winter
The recent big snows that have hit us, also have brought quite a few phone calls from people asking about wildlife in winter. For those mule deer “pets” hanging around Sisters and Bend, it is tough going when the snow gets deep. They’ve lost all the benefits of kitchen and flower-garden left-overs buried deep under […]
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Here come the mooses!
Wildlife in your Big Bend Backyard
It had to happen. If the wolves hadn’t chased the moose from Washington and Idaho into Oregon, some sportsman’s group would have suggested it. After all, we have a turkey shooting group, an elk hunter’s bunch; why not a moose-hunting club? But moose-hunting won’t be like so-called “wild” turkey hunting. Turkeys have never been native […]
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A Hawk by Any Other Name
Kestrels’ close links to dinosaurs
You’ve probably seen those little “hawks” that perch on power lines. Well, they’re actually falcons, and, from my experience, they’ll eat anything. You have to agree; the other day—at 15-degrees below zero—I watched a healthy-looking adult female perched on the power line just east of Sisters, in the process of gulping down what appeared to […]
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The Eyes Have It!
My friend, Owl, made me realize the importance of eyesight
Owl came into my life when I was living at what is now Hollinshead Park on Jones Road. Late one afternoon, the phone rang. “Is this Jim Anderson who knows about birds?,” the caller asked. I said I knew a little about birds, why? “I’m a logger, and got this bird that fell out of […]
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Western Juniper
A weed or what?
What would our wintering robins do without Western juniper? All day long they’re out feeding on juniper berries (cones actually), guzzling water to help digest the berries and leaving the remains on tops of cars, sidewalks and other flat surfaces. What would the Juniper hairstreak butterfly do with the tree that bears its name? How […]
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Jane Stevens: Wildlife Rehabber
OK, Jane Stevens—licensed wildlife reahabber—get ready to blush…I ask you, dear reader, have you ever given a thought to what it would be like to save a baby bat's life? I mean really tiny babies, eyes still closed and wet with placental fluids. What to feed it—or, how to feed it? Yeah, I’d have thrown […]
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Casting for birds, frogs and other wildlife
No matter how you look at it, finding wild and rare Oregon spotted frogs alongside native nesting Virginia rails in the Old Mill District is something extraordinary. Ask Tom Crabtree, Central Oregon's premier birder: "In all my 32 years of birding in Oregon, this is the only time I ever had the opportunity to watch […]
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Sisters Science Club Symposiums
On Sept. 19, the Sisters Science Club will kick off the 2013 free science symposiums in Sisters, featuring current topics on science. The first of the series presented by OSU geology instructor, Daniele McKay, will be "Volcanoes in Central Oregon: When Will the Next Eruption Occur, and How Will It Affect You?" What a topic […]