Jim Anderson

If there's one bird in the Sisters Country that can bring smiles one moment and frowns the next, it is our big and bold Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus). The photo above shows a male enjoying a repast of suet cake they enjoy in winter—and if you continue to provide this favorite flicker food—in summer as […]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently issued a report that kitchen gardens and community gardens may be open to a cat-borne disease that can be devastating, especially to children. To wit: “Toxoplasmosis, caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, is one of the most common parasitic infections of man and other warm-blooded animals. It has […]

All our small owls—screech, saw-whet, pygmy, flammulated, and boreal—nest in tree cavities, created by woodpeckers, broken limbs or just plain old age. Then there’s the little burrowing owl, also a "cavity nester," but the cavity is a hole in the ground. The burrowing owl is inextricably (oh, how I love that word!) linked to the […]

Dinosaurs may have been blasted into extinction—or starved to death—some 70 million years ago, but in every kid's imagination they're still with us, and capable of making life more exciting than homework, or even computer games. The High Desert Museum's new exhibit, "Be the Dinosaur: Life in the Cretaceous," has combined interactive video simulations with […]

Experts have stated that even Native Americans in charge of cultural and anthropological affairs for their tribes are sometimes stymied as to what rock art means or even what an image represents. However, Dr. James Keyser, one of the leading experts on the rock art of the Columbia Basin, says that is not the case. […]

As a kid on the family farm in Connecticut during the (first) Great Depression, with the help of my grandfather, I was taught to trap, kill and skin striped skunks. I then sold the pelts to buy shoes for school. But, it is no longer necessary for me to trap, skin and sell the pelts […]

Spring brings with it growing grass, jumping fish and an enduring race between tent caterpillars and their host plants. Seemingly ubiquitous in Central Oregon, the industrious tent caterpillars pitch thousands of tiny silken tents among the upper leaves of awakening bitterbrush throughout the region. Those, oh, best beloved newly hatched tent caterpillars trying to get […]

There was a time—in my lifetime, actually—when anyone wanting firewood for winter simply drove a few miles from town and cut a full season’s supply; no permit necessary. But not anymore. There was a time when anyone could hunt, fish, hike, pedal a bike, drive a motorcycle or snowmobile anywhere they wanted. Not anymore. There […]

As winter recedes, and birds return for springtime, it is a good time to give consideration to a group of birds that thrives during the cold months, but welcomes back the other birds of spring: the accipiters, otherwise known as "bird hawks." Their downy under-feathers keep them warm, and small birds that flock together in […]

Before I get going on rabbits and hares, I have to tell you something about the dilemma we have right at this moment; it involves people who like to shoot "rabbits" and the needs of eagles. There is overwhelming evidence that, without jackrabbits, golden eagles are in big trouble. It's as simple as that: Kill […]