If there’s one member of Oregon’s wildlife community that has the digging ability to sink out of site on bare ground, it’s the badger, or to be respectful of His Honor: The American Badger, (Taxidea taxis). I call him, His Honor, because I watched a badger pass judgment on an annoying guy, and chase him […]
Natural World
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Consider Your Back Yard Pollinators
The buzz about bees
What follows, dear readers, is hard stuff to take, but it is vital that everyone who has a garden or lawn to take into consideration. YOU can make a difference in your own backyard, and put a stop to those elements that are making Earth a dangerous place to live. There is no longer any […]
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Central Oregon Wildflower Show
If you find yourself hiking through Jefferson Park, Fryrear Canyon, up in the beautiful wilds of Broken Top, through the foothills of the Cascades or birding among the sagebrush and juniper, you’ll also find yourself knee-deep in the great diversity of Oregon’s wildflowers. If it’s your first time to experience this colorful wildflower show (which, […]
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Wandering Wolves
Years after protections were put in place, the wolf returns to Oregon
No one would have the slightest idea of the wanderings of “Journey,” AKA, OR-7, without the Federal Endangered Species ruling on the releases of wolves in Wyoming in 1995. To accomplish that, a lot of changes in attitude took place in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and […]
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Our National Bird
Benjamin Franklin, who had a pretty good head on his shoulders, and did a great many good things for our country, liked turkeys better than eagles. That choice almost screwed up the works for having the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) as our National Symbol. Franklin preferred the wild turkey. Now, I ask you, how can […]
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They’re Baaaaaack!
With warm weather, so return the Turkey Vultures
A month ago, Turkey Vultures, AKA buzzards or TVs, began winging their way north from their long (and very wise) winter stay in the southern climes, like the Sacramento Valley. If you want to shorten Turkey Vulture, (Cathartes aura), the official birding world acronym is, TUVU (not to be confused with TOFU, a paste that’s […]
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Two Heads Are NOT Better Than One
Yeah…this is a story about a two headed snake
It was way back in the ’60s, while I was working for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry as the staff naturalist that I had the opportunity to see—up-close-and in-my-hand—a real honest-to-goodness living, two-headed animal; that NW Garter snake pictured above. It is not Photoshopped! I cannot recall the young man’s name who brought […]
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The many problems caused by free roaming and feral cats
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, […]
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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 […]