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 […]
Natural World
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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 […]
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Flicker Monkey Business
The comedic birds of Central Oregon
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 […]
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Cats, toxoplasmosis, and more cats
Where are you when we need you, Bob Barker?
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 […]
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Burrowing Owls
Out of the tree and in the ground
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 […]