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England: Birthplace of Shakespeare and The Beatles, home of Parliament and the Tower of London, but there are no longer any golden eagles living there. Who’d have thought, with all the hard work of the Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds (RSPB), that they’d lose the magnificent bird of prey so steeped in the […]
Coyotes are back—or always seem to be—in the news. One tried to run off with a small dog out near the Sisters Airport a while back, but the owner's big dog changed the coyote's mind and it dropped the little dog. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has, over the years, really tried […]
One of the most wonderful things I enjoy about writing this column is all the help I get from friends who enjoy the wild things around us as much as I do. The great American writer and illustrator Maurice Sandak used the title, “Where The Wild Things Are” for his delightful 1963 children’s book. This […]
The Central Oregon country is blessed with people who are always ready to pitch in, and “get the job done!” That’s why the free cam streaming the only life-and-times of a golden eagle nest is up and running again this year: www.GoldenEagleCam.com. As anyone who has set up this kind of system knows, it ain’t […]
When I was a kid, “growin’ up on the farm” in Connecticut, my uncles and I had a Thanksgiving tradition of going waterfowl hunting early that morning. When we had our limit in Black Ducks—the East Coast equivalent of our Mallards— we’d return home mid-afternoon, clean our ducks and prepare them for my grandmother and […]
There are about 200 species of insects in this part of the country that makes life on Earth very difficult for other insects: Ambush bugs. They have that very descriptive name because: a) They wait silently and unmoving for their prey to get close enough to grab them (literally), and, b) they blend in so […]
OK, Good People; it’s time. No, it’s way past time to have a serious discussion about cats, disease and wildlife. Yes, I know, we’ve been down this muddy old road before, but it isn’t just the losses of our native birds, mammals and reptiles by outdoor and feral cats that needs to be discussed and […]
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 […]
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, […]
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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