I never know what my wife and I will come home with when we go out on our seasonal look-see at the 150+ golden eagle breeding sites we’re responsible for watching over. Sometimes we’ll come home with only one American badger sighting for the day, or none, which is very sad. Other times we’ll witness a […]
Natural World
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Look out!
The Nature of our Earth is in big trouble
I‘m going to make a prophecy—though not quite as innocuous as Roger Tory Peterson’s of 1936, when he predicted the cattle egret, Bubulcus ibis, would someday populate the U.S. His prophecy was that the cattle egret, which had arrived in South America early in the ’30s—presumably after flying across the Atlantic Ocean in a storm, […]
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Natural World
The arrival of a new trumpeter swan in Sisters
Aspen Lakes, on the Cyrus family property near Sisters, is involved in an exciting wildlife project. The project is in cooperation with the Trumpeter Swan Society, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the benevolent people at Aspen Lakes. There are only three trumpeter swans in the breeding program in […]
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Natural World
The eagles are baaaaack!
In the entire U.S. of A. there’s only one Golden Eagle nest being monitored by webcam at this time, and it’s right here in Sisters Country. And thanks to the East Cascades Audubon Society, which is paying to have the images streamed around the world, landowner Leslie Lawrence, who watches over the camera equipment, and […]
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True bugs can be kissers
There I was, just getting into my old 4-Runner after dropping off some French chocolate to my dear old pal, Fetty, at her place near Cascade Estates, when I felt something touch my left finger. In spite of me pushin’ 90, I still have pretty good tactile senses, so I knew it wasn’t my imagination. […]
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Natural World
Bats need homes, too
When people at Sisters Elementary School called me in the fall of 2005 about a bat in one of the classrooms, it reminded me of how easily bats can find summer homes in human buildings, and the excitement they often cause doing so. Thanks to horror films, bats have been given a bum rap. Truth […]
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Natural World: Once they’re gone…
As a (sometimes extreme) conservationist, I find the idea of human-caused, species extinction, incomprehensible and unforgivable. In short, we know better. When a species is extinct, it’s gone. Done. Kaput. Dead forever. Our power to send a species into oblivion was first documented in 1598 when Portuguese sailors landing on the shores of the Southeast […]
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Stuff We Learned From Jim in 2017
The Source staff takes over the column to reflect on Jim’s nuggets of wisdom. Thanks, Jim!
When it comes to longtime contributors to this newspaper, you can’t get more OG than Jim Anderson. He’s been writing this column for almost as many years as this publication has been in existence: that’s 20 years if you’ve been counting, dear reader. Along the way, Anderson has regaled us with many a tale of […]
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Humming into Winter
Keep those feeders full! Hummingbirds may still be kicking around
The topic of a lot of my phone calls, emails and text messages this fall has been about hummingbirds and feeders in winter, and to be perfectly frank about it, it’s a worrisome conundrum. Right off the bat, sugar water is not “food” for hummingbirds. It’s like humans and soda pop. The birds get an […]
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The Dark Side of Your Morning Cup of Coffee
Coffee and Birds, it’s not always a happy marriage
Not being a coffee drinker anymore, and not being in the bird-researcher loop as many of my friends are, the business of songbird conservation and coffee-growing methods went right over my head. That is, until Doug Baell grabbed my attention. “Are you going to do the story on coffee and songbirds?” he asked me one […]