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 […]
Natural World
Posted inOutside
Natural World 2/24-3/2
Eagle Watch 2016 is Coming
Set aside Feb. 27 and 28 to attend the 2016 Eagle Watch ceremonies at Eagle Village in Round Butte Overlook Park’s visitor center, 10 miles west of Madras. The two-day celebration runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat., Feb. 27, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sun., Feb. 28. This will be the 21st […]
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Natural World 2/17-2/24
Counting beaks
It was the winter of 1963 that I decided to go on my first official eagle count. National Audubon was starting counts to establish trends in populations, and eagles occupied my life like never before when I was issued my Federal Banding Permit in 1962. I became more aware of eagles because of banding, (finding […]
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Natural World
Robin red breast
The American Robin is one of the most common native birds found throughout Central Oregon and it's usually the first on the list for anyone who develops an interest in birds, whether age six or 96. Robins are everywhere, but there’s more to a robin than meets the eye. The robins seen here in winter […]
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Coyotes Forever
The oxymoronic management of a species
Coyotes Forever The oxymoronic management of a species By Jim Anderson I first became interested in coyotes shortly after I rolled into Bend on my good old ’51 OHV Harley in September of ’74. A couple of years later, I met and enjoyed a wonderful association with Henry Tonseth, ranger of the U.S. Forest Service […]
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Death on the Highway
Speed kills wildlife, and people too
Back in the early ’60s I began placing U.S. Fish and Wildlife #9 bands on the legs of golden eagle nestlings. I had been climbing into-and-out-of eagle nests in Deschutes, Lake, and Jefferson counties from about 1953, trying to learn more about their diet, territory, mortality, and natural history. I found nestlings and adults shot […]
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Moles, Voles, and Gophers
Controlling those pesky varments without poison
Back in the first week of June, my wife Sue and I went over to the Willamette Valley to take part in a delightful day at the Mother Earth News Fair in Albany (taking our son, Caleb, and his family along with us). Among the hundreds of exhibits and talks given by people who knew […]
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Getting Out of Prison to Work with Nature
Not that many decades ago, chain gangs were dragged out to do work on roads and other jobs needing to be done. Men were, literally, chained to one another and forced to work like beasts of burden. Why not—some people reasoned—they’re bad guys in jail and nobody gets a free lunch. Jails and state prisons […]
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The Wondrous Vole
Central Oregon is home to remarkable little mammals known as the vole. Not a “mole” but a “vole.” Just a tiny, short-tailed mammal of no significance—about the size of your thumb—a mere tidbit to a coyote, or a tasty snack for a badger. But put 10,000 of them in one pasture and they will eat […]
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Lying In Wait
The ambush bug and its kin
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 […]