Well, good people, hummingbird moths are in season. Yes, they can fool you; some people think they’re actually hummingbirds, while others don’t know what they are, as evidenced by an email I received the other day with the question, “What, pray tell is this?” But before we go into the what, why, where and when […]
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
Posted inOutside
Natural World
The Beaver That’s Not
So there we were, a full busload of 6th graders touring with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, pounding on fossil-laden rocks in a quarry just outside the sleepy logging town of Vernonia, west of Portland. The year was 1965 and school was out. I was the staff naturalist (and bus driver), and with […]
Posted inOutside
Possum Alert!
A hilarious tale of finding possums… well, everywhere
Back during the Great Depression, many people who wanted to work for a salary had a very tough time. I can remember my dad, who lost his trucking outfit in West Haven, Conn., during that time, saying to my mom, “I’m sorry mother, but I just can’t make enough money working for the WPA. I’ve […]
Posted inOutside
The Robber Fly
An experience of a lifetime!
Please forgive me for being redundant, but the magnificent specimen pictured here came right to me and landed on my hand! It just wanted someone to tell its story, and because I love to do it, so here it is… Last Thursday, as I was leaving Tumalo, I approached the junction of Gerking Market Road […]
Posted inCulture
Burning Eclipse Questions Answered
Experts tell you what you need to know about the Great American Eclipse
Wondering something about the Great American Eclipse? Here are the answers. 1. If you live in Bend, does it make sense to try to go to Madras for totality or should I just stay put? Source Says: It’s the difference between night and day. Pun intended. Expert Says: “A solar eclipse is nature’s grandest spectacles. […]
Posted inOutside
Children of Summer
Margaret Anderson (no kin, darn it) couldn’t have picked a better title for her exquisite book about Jean Henri Fabre, the father of experimental entomology, than “Children of Summer.” And as far as I’m concerned, you couldn’t pick a better book to introduce to your children—and entertain yourself—than Anderson’s 95 pages of Fabre’s observations. From […]