Moving Rattlesnakes Humanely
We don’t bother the Northern Pacific Rattlesnakes that live on the wilder parts of our property. It’s easy enough to walk around them. But when they appear near our yurt and garden, it’s a little close for comfort (…)
Paw Prints
On this day of global action for climate change, I’m once again too busy on the land — preparing garlic beds, planting cover crops, taking stock of what we need to do to manage our ponderosa pine forests and weed-infested pastures — to participate in group events (…)
Autumn Frog
don’t usually see Pacific Tree Frogs this time of year, so was surprised — and delighted — to see this one hop across my path on the last day of summer (…)
Race for the Pears
It’s that time of year again, when my taste buds give up on peaches and berries and begin longing for crunchy pears and apples (…)
Temptation in the Apple Trees
Last week, I spent an afternoon in the old apple orchard to check out the bird nesting scene. The cows found this fascinating….
Wren Independence Day
The house wrens nesting on our yurt porch chose this morning, the 4th of July, to shoo their young ones out of the nest.
Birthday Rattlesnake
I’ve been reviewing some photos I took this summer and found one that makes my day….
Townsend’s Big-Eared Bat: Species of the Week
On our Northeast Oregon property, we have an old house that’s rotting. It has little historic or architectural value, so we’ve been leaning towards tearing it down. Then my nephew, Gerek, found the bat in the closet….
Great Horned Owl: Species of the Week
I first heard the strange noises in late June: whistling squawks that sounded like sea gulls five hundred miles off course. The calls began at sundown every evening and continued throughout the night. I couldn’t imagine what besides an owl would make so much noise after dark. But owls hoot. Right? Couldn’t possibly be owls, I thought….
Northern Pacific Rattlesnake: Species of the Week
I had originally planned to post on another species this week. In fact, I have a backlog of species that have been inspiring and distracting me. But rattlesnakes have a way of making themselves heard above the din of all else [...]
Bird Rescue
At night out here, coyotes yip and owls hoot. By day, hawks and rattlesnakes patrol the canyons. More elusive predators – cougars, bears, bobcats, maybe even wolves – are probably not far away. I love being close to the wildness of all this. But it also means tempering my sentiment for individual animals. The [...]
Hello Rattlesnake
I haven’t seen a rattlesnake all season. Then yesterday, down by our spring, I saw three. I ran back to the yurt…for the camera. I’ve been wanting to get some good rattler photos. I’ll need to keep working on it. This photo doesn’t do justice to the snake’s beauty. Even when I closed in to [...]
Bat Update
Many thanks to Chris Clarke at Coyote Crossing and the folks at Bats Northwest for helping me identify the bat I found. It’s a Townsend’s Big-Eared Bat — a species of concern in Oregon and Washington. I’ll be doing more research on them in the coming weeks and will share it in a future Species [...]
Bat in the Closet
My nephew – an expert critter finder – has been visiting this week. He was exploring the old homestead on our property in northeast Oregon and found this gorgeous bat in the closet. The ears are amazing. I snapped a few photos and then left it alone. I don’t have a good mammal field guide [...]
More Chipping Sparrows
Last week, I mentioned a late nest of chipping sparrows in a small tree near our parking area. Now I have some pictures. You can see how tiny the tree is in the photo below. The nest is about two-thirds of the way up the tree. Soft-hearted Jerry put up the fence to protect the [...]
Mystery Eggs Update
I’m in Central Oregon this week with a steady wi-fi connection, so I can begin to catch up on some internet work, including long overdue reports on the latest bird activities around my Northeast Oregon yurt. I’ve finally identified the species that hatched out of the eggs I discovered in a rusty tool box on [...]
Chipping Sparrow: Species of the Week
A number of small, brown songbirds have enlivened my spring and early summer on a daily basis. One is the chipping sparrow (Spizella passerina) [...]
Mystery Eggs Hatched
The eggs hidden in the rusty tool box have hatched. Hatchlings hoping the camera will feed them. Haven’t been able to spot the parents yet. If anyone knows what species this is, please leave a comment and let me know. Perhaps they’ll develop some more identifiable features before they fledge.
The Frog in the Clods
In a post several months ago, I pondered where Pacific tree frogs go after breeding in watery places. I don’t have a general answer for that question, but I found this one hiding under some clods of dirt in my northeastern Oregon garden. I was trying to loosen up soil to plant some tomatoes and [...]
Cougar: Species of the Week
In three months of writing this series, I have yet to cover a mammal, or any species with big teeth or claws. So this week, I ponder a mammal with both. It’s the land animal with the largest range in the Americas, from southern Canada to to the southern tip of the Andes: Felis concolor, more commonly known as cougar, mountain lion, catamount, or puma.
