If I have to travel to the west side of the state, at least I get to peek at this peak.
Here is a link to a site with all kinds of interesting info about Mt Hood AKA Wy’East.
Mt Hood peek on a sunny April day
Oregon
Spring Night Songs of Pacific Treefrogs
Pacific treefrog, Pseudacris regilla, serenade from our small backyard pond.
First with a couple backup singers, then the solo artist, and finally, the chorus joins in.
Hope you enjoy this short recording of the spring night songs of Pacific treefrogs.
Tiny Oasis: A Haiku about a starlily
Tucked beneath the sage
Reflections of stars above
Shine forth from the sand
Pins and Needles: All about the North American porcupine
Have you been pining away wishing you knew more about porcupines? Well today is your lucky day! Here’s everything you ever wanted to know about the North American porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum, but were afraid to ask.
Range:
The North American porcupine ranges throughout most of Canada and the western United States south to Mexico. They also live in the northern Great Lakes and northeastern United States regions.
Identification & unique characteristics:
North American porcupines are a large rodent with black to brownish-yellow fur and distinct quills that cover most of their bodies. They range in weight from 11 to 30 pounds and measure 24 to 36 inches in length. Porcupines are excellent climbers with short strong legs, long claws, and hairless soles on their feet. They have a small head and rounded ears.
Continue readingFlocking to Malheur in the Springtime
In the Spring, the flocking begins.
Flocks alighting,
Optics focusing.
Nature’s fireworks on display
Exploding in a timeless rhythm.
Wings fluttering,
Voices trumpeting.
Welcoming visitors to share
In a celebration of Spring.
Flocking to Malheur.
Happy Bday Newberry National Volcanic Monument!
Maybe Newberry National Volcanic Monument can light its own candles for its 25th birthday celebration. It’s young as a monument and is also young in geological terms.
The amazing, and appropriately named, Big Obsidian Flow feature was formed a mere 1,300 years ago. You can walk up a trail that winds through a massive mountain of sparkling obsidian. When I say massive I mean MASSIVE – 380 million cubic yards! From a distance, the landscapes appear to be a real life version of Mordor. Up close, the shimmering reflections all around you are dazzling.
Continue readingLewis and Clark Critter Quiz: Described or Discovered?
Hmmm…a predominantly pink woodpecker named after a famous early American explorer and a wily relative of the crow named after his partner. That might make for an interesting bit of writing. I started to research the topic and decided to create a Lewis and Clark Critter Quiz.
Little did I know there was controversy linked to the plants and animals “discovered” on the Lewis and Clark expedition. The expedition supposedly discovered 178 plants and over 122 animals previously unknown to science. Or did they?
Other sources say they “encountered” or “reported” certain wildlife and plants. Due to discussions as to the accuracy of previously published lists, one recent list is divided into two sections: Discovered (for the first time by European Americans) and Described. Some of the flora and fauna species had been discovered in other parts of North America (or the world) prior to the time of the expedition while others had been a part of native people’s life for many years.
I am lucky to have seen many of the wildlife species that Lewis and Clark discovered and described. Many of these creatures live in and around Yellowstone National Park, which I have often visited. Here is a quiz that includes pictures of wildlife encountered on the expedition.
Did the Lewis & Clark expedition Discover them or Describe them? The answers are at the end of this quiz.
Continue readingHello Spring!: A Silent Sunday Sunrise
Silent Sunday
Winter… : A poem of the season
Winter…
Mutes colors
Softens edges
Highlights textures
Blankets the sleeping
Peace Tree: A message from Nature
This peace tree was seen in my backyard. Please share this image and the words I wrote to go along with it.
Lava Butte – Central Oregon Attractions
Lava Butte
You can get to top of the Lava Butte cinder cone by hopping onto a shuttle or taking a short hike from its base. The 500-foot tall butte is located at the Lava Lands Visitor Center in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument about eight miles south of Bend, Oregon. Lava Butte is one of the hundreds of cinder cones in the immediate area.
Lava Butte erupted about 7,000 years ago. There are several trails that wind through the ancient lava flows and onto the flanks of the butte. There were three main gutters where most of the lava flowed. Ten square miles of pine forest were buried by lava. The lava flows blocked the Deschutes River in five places. If you walk the trail to Benham Falls you can see where the river has made its way through the lava rock.
Continue readingMeadowlark Time – A handmade clock
It’s meadowlark time! I couldn’t find a clock I really liked so I made one with some leftover scraps of wood. I painted a Western Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta, on it because it’s our state bird. It’s also the state bird of Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska.
They are a beautiful bird with bold, bright markings. They have a cheery sounding song that always reminds me of the Wild West. Listen to it here. Western Meadowlark song.
Songsters of the Spring has photos of other yellow-colored songbirds of the High Desert.
Snowshoeing at Mt Bachelor: A great adventure
Thinking about trying out snowshoeing? Last weekend I went out for the first time to try out snowshoeing on Mt Bachelor as part of a free guided tour. Knowledgeable volunteers take you out for a 90-minute walk in a forested area near the ski runs. The tours leave at 10:00 am and 1:30 pm. Snowshoes are provided (thanks to REI for donating them) or you can wear your own.
The volunteers will give you a quick talk on a few of the dangers associated with this sport such as tree wells. This is the area that forms in the snow close to a tree that people can fall into and sometimes not be able to get out of. I also learned that predators like to go into them in search of entrances to the burrows of small mammals. Kind of like a vending machine area for them.
Continue readingSunset from Smith Rock: Visiting my neighbor
Last week I took a quick trip to see the sunset from Smith Rock State Park. Sometimes you forget to appreciate what is in your own backyard. I will go back again when I have more time…
Happy Dance at Malheur NWR – Western grebes
The birds at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge were so joyful, some of them walked on water in a happy dance.
Video of Western grebes dance…
Aloha Owyhee!
Hanauma Bay, Hawaii
Hawaiians in Oregon: A brief history
What does the Owhyee River in southeastern Oregon and Kanaka Flat near Jacksonville, Oregon have in common? Both place names refer to the Hawaiians that lived in Oregon in the 1800’s.
In 1811, Jacob Astor hired the first Owyhees, an older spelling of Hawaii, to work in the fur trade. A post was established in Astoria, Oregon and was later turned over to the Montreal-based North West Company. The fort was eventually renamed Fort George and it was moved to another location.
How did Hawaiians get to the mainland? Captain James Cook discovered the Hawaiian islands in 1778 and named them the Sandwich Islands after the Earl of Sandwich. Ships stopped in Hawaii for provisions and since the native people were well known for their maritime expertise, they were hired as replacement workers. They were also known to excel in swimming, fishing, hunting, and in the construction of posts and forts.
Waimea Falls, Hawaii
Winter Sunrise captured in words and visions
Winter Sunrise
Cool snowy blankets
Boldly contrasting branches
Frame an immense sky
Blinking awake in deep blue
Blushing in flashes of fire
High Desert Museum – A place of wonder (continued)
What’s outside?
Fall Foliage
River Otter
When you go outside into parts of the 135-acre property, you will be able to visit various exhibits. The Autzen Otter area is being renovated and won’t be open again until sometime in the spring of 2016. Be sure to stop by to see the entertaining otters once the exhibit reopens.
Feeding Station
Cooper’s Hawk
Keep going around the trail and make a brief stop at the wildlife viewing area. Here you might get a glimpse of woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, squirrels, and chipmunks. You might get lucky and spot a hawk or owl waiting to get a snack.
The Wind, Earth, and Fire Trail is nearby and it shows how fire plays an important role in forest development. Keep following the trail and stop into the Changing Forests exhibit to learn about forests in the area.
Miller Ranch
Miller Cabin
Looking back in time
Next you will see the Miller Family Ranch. The buildings there are built to show what a farm in 1904 would have looked like. Peek inside the cabin to see how a family lived and watch interpreters demonstrate life in those times. There’s also a barn, corral, chicken coop, saw mill, and even an outhouse. The woven wood corral is practical but also a work of art. You may see horses, donkeys, and chickens at the ranch.
High Desert Museum – A place of wonder
By Hand Through Memory Tepee
Chuckwagon
High Desert Museum Entrance
Tucked away in the pines south of Bend, you will find a magical place. The High Desert Museum may not be what you expect when you see the word “Museum” in its name. Yes, it does have artifacts in permanent and rotating exhibits but they are beautifully displayed in buildings that blend into the environment. There is much more to this place than traditional exhibits.
Sage Grouse exhibit
Tough By Nature exhibit
What to see at the High Desert Museum
The rotating exhibits cover many facets of the high desert. In December of 2015, these included one on weather, one on sage grouse, and another on women of the American West. There are daily talks and demonstrations about nature and history related to exhibits at the Museum. The Museum also has people dressed in period clothing interpreting history and a small collection of desert wildlife.
One of the first things you see as you drive up the long driveway is the small High Desert Ranger Station. This was an actual station and it was built in 1933 and moved here in the 1980’s. It’s only open during the summer months.
Continue readingGlass Buttes Dragonglass AKA Obsidian
Game of Thrones fans may know what dragonglass is but the rest of you may be going, “Huh?” The rock plays an important role in the story. Most people know it by the name obsidian. Like glass, obsidian fractures into pieces with sharp edges. It can be found in a wide variety of colors.
Obsidian forms when lava from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. Volcanic activity in Central Oregon is recent, in geological terms, so obsidian is fairly common in some areas. Lava flows covered hundreds of acres in this region. I have found obsidian in my yard between the sagebrush and bunchgrass. Isn’t this a cool piece?
Continue readingHome on the Range near Antelope, Oregon
I had to go north to Seattle for a couple days but it’s great to be back to my home on the range. I saw these two does, appropriately, near the town of Antelope, Oregon.
Painted Hills – An Oregon natural wonder
It is easy to see why the Painted Hills are designated as one of Oregon’s Seven Wonders. The Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument , located nine miles northwest of Mitchell, Oregon, is 3,132 acres in size.
If you visit the Painted Hills after rainstorms move through the area, the colors will look more intense from the recent moisture. The colors are striking no matter what season it is. It is like looking at a parfait of luscious layers spread out before you. The deep crimson and black layers at the base of the hills contrast with the sandy browns and golds of upper layers.
Continue readingChickaree
Douglas’ squirrel, Tamiasciurus douglasii
Agile climbers
Mischievous thieves
Scolder of treetops
Digger under leaves
Cool Crystals
Covered by cascading cool crystals
Thomas Condon Paleontology Center = Amazing!
If you drive just a couple of hours east of Bend, Oregon you’ll find strikingly painted hills and a center devoted to paleontology. The Thomas Condon Paleontology Center will impress you with fascinating information and artfully displayed artifacts. Wow! What a place.
Gratefulness – Working at saving Nature
Working at saving a special place or creature can sometimes be a struggle. But then they express their gratefulness to us and it’s all worth it.
This is a red-tailed hawk perching on a sign at Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge. I worked at Hart Mountain many years ago and it holds special place in heart.
Fall Flicker in the Forest near Bend
I was out looking for jays at the High Desert Museum yesterday and didn’t see any. However, this Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus, happily posed for me. Beautiful colors on this fall flicker!
Clouds
Fort Rock Cloudscape
Brilliant Sunset in Bend
Three Sisters Summer View
Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park
October Sunset in Bend
Darkening Bend Sunset in Winter
Clouds…
Obscure what was once clear
Release things that burden them
Blanket the cold nights
Shine brightness on what’s to come
Surround us in the divine
My favorite bouquets: A gift from Nature
My favorite bouquets are the ones Mother Nature gives me.
Lava Lands Visitor Center – Stories of Oregon’s volcanoes
Follow the red lava flow
The Lava Lands Visitor Center has interpretive exhibits that focus on local volcanology, geology, ecology, and archeology. As I entered the exhibit area, the red “lava flows” in the carpet guided me you through the center. Display boards are big, bright, and bold. They contain A LOT of information.
This small center is a great place to start a visit to the 54,000+ acres of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument near Bend, Oregon. The Monument was created in 1990. It encompasses unique geological features, lava flows, and many lakes.
Continue readingBat Haiku
Flyer of the dusk
Pursuer of six-legged
Caller of echoes
A ghost?
So I was looking out my window yesterday morning and noticed this recently-purchased false indigo plant sitting on the ground outside of its pot. At first I assumed it might have been a wandering ghost or something that removed it from the pot. Then I noticed a herd of seven mule deer quietly leaving my yard and glancing over their shoulders at me. Hmmm…
Forests and Fire: Fire ecology in action
Learning about fire ecology
I recently went on a Deschutes Land Trust hike just west of Bend, OR to learn about fire ecology. The area we hiked in is known as the Skyline Forest. There were fires in this vicinity in 2010 and 2014 and together they burned about 6,000 acres. The area is currently privately owned but the Deschutes Land Trust has been trying to acquire it.
Our guide, Pete Caligiuri with The Nature Conservancy, informed us that this area has about the steepest environmental gradient in the world. In the Cascade Mountains the precipitation can be as high as 160 inches per year while less than 25 miles away, it can be as low as 10 inches per year. Plants respond to the extreme amount of variability in this gradient. In the past, fire and moisture limited the number of trees in the forest. Now there can be as many as 800-900 trees per acre in this area.
We looked around to see how many large stumps left over from timber harvesting we could see. There weren’t many at all. At one time this forest had the trees much more widely spaced. We noticed the high number of young trees with branches reaching down closer to the ground. There was also a thick growth of underbrush that included bitterbrush and manzanita. The forest floor was covered with pine needles and fallen branches. The closer spacing, higher number of shrubs, and accumulation of litter on the forest floor makes this forest more vulnerable to fire.
Continue readingA fluttering of wings: Townsend’s solitaire
A fluttering of wings draws my attention.
Looking out of my window, I see a Townsend’s solitaire beating its wings and attacking its reflection in the side mirror of my parked car. It has been there for hours. Long strokes of white droppings adorn the side of my car. At first I assume the bird must be a male defending its territory.
Alike in appearance
Townsend’s solitaires are a drab gray relative of the American robin that most people wouldn’t even notice. They are not showy.
Male birds are usually the ones with colorful plumage but that is not the case with solitaires; the male and female look almost identical. I guess they decided not to follow the theory that a male is more brightly colored to attract females and the female has duller colors so she can sit undetected on a nest.
Continue readingMetolius Preserve Hike in Autumn
Last week I went on a Metolius Preserve hike with the Deschutes Land Trust (DLT). This 1,240 acre preserve is located about ten miles west of Sisters, OR and was acquired by the DLT in 2003.
The forest
Ponderosa pine trees dominate the landscape but there are also Douglas fir, grand fir, incense cedar, and western larch trees. The pine trees near the kiosk are spaced about 30-40 feet apart and bunchgrass forms the dominant ground cover. Though the habitat appears natural, the forest has been restored with the help of Pacific Stewardship. The forest has been thinned and prescribed burns will foster an old-growth type of habitat. They have even created snags so that some of the 13 types of woodpeckers that live here find a good place to feed and nest. DLT also planted bunchgrass.
Fall’s Laughter
Fall begins with joyous laughter and warm caresses that
Nod and wink as they cloak you with a touch of frost
Standing there entranced, you are enveloped by color
Cool greens evolving into explosions of vibrant
Yellow, orange, and crimson
North winds swirl about you encircling you
Wrapping you in the scent of remembrance
Snaps and crackles sound under your feet
Inviting you to grab handfuls and throw them into the air
You smile as the coolness surrounding you is
Warmed by a shower of brilliant laughing tones
Emanating from falling leaves readying themselves for winter
Finding Frémont Exhibit: Early Explorer of Oregon
If you type “John C. Frémont” into a search engine, you will turn up places named after him in over a dozen states in the U.S. So who was this guy and why were so many things named after him? To find out, I visited the Deschutes Historical Museum in Bend, Oregon to see their current exhibit about Frémont. The Museum was lucky to get the exhibit and it will be on display there until the end of December 2015.
This exhibit focuses on Frémont’s Second Exploring Expedition that occurred in 1843-1844. Many consider it to be the apex of his career. The purpose of this trip was to explore the Oregon country. Frémont, together with 27 handpicked men, including the explorer Kit Carson, set out to map the second half of the Oregon Trail.
Stronger than the Wind: A poem of resilience
Sometimes you will be happily flying along in life when – WHAM!
A gust of wind comes out of nowhere and hurtles you to the ground.
Pick yourself up, preen those damaged wings, and remind yourself
You are stronger than the wind.
Lava Cast Forest – Tree forms preserved forever
Lava Cast Forest Trail
A walk along the mile-long trail of the Lava Cast Forest gives you a glimpse of how recent volcanic activity has affected the local environment. The trail is located several miles directly west of Sunriver, Oregon in part of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument.
Cheerleaders of Fall
I can always tell when fall is on the way here because the rubber rabbitbrush, Ericameria nauseosa, gets out its bright yellow pom pom flowers and cheers into the wind.