News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 101 - 125 of 734
During the Christmas/New Year holiday season, I took it upon myself to listen in on the electronic Christmas Bird Count (CBC) that's carried on the Internet's Oregon Birds On Line (OBOL). I got onto it to become more aware of what birds have been spotted in Oregon, where and by whom. Birds like the rare Siberian red-flanked bluetail - a distant relative of our American robin - that turned up in Lewiston, Idaho. Birders from all over the U.S. are converged on Hell's Gate State Park to add this little charmer to their Life List... Full story
Winter is hard on wildlife, just as it is on you and me. But like you and me, wildlife that spends winter with us have layers they use to stay warm and dry - like our layers of clothing that keep us comfortable in cold temperatures. Birds who winter here are well-suited to survive frigid conditions, with downy feathers close to their warm bodies. Their down is like our long-johns, trapping air close to our skin, keeping in the heat. A bird's outside feathers, that prevent... Full story
Over the last few years a very interesting bird phenomenon has been taking place throughout Sisters Country: waterbirds falling out of the sky in mid-winter. Western and eared grebes, cute-as-a-bug's-ear ruddy ducks, as well as some coots and a large and very vocal common loon have invaded our air space and litter the ground. Elise Wolf, a local rehabber, ends up caring for these unfortunate victims of winter. She says it is not only OK to pick up these storm-strays but vital... Full story
A local television report the other night about coyotes living in Bend surprised some people. It shouldn't have. There are coyotes making a living all over Sisters Country, eating mule deer fawns, road-kills and stray and outdoor house cats. Government trappers started killing coyotes indiscriminately over 100 years ago. They thought they could kill coyotes as easily as they did wolves, but the coyote has outfoxed them. History has shown that killing coyotes indiscriminately... Full story
Bob and Diane Storlie have a good sized pond on their place in Sisters, stocked with trout and bass. Recently, they began to have an influx of mule deer drinking from the pond. Last Sunday, the Storlie's saw a mule deer fawn in their fish pond. Bob and Diane called 911 as they saw the fawn about to go under for the third time. However, seeing the water-logged deer was about to drown, Bob didn't wait for emergency services to arrive, but rigged up a lariat and threw it out towa... Full story
Every time I fire up my wood stove or head out to the woodshed for a wheelbarrow-load of wood, I go back to when I was about 11 or 12, wood-cutting with my uncles in Hubbard's Woods. It was during the Great Depression when I was living on what my grandfather called "Rockefeller Farm" on Jones Hill Road in West Haven, Connecticut. We'd haul firewood out of the old hardwood forest for our beast of a furnace on a big stone-boat pulled by our old tobacco farm horse. When we went w... Full story
Irene Liden is stepping aside from her long-time position as director of the Sisters High Desert Chorale. Liden's not moving on; she just wants to retire to see and enjoy more of Central Oregon. She came to Sisters from San Antonio 11 years ago, fell in love with all there is to do here, and now finds herself without enough time to get to doing it. This will mark yet one more time Liden has retired in her professional career: once from 40 years at San Antonio College,... Full story
Last month marked the first monthly cooperative program offered by the High Desert Museum (HDM) and Deschutes Public Library System. The presentation was on nocturnal animals, focusing on bats and owls. To begin the program, Alyisa Wolf, assistant curator of wildlife for HDM, removed a lively adult barred owl from its carrying case and gave each of the children and parents in attendance a close-up look at this controversial nocturnal owl. The barred owl is an alien species... Full story
Even if there's nothing but skepticism about what's causing our great old Earth to warm up, there is no question that a whole lot of people in the US-of-A are answering the call to help the signature butterfly of North America, the monarch. As soon as the call went out that this rare, remarkable and vanishing butterfly might end up on the Endangered Species List, a suggestion was made to create monarch waystations. Schools, service clubs, conservation organizations, government... Full story
"I'm glad to be out here, this is my favorite part of the program; a chance to give back to the community," Cadet Jason McCabe, 17, of Damascus, Oregon said as he dug up another shovelful of rock from an illegal dam on Indian Ford Creek. The program of which McCabe is a part is the Oregon National Guard Youth Challenge Program (ONGYCP). The Oregon National Guard Youth Challenge Program is an alternative residential high school, where cadets (students) live on-site just east... Full story
Last Saturday was a red-letter day for the deer population of Sisters Country. Right around noon, Judy Niedzwiecke, who operates Wildside Rehabilitation, Inc, in Bend (http://www.wildsiderehab.com), and her crew of volunteers arrived at Gayle Baker's Rimrock Ranch with a horse trailer half-full of rehabbed mule deer fawns to be released on the banks of Whychus Creek. This is a usual fall event for Wildside, who took over the fawn rehab responsibility from wildlife rehabber... Full story
On Wednesday, November 2, three small buses rolled up to the parking area at Riverside Campground on the Metolius. With much glee and anticipation, 45 middle schoolers and their teachers - all from Cascade Academy in Tumalo - bailed out of the buses to meet their leader of the day, Kolleen Miller, education director of the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council based in Bend. Even with the morning sun it was pretty chilly, only in the high 30s, as Miller told them what they were... Full story
In the last 20 years, or so, things have been going on out there in the wild world of nature that both concerns and bewilders science. The condition of Earth's atmosphere and climate, are, of course, the biggest concerns that make us wonder what's really going on, and how long it will be before the Earth's ecosystems become unraveled. The science supporting climate change is pretty hard to argue with. The atmosphere is warming, therefore the oceans (and other large bodies of... Full story
Wildlife agents found a severely wounded adult trumpeter swan at the Summer Lake Wildlife Management Area last week and transported the bird to Broken Top Veterinarian Clinic located on Highway 20 between Bend and Sisters. The wounded bird was checked over by the staff of Broken Top who contacted Elise Wolf of Native Bird Care, a Sisters wildlife rehabber. After a quick analysis of the condition of the swan, Wolf took it to the Oregon Veterinary Referral Associates over in... Full story
Friends of the Sisters Library (FOSL) Book Corner, located on the north end of the library, is going to have a special pre-winter book sale on Saturday, November 5. Thanks to the generosity of Sisters Country residents, the Book Corner's storage area is filled to the ceiling and it's time to share the gifts. The sale will be held simultaneously in the Book Corner and the library community room. The sale will feature all the used books customers have come to expect in the Book... Full story
The American bullfrog is a royal pain-in-the-tail-end in Oregon. It doesn't belong here, and it eats anything it can stuff into its gaping maw - our native amphibians, small birds, ducklings, and other unsuspecting victims. Bullfrogs are native to the East, and it would be a lot better for everyone - especially our native wildlife - if they had been left there. But somebody from the East who probably loved to eat frog legs just had to have them for supper when they moved to... Full story
Fall is in the air, there's new snow on the Cascades - which means winter's right around the corner and with it comes the beautiful High Desert Chorale Holiday Season performance. This year, singing right along with the adults in the chorale will be the Sisters Children's Choir, under the direction of Lola Knox of Sisters. The children's choir is usually a stand-alone group of young music-lovers from kindergarten to fourth grade. They rehearse every Monday evening starting at... Full story
Last month, Col. Ross Anderson - my kid - and his staff were among hundreds of U.S. Air Force individuals, groups and civilians who were recognized for meeting the challenges of their tasks as members of our nation's Total Force at the Air Force Association's annual Air Space Cyber Conference held in the Gaylord National Convention Center Washington, D.C. It was heart-moving, sitting there at the conference-with hundreds of Air Force airmen all around us-witnessing the... Full story
Sue and I often stay in the Pacific Northwest Experimental Station out near Riley, south of the Burns Highway, to get a good night's sleep. After 10 hours and more of exploring the wilds of Harney and Lake counties, searching for golden eagle nesting sites, bumping over what some call "roads," in our ancient 4Runner, we usually pull into the station between 8 and 9 p.m., pooped, ready for a quick supper and then hit the sack. That last time we were there, I had s-l-o-w-l-y... Full story
Eagles have been a love of my life from the time I arrived in Oregon - where I discovered them being killed from 1080 poison put out by government trappers killing coyotes back in the early '50s. Eagles are still with me today as Sue and I help to conduct a statewide survey with the Oregon Eagle Foundation. Like all birders who have a special bird they enjoy and see all the time in their subconscious, I too see the shape and movement of eagles automatically; while driving... Full story
The warning bell is ringing loud and clear, Good People! Those hundreds of dead and dying yellow pine along Highway 20 from Sisters to beyond the Camp Sherman cut-off are telling us to be careful with chemicals. Is it really necessary to use chemicals to abate vegetation? According to Peter Murphy, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation, ODOT, has over 18,000 miles of highway shoulder vegetation to manage state-wide. Trying to keep vegetation from growing on... Full story
Peter Eshrick of Camp Sherman was making his annual pilgrimage hike into the saddle above Canyon Creek Meadows on Wednesday, July 20, with his daughter Katrina and her two kids, Camila and Samuel (ages 12 and 10), when Camila suddenly shouted, "What's that over there on the mountainside?" "What, over where?" Peter replied. Camila pointed to the talus slopes on the side of Three Fingered Jack, above the ice lake and said, "Those white dots over there. They're moving; they look... Full story
Last October, Ren and Sue Broomhead of Tollgate received what turned out to be a once-in-lifetime invitation. Their son, Col. John Broomhead, stationed at the Pentagon, asked them if they would like to attend his graduation from the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. As it turned out attending the graduation was just a part of the Broomhead's war college experience. He was asked if he would like to take part in several other aspects of the experience -... Full story
On Saturday night, July 31, the bright parking lights flooding the Sisters High School parking area were switched off so members and guests of the Sisters Astronomy Club (SAC) could set up telescopes and spend much of the evening gazing deep into the darkened sky. This was one of the regular nights SAC offers anyone interested in the skies over Sisters the opportunity to take advantage of the club-members skills and equipment to enjoy views of the planets and objects in deep... Full story
On July 7 a new piece of equipment was anchored in the eastern part of Suttle Lake. It's another important part of the continuing conservation effort to bring sockeye salmon back to their ancestral spawning grounds and understand what's going on above and under the lake's surface. Frank Conte, a retired USO limnology professor and founder of the organization that is responsible for the buoy - HLAAF (High Lake Aquatic Alliance Foundation) - is the man behind the buoy. He,... Full story
