In Flight

Previous Columns

• Fall bird chorus is in full swing - 10/15/2009

  Late August and early September are wonderful for many reasons, but bird song is not one of them. It's the quietest time of the year.

• Elusive owl calls Southern Oregon home - 9/17/2009

  Ashland is recognized throughout the West for its Shakespeare plays. The Rogue River is noted for its rafting and fishing. But Southern Oregon is even more widely known among birders.

  
• Birds handle heat better than mammals - 8/13/2009

  Oh, to be a bird now that August is here. I confess I am miserable in the heat of summer. When the thermometer tops 100 degrees everything outside is a chore.

• Collared dove is latest valley invader - 7/23/2009

  It's not often that a new bird becomes established in the Rogue Valley. There have been few in the last 30 years. The barred owl has made its way slowly down from Canada.

  
• There's a reason robins' eggs are blue - 6/18/2009

  It seems everybody loves an omelet. Crows, jays, raccoons, weasels — even squirrels and mice — love to eat eggs. They are a complete meal and don't have a lot of defenses, other than mom.

• Morning birdsong starts well before the sun - 5/21/2009

  Those who arise early or tend toward insomnia are fully aware that many spring birds begin the day painfully early.

• Crafty killdeer have a bag of tricks - 4/30/2009

  Killdeer look as intelligent as any other bird. Indeed they can be downright crafty. Yet when it comes time to raising young, it is hard to imagine any bird being more addled.

• Epic commute of the black-footed albatross - 3/26/2009

  Few enjoy the morning commute.

  
• Acorn woodpecker has it all wrong - 2/26/2009

  It looks like a woodpecker. Well, sort of. And it acts like a woodpecker "» sometimes. Simply put, acorn woodpeckers are oddballs.

  
• Bird watchers outnumber mammal watchers for a reason - 1/29/2009

  There are legions of bird watchers but not so many mammal watchers. Whale watchers are an exception. Many people put up bird houses, but only a few put up bat houses.

  
• Red-tailed hawks come from far and wide - 1/1/2009

  They decorate the utility poles of the valley, waiting patiently for some mouse or ground squirrel to venture a bit too far from cover.

• Perpetual flowers made Anna's hummingbirds year-round residents - 12/4/2008

  Now that the fall colors have fallen under the rake and been relegated to the compost bin, the brightest spot in my yard is the male Anna's hummingbird.

• Wild Bird Photo Contest voting starts Saturday - 11/27/2008

  The deadline for entering the 2008 Wild Bird Photo Contest is at 5 p.m. Friday.