The health of the natural environment is not a Republican or Democrat issue. It is not a liberal or conservative issue. It is what all of us, non-humans and humans alike, depend on for our very existence. Unfortunately, it has…
Last month I finished a couple of books I probably wouldn’t have gotten around to were it not for our ongoing pandemic. The first fiction book I have read in a long time was Richard Powers’ latest monumental novel, The…
Lane County Audubon’s first Zoom program meeting was on Tuesday, September 15, at 7:00 pm. You can see the recorded program by clicking on this link:https://youtu.be/efbd2V_KJAI”Dead Trees: Why We Need Them” with Ken BevisKen is an accomplished natural history educator…
I have always been charmed by watching videos of bowerbirds decorating their bowers to attract females. Historically, they have decorated with colorful flowers, leaves, feathers, shells, and berries. But now the display sites contain a preponderance of plastic waste, including…
Thank You to Ramiro Aragon for completing a bird survey and list for a property near Cheshire, Oregon. He was helped by John Sullivan on one of the visits. The 219-acre property was designated a perpetual wetland by the Natural…
Swifts spend all their time in the sky. Common Swifts are the big cousins of our Vaux’s Swifts and are found throughout Europe during breeding season. They fly south to Africa, to equatorial and sub-equatorial regions for the winter. What…
We’ve posted these before, but they are so useful that they bear repeating.Birding News on the American Birding Association’s Oregon Birding Online (OBOL) website offers the primary bird-sighting listserv for Oregon: birding.aba.org/maillist/OR0. First click on Home, then scroll down to…
Lane County Audubon Society has joined a diverse group of stakeholders to fight poaching and illegal harm to wildlife in Oregon. This campaign is a collaboration among conservationists, recreationists, hunters, and landowners. We and other wildlife organizations (including Portland Audubon)…
–by Jim Maloney This capsule book review concerns a new book by Christopher Ketcham entitled “This Land – How Cowboys, Capitalism, and Corruption are Ruining the American West.” It’s a non-fiction book set in the West but with a broader scope. The…
I hope that everybody is safe and well as we deal with this devastating pandemic. Turns out that many of the conservation issues that have been on our radar for years are associated with pandemics. Zoonotic (zōe’nätik) diseases are caused…