Oregon Vesper Sparrows are a prime example of what birders call “little brown jobs” – small, drab, hard-to-identify birds that we sometimes overlook. But this little brown job is an imperiled subspecies unique to the Pacific Northwest, one that serves as an indicator of the health of our grassland ecosystems, and needs our attention and [...]
The Conservation Column By Pepper Trail For this month, some exciting news of species survival – and a disease threat to bird populations. California Condors! Let’s start with the good news: California Condors are returning to the “State of Jefferson.” Sometime in the month of May, four adolescent (2-3 year-old) condors will be released on [...]
Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at 7:00 pm Pandemic Birding with Jim Livaudais Perhaps the COVID-19 pandemic kept you at home for most of the past two years. You got a lot of backyard birding in. Or, you drove all around Jackson County and took great photos of local birds. Then, when things started getting better [...]
Pepper Trail has written an article for audubon.org regarding the growing threat to hummingbirds from the illegal trade in hummingbird love charms - ‘chuparosas’ - that are believed to imbue romantic powers. Read the article here: https://www.audubon.org/news/the-illegal-trade-these-love-charms-growing-threat-hummingbirds
The Conservation Column By Pepper Trail Good News and Bad News for Oregon Forests First, the good news: the Oregon Forest Practices Act. In March, the Oregon Legislature passed the Oregon Forest Practices Act (OFPA) (Senate Bill 1501). This creates strong new stream protections covering more than 10 million acres of private forest land in [...]
Tuesday, April 26 at 7:00 pm Learn how to make fast drawings of birds to help you observe and remember the details. You don’t need to be an artist to make effective field sketches. The process will help you develop a mental map of bird plumage, and develop fundamental birding skills. John Muir Laws will [...]
Pepper Trail has written an article on audubon.org regarding the Growing Disaster for Waterfowl in the Klamath Basin. "Some of the continent’s most important wetland habitat is drying up. Without urgent action, we may be witnessing the death of a flyway." Read the article here: https://www.audubon.org/news/the-klamath-basins-water-crisis-growing-disaster-waterfowl
The Conservation Column By Juliet Grable The Crisis in the Klamath Basin Last month I attended the annual Winter Wings Festival in Klamath Falls. This year, event planners revamped the festival’s programming to focus on the drought and the crisis in the Klamath refuges. The Basin is alarmingly dry, and birds are [...]
Tuesday, March 29 at 7:00 pm Feathers are the most complex structure made by the skin of any animal. How they grow is even more in-credible. Inside a tiny sheath in a blood-rich environment, the intricate fine structure is assembled and the colors are applied all while rolled tightly. Within a few days the finished [...]
The Conservation Column by Pepper Trail Happy New Year! Well, perhaps not as happy as we might wish, with Omicron still surging and just about complete deadlock in Washington. But there are still juncos and kinglets and waxwings and wigeons to lift our spirits! And plenty of conservation work to be done. Let’s start off [...]
