Nature – Page 4

October 5, 2025October 5, 2025

A Short Trip

Lava Butte on the far side of a lava field

Sometimes there are things in your own backyard that should be explored.

Our intent has been to eventually visit all points of interest in the immediate vicinity. This week, one of the last unseen spots was our destination.

Lava Lands Visitor Center is just 20 minutes from our house. We pass it every time we take OR 97 north.

It’s been on the list for years, but there are some small obstacles. The center’s main attraction, a trip to the top of the cone, is closed from November to June.

There is also the added issue that to get to the top of Lava Butte you have to take a bus and we’re not ‘ride the tour bus’ people.

In 1990 a 50,000 acre area around the Newberry Crater was designated a national monument. Newberry is a Shield crater . . . a massive mound rather than the conical spires that are typical of Cascade Range Volcanoes.

The Lava Lands center sits at the north end of a series of volcano centric sites. This is perfect location for geology enthusiasts.

We’ve wandered all but the Lava River Cave (don’t care for caves) and of course Lava Butte.

There are a few weeks on either end of the season when you can get a free pass and drive your own car to the top. This was one of the last weeks you can do that, or so we thought. Government shut-down foiled our plans.

There’s always next June . . . though it was a nice fall day, so we walked the ‘Whispering Pines Trail’ and marveled at the ancient lava flow.

September 28, 2025September 27, 2025

Shifting to Fall

A Blackbird perches effortlessly on bare tree branches

It’s Fall. The equinox was this week and the weather has cooled. Just yesterday we had our first frost.

It’s not snowing, yet . . .

Mornings are still mild and we continue to have warm days ahead, but still, . . . it’s feels like Fall.

The trees around our house fill with a different species of songbird nearly every week. A gang of Jays has been stalking the area and V’s of Canada Geese honk their arrival overhead.

Before duck season fills the parking sites with RV’s, and chains close off loop roads, we like to make a seasonal visit to Summer Lake.

It’s just an hour’s drive, so if there’s no activity, we’re not giving up much of the day. That was not the case this day.

The refuge was filled with activity and a wide variety of birds.

Year around there’s a least one Squadron of Pelicans, a Great Blue Heron, some raptors, and a smattering of the hardier song birds to populate the marshes of Summer Lake.

Then, a couple of times a year, seasonal migrations bump those numbers and bring in a lot of different species. These are ideal times to visit.

Before we even got to the refuge, there were a couple of Sand Hill Cranes resting in a field along the road. We spotted a few more pairs at various points during our regular loop drive.

A pod of pelicans float by a Great Blue Heron

In managing the refuge there is a seasonal shifting to water levels in the various ponds. In the fall it seems the ODFW attempt to give hunters some easy access points, but also offer more protected spaces.

On this trip the pond on the west side of the dike loop road had just a thin layer of water. This seemed to be just what the shore birds wanted. The place was filled with a huge variety.

Refuge managment means shifting water levels

Once again we enjoyed the space without any other people. This makes it easy to stop on some of the narrow roads to get a photo or put the binoculars on an unfamiliar group of visitors.

We’ll be back, of course, but not before winter takes hold and then it will be a very different landscape . . . beautiful in a different way.

September 21, 2025September 20, 2025

A Patio Visit

It really felt like fall this week. We managed to get in a fishing trip, as usual, but the majority of our week was spent getting a start on winterizing.

Red Rudbeckia, aka black-eyed Susan, was a big success in this year’s garden.

Central Oregon winters can be fickle weather-wise, but there is the guarantee of one good snow dump. For that reason, you need to button up the exterior.

Petunias, a favorite of mule deer in our neighborhood

We’ve transformed the patio from a basic BBQ spot to a retreat, complete with a host of herbs and flowers. This has been a great place to share a morning coffee or evening cocktail.

The patio gets crossed by neighborhood cats and there is a resident family of chipmunks that skitter across. The chipmunks seem to be using the bottom of our grow towers as watering spots.

In recent weeks there has been a small clutch of Mule Deer Stags feasting on neighborhood greenery.

Interrupted mid-munch (petunias, strawberries, and cherry tomatoes are top contenders)

We’ve seen a decrease in foliage on flowers and trees. We watch them nonchalantly strolling through the neighborhood streets.

However, we’ve not been successful in catching these tree pruners in action . . . until this week.

Continue reading “A Patio Visit”

September 14, 2025September 12, 2025

Rainy Days

This week was a change. We went from “Red Flag” warnings and heat waves, to weather reminiscent of winter. It’s not unlike any late summer day in Central Oregon.

As this is getting written, the sun is beaming in my window and it’s around 70 degrees outside. But for most of this week we’ve been watching storm clouds roll in from the Southwest bringing down pouring rain.

We didn’t do any long trips, but we did get out a couple of times . . . driving through the storms. In the high desert you can see weather coming and watch thunderheads bring rain to you.

Clouds are broken by blue sky drifting in behind the storm . . . then, it all starts again.

This probably marks the end of summer. The forecast for next week has clear skies and much lower daytime temperatures.

We’ll likely get out on the river and do some road trips. There are plenty planned, and fall is a great time to be out in the woods.

August 31, 2025August 30, 2025

Eye of a Storm

The week started with a wildfire burning east of Redmond and headed for Sisters, with another one burning north near Oakridge.

Both of these conflagrations managed to spread plumes of smoke over the area . . . well, actually it was fickle wind patterns.

Dry fly presentation over a morning hatch on the Crooked River

In the middle of these smoke-filled days, there was a trip to the Crooked River. Opportunity pushed Prineville outside an “unhealthy” AQI (Air Quality Index) shading on the weather map.

Apple Weather and Watch Duty get regular scans on our phones . . . tracking wildfire activity and air quality.

The Crooked is a welcome respite from thick smoke-filled air and fishing was good too. It is the height of summer season and the lush vegetation, juniper trees and snags are busy with bird activity.

A young Osprey is getting better at hunting, eating, and keeping the gang of Magpies at bay. The Magpies really are a marauding gang. At any point a dozen of them swarm over the trees.

Off to grab another of his 3 to 5 fish per day diet

With just a skreech from one, a few more come flying. They menace the Osprey but don’t really do much damage . . . if you don’t count making meal time stressful.