Bird Nerdery: Golden-crowned sparrows flock suet feeder

I’ve gone on a bird nerdery rampage, stuffing my little apple tree with suet and finch feeders. I’ve knocked out a screen in the bathroom window so I can take pictures of the birds that show up, pulled down the bamboo to get a better line of vision on the birds. The next step is [...]

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An appeal to the green thumbs in the readership

Spring is here in Oregon and I’ve got plants popping up all over the new homestead. I need help identifying what I have (suggested Websites, books, etc. would be helpful — along with outright identification from you readers). Some stuff is wild, beautiful and fleeting, like this little red flower that popped up on the [...]

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Road weary… my life on a plane

I just got back last night from a week back east — Easter visits, wedding planning and working from other people’s couches. It’s draining. I miss the cats, the gardening I need to do, the fish I should be catching. I’m eating crap processed food in airports; I’m also hyper sensitive to it because I just finished Michael [...]

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Great Lakes steelhead party back home in Ohio

Home for the weekend back east in Ohio, Nate, Chums and I tackled the winter steelhead on the Great Lakes tributaries. We got about 5 inches of snow last night and the ice was forming in our rod guides and gumming up the line. Nate caught the fish in the video below and I hooked [...]

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Unimpressed with Steve Novick and his beer

Last weekend I attended a fund raiser for Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Steve Novick in Eugene. I saw an article in the Register-Guard saying that Novick is pro-beer, and I thought finally, a candidate I can support. I’d actually planned to show up at the event, ask Steve a few questions on conservation issues I [...]

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Hatfield Marine Science Center rules

This weekend we ran out to Newport to visit the OSU Matfiled Marine Science Center. It’s right around the corner from the Newport Aquarium, which is impressive in its own right, so I didn’t expect much. How much marine science can you really cram into one town? Well, a lot.
Photos spread below:

I actually learned quite a [...]

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Read this: The Mule takes on Bonneville Power Administration

For those of you interested in the power of the blog or conservation issues (i.e. most readers on this site), you need to check out OneMuleTeam’s post on removing the Lower Snake River Dams. On this post, The Mule goes head to head with Jeff Stier, former VP of National Relations for the BPA in the [...]

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Oregon High Desert Museum trip, photos

This weekend we went to the Oregon High Desert Museum in Bend. It was pretty cool — lived up to my expectations. Creepy living history people, live animals, bronze work, etc. It definitely appealed to Katie. But one thing I didn’t like about it was all the non-native or non-Oregon animals. I mean, Gila Monsters? [...]

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Book recommendation: The Klamath Knot

On the recommendation of my blog pal Ignacio, I picked up The Klamath Knot at the library recently. This David Raines Wallace book was published 25 years ago and won tons of accolades, but it had slipped my radar until now. It’s part mythology, part evolutionary biology and part philosophy.
The book chronicles the natural history [...]

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Leadbetter State Park hike

Been too busy with the new Oregon Fly Fishing blog, but now that we’re in a groove, I’m back to Upstream in Oregon. Sorry for the interruption.
A couple weeks back we hiked Leadbetter Point (*see previous bald eagle photo set). It is the first hike in the Bill Sullivan Oregon Coast book, though the hike [...]

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