Animals

You hear what sounds like a couple of men running across your roof. They stop. They start wrestling, rolling around. You go outside and shine a flashlight: Bandit eyes! It’s a couple of juvenile racoons playing around. Where I live is about 4 miles from wilderness. If you have a fish pond, good luck to you. If you have cats, …

The western gray squirrel was first described by George Ord in 1818 based on notes taken by Lewis and Clark at The Dalles in Wasco County, Oregon. The bad news is that in a forty-house area around my home, I am dinner central: fruit, then tomatoes then sunflowers. I have a lawn and about 50 pots perfect for squirrels to …

If you come across a noisy, hyperactive little bird with bold white eyebrows, flicking its long tail as it hops from branch to branch, you may have spotted a Bewick’s Wren. These master vocalists belt out a string of short whistles, warbles, burrs, and trills to attract mates and defend their territory, or scold visitors with raspy calls. Bewick’s Wrens …

The male House Finch (aka Rose Finch) has a attractive red crown and throat. It is larger than the goldfinches and has a heavier beak for cracking seeds. While goldfinches prefer the small nyger seeds, the rose finch can eat sunflower seeds and other larger birdfeed.