Central Washington-based naturalist and herpetologist Adrian Slade, who's been infatuated with snakes since early childhood, shared facts and busted myths about our deeply misunderstood neighbors at the Columbia Center for the Arts on March 18 — the sixth presentation in host and curator Sarah Fox’s Sense of Place season 16.
I went down to the Big River to write about ducks. While I was doing this, I noticed a dead gull on the end of a rocky spit. I decided to go evaluate the gull, and incidentally, scare the bejeebers out of 40 Rock Pigeons who happened to be snoozing there.
OREGON — Aaron Bott’s worked with all the large mammals in the Lower 48, but still finds wolves unique. “There’s something rather unique about wolves,” he said. “I understood from my own upbringing just how complex wolves can be for humans to coexist with.”
WHITE SALMON — Joy Markgraf, artist, author, and more animal in spirit than human, organized White Salmon’s Wild About Nature series, coming out of hibernation this Friday. At no cost, you can learn about everything from falconry to the natural history of Madagascar throughout April, all while perusing Markgraf’s collection of paintings inspired by the hidden moments of animals.
THE GORGE — On Christmas Eve, President Biden signed a bill officially designating the bald eagle as the U.S.’s national bird. Already considered the national symbol, the species had never received this official designation.
I can’t remember the first time I understood the high clear “SQUEAK!” which means “FLYING PREDATOR!” in ground squirrel language, but I will never forget the day it alerted me to two Bald Eagles flapping and quarreling over a piece of meat, low in the cloudy sky over my home in White Oak forest.
