Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 2019)
14 Wednesday, June 12, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Tales from a Sisters Naturalist by Jim Anderson Working with eagles at 91 My wife, Sue, and I are finishing up surveying this season9s golden eagle breed- ing territories. <Finishing up= means we9re visiting eagle breeding sites we have been given the responsibility to keep track of by the Oregon Eagle Foundation. Early in the season we visit the nest sites to deter- mine if the eagles are going to raise a family that year. Then we return weeks later to see if they hatched babies, and how many. Then finally about the middle of June we come back and see if those babies made it to seven weeks of age and will fledge. Wind farms are killing eagles, and we need to know what that will mean to the golden eagle population in the long run. (The wind gen- erators also kill about 50,000 bats a year, but to date, not much has been done to miti- gate that loss.) I started to really become involved in the life and times of golden eagles in 1962 when I was granted a per- mit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to band birds 4 which has now become the responsibility of the Department of Interior9s United States Geological Survey (USGS). Banding birds is com- monly done by placing a numbered metal band on the bird9s leg. The band has instructions printed on it for anyone finding the bird to contact the USGS. The finder will be informed of who the bander is and when and where the banding was done. When I hear from the banding lab that one of my banded birds has been recovered, I write to the finder immediately to learn what the circumstances were/are of the bird9s discov- ery or capture. That9s how I learned that osprey I banded at Crane Prairie Reservoir years ago spend their winters all over Mexico and Central America, and even at their southern- most destination: Volcan, Costa Rica. Banding time for golden eagles is from when the youngsters are four weeks old to when they9re about six weeks. They don9t know they9re eagles at that point, and really don9t give the bander any big trouble when the band is placed on one leg. The parents never give us any grief, they just climb high in the sky and watch the process. Bald eagles, on the other hand, will try to knock your head off! This year I placed eagle- banding on the <not to do= list. Our climber called to tell us he9d not be available because he fell and broke his arm. I do not/can not climb anymore because Sue hid all my climbing equipment and I9m just too old. My older sons, Dean and Ross, come every spring with their kids to play pinochle and band birds with Sue and Man!= and I popped a couple of nitro pills to relieve pain. I was really wanting badly to sit down, but there was no big rock, and once I get down it9s tough to get all of me up and going again. At that very moment Ross, my Number Two jetpilot son, stepped in front me, put his hands behind his back and said, <Grab on Pop, we9re going to the top!= With Tom on my heels (just in case&), Ross towed me almost to the top of the slope, where my oldest son, Dean, and his sons Joseph and Sam were waiting for me Spring is the perfect time of year to prepare for next winter. A large stack of fi rewood cut, split, and protected assures that you will be warm all winter. Firewood is one of the most cost-effective ways to heat your home — and you cant beat the comfort. The demand for fi rewood in Central Oregon always peaks in the fall. Our delivery list becomes unmanageable, and then no one is happy! Please save yourself and my crew this diffi culty and plan ahead this year. Make some extra room, buy your wood during spring and summer months, and you will have great fi rewood the easy way! Email orders to elpeez@aol.com 541-410-4509 to band the first eagle they brought down from the nest. During the banding I asked our OEF volunteer, Nancy Boever, who moni- tors that breeding territory, to hold the eaglet while Ross and I installed the rivet-on leg band, <Oh,= Nancy said, with her nose inches from the bird, <The eagle is so beautiful!= That was the first time Nancy had ever been that close to a golden eagle. My granddaughter Mary- Catherine took photos with my Canon. You just can9t beat family and friends! Hey Kids! Anti-gravity Fox here. Summer days are coming! Two of my favorite things to do in the summer (beside playing outside!) are SPENDING TIME BEING CREATIVE and READING. ORDER NOW! SistersForestProducts.com 18155 Hwy. 126, Sisters Drive-ins welcome year-round Eagle banding at 91 with family and OEF volunteer Nancy Boever. PHOTO BY MARY-CATHERINE ANDERSON Old Jim and a baby golden eagle. GREAT FIREWOOD IS EASY! SISTERS FOREST PRODUCTS, LLC PHOTO BY MARY-CATHERINE ANDERSON me. During one of our many, wonderful pinochle games this season I mentioned to both Dean and Ross I did not plan to band birds this year. Oh boy did I get a thrashing! <What do you mean, 8No Banding!9 both boys got on me. <What about us? What about the kids?! We9ve grown up banding birds with you from the day we were born!= Then Ross waved his hands at Dean9s towering sons, Sam and Tom. <And look at them,= he said, <They9re over six feet tall and can climb into and out of any- thing 4 be it tree or cliff!= With that, Sue got out the banding maps. <Let9s go do the quarry nest first,= she suggested, and everyone agreed. Now, I9ve been banding eagle babies in that nest from way back in the mid-1960s. It9s about 300 feet above the parking spot and the only way to get there is to walk up a very, very steep rocky slope. My getting to the nest tree was nearly impossible. However, being an optimist, I started to make the climb. After going up about 50 feet I was huffing and puffing, and my heart was shouting at me, <Enough is enough, Old Here in Sisters, you have a fun opportunity to share your creative projects each month in The Nugget’s “Kids in Print” feature, and you can read other kids’ stories there, too. Submit to Kids in Print! Bring your original illustrations, paintings, stories, and poems on down to The Nugget Newspaper! “Anti-gravity Fox” By Daisy Draper, Age 13, Baker Web Academyy (442 E. Main Ave., 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri.) Include child’s name, grade level, and school or homeschool. You can use a full name, or just first name with last initial. Submissions are also accepted by email, kidsinprint@nuggetnews.com, or at the front office of Sisters Elementary School. Please put them in a clearly marked envelope or clip on a cover sheet reading: “The Nugget — Kids in Print.” KIDS IN PRINT Sponsored by Kid Made Camp | A service of The Nugget Newspaper Kids in Print Mission: Kids are the readers, writers, and leaders of tomorrow. We’re passionate about getting them involved with print media — as both creators and readers. Expressing themselves in their local newspaper empowers children and teens, and connects them with their community. Through educational events with our sponsor, Kid Made Camp, the youth of Sisters Country learn hands-on artistic, literary, and critical-thinking skills. Due to space limitations, publication of submissions is not guaranteed. We seek to showcase a wide range of ages, styles, and abilities that represent the diverse talents of the youth of our greater Sisters community. Privacy Statement: The Nugget Newspaper LLC does not ask children to disclose more personal information than is necessary for them to participate in Kids in Print. The Nugget limits its collection of information from children to non-personally identifiable information (e.g. first name, last initial, age, school).
