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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2020)
C6 OUTSIDE East Oregonian Saturday, January 4, 2020 OF A BAND JAYS Lewiston Tribune Photo/Pete Caster AROUND THE FEEDER Anglers have banded together to purchase an 8-acre parcel of land along the lower Grande Ronde River to preserve fish- ing access. The property is on the north side of the river be- tween the water and the road. By DENNIS DAUBLE For the East Oregonian PENDLETON — They arrive from higher elevation after senes- cent cottonwood leaves lose their grip and snow- fall lays silent on the for- est floor. Their sentinel calls begin with a warn- ing whistle and build to a raucous “shaak-shaak- schaak.” The first of a feathered gang arrives to inspect us, swooping and gliding through the open stand of mixed conifers that surround our cabin. Steller’s jays are a handsome blue-black bird with a distinctive crest. They have often been described as bold, intel- ligent, and inquisitive. I can also attest they are noisy and persistent. A member of the crow fam- ily, jays quickly become accustomed to human providers. We’ve counted as many as 14 individuals competing for a handout in the front yard. Imagine a crowd of greedy relatives, elbowing and shoving each other for that last bite of clam dip, and you know how a flock of jays behaves at a bird feeder. Add a hungry tree squirrel to the mix and things really get interest- ing. Watching action from the warm side of a living room window is better than dialing up big screen TV. Two seed feeders, one hung on a 20-penny nail tacked into rough bark of a tall fir and the other placed in the shelter of a maple tree, attract a year- round resident bird popu- lation that includes juncos, nuthatches, winter wrens, black-capped chickadees, and song sparrows. But it’s the high-calorie suet we put out each winter that mostly gets the atten- tion of jays. AUTHOR’S NOTE According to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the scrub jay was designated as two different species, California and Wood- house, in 2016. Photo contributed by Dennis Dauble A pair of hungry Steller’s jays jostle for position at the suet feeder. Our jays are not early risers. They often don’t show until my second cup of coffee. When they do, rooster fighting is in effect, as is constant shuf- fling for position at feed- ing stations, which makes it difficult to tell who is boss. Although two years ago, Nancy argued that her favorite, “mister white eye,” was the alpha bird. The suet feeder hangs from a chokecherry tree a mere 5 feet from the cabin’s front window. Up to four jays squawk and compete for position on branches large enough to support their weight, while others root for dis- placed suet on the ground. One frosty morning led to me keeping track of their pecking order. How many bites of suet does it take to satisfy a jay before it gives up its place at the feeder? I wondered. Over the course of 21 events, individual birds poked, probed, and delivered jackhammer-like blows to suet three to 19 times for an average of nine pecks per visit. Aggressive indi- viduals held position for several seconds, scrap- ing grease from their long sharp beaks on a naked branch and squawking at competitors between tilt- the-head-back swallows. Jays aren’t the only wildlife attracted to suet. More than once we returned after an extended absence to find the wire- mesh suet feeder disman- tled and buried in the snow. My infrared LED camera revealed a masked marauder, i.e., raccoon, with a hankering for pea- nut butter mixed with beef fat. In early winter 2010, a strange-looking bird joined our local flock of Steller’s jays. Sleeker than its cohorts, it had a white throat and chest that con- trasted with a bluish-col- ored back, but lacked a crest. Was this serendip- itous visitor a wander- ing gray jay, the so-called “camp robber?” What followed were close-hand observations with three bird books in my lap, multiple calls to local experts, and con- firmed identification of a western scrub jay. Our finding, the most “north- eastern-most” sighting in Oregon at the time, attracted curious birders from miles away. During the following winter and spring, we often chanced upon bird lovers crouched in a stealth pose, sneak- ing down the wooded lane by our cabin with binocu- lars in hand. We’d invite them in, serve a hot cup of tea, and let them admire this special visitor from the comfort of a rocking chair. From my journal, New Years Day 2010: The scrub jay balances on the front yard seed feeder like an acrobat in a high- wire circus act, jostling loose a handful of millet and sunflower seeds. One clawed foot holds fast to the bottom rim; the other grasps the wire cage that surrounds the half-empty cylinder of seeds. Sev- eral Steller’s gather on the ground below. Hopping on long legs, they peck the ground like a flock of barnyard chickens after a handful of seed corn. The solitary scrub jay left us two years later, when a glaze of ice obscured view out cabin windows. Did it fly off to seek a mate, get eaten by a great-horned owl, or tire of delivering stray sunflower seeds to its less agile, dark- crested cousins? Only Mother Nature knows. ——— Dennis Dauble is a retired fishery scientist, outdoor writer, presenter and educator who lives in Richland, Wash. For more stories about fish and fish- ing in area waters, see DennisDaubleBooks.com. Anglers secure access on Grande Ronde By ERIC BARKER Lewiston Tribune HELLER BAR, Wash. — Anglers have banded together to secure owner- ship and preserve access to a small but important parcel of land along the lower Grande Ronde River. Members of the groups that spearheaded the effort plan to eventually donate the land to the Washing- ton Department of Fish and Wildlife. “I think it’s important we preserve and take these opportunities to retain public access and maintain angler opportunity and limit pub- lic/private conflict,” said Josh Miller, of Spokane, a mem- ber of the board of directors of the Seattle-based Wild Steelhead Coalition. The Grande Ronde sup- ports a thriving steelhead fishery, and its lower stretches near Heller Bar often become crowded with anglers in the early fall. The property, which includes about 2,000 feet of shoreline, is adjacent to land already owned and managed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wild- life for angler access. The state land includes a prim- itive boat ramp, restrooms and camping spots. The pri- vate property provides access to the popular Shadow Hole and the Turkey Run, both just a little more than 1 mile upstream from the mouth of the Grande Ronde. The Wild Steelhead Coa- lition worked in partnership with the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club of Spokane to secure the property owned by Lynn Miller of Lewiston. The state has long had an access easement to the unde- veloped property, but was not immediately able to pur- chase the land. Jim Athearn, a member of the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club, said Miller was interested both in selling the property and seeing that it remained open to the public. The club agreed to work to acquire the prop- erty and partnered with the Wild Steelhead Coalition because of its 501c3 tax sta- tus. Together, they raised the modest asking price of about $30,000, and they hope to close the deal in the near future. “It’s a wonderful thing, and it’s the end product we are after — and that is pub- lic access. There is too much land being bought and closed, and we didn’t want to see that happen with this piece,” said Athearn, of Medical Lake, Washington. Chris Donley, fish pro- gram manager for the depart- ment at Spokane, said his agency hopes to acquire the property, perhaps in about a year, and continue to manage it for access. “The Grande Ronde is kind of one of the last bastions for fishing for steelhead,” Donley said. “We seem to be consistently closing every- thing, but the Grande Ronde stays open. Allowing access there seems like a good idea.” Athearn praised the many individuals and fishing clubs who donated money for the project. “It’s not (those) who have been with our hands out that are important,” he said. “It’s the ones filling them that are important.” The agency also is in the final stages of taking owner- ship of the Snyder Bar boat ramp and primitive camping area along the Grande Ronde near Shumaker Grade. The land is being donated by Larry and Marion Cassidy of Vancouver. CAUGHT OVGARD The year in read-view: Audiobooks make reading simple By LUKE OVGARD For the East Oregonian Hindsight may be 20/20, but foresight is 2020. January 1 marks the New Year, but is it really all that special? I mean, it’s just another Wednesday. While everyone is focused on speculation and trying to change their future, it’s easy to focus more on what we’d like to accomplish in ideal circumstances than what we actu- ally managed in the circumstances we lived through. Why? According to a study by the University of Scranton, just 8% of people in the United States will complete or accomplish their New Year’s resolutions in a given year. Now, I tend to be a little negative, but 8% is objec- tively bad, right? While everyone talks about the glass being half-empty or half-full, I’m on my knees sweeping up the broken pieces of the glass I dropped before I could assess its fullness. This year, I hit some invigorating highs and crippling lows, but for me, what helped me deal with both and keep perspective were my necessary escapes from reality. Fishing works to clear the head and relax the mind, but it’s not really an escape from reality; it’s just the most pleasant part of mine. Instead, I use television and books to escape my thoughts, because even when life is running smoothly, it’s essential to take a step back from it, and books can do that bet- ter than anything. Almost every time I’m in a car, on a plane or in my boat, I’m listening to audio- books. Wireless earbuds made it possible for me to listen to books while I’m on the river, the beach, the lakeshore, or the pier. No, I’m not cool enough to spend hundreds on Air- Pods like most of my students, but the $30 I dropped on the generic ones from TJ Maxx work just fine. Life hack: Use one at a time to double lis- tening time between charges. Speaking of charges, invest in Audible. The Audible (paid) and OverDrive (free) apps have changed my life so much in the past decade that I can’t imagine life with- out them. Book list I’ve done it before, but I’d like to share the books I read in 2019. I completed all 40 I started this year — even if I didn’t love them — but I’ll be sure to highlight my faves. I read a single paper book and listened to the other 39 as audiobooks. So instead of telling you my goals and visions for 2019, I’ll share with you how I dealt with meeting some goals and not meet- ing others from the year before. There are much less healthy coping mechanisms than fishing and books, so the 92 in 100 of you that fail to meet your goals this year should consider both. Likewise, the 8 in 100 who do might need an escape from reality after climbing to the top and finding that confusing hollowness that comes in the aftermath of accomplishing everything you hoped to. In my fave book of 2019, Jordan B. Peter- son’s “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos,” the author writes: “Perhaps happi- ness is to be found in the journey uphill and not in the fleeing sense of satisfaction await- ing at the next peak. Much of happiness is hope, no matter how deep the underworld in which that hope was conceived.” Ah, perspective. Faith/religion “Erasing Hell” — Francis Chan Historical fiction “The Guns of the South” — Harry Turtledove “Underground Airlines” — Ben Winters Nonfiction “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos” — Jordan B. Peterson “Big Magic” — Elizabeth Gilbert “How to Hide An Empire” — Daniel Immerwahr “When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing” — Daniel Pink. Science fiction “14” — Peter Clines “Childhood’s End” — Arthur C. Clarke “Children of Ruin” — Adrian Tchaikovsky “The Consuming Fire” — John Scalzi “Dune” Trilogy — Frank Herbert “The Fall of Hyperion” — Dan Simmons “The Final Day” — William Forstchen “The Man in the High Castle” — Philip K. Dick “One Year After” — William Forstchen “Recursion” — Blake Crouch “Red Rising” Trilogy — Peter Brown Undying Mercenaries Series (books 1-5) — B.V. Larson “Warcross” — Marie Lu “The Warehouse” — Rob Hart “Wool” series (books 1-2) — Hugh Howey “World War Z” — Max Brooks Romance “A Voice in the Wind” — Francine Rivers “Opposite of Always” — Justin A. Reynolds Survival “A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World” — C.A. Fletcher “I Am Legend” — Richard Mattheson “The Wild Robot” — Peter Brown Thriller “The Roses of May” — Dot Hutchinson “The Summer Children” — Dot Hutchinson Western The Border Trilogy (books 1-2) — Cor- mac McCarthy Best of the best Though most of the books I read were worthwhile, a few stood a cut above. Both of the historical fiction books hinge on the Civil War shaking out differently. In “The Guns of South,” Neo-Nazis bring machine guns back in time to help the South. In “Underground Airlines,” the Civil War was never fought at all. Each provide a worth- while read and reflection of just how import- ant this crucial event was in our history. All four nonfiction books I read were incredible. I’d argue “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos” was the best non- fiction book I’ve ever read, and the title is fairly self-explanatory, while “Big Magic” encourages risk-taking and was very helpful for me as a writer. All Americans should read “How to Hide an Empire” because it will teach you a ton of American history you missed out on in school. For instance, did you know Asians were the largest minority in the United States for the first half of the 21st century? I know I didn’t. Obviously, science fiction is my favorite genre. The first “Dune” book remains an all- time great, though the second two books in the series aren’t. The “Red Rising” Trilogy, on the other hand, sustains. It takes place in a future society of genetically engineering humans all assigned colors that determine their caste in life. It will be a movie series someday soon, I’m sure. Lastly, “The Warehouse” was a caution- ary tale about Amazon effectively taking over the world economically, and it did not disappoint. If Amazon ever sells burgers, I won’t be eating them. If you don’t want to spend money on Audible, just download the OverDrive app. You can get free access to your local library’s OverDrive portal, so reach out. I have to encourage reading books if I have any hope of selling my book, “Fishing for Happiness,” which will (hopefully) be released later this year. ——— Read more at caughtovgard.com; Follow on Instagram and Fishbrain @lukeovgard; Contact luke.ovgard@gmail.com.
