8A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL January 14, 2015
Saturday
count brings
eagles in focus
LORANE COUNTRY NEWS
BY LIL THOMPSON
For the Sentinel
T
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
M
uch ado has been made of Oregon’s
Ducks lately, but a group that gathered
together Saturday morning had a different type
of bird on its mind.
Alison Center, a former biologist with the
Bureau of Land Management, led a group of
about eight interested “birders” on an annual
midwinter eagle count. The tally was made
on behalf of the Oregon Eagle Foundation, a
Klamath Falls-based organization that tracks
numbers of bald and golden eagles statewide
— with the help of volunteers, that is.
Center began counting eagles 22 years ago
with the BLM, which charged her to keep track
of the birds that spend time at Dorena and Cot-
tage Grove Reservoirs. On Saturday, she had a
good idea of how many eagles to expect to see
there — there are two known roosting pairs of
bald eagles that call Dorena home and one pair
at Cottage Grove Reservoir — though it was
believed that migratory birds may be spotted
and push the total higher. Center said as many
as a half-dozen eagles have been catalogued
during the midwinter count, which was orga-
nized through the Coast Fork Willamette Wa-
tershed Council.
Golden eagles are rarely glimpsed in our
area, Center said, as they prefer to nest atop
high, sheer cliff-sides. Bald eagles, however,
can be glimpsed in many places throughout the
area, especially around mountain lakes. The
birds have been known to roost near Coburg
photo by Jon Stinnett
Jan Wellman and Ed Gore scan the skies behind Dorena Dam for eagles during a
count of the birds on Saturday morning.
and routinely feed on perished lambs and af-
terbirth during the lambing season, especially
in the sheep-heavy fi elds further north in the
Willamette Valley.
Life hasn’t always been rosy for the bald
eagle, and Center said that DDT, or dichloro-
diphenyltrichloroethane, an odorless chemical
once used as an insecticide, caused the birds’
eggshells to be perilously thin and few of its
offspring to survive, which led in large part
to the eagles’ appearance on the Endangered
Species List. Rebounding numbers, however,
found the bald eagle removed from Oregon’s
endangered species list in 2012 and from the
federal list in 2007.
On Saturday, the eagle afi cionados gathered
below the dam at Dorena, where one eagle was
spotted in a tree on the western edge of the res-
ervoir. Center said low water levels there tend
to concentrate fi sh near the dam, a tempting
situation for eagles seeking to feed on them.
The group didn’t concentrate solely on ea-
gles, however; birder Grace Fowler also car-
ried a checklist of other species to identify, and
Saturday’s sightings included pie-billed and
western grebes, coots, herons, a kingfi sher and
other birds.
As is likely the case with any group hoping
to spot animals over long distances, the con-
versation turned often to binoculars and their
importance in the endeavor.
“I used to think I wasn’t very observant,”
said Fran Johnson. “But then I got a good pair
of binoculars.”
his week brings Winter Homecoming for Crow
Middle/High School. The theme of dress for
tomorrow, Thursday, is “zombie day” for middle
school and formal for the high school with Friday as
Spirit Day for everyone. The middle-school dance
is from 1:30-3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16 and 9 p.m.-mid-
night for the high school. Everyone is asked to
wear their “Cougars for the Cure” T-shirts at the bas-
ketball game this Friday, Jan. 16.
Remember, there will be NO school on Monday,
Jan. 19 for Martin Luther King Day.
The Booster Club would like to thank everyone
who participated in the 2014 Tom Page Basketball
Tournament. Also, thanks to all the fans and sup-
porters. It was a great event.
Our Crow High Principal is looking for a profes-
sional artist, student or adult, to paint a mural in her
large offi ce. She has ideas, so please contact her at
541-686-5024 for more information.
A big “Thank You” is due to Lane Electric for their
generous check helping offset the lighting improve-
ment costs in the elementary and Crow Middle/High
School. Plus, special thanks to maintenance director,
Bryan Wood, for fi nding the incentive grants making
it possible, and to John Murry of Lane Electric for
his valuable assistance.
Crow High School now has an Automated Exter-
nal Defi brillator thanks to the David Heller Founda-
tion.
Lorane Grange meets this Thursday, Jan. 15 at
7:30 p.m. It looks like there will be spaghetti dinner
and bingo on Saturday, Jan. 24 at the Grange. Hope
to see everyone out for the fun.
The next CAL School Board meeting should be
Jan. 19 at Lorane Grange starting at 7 p.m. after ex-
ecutive session.
F LU
Continued from page 6A
that’s not necessarily true.
Minimally, though, people
raise their own chickens so they
know what they’re being fed.
They want to feed them specifi c
things of their own choosing.”
However, Hermes warns
backyard enthusiasts not to get
off-base with what they feed
their fl ock. Though they’ve
been described as quasi garbage
disposals, chickens need a bal-
anced diet for maximum egg
production. Some table scraps
are OK; just don’t overdo it. If
they clean it up in about 20 min-
utes, that’s about right.
“Get what they have at the
feed store,” Hermes said. “That
sack of feed has everything they
need.”
Be sure to get the right mix
for their age, too. Starter diets
are formulated for chicks from
hatch to a few weeks old. Grow-
er feed is for adolescent birds.
And layer feed, which has the
important addition of calcium,
is for egg-producing chickens.
Some people like to offer
supplements such as grit, which
helps them grind their food, or
oyster shell, which has calcium.
The birds will take these supple-
ments if needed.
When choosing chickens to
start your fl ock, Hermes sug-
gests buying four to six good
producers and staying away
from exotic breeds, which don’t
lay as many eggs. Feed stores
sell young birds in the spring,
usually from March to May.
You can expect pullets (young
females) to begin laying eggs
at 18 to 20 weeks and produce
seven to eight per hen over a 10-
day period.
Don’t be surprised when your
hens stop laying eggs in the
winter.
“Decreased daylight causes
hens to molt and cease egg pro-
duction, a process that may take
several months,” Hermes said.
Artifi cial lighting, however, can
keep hens laying. See “Why Did
My Chickens Stop Laying” at
the OSU Extension website, for
more information on artifi cial
lighting.
Any structure that provides
protection from the weather and
predators will do for a chicken
coop. It needn’t be big. Before
you begin building, get detailed
advice from the Extension’s au-
dio-visual guide called “Back-
yard Chicken Coop Design.”
Keeping your birds inside won’t
distress them.
“You can give chickens ac-
cess to the outside through a
door, but they’ll usually choose
to stay put in inclement weath-
er,” Hermes said. “They don’t
use large areas well. They like
to be in groups. One chicken is
a lonely bird.”
Provide nesting places that
are a foot or more above the
ground. Hens feel much safer
when laying eggs in a protected
space. Roosts or perching areas
are also important because hens
prefer not to sleep on the ground.
Roosts also concentrate night-
time manure for easy cleaning.
Fencing can be a valuable addi-
tion, sometimes electric fencing,
as protection against dogs, rac-
coons and other predators. Wire
netting or some other barrier
over top of the coop is needed if
birds such as hawks, eagles and
owls decide chickens are their
preferred meal.
There are a few drawbacks to
raising chickens, including odor
and the fl ies it draws. But good
management and keeping the
manure dry will reduce these
problems.
And rodents are a given.
“Wherever you have chicken
feed, you have rodents,” Hermes
said. “The best solution is ro-
dent-resistant feeders, covered
food storage such as a trash can
and cleaning up any spilled feed
immediately.”
Cleaning the coop once a
week helps, Hermes said, and
the chicken manure – which is
high in nitrogen – is a welcome
addition to the compost pile.
Washing down the coop isn’t
necessary unless there’s been an
illness in your fl ock or the pos-
sibility of exposure to the avian
fl u is high.
Waterfowl go north for win-
ter, he added, so the threat of the
virus is greatly diminished.
“If there’s another outbreak,”
he said, “you’ll know about it.”
Learn more about keeping
chickens in OSU Extension’s
handout called “Raising Chick-
ens in Urban Environments.”
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