Russ, I think this one is for you. My e-mail on your comment on the last entry started turning into War and Peace.
I've seen rabbits down by the river, but never in the neighborhood. If there are any, I suspect the cats or the dogs get them. All the birds in the area are tree nesters. And the ground feeders seldom come off the hill. I'm hoping that as the yard develops there will be enough cover to tempt them down where we can see them. I have seen towees in the blueberries. They do like blueberries. The squirrels are incredibly cheeky and use the fences like highways.
I hear pheasants in the spring but they don't nest around here, they head for the greenway park along the river or the islands in the river, fewer cats. Our three are "innies" and the only feathers they get are at the end of little plastic sticks. :-)
We are lucky though. There's a large refuge south of town that hosts a lot of different birds and since most of the farmland around here is pasture or grows grass seed there are plenty of places to hang out. There's even some small flocks of Canada geese that seem to have decided that migrating is for the birds and stick around full time.There are times during early spring and late fall when my drive to work comes at the some time the ducks and geese are shifting from their night roosts to feeding areas. I've seen at least a dozen flocks on the wing at once.
This link will take you to a relief map of Oregon. The lowest and flattest land in the state is that sort of figure eight shaped piece between the mountains. There's a little on the coast. Oh, and most of the coastal stuff is just low, it's still hilly. And my sister lives close to the east end of that little green patch along the Columbia. That's it boys and girls. Most of Eastern Oregon is a three or four thousand feet above sea level palteau with almost no water. The lakes depend on either rainfall or snow melt and can get pretty small during very dry years.
If you have time and are really curious take the web address for the map and substitute your zip code abbreviation where the or is. It should get you your state map. The comparison is interesting to say the least. For example, put the ksfor Kansas where the or is and the map of Kansas should come up, or tx for Texas. There is an actual website that has all of these plus a key for elevation. But I haven't been able to locate it thins morning. But, that pretty grass green is the lowest, below one thousand feet, through the dry grass green. By the time you get to the light blue you're above five thousand feet and climbing.
That lower quarter of the state is mainly scrub grass, trees that are bushes with delusions of grandeur, jack rabbits and cow country. It's beautiful but for a gal who grew up in a little valley about three miles long and about half that wide it looks awfully barren. Birds to big sky country, what a morning trip.
1 comment:
There are no pheasants in the suburbs -- but they were thick around the isolated little farm I grew upon. My pa refused to let hunters on our land -- claiming they were careless and left gates open. But deep down inside, I think he really loved seeing them live and exist in our little habitat. We even left pans of water everywhere during during dry Summers for the wild game to get hydrated. He's a good man -- it just took him many decades to realize it. And to let others know.
Love ya!
Russ
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