What is Slugyard? Slugyard is a window to the world around you. Most of these photos were taken from in or around my yard. I hope they encourage you and your family to pay more attention to the world outside your door.
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By Mike B., on January 27th, 2012 
Last weekend a flock of robins landed in my backyard.
They were everywhere! According to the National Audubon Society’s The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior:
Wintering American Robins occupy mainly the same habitat types as they do in the breeding season…if the ground is not frozen, they forage for worms…American Robins are often gregarious on their wintering grounds, moving in flocks as they seek out fruit-laden plants.
The flock had more than Robins, too. Two Northern Flickers were sitting atop my fence while the Robins were foraging and they didn’t leave until the Robins did.
Luckily for these birds the ground was not frozen, and this Robin above grabbed a huge earthworm about 1 second after I took this photo. It looked like they wanted to stick around for a long while eating, but then it started to rain hard. They flew up into the trees to wait it out. I found this curious, because most of the trees didn’t have leaves and it wasn’t any drier up there. Maybe the sound of the rain covers up predator noises, so by instinct they fly away?
Once the rains did come, my Rain Garden filled up. This is the first winter since we built it last year and it has worked very well.
During the summer this will be filled with native grasses, insects, and flowering shrubs. While it might look bare during the winter, it’s also easier to watch the raindrops splashing in the ponding water.
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By Mike B., on January 23rd, 2012 After some snowfall and then heavy rain, the Willamette River hit flood stage a couple of days ago.
Above is a photo I took on Friday. The bases of the trees you see are normally about 10 to 15 feet above the edge of the river. Not today. The space between the camera and the trees is a grassy field. But, the river didn’t crest (hit its highest point) until Saturday. What did it look like then?
Other than the sun shining it doesn’t look too different. The water is a few feet higher- if you look closely at some of the trees in the two photos you’ll be able to tell.
Notice that all of these trees are cottonwoods- this is the floodplain, where the river spills on the rare occasions when it overflows its banks. On this side of the river the floodplain is wide until it becomes a steep slope upwards towards our neighborhood.
Turning around at the spot I took the photos above, we see this. A path winding upwards with fir trees in the background. These woods are mostly comprised of fir trees above the floodplain. Below the floodplain, there are no fir trees at all. I imagine this has something to do with either their water tolerance, the strength of their roots to hold on in a flood, or both. The cottonwoods, however, do just fine.
It isn’t very easy in the photos above to see the change in water level from Friday to Saturday. Below are two photos I took of a small waterfall a short distance away from the above scene. The first photo I took on Saturday- there is no waterfall at all. The second photo was taken on Friday.
By Mike B., on January 21st, 2012 
It’s been a while, but I finally saw another hummingbird out front. This one perched on top of my neighbor’s cherry tree. It is an Anna’s Hummingbird and they live in our area all year-long. In this photo, it looks completely colorless. Hummingbirds actually reflect very bright colors off of their feathers, but . . . → Read More and See Photos: Anna’s Hummingbird Colors
By Mike B., on January 14th, 2012 
Yes, a Fox Squirrel. This little one looks harmless enough, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it is not a native squirrel. It is either an Eastern Gray or a Fox Squirrel, but I think it is a Fox Squirrel since it has so much reddish fur.
According to Invasive Species in the Pacific Northwest edited by Boersma, . . . → Read More and See Photos: Crazy Like a Fox Squirrel
By Mike B., on January 8th, 2012 
My friend Joe made a great find while birding in southeastern Oregon. Below are his photos and his description. Great shots!
Red-necked Phalarope
Wilson's Phalarope
In Joe’s words:
During a recent trip to Lake Abert in Southeast Oregon, I came across a very large flock of migrating phalaropes feeding on . . . → Read More and See Photos: Phalaropes Aplenty
By Mike B., on January 6th, 2012 We had a familiar friend visit us on Christmas morning.
This is a Bruce Spanworm. I posted about one of these last year around this time. There was another one about 6 inches away caught in a spider’s web- yes, amazingly, our spiders are very active still despite it being winter.
According to this WSU . . . → Read More and See Photos: Christmas Moth
By Mike B., on December 31st, 2011 
Today is the last day of Tree Year 2011, a great project Natalie started on the tree year website. I periodically blogged about my walnut this year (to the left in the photo above). I talked about the birds on it, ferns, moss, the bark, etc. Once the leaves returned to the tree I . . . → Read More and See Photos: Tree Year’s End
By Mike B., on December 29th, 2011 
How cool is this little caterpillar? My friend Todd shared this photo with me- it was taken at the school where he teaches. It looks like it has very interesting eyes and quite a large head. But does it? See the dark end that looks like the caterpillar’s nose or mouth? Believe it or . . . → Read More and See Photos: Cartoon Caterpillar
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