Wildlife, Fishing and Outdoors

A few weeks ago a friend was lamenting the fact that she had to get busy and put her garden “to bed” for the winter, because the days and nights were beginning to get chilly. Flowers, grasses …

A few Saturdays ago, I was up at the crack of dawn so I could board the SeaBreeze Charters boat, the Four Seasons, for a trip out into ocean to find pelagic birds. Wings Over Willapa was in fu…

ASTORIA — Sea Star Wasting Syndrome (SSWS) has been recognized as one of the most widespread disease outbreaks documented in the ocean to date, with over 20 species of sea stars affected along…

SANDRIDGE ROAD — A rare butterfly species disappeared from the Long Beach Peninsula in 1990. Now, restoration of its vanished coastal prairie habitat at the South Bay Unit of Willapa National …

COLUMBIA RIVER — Recreational anglers this year over-harvested upriver bright fall Chinook, the stock of fish that can constrain recreational and commercial fishing times and locations through…

There was excitement on the beach this past week. Thousands of sanderlings, a few Caspian terns, flocks of Heermann’s gulls, several black-bellied plovers, glaucous-winged gulls, and the sight…

LONG BEACH and OCEAN PARK — Razor clam diggers can return to Long Beach-Ocean Park for a three-day opening beginning Sept. 27.

I was walking in a mixed forest of conifers and budding deciduous trees. There was the occasional open area in the woodland and a grassy road ran through it. On either side of the grassy roadw…

WILLAPA BAY — The Washington Department of Ecology last week announced a public comment period, an online workshop and a hearing in South Bend concerning ongoing efforts to limit the amount of…

One of the major keys to bird identification is behavior. Behavior includes such things as feeding, singing, moving, sitting and/or whether a bird is in a flock. Lately as full migration ramps…

Brian Winterlich and his son had a close encounter with a Columbia River humpback whale while fishing from a Hobie kayak at the Washington end of the Astoria-Megler Bridge on Sept. 7.

WILLAPA BAY — There are two kinds of bird enthusiasts. People who occasionally venture outdoors and those who lug their binoculars with them everywhere they go.

My friend Susan and I witnessed a dramatic take down on a recent birding trip to the Ilwaco Harbor and Baker Bay. A tasty meal was at stake for the predator and the prey was an easy mark. The …

Strollers on Benson Beach in Cape Disappointment State Park enjoyed the company of a female California sea lion Sunday evening, Sept. 1.

The yard is quiet. The songbirds of summer have been gradually leaving for their wintering areas and taking their voices with them. I miss their songs. I have spent a lot of time birding with …

WILLAPA BAY — Clad in their distinctive white lab coats, a dozen young scientists observed and noted details then tested hypotheses during the Oysterville Science Academy which concluded last week.

CORVALLIS — Seeing rats in the backyard or, worse yet, in the house, can send people into panic mode, and for good reason.

Some birds are named for the scientist or person who first discovered them. Others are named for a friend or colleague of the person who discovered the species, while others are named for thei…

As noted in my last article about birding on the beach, shorebirds abound daily. As summer wanes and fall begins, more and more shorebirds will be visiting our beaches and the mudflats of Will…

Every few years, sugar just might coalesce out of the kiln-baked soil in my grandparents’ plum thicket at their little retirement ranch in western Wyoming.

CORVALLIS — Even though we've had a mild summer, conifers in the region are still getting hit hard by several years of drought, to the point that many are dying.

ILWACO — Mark Chesler is helping to bring green leafy tranquility to Ilwaco.

There is nothing lovelier than our ocean beaches on a warm, sunny summer's day, especially at low tide. At this time of year shorebirds abound as they stop here to rest and feed before flying …

LONG BEACH — The 2019-20 razor clam season doesn't start until October, but the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is already busy making stock assessments, a major step in deciding ho…

At a time of year when snails and slugs would usually be under moist forest debris, recent rains brought the hardy snail out into the open, where it found refuge on a twig.

COLUMBIA RIVER — Fall seasons and regulations were set for some treaty fishing and non-treaty commercial fishing in the lower Columbia River Basin, with the Oregon-Washington Columbia River Co…

Summer is a good time to study or just notice bird behavior. Parents are feeding young and the young are trying to find their independence. Newly-fledged birds tend to follow their parents, st…

LONG BEACH — The 35th annual Sandsations took place July 24-27, with master and amateur sand sculptors competing for cash prizes utilizing unconventional tools in creating elaborate sand sculptures.

The unmanned "miniboat" built by Naselle Elementary School students has officially set sail.

July and August are the months to observe baby birds. Most birds have finished nesting by now.

OCEAN PARK — It was a taco salad night early this year when single-dad, Gordon Jensen, went into a local grocery store to buy lettuce. He was shocked to see the price, almost $5 a head. When y…

SEATTLE — For female mosquitoes, finding their next meal is all about smelling and seeing.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the competition for the nesting box between the black-capped chickadee and the red-breasted nuthatch. After disappearing for a while to build a nest, lay eggs and…

CORVALLIS — Unsightly and seemingly uncontrollable, weeds have a way of taking over the garden in the time it takes to put the hoe away.

Have you ever been away for a few days and when you returned noticed that the birdbath was dry so you scrubbed it and filled it up. In my case, this is exactly what happened, and after 30 seco…

You may remember the story I wrote about seeing my first marbled murrelet after many years of searching. Well, the search for another North American species came to fruition a month or so ago …

LONG BEACH PENINSULA — Some of our area's lowest tides of 2019 are this week. These predictions for Cape D are representative of tides all along the Pacific County coast:

PENINSULA — The photos in this article illustrate the different types of homes that our feathered friends of the Long Beach Peninsula and the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge use.

OLYMPIA — Sport anglers will have the opportunity to reel in salmon off the Washington coast starting Saturday, June 22.

Freshwater ponds are communities that are generally full of wildlife. Many mammals, insects, amphibians and birds are all at home in freshwater ponds and their surrounding vegetation. I visite…

A new river otter family is in residence at the Port of Chinook. Mama takes her babies for some swim time, dock time, and then back to their rock den in the breakwater.

A limit of rainbow trout dangles from the stringer at Western Lake near Naselle, Wash.

An osprey prepares to eviscerate a Columbia River large scale sucker, a large portion of the bird’s daily diet.

Like most people raised in the Northwest, I have had some sort of contact with sports fishing nearly all my life.