An Oregon developer of a proposed gas station next to a creek and wetlands has withdrawn his application. In short: Victory! Withdrawn App, how sweet the sound, Saving trees … thirty feet around. They were doomed on this place, but now are saved, thanks to Grace. The nearby neighborhoods’ coveys of bird watchers and Lake…
Category: Heron
Save the Redwoods, Part II: When Billy Heron helped unite a community
It’s especially hard to organize folks these days. You can’t call a meeting. It’s tough to talk and listen with masks on. Yet suburban folks west of Portland Oregon are organizing against a developer’s plans to build a Chevron gas station/mini-mart adjacent to wetlands, big trees, and a Park Greenway. On just a few weeks…
The Daily Bucket– The Innocence Project Appeals to Frog Court.
I reached for the grimy tumbler. It was empty. Not even any ice. I reached for the whiskey bottle. It was empty too. This was the night the bottle let me down, and a savagely bright dawn poured through the dirty windows in my Private Investigator’s office. I stared at the torn paper sack on…
The Daily Bucket–Ready, Steady GO!
The Tualatin Valley of Northwest Oregon forms a shallow bowl, about 50 miles in diameter, with 1000-2000 foot tall eroded volcanoes walling in the lowlands, separating the region from the Coast and the Columbia River. I used to work near Banks, Oregon, and the vast acreages of of flooded croplands in the Valley, especially grasses,…
The Daily Bucket–Working on some Night Moves
Sundown in Portland Oregon was at 4:32 pm. At 4:40 pm, I walked past my kitchen window and startled a Great Blue Heron who was eating goldfish out of my backyard pond. Then we both pretended not to see each other. I began watching from a small bathroom window, and the heron continued fishing. It…
The Daily Bucket–Eagle Eyes
I walk from my house to Bethany Lake, west of Portland Oregon, on many days. The Lake is adjacent to a wide utility easement, a golf course, a park, and farmland, so there is considerable open water, undeveloped area, and large trees. All that space, and open water, and lots of fish and ducks, and…
The Daily Bucket–Trigger Warning
The Great Blue Heron is one of the largest birds in North America, standing 4 feet tall with a six foot wing span. When the birds evolved from the dinosaurs, the Herons emerged, but herons changed very little over the last few million years. Their wide wings resemble the extinct Pterodactyl, a winged lizard. Herons…
The Daily Bucket–I Fly to Pieces
I fly to pieces, Every time that I see you preen I fly to pieces, I can’t forget what I’ve just seen. A little one-legged clean-up, You want me to act as if we have no bond You want me to forget (to forget) You ate fish from my pond. (from my pond) What greater gift can one…
The Daily Heron Bucket
At 8:59 PDT, a Great Blue Heron glided from a nearby roof into my backyard, next to my gold fish ponds. Every few minutes there is one less fish. I never should have named the fish. The Heron, who we call Billy, has visited every morning this week except one, and it may have just evaded detection…
The Daily Heron Bucket
At 5 am, the heron seems to take form out of the backgound grey half tone morning skies. It approached from the east, and plopped next to my backyard pond. Billy the Heron swiftly captured a fish so large that it unnerved my mate Salmonwoman, who watched from a kitchen window. She even wondered if…
The Daily Bucket–The Belly Flopping Heron
For over a decade, Great Blue Herons have visited my backyard ponds in NW Oregon. They’ve eaten some of my goldfish, driven away all of the hated bullfrogs, and provided many viewing hours of their heart pounding beauty as they strut between the grapes and lavender. My house is in the middle of densely treed suburbs so the Heron…
The Daily Bucket–Take-out Orders from the Frog Mitigation Area.
Herons are taking fish and frogs “to go” out of my backyard ponds, for trips to their nearby nests. I watch a heron go after the goldfish in the ponds. It will eat and swallow the first fish, but will “mouth,” and not swallow their second catch, and immediately fly away with the captured prey. The herons can…