Herons and Egrets of the Willamette
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Three of them share the same water here, and most people only ever notice one. The great blue heron is unmissable — four feet of gray patience standing in the
Category: Jonathan’s Journal
Bald Eagles of Portland and Neskowin
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There are two places I photograph bald eagles. One is a floodplain refuge inside the city of Portland, ten minutes from my house. The other is a beach on the
The Garter Snakes of Oaks Bottom
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There is a moment, when something long and quick moves through the grass beside your foot, when the body decides before the mind does. Everybody has it. I have it.
The Bees Next Door
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When people picture a bee, they picture a honeybee — hive, queen, honey, the whole operation. But most of the bees actually working your garden aren’t honeybees at all. Oregon
Plant the Flowers — Hummingbirds from Neskowin to Sellwood
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Neskowin is a tiny village on the Oregon coast that has quietly turned itself into a bird sanctuary. The locals plant with intention — gardens full of flowers chosen to
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The Painted Cedar Waxwings: A Stunning Bird Profile
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Of all the birds that pass through Portland, none looks less real than the cedar waxwing. Its plumage is so sleek it seems airbrushed on. A fawn crest, a black
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A Boy, His Collie, and a Stampede
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This is Prince — my collie, and my best friend growing up. 🐾 I’ve shared his portrait before, but I’ve never told the story that made him a legend in
Ringo Comes Home
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He turned up while I was in the middle of remodeling downstairs — a lean, friendly cat with no collar, hungry and thirsty and clearly a long way from wherever
The Neighborhood Cats
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Every neighborhood has its cast of regulars — and not all of them are people. Ours comes with a whole roster of cats, each one working its own territory on
Bodhi, the Nine-Lives Cat
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Every block has a lucky cat. Ours is Bodhi — my neighbor’s beloved companion, and very likely the most fortunate animal for a mile in any direction. By my count
A Swallowtail on the Wing
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Between the birds, a bit of drifting color. Swallowtails are the big kites of the butterfly world — broad-winged, unhurried, and impossible to ignore when one comes tumbling through on
A Perfect Day at Oaks Bottom
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Some days Oaks Bottom hands you everything at once. Today was one of those — a flawless 75 degrees, the kind of blue overhead that makes you slow right down,
A Great Blue Heron, Hiding in Plain Sight
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You would think a four-foot bird would be impossible to miss. You would be wrong. This Great Blue Heron was standing more or less in the open, and I nearly
Lesser Goldfinch in Perfect Light
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Some birds you chase for the drama. This one I chased for the light. The Lesser Goldfinch is the smallest finch in North America — a tiny bird, hardly bigger
A Curious Raccoon
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Not every face at the water’s edge has feathers. Down at Oaks Bottom, this raccoon came ambling along the bank and stopped to size me up — black mask, bright
An Encounter with a Cooper’s Hawk
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After a week of kingfishers and herons down at the water, Sellwood Park handed me something with a very different job description. A predator. I had an encounter with a
The Fishers of Oaks Bottom — Part One: The Kingfisher & the Heron
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Oaks Bottom is a pond full of fishers — but a few of them are masters, and they couldn’t go about it more differently. One is all explosive speed; another,
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Scenes from my Garden
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A few scenes from the garden this season — a rose letting go, roses planted for strangers, and lilies caught in the last good light. Different flowers, one quiet idea:
The Garden’s Smaller Guests — Bushtit, Chickadees, and a Nuthatch
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Some mornings the garden fills up with small, fast birds working the feeder. None of them hold still for long — which is half the fun of trying to photograph
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Spring Is the Time
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Spring is the season of new life. You can see it everywhere, if you slow down — in the hardhack (Spiraea douglasii) bursting open along the water, pink and soft