ENHS Nature Trails January 2000 Article 4

News from the Hollow
by Reida Kimmel

We live only ten miles from the center of Eugene, but at 600 feet higher in elevation and on the north facing slope of a very narrow valley, we live in a different world entirely. From December 18th until the 30th, when Eugene was experiencing foggy mornings and warmish sunny afternoons, we were having clear frosty weather. The ground froze to the depth of more than two inches. The pond froze. The puppy loved running on the former water, and even Chuck ventured out, but the crackings and groanings which accompanied his footfalls were too ominous for us to dare to try ice skating. As is usually the case when we get a real frost, the varied thrushes and towhees were daily visitors to our sheltered woodsy east side of the yard. The little stream there was a source of drinking water for all the birds, and with the three feeders and the sunflower seeds that Chuck scatters on the ground, our "wild area" was a popular site for juncos, fox sparrows, black-capped and chestnut backed chickadees, and the occasional red-breasted nuthatch. In spite of the cold and ice, our resident blackbird continued to call in the cattails at the pond, but the great blue heron was nowhere to be seen. With the return of warmer wet weather, our resident Douglas Squirrel came back to forage sunflower seeds. At this time of year he is quiet and a bit nervous, but with the nesting season he will become very very noisy as he defends his tree and his bird feeders from the rival Western gray squirrels that also visit us. The latter are, in my opinion, the most beautiful of any squirrels, and it makes me very sad to see how venerable they are to fatal encounters with automobiles.

The pond took days to melt, but as soon as there was open water, we were treated to regular morning visits from six wood ducks, three males and three females. I wonder if they can be related to the pair which visited us with their hatchlings for a few days in the early summer last year.

A few ENHS members were with us on New Years Day when we walked to the BLM Research Natural Area a few miles from our house On the way we were lucky enough to see a large black bear in the shrubby regrowth of a clear cut below the road on which we walked. It is really wonderful that there is still space for such wild creatures so close to the city. Let's all try to do our part to work for the preservation of such wild spaces and places in the coming decade.

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