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NEW WEBSITE FEATURE!
Wildlife of the Month Articles - Click HERE Past wildlife articles are also available! PLEASE RENEW TODAY !
Our membership renewal date each year falls on July 1! Click HERE for more info. If you are not sure when you made your last gift, check with Sue at suekeeper@gmail.com. |
Wildflowers are blooming in
Central Oregon! Now is the time to buy your new and expanded native plant guide. To purchase a copy click HERE |
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Upcoming FANs Events:
Click on each program below to learn more and register. Please remember that registration generally opens one month prior to the event. June 3rd - Springs to Sprouts fieldtrip 8:00AM - 4:30PM. Guides are Gail Snyder & Robin Galloway (For more information on this fieldtrip see below) FANs to Adopt "Springs to Sprouts" Fieldtrip
By Robin Galloway, FANs President If you've ever eaten a carrot anywhere in the world, chances are that the seed for that carrot was grown right here in Central Oregon! Curious to know more? Then please join us for Springs to Sprouts, and connect the dots between our rivers, your dining room table, and farming in Central Oregon. When: Saturday, June 3rd. This is an all-day field trip. Where: Starts and ends in Bend. We’ll stop at the Deschutes and Crooked Rivers and visit two Jefferson County Farms. We provide transportation and a BBQ lunch. Meet-Up: ODOT Park ‘N Ride, 63055 N. Highway 97, Bend, OR 97701 You bring your curiosity. Registration required and is limited to 40 participants. CLICK HERE to register. Here's the plan:
Springs to Sprouts is brought to you by the Friends and Neighbors of the Deschutes Canyon Area (FANs), North Unit Irrigation District, Central Oregon Seed, Inc. (COSI), Pratum Co-op, and Wilbur Ellis. Become a Kestrel advocate
It’s easy and fun to track Kestrels your property. FANs has many members who volunteer to keep tabs on these important birds by putting up nest boxes and watching to see if they take up residence in the nest box. When there is a box with confirmed kestrels, the official monitors will take over and follow up about every 2 to 3 weeks, to check the status of the eggs and nestlings. Once the nestlings are hatched Ken Hashagen, a certified bird bander with ECAS, visits the box to take measurements, determine gender and band the chicks. This is very important work as the kestrel population is diminishing by an estimated 50% and this huge decrease has the scientists worried. Please let us know if you are interested in putting a nest box on your property. You may purchase a nest box from Dick Tipton. Please email him at tiptonrm@gmail.com. ** Because Kestrel populations are diminishing rapidly in certain areas, scientists encourage communities to put up kestrel boxes on their properties and monitor them. FANs has official certified banders who will band the monitored kestrels before they are ready to fledge. The nest boxes must be checked to see if there are eggs and determine the timing for the certified bander to come and band the chicks. Our FANs monitors and banders follow strict professional best practice guidelines. Dr. John Smallwood, a famous international kestrel researcher based out of the US, along with many other kestrel researchers have found these little falcons are extremely resilient birds and handling/banding does not impact the success rate of fledging birds. They have never had one case of abandoned nests of monitored kestrels. 
Kestrel chicks with a Western fence lizard in the nest box
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FANs Volunteers monitor Golden Eagle Nests In the Deschutes and Crooked River Canyons. Below are the 2023 updates:
By Ilene Smith, FANs Newsletter Editor
Photo credit Ken Hashagen
Update from Larry Ashton, Wildlife Biologist Deschutes Field Office, BLM - Lower Crooked River territory is unoccupied this year. Because of this, the seasonal area closure at Horny Hollow has been lifted.
Update from Wendy and Mick -Observed a chick in the nest moving about, but no adult in sight. Its feathers are showing some dark spots, and it seemed to be healthy and active, so we assume it’s being fed. Also, a friend went to observe the following week and again the chick was alone, actively moving around, without any parents in sight. Unfortunately, when the monitors returned in early May the nest was empty. Update from Wendy and Kevin - Our eagles are doing well. We have one big baby and one that is about 1/2 the size. The smaller one probably won’t make it. Update from Ilene - The two golden eagle chicks are doing well. Both look the same size, and I observed the parent feeding both chicks. One chick was even tearing into the carcass. 
Photo credit Kevin Spollen
We need you!
Will You Volunteer to Help FANs: Many of you volunteer for specific stewardship projects throughout the year, and we deeply appreciate your commitment. However, as a non-staffed organization that is growing quickly, the FANs leadership is looking for volunteers for very specific needs. If your are willing to make a commitment for at least a year, please contact Marilynne Keyser, our past-president, by email at mtkeyser@gmail.com. Lens on Learning Program Coordinator and/or Committee Members: If you have enjoyed our programs in the past, and would like to take a role in the production of these great events, we have a place for you! We need a group of imaginative and detail oriented folks to brainstorm program ideas, contact potential presenters, arrange dates/times of programs, reserve the Juniper Room, follow through with presenters to determine their needs and requests, and be physically present to help host the programs. If you think you would enjoy this type of involvement in FANs, please let us know!!! 
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