A wildlife tour of Sisters
By Jim Anderson

Sisters is a rich place for observing wildlife living in our forests, lakes, rivers and high desert. With careful planning, you can have a delightful time searching out and discovering birds, mammals, beautiful butterflies, insects, plus reptiles and amphibians.

To make your Sisters wildlife experience even more enjoyable there is a plethora of field guides in area bookstores. Sisters Public Library is also a wonderful resource for finding information about local animals that fly overhead, scurry under your feet, or flutter slowly about in the clear, clean air of Central Oregon.

If you are into nature photography, I recommend using a 100-300 auto focus lens with image stabilization (IS) for birds and shy mammals. If the lens has a zoom feature and will go into a macro mode, that will work great for butterflies, reptiles, and amphibians.

Excellent maps are available from bookstores and the Sisters Ranger Station. USGS, USFS and BLM fire and wilderness maps are the best, as they show topographic features, trails and roads in more detail than an overall forest or road map. A compass and GPS and will take you where you want to go, let you know when you get there and help you to get back where you started.
Following the Boy Scout motto, “Be Prepared,” could be one of the most important things you do while enjoying wild and scenic Central Oregon.

A note about cougars: There is more risk to your life and limb during the drive to and from Sisters than from a chance encounter with a cougar. If you meet a cougar while you are mountain biking, hiking or at any other outdoor recreation activity, NEVER turn tail and run; you cannot outrun a cougar bent on doing you harm. You MUST face the animal; shout, raise your arms over your head and wave, do everything you can to show the cougar you are a (large) human, and above all, do not break eye contact. Blowing a whistle often stops an animal from making a serious mistake. If you have a cell phone, call 911 immediately and report the incident.

And away we go:

Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel and Yellow Pine Chipmunks
Golden-mantled ground squirrels and yellow-pine chipmunks live all though the forest and can be seen wherever you hike. The streaks on a chipmunk’s body go all the way to the nose, while on the Golden-mantled it stops at the shoulders.

Please, do not teach them to be moochers. In many instances, chipmunks and ground squirrels that are fed food scraps do not survive after visitors go home.

Butterflies
Every year, the North American Butterfly Association conducts a butterfly count on Friday of the Fourth of July weekend. If you would like to participate, or would like to know the butterfly “hot-spots” call Sue Anderson at Natural Selection, 541-388-1549, or drop a note to naturalselection@uci.net.

Coyotes
You can see coyotes just about anywhere you drive or hike in the Sisters area. They are not shy about placidly trotting through a pasture of forested glen. Coyotes are the “top dog” so to speak, and occupy that role with apparent impunity. They have been trapped, poisoned, shot and killed by all manner of tools, but they are capable of withstanding such pressure and are most resilient at surviving.

Badgers
Like coyotes, badgers have also been persecuted because of their habit of digging holes as they pursue ground squirrels and gophers. They have also moved into clear-cuts in the forest.

Bobcats
Hikers traveling along trails that run on the edge of the forest may get very lucky and see a bobcat. If you meet up with a bobcat, send a report of your observations to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Wild Turkeys
The so-called “wild” turkeys you will see about anywhere around Sisters are not really “wild.” They’re transplanted from the Willamette Valley where they were pests in feed lots and other agricultural areas.

Mule Deer
If you enjoy a morning walk around town don’t be surprised if you come face-to-face with at least 10 or so mule deer within the city limits. Mule deer are habituated to wandering through town, dodging automobiles and pedestrians. If you come upon a doe with a fawn give her a wide berth; she has only one thing on her mind in springtime and summer and that’s protecting her tiny fawn.

Snakes
Yes, we do have rattlesnakes in the Sisters area. Rattlesnake can be seen anywhere around Sisters. Thankfully, the Pacific Rattlesnake is a more-or-less laid-back member of the pit viper family and if you give them your respect, they will most often do likewise. We also have non-lethal gopher snakes slithering under sagebrush and rim rock. They will only bite if you try to pick them up.

Water Ouzel
If you are planning on a hike along Lake and First Creeks and the Metolius River, you will have a good chance of seeing Lazuli Buntings flitting about the shrubs. The ever-busy water ouzel — a songbird known as the dipper — can also be seen dropping into the cold, clear streams and “flying” underwater in search of aquatic insects.

Rock rabbit (Pika)
The tiny rock rabbit, better known as the American Pika, Ochotona princeps, can be found scampering about the rock outcrops near Bend Glacier and on the lava ledges of Broken Top. This tiny member of the rabbit family is in peril because of global warming. Although they are hardy little mammals that gather vegetation and store it underground to survive winter, they have no tolerance for warmth. To escape warming they are moving to higher ground, but as they go higher they will eventually move above the vegetation zone and no longer find food to stay alive all winter.

Lizards
In areas where volcanic ash and rocks have been broken down into sand, you will see one of the most remarkable reptiles in the Northwest, the tiny Pygmy (Short-horned) Lizard, Phrynosoma douglassii. These pint-sized ant-eaters are found all the way from the hot, dry sandy desert of Eastern Oregon right up into the snow-zones of the Cascades. There is not another lizard in the Northwest that enjoys such a range. Sand Mountain near Hoodoo Mountain Resort is a great place to see these special lizards, as well as on the warm, sandy slopes of snow-capped Mt. Jefferson.

Western Gray Squirrel
This beautiful squirrel is a newcomer to Sisters and is sometimes seen in an albino state. They haven’t a lick of sense when it comes to motor vehicles, so please give them the right-of-way on city streets and highways.

Frogs and amphibians
If you are quietly hiking along the banks of Lake and First Creeks, you will have a good chance of seeing the rare and unusual Tailed Frog, Ascaphus truei.

Unlike other frogs, this cold-water frog uses its “tail” to internally fertilize the eggs, and does have muscles to wag its so-called “tail.”

They are only found near rock-strewn, clear mountain streams that have cold, fast-flowing water rippling through undisturbed forests, as any silt that gets in the stream will kill eggs and tadpoles.

These unique frogs mate in autumn, but the eggs are not laid until the following summer, in long bead-like strings attached to the undersides of rocks so they won’t be carried away by fast moving water.