• 15 thing to do while you're here
• Beautiful Black Butte Ranch • Birding: Sisters is for the birds • Camping in the Sisters Country • Cycling: Put your skinny tires on the road • Day Trips in Central Oregon • Equestrian: Get out and horse around! • Family fun in Sisters • Fishing: Sisters is a fisherman's dream • Golf: Paradise on the greens of Sisters • Hiking: Sisters Country on foot • Lakes: Playing in Sisters Country lakes • Mountain Biking: Hit the trails on a mountain bike • Rafting in Central Oregon: Get your feet wet! • Running: Sisters Country is a runner's paradise • Wildlife: Going wild in Sisters • Wildflower abudance in Sisters • Winter fun abounds near Sisters |
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Going wild in Sisters 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. Golden-mantled ground squirrel and yellow pine chipmunks Golden-mantled ground squirrels and yellow-pine chipmunks live all through 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 they stop at the shoulders. 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 e-mail a note to jim@northwestnaturalist.net. Coyotes You can see coyotes just about anywhere you go in the Sisters area. 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. Snakes Yes, we do have rattlesnakes in the Sisters area. 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. 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. Western gray squirrel This beautiful squirrel is a newcomer to Sisters and is sometimes seen in an albino state. 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.
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