Wildlife

Neal and I love sitting on the porch at dusk—drinking a glass of good Walla Walla wine, watching and listening for the wildlife that surrounds us. The dogs and BC find comfortable spots at our feet. The alpacas and horses graze the pastures. It’s a very peaceful place.

A female kestrel takes up residence in our pole barn each winter. A nesting pair of Say’s Phoebes returns each spring to raise another brood under the roof of the horse barn. We hope a pair of ospreys will be attracted to the nesting box we’re erecting for them this winter in the field near the river. American White Pelicans arrive in well-organized flights each spring to feed on steelhead and chinook salmon smolts making their first runs to the sea.

During the course of a year, we’ll see golden eagles, great horned owls, barn owls, short-eared owls, Harlan’s red-tailed hawks, Swainson’s hawks, northern harriers, merlins, prairie falcons, Canada geese, and all manner of ducks, hummingbirds, warblers, and tanagers. Roaming our fields are coyotes, white-tailed deer, mule deer, turkeys, pheasants, quail, and the ubiquitous voles that feed the raptors, coyotes and even the resident great blue heron who stands statue-like waiting for his breakfast to emerge from the tiny hole at his feet.

With help from local conservation groups, we’re restoring the riparian areas along our stretch of the Walla Walla River and planting native grasses, shrubs and trees elsewhere on the farm, all for the benefit of these critters. Progress is slow and requires great patience—something Mother Nature is teaching us—but the arrival of baby birds, fawns, and even coyote pups each spring makes it all worthwhile.