Strauss Ecological

Hello Bluesky, my name is Kyle Strauss and I plan to post about nature, wildlife (including trail camera photos) and restoration ecology including removing invasive species and planting native plants. I live and work in southwestern Oregon.

A golden mantled ground squirrel photographed on a recent outing up around Mt. Ashland near the OR - CA border.

If you want to learn more about using Biochar, and making a business out of it, this course has you covered. It starts in October, so check out this link for more info: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Alla and Ruddi the Goshawks have been raising 5 chicks on this nest cam and it's the best show on tv I must say: www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-fN...

Seen this view of TNC's Cascade Head plenty of times, but never with snow covering the ground!

Will you be participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend? Share this post to let folks know. It doesn't matter where you bird this weekend, participating in GBBC is a great way to support birds. Spread the word so we can make this the biggest GBBC yet! www.birdcount.org/participate/

Western meadowlark, Oregon's state bird

Gray squirrel, deer, and gray fox moments caught on trail camera.

Trail camera this last fall captured black bears moving through a site with an old apple tree.

Been recommending this movie to friends who aren't really 'birders' but appreciate them.

A weird ending note for a weird year: I wrote a manifesto for journalists in 2026. leahsottile.substack.com/p/66-clarity

www.cascadiawild.org is a great non profit that teaches animal tracking, and uses trail cameras to monitor wildlife. They can use some year-end donations www.zeffy.com/en-US/donati...

This podcast, and blog, is always full of interesting wildlife observations. Thanks Byron, keep up the good work.

Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild. (Mustelid edition): Mink River otter Long-tailed weasel Pine marten Sea otter

friends in the news! Learn about acorns, and the CEEN group here www.oregonlive.com/hg/2025/11/b...

Great article and includes great photos/trail cam shots from @martynlenoble.bandcamp.com

Getting to see elk along the lower Rogue River this time of year

been working on the lower Rogue and getting to see cool wildlife like this bald eagle calling from atop a Douglas fir along the river.

Local black bear says "Hi"

happy fall folks!

Firefighting veterans believe the management team overseeing fire crews played a key role in handing team members over to immigration authorities, shares Stateline. buff.ly/CicG9BT

This small falcon faces an existential crisis. Can nest boxes help?

Photographing black oystercatchers is fun, but I've never been fortunate enough to capture an image of a baby. Check out the great shot including an egg below.

The program, which launched in 2012, teaches ecological restoration, forestry, botany and more — all while paying students to work in the field.

Big thanks to all the volunteers that helped remove trash and invasive weeds like dyers woad for the Rogue River Cleanup!

Besides being a great tracker/naturalist, Martyn is a great musician, check out his latest

Next Saturday is Rogue River Cleanup! Volunteers will remove invasive weeds and trash from along the river, come join us. www.stream-smart.com/rogue-river-...

Cathedral Hills in Grants Pass, OR has amazing wildflowers displays this time of year. I get enamored with the Pedicularis densiflora blooms, which are typically red, but there's a small patch of yellow ones.

​In February, five beavers were reintroduced to Vesper Meadow in southwest Oregon to restore wetland ecosystems. Over the past six years, volunteers prepared the habitat by planting willows and building structures to emulate beaver dams.

Props to the volunteers that showed up to remove invasive Scotch broom from oak habitat along the Rogue River. These before/after photos are from the folks at Uprooter who make Weed Wrench tools we used to pull the broom. Uprooter organized this Weed Wrangle event, thanks to everyone who helped out!

I was recently asked if I had ever captured wolves howling on camera. This is one of my all-time favorite captures.

Come remove weeds from Griffin Park (500 Griffin Lane Grants Pass, OR 97527) Sat March 15th starting at 11am.

www.ijpr.org/environment-...

Federal funding cuts are costing jobs, hurting our forests, and our safety rv-times.com/2025/03/03/l...

It's easy to feel disempowered right now. But one person can make a difference. Read about these Western monarch conservationists for inspiration! #WesternMonarch #conservation #climatechange #threatenedspecies #XercesSociety #monarchadvocates #pollinators therevelator.org/save-monarch...

This is a shame. Bel Avenir farm has done a great job of educating local groups about sustainable farming, removing weeds and restoring native plants to riparian areas. www.opb.org/article/2025...

Happy Linus Pauling Day

Spring can be a good time for pulling invasive weeds, check out this site to see if there's a volunteer weed pull in your area: www.weedwrangle.org

Drastic cuts to federal employees are impacting many things, even our public lands here in Oregon. This summer might be rather chaotic as a result of these decisions.

To be clear: We are witnessing the dismantling of our firefighting system, leaving wild lands dangerously vulnerable to catastrophic fires. Not just on federal lands —This could weaken our mutual aid firefighting across the board. If you live near wild areas, prepare yourself and your family.

A long-awaited, much-anticipated project is coming soon from yours truly. Excited to share a sneak peek at what’s to come—and would love for you to subscribe to my new weekly newsletter. Announcement coming on Friday, first essay going out next Monday. Subscribe here: buttondown.com/wastro#subsc...

One of my favorite plants! Since it's still snowy in southern Oregon today, here's an image of Darlingtonia californica in snow from Eight Dollar Mountain.

another snowy day in Southern Oregon, so here's one of my favorite snowy trail camera photos from a few years ago.

FYI: USAID has been one of the world's largest and most important funders of global biodiversity conservation — a chronically underfunded area. It has supported efforts to protect forests, reduce illegal wildlife trafficking, and end violence towards women defending the environment.

We need your support urging Oregon legislators to support native plants! HB 3173 is set to be heard on February 5th and we need to get as many people as we can to submit testimony for why we need OregonFlora, the only database for all of Oregon's 4,700+ plants. Link to submit testimony in comments!

If you aren't familiar with OregonFlora, it is a user-friendly website for information on native and non-native plants for everyone from botanists to the average gardener. We need this resource to continue existing! oregonflora.org