Tim Akimoff

Shows a male Bushtit straddling some branches picking out old seeds.

It was a completely Bushtit Friday. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Shows Magone Lake at night under the stars.

I spent a week out in the elk woods and saw a lot of stars, good birds and larch trees ablaze in yellow.

Shows a person in a field blind

Spent the morning with a couple of colleagues working on gathering new goose ID video at Sauvie Island. Felt weird to be in a blind with a camera on a tripod trying to shoot Taverners, Duskies and Cacklers trying mimic the conditions hunters might encounter.

We finally have high-quality olive oil made from olives right here in the Willamette Valley, and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been using it in my sourdough focaccia, and the flavor is out of this world... TikTok video by Tim Akimoff

I was one of the first to report on olives being grown in the Willamette Valley way back when I was a cub reporter at the Statesman Journal. It’s nice to be able to enjoy the high quality olive oils now coming from those first experimental trees planted back then.

www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMqPgA38/

Well, FML

It’s strange that some of the best baseball ever played is happening over the course of a U.S. government shutdown that is impacting folks who rely on SNAP benefits? It’s not enough that the occupant of the White House is a constant distraction, every part of our culture becomes a distraction.

Two carved turnips, the original Jack-o-lanterns

Lit up the carved turnips tonight and have to say that this is a tradition I can get behind.

Shows carved and lighted pumpkins at a farm

Happy Halloween!

I’m hoping this escalator to death season we’ve been on is short-lived and we end up in a spring of renewed hope.

In the meantime, let the veil thin, we need some creative ideas.

There is more personality in a Steller’s jay crest than you can find in entire species of birds. I realize that is a hard take, especially for those of you who don’t see them often, but spend five minutes watching them and you’ll name their crest.

Two carved turnips hang above a doorway

My daughter and I carved up some turnip jack-o'-lanterns as a study in history, a nod to our Irish immigrant forefathers and to hopefully ward off some of the evil spirits working so hard to destroy our democracy.

Shows a sticker pack and a nice card

When you find out your biologist friends are also amazing artists who create wildlife stickers, you order them so fast. Check it out - cocrittercollectiv.wixsite.com/central-oreg...

A Golden Eagle looks down at a camera on a boat passing beneath it on the Grande Ronde River.

Double-barrel stare down from a Golden Eagle along the Grande Ronde River.

Roughly 20-25 folks live out there part of the time.

Shows the Grande Ronde River at night

The Milky Way over our camp at the Wenaha Wildlife Area

Starry Night over the Grande Ronde. I’ve wanted to visit the Grande Ronde and the tiny town of Troy for many years. Finally got there this week.

Obviously

No official population but less than 25

Overlooking the Wenaha Wildlife Area in Northeast Oregon

I saw four Golden eagles, a pair of Bald eagles, two Pileated woodpeckers and a Ruffed grouse before 8 am today. Any guesses as to where in Oregon I am?

Hint: A town named after Mormon settlers, not the site of a mythological Greek war that lasted a decade

If they can get a long and share common ground, it’s theoretically possible that we literate apes could too.

An Alexandrine parakeet stretches its wings while perched in a branch

These loud Alexandrine parakeets are all over Istanbul and really make the place feel extra birdy for such a large metropolitan area.

Shows a window with a view of the Bosphorus and a table with a camera and a beer bottle and glass sitting on it.

A Hooded crow attempts to haze off a Eurasian sparrow hawk over the Bosphorus

Another view of a Hooded crow and a Eurasian sparrow hawk

A Eurasian sparrow hawk high above the Bosphorus

After a long morning of exploring Istanbul, dad and I returned to the Air B&B. He took a nap, and I went out and found a cold bottle of beer and returned to the 4th floor to see what birds I could find on the Bosphorus. I was delighted with a Hooded crow and Eurasian sparrow hawk sparring.

I went for a walk around the neighborhood after work. The sun was just starting to peek out after an overcast day. As I rounded a corner at the edge of the neighborhood, I saw the local crews sitting on a roof enjoying the sunset together.

Shows Birds of Central Asia, released August 4, 2025

Shows a cell phone showing a photo of a bird with Birds of Central Asia open to White wagtails.

Shows a White wagtail at Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan.

Shows a White wagtail in the Karakum desert.

I spent so many days pouring over this book trying to identify these Central Asian birds I have zero frame of reference for.

This is, in fact, not a Turkestan ground jay, it is a White wagtail, but I was jet lagging when I made the post, so there.

Shows a drone fly on a flower.

Shows a bumblebee napping in flowers.

Lots of honey bees around all of Central Asia. The first one on the left is a drone fly but a bee mimic. The other is a napping bummbler.

Turkmenistan for this particular birdy.

A Steppe Eagle looks down at a photographer peeking through the roof of a vehicle.

When a Steppe Eagle looks at you.

A Turkestan ground jay explores the sand near an encampment.

A Turkestan ground jay explores a bottle of hand wash.

Rear view of a Turkestan ground jay.

Typical jay design as seen in the Turkestan ground jay

Turkestan ground jays seem to take up the niche that our Scrub jays fill in NA. They are the little camp thieves and curious citizens of the desert regions of Central Asia.

A Blue-cheeked bee eater perches on a wire near Mary in Turkmenistan.

Our driver constantly talked about these blue birds we would see on power lines in Turkmenistan, so I kept looking. Turns out he was talking about Blue-cheeked bee eaters. There was a swath of the country where you could see one every fifty feet or so.

Shorebirds at an Oasis along the road to the Door to Hell

Shorebirds at an Oasis on the road to the Door to Hell

Oasis along the road to the Door to Hell

Waiting to cross the border, but my phone is picking up my Uzbek SIM card, so I’m going to make a post from Turkmenistan.

Despite the harsh extremes of the Karakum, I found more birds here than anywhere else in Central Asia. These shorebirds were at an Oasis along the “road” to the Door to Hell.

Shows a wasp? maybe, with distinctive yellow with black polka dots.

Had a little visitor at dinner last night in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. So far the bugs have been more cooperative than the birds. @crawlieswithcri.bsky.social