Finley with desert sparrows
Plenty of people, at least in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, have heard of the William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge a little south of Corvallis. But very few people know anything at all about William L. Finley, the remarkable early 20th-century conservationist and photographer for whom it was named.
Eugene historian Joe R. Blakely is seeking to close that information gap with his latest book,
William Lovell Finley: Champion of Oregon’s Wildlife Refuges, which Blakeley published himself this spring. In it he details not just Finley’s persistence in creating or saving wildlife refuges in Oregon and California but many lesser known and equally fascinating chapters in Finley’s unusual life.
There is a well-developed pastime taking place across the nation that keeps thousands of people occupied from dawn to dark. You can usually find them congregated around bodies of water, binoculars glued to their eyeballs. The sounds coming from these groups are usually subdued, with sudden outbursts, such as, Are you sure?! , NO.! , Hey! or That s a lifer! Chuck Gates Sneaking up on birds started out as bird watching, but today these folks are birding. These are birders. Most of the time they re recreational birders, out looking at birds for their own enjoyment. However, sometimes these exercises can be official, such as conducting the Christmas Bird Count.