As if shootings, electrocution and collisions with vehicles are not enough for eagles to cope with, now portentous lead poisoning has reared its ugly head.

Lead is a toxic metal deposited in the environment through hunting, fishing and recreational shooting, and will not break down into less-toxic compounds and will persist indefinitely. Lead toxicity can have lethal consequences that compromise avian survival and reproductive success. Consequently, lead has killed a variety of birds, and it won't be too long before it will travel through the food chain and seep into the human body.

It seems every newscaster you watch on TV or hear on the radio seems to think that ideal weather condition in Central Oregon is clear skies. Rain and snow suggest bad news. Not in my book! Rain means water for the desert, and snow translates to water in the aquifers.

It's been said that the next war will not be over oil, but water. The hullabaloo a while back over Coca-Cola allegedly seeking control over water in India appears to support at least a corporate war over water.

In late summer, my wife and I take a small group to Lava Beds National Monument and neighboring Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge to tag Monarch butterflies. While we're about it, we observe thousands of lady beetles gobbling up aphids on the Monarch's food plant, narrow-leaf milkweed.

That's OK; that's what lady beetles do - eat pestiferous insects that cause great harm to Monarch caterpillar food and the agricultural and landscaping business.

The problem is, as is often the case with the way Man does things, if a little is good, we think that a whole lot more is better - like pesticides. Not so with lady beetles. Unfortunately, the free enterprise system that we all operate within, depend on to make a living and find things in the grocery store got carried away with ladybugs.

It once stood as an Old Friend to myriad wanderers that needed a place to rest, a place to search for food, a place for shelter, and a place to just hang out.

When Freemont, the "Pathfinder," and Kit Carson wandered though here in the 1840s, my Old Friend was green and robust. Over the ensuing years it survived countless wildfires. Native Americans and early pioneers somehow passed it by while looking for firewood to cook their game or warm their feet.

It is now nothing but a pile of dead wood, cast aside for some reason known to only the person who cut it down - the delightful old juniper snag on the east side of Highway 20, near the irrigation pivots across from the eight mile post.

If you're a cross-country skier, snowboarder and looking for something else to do on your weekend, here it is: Eagle Watch 2008. It's an opportunity to see lots of eagles and hawks close up, learn about birds in general and raptors in particular. All you have to do is set aside the weekend of Feb. 23-24 and head for PGE's Round Butte Observatory on Lake Billy Chinook where eagles gather for an annual nesting and feeding frenzy. How's that for easy?

Thirteen years ago, Paul Patton, a remarkable Oregon Parks and Recreation Department manager who looks after parks in the Madras area introduced the first Eagle Watch in cooperation with PGE, Warm Springs Federation and a bunch of other good people.