PDX Index

A Closer Look at Oregon’s Owl Attacks

Portland hikers are getting dive-bombed on Leif Erikson.

11/03/2025 By Amelia Arvesen

Animal Planet

Have the Vaux’s Swifts Ditched Chapman for Good?

Last fall, the birds abandoned their longtime roost. Now, a city waits in suspense.

08/11/2025 By Rebecca Jacobson

Editor’s Note

An Argument for Befriending the Willamette

Our river, ourselves.

06/23/2025 By Brooke Jackson-Glidden

Spout Spotting

A Guide to Spring Whale Watch Week on the Oregon Coast

Thousands of gray whales are on the move. Here’s how to spy the showstopping cetaceans.

03/17/2025 By Rebecca Jacobson

The Game of Portland

Navigating the Great Corn Maze of Fall in Portland

Look up at the swifts, look down at the mushrooms.

09/11/2024 Illustrations by Hawk Krall By Portland Monthly Staff

Swifties Unite

The Definitive Guide to Watching the Vaux’s Swifts in Portland

It’s basically our city’s Mardi Gras.

08/27/2024 By Rebecca Jacobson

Feature

The Death of the Wolf in Oregon

Last year, state permits sentenced nearly one-fifth of wolves in Oregon to death. Animal lives aren’t the only ones at stake.

08/20/2024 By Juhea Kim

Bird to the Wise

Güero Bird Club Is Portland's Best Way to Get into Birding

The warm and welcoming group, led by the torta shop's kitchen manager, transforms novices into nerds. It worked on me.

07/17/2024 By Rebecca Jacobson Photography by Michael Raines Illustrations by Michael Novak

Hot Dam!

At This Southeast Portland Park, Both Humans and Beavers Are Builders

Errol Heights has an epic slide, a mini skate area, and trails through beaver habitat.

06/14/2024 By Rebecca Jacobson

Summer in the City

Three Urban Excursions to Soak Up Summer in Portland

From birds to boats to (forest) baths, who says you have to leave the city for a little adventure?

06/05/2024 By Rebecca Jacobson Illustrations by Mark Wang

Your Worst Nightmare, Solved

Got Rats, Portland? What to Do If Your Home Becomes Infested

Yes, our city has them, too.

05/07/2024 By Winston Ross Illustrations by Jack Dylan

Travel & Outdoors

12 Oregon Adventures to Get You Outdoors Every Month of the Year

Fly-fish on the Deschutes River, soak at Terwilliger Hot Springs, and ski late into spring at Mount Bachelor.

01/25/2024 By Portland Monthly Staff

Trails

Hike of the Month: Forest, Wildflowers, and Sea at Two Rivers Trail

Just south of Pacific City, you can enjoy 2.7 miles through wildflower meadows and lush woodland on this peninsula at Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

08/21/2023 By Sam Stites

Wildlife Watch

This Week in Cougars, Raccoons, and Wolves in Oregon

Cougars, raccoons, and wolves, oh my. Residents are confronting a new normal with carnivorous wildlife in Portland and on the coast.

08/09/2023 By Katherine Chew Hamilton

Wildlife Watch

This Week in Unusual Oregon Cougar Sightings

Big cat sightings continue at Nehalem Bay State Park, and one was spotted for the first time ever on Haystack Rock.

07/20/2023 By Katherine Chew Hamilton

Wildlife

Unusual Cougar Sightings Add Nerves to Summer Hikes

Oregon wildlife officials issue a warning, reminding us that Oregon is cougar and bear country.

06/14/2023 By Sam Stites

Under the Sea

Keiko's Legacy, 30 Years after Free Willy

After striking box office gold in the 1993 Oregon-shot film, the iconic orca made a huge splash in the world of marine mammal conservation efforts.

02/21/2023 By Sam Pape

Bookshelf

Review: Wolfish, on the Complicated Legacy of the Divisive Species

Mixing memoir, history, science, and the story of OR-7, Portland writer Erica Berry reminds us wolves are never very far away.

02/17/2023 By Matthew Trueherz

Q&A

Stuart Wells Joins Portland Audubon as New Executive Director

One of his goals? To increase community involvement in wildlife conservation and education

07/18/2022 By Michelle Harris

Q&A

Michelle Nijhuis on Changing the Conservation Narrative

The White Salmon–based writer talks her latest book, the problematic history of the conservation movement, and what living off the grid taught her.

11/18/2021 By Gabriel Granillo