Out & About: Red Ives cabin: forest rent option

OUTDO – It’s time to look into summer dates in a national forest or park cabin, campsite or fire lookout.

Most federal reservations are handled online or by phone through www.Recreation.gov, the national first-come, first-served reservations system.

However, the St. Joe Ranger District is accepting applications through February for a lottery to select rental dates for the popular Red Ives Cabin.

The rental season for the house along the St. Joe River is Memorial Day weekend through September.

More than 400 applications were submitted for 50 reservations last year. Info: (208) 245-2531.

Kelly Creek Cabin on the Clearwater is rented at Reserve.gov.

Many birds love one they’re with

OUTMATE – With Valentine’s Day coming up, it’s heartwarming to know some birds, such as geese and swans, are faithful mates for life.

But most birds are as sexually flighty. DNA of songbirds shows that among any four baby birds in a nest, only two on average are the creation of the parent birds raising them.

The other two nestlings likely have either a different father or mother, or both.

According to eNature, songbirds commonly copulate with birds other than their mates, producing broods of nestlings with mixed parentage.

Divorce is also common among birds, particularly in birds of prey. If a mated pair of hawks is not successful in producing a brood, one or the other often will seek another mate.

Climber had goal: top Hood monthly

OUTDONE – The Oregon man found dead Tuesday from a fall while solo climbing Mount Hood was an experienced climber who’d reached the mountain’s summit at least a dozen times.

Jared Townsley, 32, who fell in icy “melt-freeze” conditions, had a goal of climbing Hood every month this year.