On Monday (8/12), I woke up to clouds
and a light drizzle. At around 6:15 AM, some of the more secretive
critters were still out and about, including 4 families of River
Otters (see photo) and 2 American Beavers. One young otter got
separated from the rest of the family, and gave a loud, frantic
chirping call until one of the parents came to the rescue.
There were plenty of awkward fledgling
Great Blue Herons, who were sometimes kicked out of prime fishing
spots by adults. Young herons were still begging from two nests
along the way. Near Bowers Rock State Park, a few miles from Albany,
a Pileated Woodpecker's call rang out. Somewhere past Albany, I saw
and heard a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk begging – one of two
Sharpie broods along the river, where I'd expected to hear more
young
Cooper's Hawks. A Willow Flycatcher sang from a stand of large
Pacific Willow, with plenty of Yellow Warblers singing and a Hairy
Woodpecker calling nearby. Flocks of Common Mergansers were fishing
along the edges of the river.
I watched a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk
land next to a Great Blue Heron perched in a tree. Immediately, the
heron's neck feathers puffed up like a bottlebrush. It stared at the
hawk. When the hawk lunged forward to take flight, the heron jabbed
its bill toward the hawk and gave an earsplitting squawk. I thought
that might have been that young hawk's first lesson about keeping
its
distance from herons!
By the late afternoon, I was
approaching Luckiamute State Natural Area, at the confluence of the
Santiam, Luckiamute and Willamette Rivers. When I got there, I
noticed some folks had rolled a cart full of camping stuff into the
campground already. While it is technically a boat-in only
campground, it may be possible to get permission to camp there
without boating to the site. I looked for a secluded spot, and found
one at the north end of the open meadow, among some small ash trees.
There was a somewhat undercut ledge, from which I could see the
broad
gravel bars and small rapids at the mouth of the Santiam (see
photo).
A Pacific Jumping Mouse bounded through
the dry grass near my campsite. As it got dark, at least 4 Common
Nighthawks began flying around over the Santiam River, calling and
booming. Small bats zipped through the trees, inches from my face. I
stayed up long enough to see a few meteors.
Sometime during the night, I awakened
to the sound of an animal rustling in the dry grass and a strong,
musky skunk-like odor. I’m pretty sure that this was a Red Fox,
and the pungent smell was its urine and/or other scent-marking
secretions. Last year, in the same area, I heard what I thought was
a Red Fox’s “trilled bark” call.
Lisa Millbank
www.neighborhood-naturalist.com