Finley, 8/30
Lisa Millbank
Don
& I took a nice long walk at Finley on Sunday, about 8 miles. Starting at
6:30 at the parking lot by the bathrooms on Finley Rd., we walked south down the
east side of Muddy Creek along McFadden Marsh, down to Bruce Rd., north along
Cheadle Marsh, over to Pigeon Butte, north to Cabell Marsh, and back to
the parking area.
The prairie still
had some Showy Tarweed, Willamette Valley Gumweed and Gairdner's Yampah
blooming. A few WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were singing, and we saw a couple of
WHITE-TAILED KITES (may have been the same one seen twice). We started seeing a
number of RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS as we got closer to McFadden Marsh. Our total for the day was 4 or 5.
We found the remains of a NORTHERN HARRIER'S meal, the plucked fur, viscera and
feet of a freshly-killed vole. We didn't see any elk, but we must have just
missed some, as their horsey odor lingered and there was a lot of fresh elk
poop. The wind wasn't in our favor and they might have smelled us from far
away.
A fledgling
TURKEY VULTURE had a funny white fuzz collar, and a gray head and feet. When the
wind ruffled his feathers, we could see that all of the down under the contour
feathers was pure white. He had a certain charm. The vultures were gathering to
pick the last scraps off a dead elk cow. There was almost nothing left of her
except for some hide and bones.
McFadden Marsh was pretty sparse on
shorebirds except for KILLDEER. There was a well-used otter slide at one of the
water control devices, and stuck to a metal rail about 2 feet above the ground,
was a fish scale-filled otter turd! River Otters do like to mark things, and I suppose it might
be worth such an acrobatic pooping performance to achieve a premium
scent-marking location. At Cheadle Marsh, there were a few GREATER
YELLOWLEGS.
On Pigeon Butte, it reminded us of springtime with all of the birdsong
and migrants moving through. Just standing in one spot, we saw HAIRY WOODPECKER,
NORTHERN FLICKER, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, CASSIN'S
VIREO, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, WILSON'S WARBLER, HUTTON'S VIREO, PURPLE
FINCH, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, BEWICK'S WREN, HOUSE WREN, WESTERN TANAGER,
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEES and BROWN CREEPERS. There was also a
strange and incredible density of spiders! Snowberry bushes were thickly covered
with webs, both orb- and dome-shaped (Linyphiid spiders). It was impossible to
move without ruining
somebody's carefully-made web.
At Cabell Marsh we saw a SEMIPALMATED
PLOVER with some WESTERN SANDPIPERS, and LEAST SANDPIPERS. They were all so cute
and plump, but I think that little plover took the cute award
there.
There was
what appeared to be the carcass of a GREAT EGRET floating in the marsh. The
AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS and CANADA GEESE lined the logs in the marsh and a GREEN
HERON was perched out there as well. Many little green turrets poked out of the
water -- Bullfrogs' eyes. Walking along the marsh edge looking at tracks in the
mud elicited a chorus of funny yelps as the frogs leaped away. Tracks of
raccoon, nutria, herons/egrets, sandpipers, coyote, deer and elk patterned the
mud.
At the old
headquarters, we enjoyed a visit from a pair of WRENTITS, some CALIFORNIA QUAIL,
and some Eastern Cottontails. It looked like there was a honeybee hive and a bat
roost in the old chimney.
Everywhere there were dragonflies and damselflies of all kinds: Green
Darners, Striped Meadowhawks, a variety of skimmers and spread-winged
damselflies, and various bluets and forktails.
Lisa
www.neighborhood-naturalist.com
