Talking Water Gardens, Albany

[Don Boucher]

Hello,

On Saturday, March 21, I led a group of naturalists on a tour of Talking Water Gardens in Albany.

If you haven't been to Talking Water Gardens in a while, things have changed dramatically.  BUT... we had no trouble encountering wetland birds and interesting plants. 

In short. Designed water falls and other features with flowing water have stopped, due to litigation about the facility's ability to treat wastewater. Many of the upper wetland tiers are dry. North of the parking lot, the lower tiers had water diverted from nearby Cox Creek and that's where we had most of pourt observations.

For an overview of the legal issues and other news related to Talking Water Gardens, read Hasso Hering's blog. He's a retired newspaper editor.

https://hh-today.com/tag/talking-waters/

We all got a look at an Osprey (a FOY bird for many of us). There were Acorn Woodpeckers managing their acorn granaries in tall cottonwood snags. There are many Oregon White Oaks in the area, as well as the occasional White-breasted Nuthatch. Tree Swallows were exploring some of the cavities in the Acorn Woodpecker snags. 

Nearby a Black Phoebe sang for us. We encountered a few Black Phoebes there. We spotted Pileated Woodpeckers in trees around First Lake. A pair of Bald Eagles flew toward the river. Wilson's Snipes were abundant and we got some good looks at some. A Great Egret flew by and landed in one of the wetlands on the east side where we got a great look. Some Belted Kingfishers were flying and calling around First Lake.

There was a good variety of waterfowl. Green-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers were common. There were a few Buffleheads. We saw a Canada Goose in a nest among the bulrushes. We got good looks at a male Cinnamon Teal and a pair of Wood Ducks. There was a Hooded Merganser on First Lake

Lisa and I were at Talking Waters in December when we heard several Virginia Rails but we didn't hear any on this trip.

There were a few flowering native shrubs like Tall Oregon-gape, Red Elderberry and Red-flowering Currant.

Don Boucher

-Corvallis, OR