A Full-time Life

Category: Exploring Oregon

FINLEY WILDLIFE REFUGE

We took a "not-a-Sunday Drive" to Finley Wildlife Refuge one day last week. I think it was Tuesday — or Wednesday — who knows these days? They do all tend to blend together.

The Finley is a diverse natural area originally created to provide winter habitat for Dusky Canada Geese. The refuge also protects habitats of the Willamette Valley, including wet prairie, white oak savannah, bottomland creeks, old growth forest, and native prairie.

(click to enlarge)

We've visited Finley in other years, but never really paid attention to this sign. Who knew that there were so many subspecies of Canada Geese?  Unlike the rest, Duskies have limited ranges. They nest in Alaska on the Copper River and winter almost exclusively here in Oregon's Willamette Valley.

We saw this old shed along the back country road we drove to get to the Refuge.

This modern version of a barn sign was just a little further along River Road. At this point we were still in Lane County, where we live. The Wildlife Refuge is near the town of Corvallis in Benton County, Oregon.

(Addendum: It's a Juvenile Western (probably) Grebe. Thank you to all the *real* birders who helped.)

I can't identify this guy that we saw in a river channel. But at this point in my life, I take a picture of pretty much any bird I see. And blog them, even if they aren't very good. Especially if it is the bird in the pictures below:

I could not believe I spotted a Kingfisher out in the middle of this prairie area. Nor that it sat still long enough for me to take a bunch of pictures. They never do that for me! Usually if I spot one, it will fly the minute I point the binoculars or camera.

It was a good day-trip on a beautiful blue-sky day. We learned something new, got some fresh air and a little outdoor exercise, and a few pictures. For all of that, I am grateful.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TUESDAY TREASURES; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; WILD BIRD Wednesday; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING

July 26, 2020
TWO GREAT WALKS IN ONE WEEK!

We certainly don't take simple things for granted these days! Nature walks have always been a pleasure, but now just getting outside and away from home seems like a small miracle.

We took advantage of a couple pleasant days last week. Wednesday (or maybe Tuesday — they all kind of blend together) Bill and I drove to Hendricks Park — a City Park that is famous (at least here in Eugene) for its Rhododendron Gardens. The Park is in the City's South Hills. The picture below is looking down on the University of Oregon campus from a viewpoint in the park.

I played around a little with this picture because it was the kind of day where the hills and the sky all kind of blended together. And I wanted to highlight the way our City is surrounded by hills. I couldn't stop taking pictures of the beautiful flowers in the park — here are a couple of them:

April and May are the best months for these showy flowers. It was special to visit the Park during the peak season. (We haven't been home this early in years and couldn't remember when we last visited the Rhododendron Gardens.)

Most people in this area who garden have at least one Rhodie bush in their yard. But the Park has varieties I don't ever remember seeing — and it's beautiful to see so many of them in one place.

There is also a Native Plant Garden and I have pictures from there as well as more Rhododendrons for another post. But today I also want to remember last week's second "expedition" outside of our own neighborhood:

The close-up of pink Dogwood blossoms above and the rest of today's post are from a walk out in the country. Since we'd been self-isolating for three weeks (plus the time in the car/trailer on the way back to Oregon), our daughter said she thought it would be safe for me to go with her for a walk in the country. I wore a mask (as both Bill and I did on our walk in the park earlier in the week). And on this walk, my daughter and I practiced acceptable social distancing.

I stayed outside in their yard and snapped pictures while I waited for Cyndi to get ready to go on our walk. This is another view of their black walnut tree which, on this blog anyway, is becoming as famous as Eugene's rhododendrons.

More flowers from their yard — wisteria, white tulips, the same Dogwood tree (which is actually in the neighbor's yard at the end of the driveway, but close enough to be in theirs for picture purposes.) I think the wild growing bleeding heart and the wild iris are from later in the walk.

We walked to Kirk Pond on Fern Ridge Lake and on the paths through the wild area. Lots of Spring wildflowers …

— and when we got to the Lake I spotted Grebes, Canada Geese (not shown), and this pair of Redhead Ducks. The lower center picture is Cyndi with Parker going into what looks like a longer tunnel than it is.

It felt more natural to maintain acceptable distance while walking than it did when we talked to the kids from a distance back when we parked the trailer. And it was even easier to maintain that distance toward the end of this five-mile walk. I was lagging further behind than absolutely necessary by that time.

The last part of the walk was along the top of Fern Ridge Dam and then back to their house (and the car to go home to mine). We used to spend summers on Fern Ridge Lake but it has been a while since I took a "Dam Walk". As always I enjoyed it.

I'm so grateful that both these Parks are open — and that the few other people we saw were also being careful. And of course I'm always thankful for beautiful Spring days.

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Thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities, where I'm linking this week:

MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; MACRO MONDAY ;   NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

May 3, 2020
TRANSITION SEASON

It's just beginning to feel like Autumn here in Eugene.

These colors showed early last week on a short walk from our home to the Willamette River. That day was warm — shirt-sleeve weather; screen-door breezes when we got home. But yesterday we had to turn on heat. Summer is now officially over!

Washington Park, Portland

Last weekend, we traveled to Portland for a short getaway in the big city. We hadn't really seen much Fall color here at home by that time. Portland was a little ahead. I like watching the seasons change! Summer to Fall is really the only big change we see these days, because we don't notice a whole lot of difference while we're in Florida.

Washington Park, in Portland, is home to the Portland Zoo, the Japanese Garden, an arboretum, acres of hiking and walking trails, and a beautiful rose garden (Portland is known as the City of Roses). Although so late in the season, the blooms still put on a beautiful show for us.

We traveled to Portland via Amtrak and stayed downtown, where we walked (a lot). We used the City's excellent public transportation system to get to the Park. It was surprising to us that there were so few people on the square (living room?) downtown. Especially compared to those where we hung out on our Europe trip (or even more recently in Seattle.)

Grateful to be here for all the changes that make life so interesting.

Thank you to the hosts of the following sites where this post is linked:

ALL SEASONS; MOSAIC MONDAY; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;

THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;

TUESDAY TREASURES; SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;

SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;

SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and   FRIDAY BLISS;

September 29, 2019
WILDLIFE BREAK

Taking a little break from our Grand Tour

with pictures from familiar places.

(See the previous two posts for the first two chapters of our trip.)

This Green Heron was perched in a bare tree at the Delta Ponds near our Eugene apartment. It was just a short neighborhood walk during the first week we were home. Not really even looking for birds but very glad I had taken the little camera anyway. Nice welcome back to the neighborhood.

The week before that we were in Colorado with our son and daughter-in-law, our Colorado family. Toward the end of our stay, more-or-less recovered from jet lag and travel weariness, we spent a day with them in one of our favorite places – Rocky Mountain National Park. As always, we had a great time with Geoff and Lisa — and as always on our Colorado visits we saw beautiful scenery and wildlife.

The Moose (Mooses? Meese?) were having a lovely splash in what was really just a large puddle. (The background photo shows what it looked like from where we stood — without our binoculars or zoom lens.)

LINKING to WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY , NATURE NOTES; SATURDAY CRITTERS, and RATHER B' BIRDING . Thank you to the hosts.

July 16, 2019
CASCADES RAPTOR CENTER (and some random shots)



We are grateful for blue skies with light cloud cover and the perfect Oregon summer temperatures we enjoyed last week. The top picture is one of the art installations for Visual Arts Celebration and at the bottom a crowd scene from the Farmer's Market. The City sky shots are also from my Saturday morning walk — the side two from the terrace level outside our door.

Last month, we visited Cascades Raptor Center in the South Eugene hills.



This Nature Center specializes in rescuing and rehabilitating sick, injured, or orphaned birds and releasing them back into the wild. There is a huge flight training enclosure and a hospital on the grounds, but for the protection of the birds these are not open to the public

Sometimes, the birds cannot be released and the Center then provides them long-term habitat. These birds can be viewed on a self-guided tour of the facility.

There are about 50 birds in well maintained aviaries. All are part of the Center's Education Programs and some become 'ambassadors' who are taken to schools and other off-site events for educational purposes. Each bird has a sign explaining why it could not be released after rehabilitation.

I forgot to take a picture of his sign, but this Eagle Owl (his name is Dmitri) is such a star that he has his own Face Book Page — here .

The Center began by rehabilitating raptors found in and around this area, but because of the excellent staff and facilities it now sometimes receives birds for rehabilitation as well as non-releasable birds from other Rehab Centers around the country.



We watched Pip, the peregrine falcon, being hand fed by one of the staff while she answered questions.

Besides the signs telling each individual bird's history, there are also signs like the one above providing more scientific information about each species.

We were glad we visited — we learned new things and felt good knowing the admission fee goes toward the good work the Center does for wildlife. Definitely worth a visit (here's a link to their website).

Coming back to the current Saturday morning walk where we started this post, here's my random Farmer's Market shot for the week:

Sweet peppers or monsters from outer space? You decide.

LINKING THIS WEEK TO the following sharing opportunities: Thank you to each of the hosts.

NATURE NOTES; OUR WORLD on Tuesday;   MOSAIC MONDAY; GOOD, RANDOM, FUN; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; WILD BIRD Wednesday; SIGNS SIGNS;  Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING

August 5, 2018
DEAN CREEK DISTRACTION

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Every year before we leave Fort Myers for the summer, "we" install hurricane shutters. Here's Bill finishing up that job last June — just before we left on our cross-country road trip back home to Oregon. We never doubted that it was a necessary job even though Hurricane Irma is the first one to hit the area since we bought our 'Canal Cottage' ten years ago. Definitely no doubts now!

Reports from management are that there was no significant damage to any homes within our resort. There is still no electricity so we are waiting for more detailed information as soon as they are able to check further. All of our friends who live there year-round evacuated safely and have not yet been able to return.

It was surreal watching and waiting from all the way across the country. Our thoughts are with all of those in Florida and the Caribbean who were harmed by this terrible storm.

It seemed like we spent every minute for several days watching Fort Myers TV on the station's website (an odd experience watching local Florida news when we're in Oregon –through the wonders of the Internet.) But to distract ourselves, one day we took a short drive to Dean Creek, near Elkton, to view the Roosevelt Elk herd that lives there.

The Roosevelt Elk is Oregon's largest land animal. These Elk can be found along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to northern California. A herd of about 120 ranges along Dean Creek. Fall is the best time of year for viewing them.

At first we spotted only a couple of large groups of females and young and just this one young bull who was hanging out alone and quite far away from the rest of the herd.

There was some light coastal mist and not much color in the sky — but the air was fresh and clean along this coastal creek. It was good to be away from the Willamette Valley where the air still smelled smoky (it is a bit better this week). And of course it was good to think about something besides our Florida house.

After a few minutes of watching we spotted this magnificent bull — obviously the Alpha male of the herd. He was taking it easy as his harem grazed, until that smaller bull started to move toward the females.

Then he let the youngster know who was boss.

The young bull wisely turned around and went the other way — so (happily) we didn't see a fight.

The bull then began herding his cows and calves into a tighter group, but he stopped for this tender moment! This young one didn't seem to want to get up and move, so he got a few gentle nudges from his pop until he got up and joined the rest of the herd.

Our visit to Dean Creek was a happy distraction from what turned out to be not such bad news as we had feared.

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; OUR WORLD on Tuesday; ALL SEASONS; and THROUGH MY LENS.

Thank you to all of the hosts.

September 14, 2017
BIRD BRAINS



On a recent mini-roadtrip to Cortez Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico, we did what we almost always do when we go away — watched beautiful birds and observed their behavior.

This handsome Great Blue Heron patiently waited for prey to swim by.



More birds looking for their next meal. The Little Blue Heron walked along the shore hunting; Ibis (in breeding colors) searched for and caught small fish; and the always opportunistic gulls were probably hoping for a handout from the photographer.



Shortly after we returned from that trip, my sister sent an e-mail linking to a review of this book. I've always thought birds are smarter than usually credited and was happy to find the book at our Library. I'd just started reading it when we went away on another short road-trip.

On our way home, we found a bird that definitely didn't qualify as a subject for the book.   We were driving our RoadTrek camper van just outside Sarasota when a car in the next lane beeped and made the universal gesture that something was wrong with our car. Slightly panicked, I rolled down the window and the fellow shouted "You have a bird living in your air-conditioner … I think it may be trapped."

Poor thing!

We pulled in at the very next driveway and there the poor mockingbird was — trapped for sure in our roof A/C unit and growing more and more frantic. She'd apparently flown in through the wider opening at the bottom, but couldn't see it once she was inside.    We had camped in the van the night before and run the A/C, so we knew the bird hadn't been there very long. She must have flown in while we were making a short pit-stop just a few minutes earlier. (In fact we were still sipping our iced coffees.)

Luckily, the driveway happened to be to a parking lot for an AutoZone. And this auto parts/repair store had the right tools to loosen the heavy bolts holding the unit. This employee started the work — he was tall enough not to need a ladder. But even with the A/C unit lifted partly up, the frantic bird was still afraid to fly out. After about 20 minutes, the store manager came out wearing gloves and was finally able to reach in and catch the bird. Which quickly flew back the way we'd come.   Definitely not a good example of the genius of birds, but I hope she was at least smart enough to have learned a lesson.

The manager tightened the bolts again, just laughed about the whole thing, and didn't charge us at all for the time. Bill said that AutoZone had always been his first choice when he needed car parts and service – and it certainly is now.

The picture below is a different mockingbird (maybe smarter, maybe luckier, definitely happier.)

Linking to the following sharing opportunities: OUR WORLD on Tuesday; NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; WEDNESDAY WATERS; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING. Thank you to all of the hosts.

April 23, 2017
THE MORNING AFTER

(the day that was for me, and most of the people I know and love, a sad election.)

When it feels like the world's turned upside down …..

And we're falling into a black hole ….

…. it's good to look for a different angle on things.

I wish that such a change were really as easy as zooming the camera lens in and out. But of course it is not.

What really helped: Long talks with decent people and long walks in natural surroundings.

And there are still blue skies and sunshine.

Some things are still right with the world.

All photos from our walks on the morning after (last Wednesday November 9) at Delta Ponds — and on Friday at Kirk Pond, Alvadore (top three pictures).

Linking to: ALL SEASONS; MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; WEDNESDAY WATERS; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; RATHER B'BIRDING; and SCENIC WEEKENDS. Thank you to all of the hosts.

November 13, 2016
VIEWS FIT FOR A KING

Oregon and the Willamette Valley have become well-known in recent years for fine wines. We had out-of-town company last week and enjoyed touring a few of the wineries that are within just a few miles of our Oregon home.

This is a view of 'wine on the vine' at King Estate.



A couple of interesting old barns belonging to a neighbor of the winery.

But on top of the hill, nothing is the way farms in this area used to look. This is the winery and restaurant and a view of the "King's Estate." (The founder of the vineyard was Ed King — only his name, not really royalty.) But on a beautiful day — when you are enjoying good food, good wine and good company out on the deck — it is easy to feel like you are living royally.

Linking this post to: OUR WORLD on Tuesday (thanks to Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy, Gattina, Arija, and Jenn); to Tom's BARN COLLECTIVE (thank you) and  to SEASONS (thank you to Jesh)

August 29, 2016
HOW TO COOL DOWN #2

On a hot summer's day ….

Near McDowell Falls

…. IF you can't find a cool canopy of green trees to stand under while you gaze at the clear blue sky,

…And IF you live in downtown Eugene, you could walk, bike, or take the bus to the Whitaker Neighborhood and grab a cold one and some lunch at Ninkasi or Hop Valley or one of several other craft breweries in the area. A cool way to cool down.

OR maybe you'd rather be like these homeowners and embrace your inner fire with a sunny floral display. Seen on our way to McDowell Falls (here), I think this was the brightest summeriest yard we've ever seen — and one of those picture ops seen out of the car window that forced me to ask Bill to turn the car around.

LINKING to: Lesley's SIGNS SIGNS; Theresa's GOOD FENCES; SKYWATCH FRIDAY (Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy); and Denise's TODAY'S FLOWERS. Thank you to all the hosts.

August 24, 2016