Johnson Creek

February 17, 2023

A quick look to the east indicates another promising cycling day. As chilly as they are, we’d best savor these dry days while we can. They’re a brief interlude before rains return next week.

Today’s look, one we’re quickly getting used to.

It’s calm, and even warmer today - a toasty high of 45 is expected. I’d been thinking I’d drive out to Sauvie island today to see if I can collect a snow goose or sandhill crane, but Rachael has other plans for me. She wants me to bike out the Springwater Corridor along Johnson Creek toward Gresham with her. This used to be a staple of our ride options in town until the trail began to become overrun several years ago by trashy encampments that left it feeling unsafe, especially for a single woman. She’d like to test it out again, but would like an escort.

Actually it’s not bad today, a definite improvement over the situation the last time we were out this way. There are a few tents scattered here and there but they’re smaller and better maintained, and there’s more normal bike traffic on the trail now. It feels like a reasonable place to bike again, and about ten miles into the ride I’m thinking it’s time to let Rachael just bike on ahead and rack up the miles while I slow down, look for some birds, and give my still healing ankle a rest.

When we come to the I-205 underpass though we see a significant encampment beneath the freeway and extending beyond and decide it’s time to turn back. Maybe we’ll check again when we’re back from Italy in the summer, but this is far enough for now. We’re not far on the return when I see a bird on the wire I’m unsure about and stop to check it out (big thrill - it’s a starling), as Rachael goes ahead on her own with the plan that she’ll branch south toward Oregon City to pick up a few more miles. I won’t see her again until late afternoon, when she returns to the apartment pleased with her 42 mile ride and excited by her wildlife encounter of the day: an adult nutria ran across the bike path, and when she looked around she saw another adult trailed by three charming youngsters.

It reminds us of a scene from about twenty years ago down in Salem, when we were walking to Salem Cinema one evening after our after work bike ride and saw a family of nutria sitting on the concrete wall bordering the pond in front of our office. There were six youngsters, all lined up in formation, each of them with bright white noses that looked like they’d been dipped in vanilla ice cream. Adorable! Who could fail to be charmed by baby nutria?

42 miles aren’t in my ride plan for the day though. I’m still taking it easy, keeping to moderate distances, easy terrain, and a leisurely pace that doesn’t put undue pressure on my ankle. I decide to just backtrack to town, and maybe add a few miles at the end by swinging north and across the Steel Bridge to see if those cackling geese are still in formation so I can take a video this time and capture their distinctive grazing behavior.

As I bike past the wetland at Oaks Bottom I have my eyes up on the treetops to see if that immature eagle is still about - or better yet, the white headed adult I saw flying off in the distance the last time I was here. No eagles today that I can see, but there are a large number of great blue herons out in the shallows and perched up in the trees - easily dozens of them.

There’s a significant heron rookery at this time of year at Oaks Bottom.

There are plenty of other waterfowl out on the pond too, most too far off to get a decent shot of - but I can pick out shovelers, widgeons, teals, and the inevitable coots and mallards. And there’s a black-tailed deer looking up at me, giving me an even better look than the fawn Rachael and I stopped to admire calmly standing just off the trail earlier in the ride.

A black-tailed deer, and a much better look than Rachael gave us down in Ashland. And yes, we know that deer are becoming a problem, their populations exploding in the absence I’d any natural predators. We still like them.

When I come to the North Woodland Trail, the short connector that climbs up to the crest of the bluff, I decide to pull off and check in at the small pond there for some birding since I’ve got plenty of time to fill. It turns out to be an excellent birding spot. This is all a wildlife refuge, and there are a couple of maintained feeders there that I hadn’t noticed before. They come to my attention when I see several birds hovering around a few trees behind Tadpole Pond; and once I see what’s drawing them in I pull up a tree to lean myself and the bike against and settle in to watch the show.

It’s a pretty great show, as it turns out: bushtits, warblers, juncos, woodpeckers, jays, sparrows, kinglets and towhees all make an appearance. The spotted towhee is the only new capture today, but it’s great to get such a good look at some other old friends. At the end I see what I’m pretty sure is a Stellar’s jay flying off, and realize I’ve been hearing it’s distinctive scratchy call without focusing on it. It reminds me that I know this bird call, so I’ll be listening for it in the future and hopefully get a shot.

A Bewick’s wren. This is bird #65, the one that got away without a photograph down in Morro Bay.

#106: Spotted towhee. This is a bird I’ve known for most of my life, but as a rufous-sided towhee. Somewhere along the way the bird was split into two species: the spotted towhee in the west, and the eastern towhee in the eastern half of the country. I’ll have to remember this when we’re back in Minnesota visiting Shawn and the girls later this summer.

A California scrub-jay, another bird I first saw down south but get a much better look at this time.

And bushtits! I’ve gotten so I can quickly recognize these tiny birds, mostly by their gregarious behavior. They always seem to arrive in a bunch of twenty birds or more, and shortly after move off together.

There are eight of them in this shot, and another ten or twenty waiting in the wings (so to speak).

A yellow-rumped warbler I assume, although the signature yellow patch isn’t visible here. Something about it looks just a bit off to me, but there’s no other reasonable candidate.

A downy woodpecker, I think. There are three or four of them, and I took several shots hoping one might be a hairy instead.

The best indicator is bill length and shape - longer and narrower on the hairy woodpecker than the downy. This could be one, but I couldn’t get him to turn his head and give me a proper look.

Nope. Definitely a downy woodpecker. On a hairy, the bill is shaped more like a railroad spike and is nearly as long as the width of the head.

And maybe this could be a fox sparrow, which is common in the region. But no, it’s just another song sparrow. I know what to look for next time now though - fox sparrows (the western race at least) have some yellow in their bills.

I’ve had enough after maybe twenty minutes or so of standing around. And my ankle is telling me I should just head home and elevate it for a spell and save the riveting cackling geese video for another day.

Later, Rachael and I will head over to the old neighborhood to one of our favorite restaurants, Gallo Nero. It’s been a full year since we’ve been here last, and it’s gratifying when we’re greeted by three familiar faces that all recognize us and welcome us back. And it’s gratifying that the grilled vegetables and Rachael’s favorite strozzapreti are as excellent as we remember. Too late we realize we haven’t brought a phone so there are no food photos to pass on; but with luck we’ll make it back again before we leave for Palermo and three straight months of Italian cuisine.

It’s done! This is the mural I biked past and took a photo of the painter applying the finishing touches on two days ago. Do you think it’s by design that the work bike on the right looks like it’s carrying all those utility boxes?

Here’s an improvement that gives a reason to feel more optimistic about Portland: a new short bike path along the waterfront, connecting the downtown riverfront to Tilikum Crossing.

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2023 Bird List

106. Spotted towhee

Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 1,544 miles (2,485 km)

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