Sauvie Saturday, Sellwood Sunday

February 10, 2024

Saturday

It’s not Tucson, but for a few days at least the weather is surprisingly comfortable here. Saturday, our first day back in town, is particularly appealing. With minimal winds, a high of around fifty and some sun to take the chill off, it looks like our best day for making it out to Sauvie Island. We decide to drive out to the island and spend all of our riding time there rather than biking the twenty miles out and back along the highway - partly because Rachael’s not too sure of how much of a ride she’s up for yet. This will be her first time on the bike since before having her tooth pulled back in Tucson.

We start out together when we leave the car, but have roughly time-boxed ourselves so we know when to start heading back to the car. Its clear that we’ll separate once I come to a reason worth stopping, but still it’s a surprise to be not even a quarter mile into the ride when it comes - a scrub jay perched on a wire up ahead, the first of the year. Rachael’s quickly gone in the distance, not to be seen again until we cross paths again nearly two hours later.

On yer bike! Rachael gears up for her first ride in nearly three weeks.

So that makes a great start to the day, but it’s not really what I came out here for. There’s the beauty of the ride of course - there aren’t many places I’d rather ride than on a fair winter day on Sauvie Island - but I’m really here in hopes of seeing a sandhill crane, one of the regular species I’m almost guranteed to see this time of year. That, and hoards of geese, and maybe an eagle or two if I’m lucky.

While Rachael races her way up to the end of the pavement on the west side of the island I head up the east side - the area where based on past experience I’m most likely to find the birds I’m after today. When I was here a few months ago I was awed by the sight and sound of thousands of snow geese exploding into the sky.

Just another red-tailed hawk, presumably. (An update: after seeing a different hawk not far from here I’ve changed my mind - I think this is a red-shouldered hawk.)

I end up with an enjoyable ride, but a mixed result. I find the eagles I was hoping for but no snow geese at all, and the only cranes are ones I hear and can see flying far off to the west - Rachael’s probably scared them off, and has gotten a great look. They’re too far off for a shot though, and I decide not to credit them. I’ll take the risk and wait until one’s close enough for a shot later.

What really excites me though is a pair of pileated woodpeckers, a bird I haven’t seen for years. When I’m lucky enough to see one I’m always reminded of the summer in college when I was a camp counselor on Lopez Island and would often see them or hear them loudly hammering away on some snag nearby.

I’m not quick enough with the Lumix to get a shot before they both fly off, but this one definitely goes on the list.

Another favorite spot, always worth stopping for.

Another eagle. I lost track, but I think I saw a half dozen today.

I’ve turned back and am heading for the car about ten miles away when I see that if I turn west on Reeder Road when I get to the junction I’ll cross paths with Rachael. We meet just past the rest area at Raccoon Point, and she decides it’s prudent to backtrack to there and use its facilities before we bike back to the car together.

While she’s seeing to business I walk up to the top of the berm to look out across the south end of Sturgeon Lake and join a few other birders staring that way through their spotter scopes and massive telescopic camera lenses. Mine is just powerful enough to see that there are swans out there of some type, but no cranes.

Looking across Sturgeon Lake from Raccoon Point. At this distance these could be either Tunda or Trumpeter swans. Maybe I’ll get a better look if I come out again before we leave town.

We start biking back to the car together as planned, but when we come to the field that was carpeted in orange and yellow with unharvested pumpkins a few months ago, I have to stop again. They’ve all turned tan by now and are starting to collapse, but they still make a colorful scene with snowy Mount Hood beyond them.

Rachael’s gone again of course, getting enough ahead to let her pack in one more extra mile by overshooting the car and doubling back while she’s killing time waiting for me to finally show up.

Sunday

Conditions aren’t quite up to yesterday’s high bar today. It’s windier and there’s the threat of showers, so it feels like the right day for a walk instead. It’s also a day to share a restaurant meal together, so we come up with a plan that works for both of us: we’ll drive out to Sellwood together, and while I wander through the Oaks Bottom refuge looking for birds Rachael will walk back to town along the West Bank of the river through Willamette Park. It’s nearing three when we leave the car, with a commitment to meet at the waterfront fish restaurant we’ve got a reservation for at 5:30.

As it turns out, it’s a pretty poor day for birding here. It’s too late in the day and lighting conditions are poor, making it difficult to make out anything that isn’t close in. I’m happy though to look up at just the right time to see a brown creeper zipping its way up the side of a tree. I’ve only seen a few of these, but I think they’re not uncommon here. You have to be lucky enough to be looking at the right time and pick up on their motion, because they’re hard to spot. They’re small, blend in with the bark, and move quickly as they

run straight up the side of the tree looking for bugs, their stiff tail feathers propping them from slipping back down.

It’s not the best conditions or time of day for birding. The lighting’s too poor for seeing anything that’s not close in by the shore.

Still a nice day just to be here and walk around though. There’s more to life than birds, after all.

This reminds me of the year my sister and I lived with Grandma Woodings in Bremerton when we first moved back from West Virginia. We called these money trees back then.

#136: Brown creeper. Terrible shot, but a seldom seen bird I’m happy to spot today.

It’s an out and back walk past the lake to the wooded area with bird feeders where I often see towhees, chickadees, bushtits, and the downy woodpecker I’m especially hoping for this time; but not today. I don’t see any birds at all here, even though I stand around for about five minutes waiting for some action.

By the time I turn back to the car I need to hurry if I don’t want to be late for dinner, and it’s starting to get too chilly to be out longer anyway. I’m about a hundred yards from the car when Rachael calls, hoping I can make it earlier to dinner because it’s getting too cold for her also. She’s holed up in a coffee shop downtown warming up over a drink, and is glad to hear that I’m at the cat and can make it to dinner in fifteen minutes. I don’t tarry, except to stop along the top of the bluff for the eagle perched there looking down across the lake, likely the same one I saw soaring above earlier.

Another one! They really are getting common here now.

Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 1,582 miles (2,546 km)

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