The Columbia Slough through the back door

November 27, 2023

When I cut yesterday’s ride short I drove home with the plan that I’d go out again today and pick up the east end of the ride to Company Lake, parking at Chinook Landing this time. It’s not working out that way though, because the day’s gotten too crowded. I’m scheduled for a haircut at ten, and then I need to go over to Kaiser to get my blood thinner prescription refilled because I lost track of the calendar and didn’t leave enough time for it to be delivered. That’s starting to leave a narrow window for driving out to the river and biking for several hours if I want to get back to the car before sundown.

So that’s out; but I’d still like to get out to the river once more before we go, and tomorrow is out because we’ll be tied up with last minute tasks like the storage shuffle. I decide instead that I’ll drive out and take another walk along the Columbia Slough, but a new spot I hadn’t known about until seeing it listed as a birding hotspot on eBird.

But that comes later. First I’m down at Caffe Umbria, polishing off a savory scone and yesterday’s post while I wait for my haircut appointment. Today I’m scheduled at the downtown Barber-Q with Quyan, the Vietnamese woman who runs the shop. I came to this place for the first time this summer and was pleased enough to give it a second chance, but sat with a different barber then, a Caucasian woman that I suspect was a fill-in for the second woman who’s here today.

I’m pleased with the haircut, and also with Quyan herself - a personable, open woman who’s interesting to chat with. She’s been running this shop for 14 years and in the country for 18, living over in Happy Valley where there’s apparently a significant Vietnamese community. Today she’s breaking off early and driving over to the coast with her six year old to go crabbing and walk on the sand. Much more interesting than the usual guy-talk chatter I hear in barber shops. I think I’ve found my spot, and will keep getting my haircuts here when we’re in town.

It’s around one when I make it over to the end of Elrod street, park the car, and climb up on the berm. At first it’s a disappointment and I’m thinking I should drive out to Columbia Lake instead. There’s a good view down the slough from here and I can see plenty of birds in the water, but too far off for much of a look. And there’s nowhere to go, because the access to the trail is blocked by chain link fences. I’m just turning to go when a woman with her dog climbs up too, and then slips through a cut section of the fence I hadn’t noticed.

So I do too, and after a short walk I’m up near the nearest of the birds - for the most part, green winged teals with their heads down, lined up sleeping on some half-submerged snags.

The Columbia Slough through the back door, behind the Riverside Golf and Country Club at the end of Elrod Drive. Around the bend and behind the trees is a correctional institution.

Teeming with waterfowl today. This looks great.

I walk on along the path along the berm and soon come to the widgeon zone. There are dozens of them on the water, some of them grouped into what looks like the same eddying feeding formation shovelers use to stir up prey. I didn’t know that wigeons did this too, and I’m not sure what the point is since I think they’re vegetarians. I wonder what they’re stirring up?

So that new to me wigeon behavior’s onesurprise today, but another surprise comes this evening when I see that it’s a new bird for this year’s list. I’m sure I’ve seen American wigeons a number of times this year, but hadn’t realized I’d never written them down. So that’s nice.

#212: American wigeons, with a ring-necked duck crowding in on the right.

And then there’s another surprise when I see there’s a redhead in the group - a male Eurasian wigeon. They’re uncommon here, but I knew there was a chance I might see one because somebody reported one on eBird just a few days ago so I’m watching out for it. And that’s another new bird on the list because I never logged this bird either even though I’m pretty sure I must have seen them in Italy last spring.

One of these wigeons is not like the other. #213: Eurasian wigeon.

A female wigeon, but I’m not sure if it’s an American or Eurasian. The females of the two species are very similar.

Wigeons and teals account for most of the numbers here today, but there are others too. I like seeing a few ring-necked ducks, a bird I think I first learned of down in Tucson; but there are also several each of gadwalls, malllards, cormorants, Canada geese, and hooded mergansers, as well as exactly one great blue heron and exactly one little egret.

A pair of wigeons and a ring-necked duck.

These guys always seem to be around. I tried to get a shot of him plowing through a clutter of ducks but they all dispersed too quickly.

I’ve had the path to myself so far, other than for the first few minutes until that woman and her dog walked back through the gap in the fence, flashing a friendly smile my way about what a fine day it is as we pass each other. Now though there’s more company, but of a less welcome sort when an unleashed and unfriendly looking dog comes toward me, stopping about five feet from my crotch. I’d be anxious about this anyway, but it doesn’t help that he looks quite a bit like that hateful cur that ripped my calf open back in Dayville three years ago.

I look back the trail at his owner about a hundred feet off without much hope because he looks suspicious too, an unkempt guy pushing a cart along the top of the narrow berm. He’s fine though, apologizes and then eventually manages to call his dog back. He keeps him there until I’ve walked ahead a few hundred feet, and then continues coming my way, keeping some distance.

The problem though is that I have to turn back at some point to return to the car, and the berm is so narrow that there’d be no room for us to pass each other without being within a few feet of him and the dog. I consider dropping down off the berm until they pass, but it’s a grassy 30% slope on either side and looks like an opportunity for a bad fall.

Finally, maybe a quarter mile later I come to a small turnoff and leave the path until they’ve passed by.

I was relieved when this man and his dog finally made it past me on the narrow path. The unleashed dog looks like a pit bull mix that reminded me of my nemesis back in Dayville, and of my recurring dream of the last three nights. When I first saw him he was within ten feet, and taking too much interest.

And then suddenly the sky is darkened by a horde of Canada geese flying up the slough. They noisily pass right over my head, me looking up with squinting eyes and tightly closed lips, overshoot and then drop into the river, blanketing a section of it and driving the smaller waterfowl off to the side. For the next ten minutes it’s a noisy scene until for whatever reason they take wing again and leave the direction they entered from.

Here they come! I was surprised looking at this shot later to see that Mount Saint Helens is visible in the distance.

They just want to be alone, far from the madding crowd.

Finally, a decent look at a hooded merganser.

I continue on a little further down the slough, lured on by a kingfisher that advances ahead of me one snag at a time without ever letting me get too close. By now though the sun is starting to get low on the horizon and it’s time to head back, walking faster this time.

A nice silouhette of a belted kingfisher.

The ground is mostly by the shade when I come back to the fence and I think I’m done for the day when there’s a last, interesting bird activity. Some starlings and robins swoop in and find a place in the crown of the nearby trees, and then a red-tailed hawk. And then a smaller raptor, flying arrow-like across the sky not far above me before coming to rest at the highest point of the highest tree around. A Merlin, my second lifetime first sighting of the week.

#214: Merlin. At least I think it is. He flew in overhead before alighting at the top of the tallest tree around. I got a fair enough look from below to be pretty confident - it’s a little larger and heavier bodied than a kestrel. Probably a female, which are darker.

____________________

2023 Bird List

212. American wigeon

213. Eurasian wigeon

214. Merlin

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