Hello Birders,
With the recent closures of NWRs and state parks and elsewhere, and the
vague and sometimes contradictory information we are receiving about where
and how far we are allowed to travel for exercise, I wondered where you all
are birding in this time of covid.
I live in NE Portland and my wife Kelli and I can bicycle and walk to
several good locations. For us, walking destinations include Laurelhurst
Park, where one can see ducks in the ponds, Varied Thrush on the lawns, and
if you are lucky and know where to look, Great Horned Owls in the Fir trees.
Also Rufous Hummers, Ruby Crowned Kinglets and all the other usual suspects
in city parks. The paths are wide and folks are respectful of social
distance, but ready with a smile all the same.
Yesterday Kelli and I bicycled to the Dharma Rain Zen center near 82nd and
Siskiyou, where last year (or year before?) was seen the Eastern Bluebird.
We saw lots of White-crowned Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrows, and several
very vocal Bewick's Wrens. There are bike racks, and people at the center
are around but not close, and they welcome people walking the (metro owned)
paths that bisect their property. Last year I saw Western Meadowlarks there,
but none yesterday.
Whitaker Ponds Nature Park appears to be open, but is difficult to access
with road construction. This is a place I often bird when I'm on a break
from my work as an electrical inspector for the city. It would be easy
enough to access by bicycle, but a bit far for us to walk from home. I've
seen more than 100 species at this spot, over many visits. They have been
doing a lot of good work here, and when the road is done and the pandemic is
passed it could be a real gem.
I wonder what other bicyclists/birders in the Portland area are doing? Is
Smith/Bybee an appropriate place to bird with its bicycle paths? I'm not
sure it is officially open, but as a transportation route for bicyclists it
would be hard to effectively close. Same with Vanport Wetlands and Force
Lake. ?
I'd love to hear wat others are doing in other regions also. I was bummed
to hear Steigerwald NWR was closed as this is somewhere I had considered
trying to bike to.
Anyways, hope everyone can stay well and not go crazy in these crazy times.
Birding has always been a very social activity for me, birder-identification
often as exciting as bird identification, and I look forward to getting back
to that! I can remember last year when Kelli and I were visiting Fern Ridge
in Eugene, looking for a Red Knott or a Ruff, and seeing two birders some
distance away with their optics trained on us. They smiled and returned our
wave and later introduced themselves as Barbara Combs and Ellen Cantor,
names I recognized from this list and also eBird. That same day we met
Vickie Buck and Sally Hill, who were kind enough to trade contact info with
us, and shorty afterword texted us to let us now they were on the Ruff!
(Life Bird!) and guided us into it.
That same day we met Nolan Clements and Caleb Centanni , who's progress we
had watched on eBird as they made their way to amazing birding years. We
also met a retired couple, on the overlook who we came to find out had built
our favorite bird resort in Ecuador, Wild Sumaco Lodge, and who had since
moved to the Oregon Coast. I am looking forward to a return to social
birding, and dispensing with the distance!
Wishing all good health and good birding!
Jack Maynard
