A Weekend Around Portland


What a nice weekend. It was unusually beautiful weather here in Portland, still very cold but stunningly clear. Les and I went on Saturday morning to the Sellwood/Reed College area of Portland. We found what seems like a new restaurant in an old location - it is called Lili's and it was excellent. The service was fractured, but I think they are all brand new and it was not crowded so the locals haven't quite discovered it, but it was a fine place to be on Saturday morning. We took a walk through the Rhododendron Gardens at Crystal Springs afterwards and had a great time. Lots of winter ducks and other birds there including:

American Wigeon
Eurasian Wigeon
American x Eurasian Wigeon
Ring-necked Duck
Wood Duck
Ruddy Duck
Mallard
Lesser Scaup
Gadwall
Bufflehead
American Coot
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Canada Goose
Cackling Goose
Varied Thrush
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Brown Creeper
American Robin
American Crow
Northern Flicker
Song Sparrow
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Great Blue Heron

On Sunday we drove over to the coast. We went to Canon Beach via Tillamook Bay to see what was happening there. We stopped at the Tillamook State Forest Interpretative Center for a short walk. On the return hike I saw my first ever NORTHERN GOSHAWK in Oregon putting on a rather fantastic aerial display. Not much actually at Tillamook Bay, the tide was very low and we did not see a single wader but it was still a very fine day. Not a complete list, but things that impressed me:

Yellow-rumped Warbler (loads of them)
Townsend's Warbler
Varied Thrush (loads of them)
American Robin (fewer than Varied Thrush in the forest)
Bald Eagle (a very immature bird, still sort working out the flying business)
Great Egret (at least 10)
Brandt's Cormorant
Western Grebe (1)
Eared Grebe (2)
Herring Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Ring-billed Gull (just one, I thought it was unusual)

We also paused along the highway at several points just to admire the day and I looked around for any pelagic birds and did not see a single one.

I promised Leslie a milkshake at Tillamook Cheese Factory but there was a 45 minute wait for ice cream at 2pm so we passed. I would never think of stopping there in summer but, January?! Wow.

Mike Gellerman
North Portland