Sauntering Oregon

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

• Snowy Owl – Burns Oregon

  Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

  We generally have to travel to the Arctic Circle or to a zoo to find a Snowy Owl. However, about every ten years, they show up in the Pacific Northwest and this is one of those years.

  Snowy Owls feast on lemmings and when there is a big increase in the rodent population, the owls tend to over populate. The birds are territorial and the young males end up traveling south in search of new territories.

  This year they have been sighted at Willow Grove, Ridgefield, Albany and Burns along with some other places. We have friends in Burns and they told us to go to mile post six just east of town. The owl was there as advertised and we took pictures of the same bird on the same post for three days in a row and he was still hunting in the same field when we left.

  The weather was cold and clear and we also saw bald eagles, golden eagles, rough-legged hawks, red-tailed hawks and prairie falcons.  It will be very difficult to top this trip, but I am willing to try.

  

   

  

  

   

• Adventures 2012

  Monday, January 2nd, 2012

  Over the years, I have made several attempts to keep a journal and my record to this point is three days. There is no magic place to start and 2012 seems like as good a time as any to give it another go. Ben Franklin said “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” My plan is to do something each week worth writing about to add to my blog. I don’t expect to do anything profound but I plan to keep myself well entertained. Life is full of little adventures just waiting for the curious to step up and enjoy and I hope to see you along the way.

  Cheers/~Marvin

• Catherine Creek

  Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

  Spring Comes to Catherine Creek

  Spring begins officially, when the Grass Widows (Olsynium douglasii) begin to bloom at Catherine Creek in the Columbia River Gorge. The southern exposure on the north side of the Columbia River generally beats the Vernal Equinox by a couple of weeks. Large drifts of these delicate, satiny, wine-red flowers shimmer in the breeze.

  Early on, the little white Salt and Peppers “Lomatium piperi” with their dark stamens bloom followed by the yellow Pungent Desert Parsleys “Lomatium grayi” and the mauve Columbia Desert Parsleys “Lomatium columbianum”. Frilly pink Prairie Stars “Lithopragma parviflorum” and Yellow Bells “Fritillaria pudica” begin to bloom as the Grass Widows fade. Gold Stars “Crocidiium multicaule”, and little yellow Chickweed-monkey Flower “Mimulus alsinoides” and a few others add to the palette along with the buds of more flowers in the bloom cycle, waiting to make their appearance.

  Catherine Creek should be visited every two or three weeks during the flowering season to get a good look at the more than 90 species of wildflowers that bloom there. An added bonus is a good view of the Columbia River, the massive lava formations along the river and Mt Hood.

  Directions: Take Washington Highway 14 east of the Hood Rive Bridge 5.8 miles to Old Hwy 8, turn left and continue one mile to the parking area. The trails on the lower side of the road are paved. The trails on the upper side are more primitive but they are much more extensive. Bring your coat, hat, sunscreen, water, hiking shoes and your camera.

• Grass Identification Class

  Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

  I have been a member of the Native Plant Society of Oregon off and on for over forty years but I can probably count on one hand the number of meeting that I have gone to. The value for me are mostly the monthly bulletins which have “who, what where” columns from the thirteen local chapters around the state.

  I found a blurb this past month about a workshop at Oregon State University on how to identify grasses. I have taken plant identification classes but they limited themselves to the flowering plants and skipped over the grasses. The workshop in Corvallis was labeled “Workshop: Beginning grass identification” and Cousin Larry and I signed up for it. I attended this class this past weekend and it was terrific. When I go to something like this, I consider it to be an adventure and it usually is.

  I drove down to Salem on Friday to spend the night at my sister’s which is only an hours drive away from Corvallis. Traffic was slow going through Portland. There was a fender bender on 205 and the five o’clock traffic was delayed until six.

  Larry was already there when I got to my sister’s house and we then waited for my sister to get out of prison. She is involved with Toast Masters and she was judging speeches for a competition at their chapter at the penitentiary. I elected to sleep on the futon in the living room but I had forgotten about the clock on the piano that gongs out every fifteen minutes and the two bird clocks that twitter on the hour. That really wasn’t a problem and I had a reasonably good nights sleep.

  We got up early, had a nice breakfast and headed off for our class. We took the route from Salem through Monmouth and that is a very pleasant drive. We had a little difficulty finding our building. Larry went to school at Oregon State but it was back when they still let the cattle roam free on the campus. We were a little bit late but the only thing we missed was the introductions which was good because then nobody knew who we were.

  They issued each of us a dissecting microscope, tweezers and a pointy probe to pull the plants apart. They presented a brief lecture about the anatomy of grasses. The terminology is different than what we use for the flowering plants and they use lemma and palea instead of petal and sepal. They passed out dichotomous keys for the grasses and they are the sort of thing that specifies that if the plant is less than a foot tall then go to step A or if it is more than a foot tall, then go to B and so on down the line until you are able to identify the plant. We keyed out ten grasses and it was fairly straight forward and I enjoyed it. Am I now an expert? No, but I now know it is can be done.

  We drove back to Salem after the class and I picked up my car and headed back to Rainier. Meanwhile, I have just received my February bulletin and I see there is a three day Native Plant Society meeting in May near the Painted Hills North of John Day and they have scheduled a number of very interesting hikes. That sounds to me like a great opportunity for an adventure.

• Frogs and Salamanders

  Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

  Frogs and salamanders generally don’t receive much attention but, I went to a slide show in Longview by Ann and Russ Kassberg and amphibians are their hobby. Their idea of fun is putting on their hip waders and heading for the pond to look for frog eggs. Their interest is primarily environmental and they are monitoring the population status of these creatures in the watersheds of Southwest Washington. We have three common frogs in our area; the Pacific Tree Frog, Red-Legged Frog and Bull Frog.

  Tree Frogs (also called Chorus Frogs) are 1 to 2 inches long and they are green or brown with a characteristic black stripe from the snout, through the eye and extending to the shoulder. They lay their eggs in water in a tightly packed, rounded mass up to 1.5 inches in diameter and each egg is contained in a small amount of jelly. This is the frog that you are apt to hear at night and in Tarzan movies.

  Red-Legged Frogs are 1.5 to 3 inches long and the underside of their legs are a reddish color. Their eggs are in mass about the size of a grapefruit up to the size of a cantaloupe and each egg is contained in a wide layer of jelly.

  Bull Frogs are 3 to 9 inches long and they have a conspicuously large ear drum located just behind the eye. Their egg masses are laid in a sheet of jelly floating on the water but the mass eventually slumps onto the submerged vegetation. The eggs are very small and they are surrounded by a wide layer of jelly. The Bull Frog is a native of the Eastern United States and it has a destructive influence on our native pond dwellers.

  Western Toads are in our area and they are 1 to 6 inches long with dry and bumpy skin. Their coloration is a creamy background with splotches of brown, gray, green or red and a thin green or cream stripe down the back . They are generally found in forests, brushy woods and meadows. The eggs are in strings of jelly laid in warm, shallow water.

  Rough-Skin Newts are generally 4 to 6 inches long with a pebbled, dark brown back and a bright orange underside. They are found in small ponds and their eggs are laid singly on the underside of leaves etc and are seldom observed. The Rough-Skin Newt can secrete a very poisonous substance through its skin and deserves some respect.

  We also have salamanders that live in small streams in the mountain and others that are terrestrial. Our most impressive salamander is the Pacific Giant Salamander which lives in small or mid-size streams and may be more than a foot long. I saw one of these when I was a kid and I mistook it for the Loch Ness Monster.

  My reference on this topic is “Amphibians of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia” by Corkan and Thoms and it is an excellent book.

• Elk Rock Garden in January

  Monday, January 11th, 2010

  

  “Elk Rock, The Garden of the Bishop’s Close” is situated between Portland and Lake Oswego on the bluff overlooking Elk Rock in the Willamette River. It is a mature estate garden and is approximately a hundred years old. The grounds have a number of inviting paths that lead to some picturesque viewpoints. It is situated on a cull-de-sac in a quiet neighborhood and there seems to always be something blooming. Large evergreen and deciduous tree anchor the landscape and there is a great view of Mt Hood. You don’t really need a calender here because the succession of blooms, berries and changes in leaf color will tell you all you need to know.

  I was there on the 10th of January on a cool dry day and enjoyed the silvery white pendents of flowers on the Silk Tassel “Garrya elliptica” (native to Southern Oregon) and the bright yellow flowers of the fragrant Chinese Witch Hazel “Hamamelis mollis” were very cheery. Wintersweet “Chimonanthus praecox”, Oriental Paper Bush “Edgeworthia chysantha” and Fragrant Himalayan Viburnum “Viburnum grandiflorum” are just beginning to bloom and there are many others budding up, awaiting their turn to go on display. This is a display garden where you can learn about unusual plants or you can just simply enjoy the beauty of the landscape.

  Peter Kerr (who created the garden) settled in Portland in 1888 and he and his partner established a very successful grain business. He along with his partner and his brother, purchased 13 acres overlooking Elk Rock in the Willamette River. They built a cottage on the property and the three bachelors called it the “Cliff Cottage Club”. His brother and his partner moved away to other dwellings when they married but Peter and his bride lived in the original cottage. The present house was started in 1914 and it was built to resemble a Scottish manor house. Mr. Kerr was an avid gardner and his estate is beautifully landscaped. His family gifted the property to the Episcopal Bishop of Oregon in 1957 along with an endowment to maintain the grounds with a stipulation that they remain open to the public.

  There is no charge for this garden but the parking is fairly limited and there are no restrooms. Elk Rock “is neither a picnic area nor a playground but rather a place to walk and contemplate”. The address is 11800 SW Military Lane, Portland, Oregon. Hours are 8 a.m to 5 p.m. daily. Additional information about the garden is available on the Internet at http://www.elkrockgarden.com/ You really need to make regular visits to the garden to fully appreciate what it has to offer. Meanwhile, what’s blooming in your neighborhood ?

• Our Friend the Butterfly

  Monday, January 4th, 2010

  Cousin Larry Rea and I did a slideshow on butterflies for the Cowlitz County Master Gardeners. He presented his absolutely gorgeous pictures and I added a little show and tell with my butterfly net. We take pictures of wildflowers in the Pacific Northwest and the butterflies are a bonus.

  Butterflies of course are beautiful creatures and we admire them whether they are in flight, displayed in a case or in a photograph. Their erratic flight is fascinating and I don’t know if it is choreographed to confuse their predators or if they are just intoxicated by too much nectar.

  The rest of their lives is less entertaining for us and we generally don’t pay much attention to it. They start out as an egg and then hatch out as a caterpillar. They shed their “skin” several times as they grow and each of the intervening periods is called an instar. When they have finished their growth they form a pupa and by some magical process transform their anatomy into a butterfly and that is the reproductive phase of their life cycle.

  The life cycles vary for different species. Some butterflies become dormant during the winter and lay their eggs in the spring. Others lay their eggs in the fall and some pass through the winter as pupas or caterpillars. Monarchs on the other hand, migrate to the south during the winter.

  Each species of butterfly lays their eggs on particular species of plants. Clodius Parnassians lay their eggs near bleeding hearts and nectar on miner’s lettuce. Milbert Tortoiseshells select stinging nettles and nectar on willows and thistles. Western Tiger Swallowtails lay their eggs on big-leaf maples and alders, and nectar on thistles and honeysuckles. The host plants for the Great Spangled Fritillary are violets and they nectar on thistles and daises. Monarchs of course are hooked on milkweed. Selection of plants for egg laying is fairly specific but nectar plants are more variable.

  If you want to raise butterflies, you need to plant specific host plants. If you want to just attract butterflies, plant a wide variety of flowers (and there are lists). There are approximately 25 species of common butterflies in Northwestern Oregon and Southwestern Washington. Butterflies make good neighbors. Enjoy them.

  Washington State Fish & Wildlife
  http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/backyardebutterflies.htm

  Oregon state Extension Service
  http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/ec/ec1549/

  “Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest” by William Neill 192 pages

  “The Butterflies of Cascadia” by Robert Michael Pyle 420 pages