[obol] Beal Pond

[Cliff & Joanne Weber]

OBOL, hello!

After breakfast in Gales Creek; swung by Beal to search for an
earlier-reported Black-crown Night Heron; but had no luck. Still, the trip
was worth it. We threw our left over breakfast to some on-site Gulls
species, and fed the resident park ducks a bucket of grain-mixture blended
with triple duty poultry mix, cracked corn, and whole corn.

A lone Northern Pintail male actually came up out of the water and onto the
bank with the park ducks to sample the grain. First time we've seen a
Pintail do that. They're usually distant and stand-offish. The Pintail was
extremely wary though, and never stopped craning its neck to keep an eye on
us until we walked away.

At the same location were a male Northern Harrier, Red Tail Hawk, Wilson
Snipes, Northern Shovelers, American Wigeons, Coots, Great Blue Heron,
Buffleheads, Green-wing Teal, lazy Nutria, and Red wing Blackbirds. The
Snipes zoomed in out of nowhere and landed in the muddy field on the south
side of the street no more than fifty feet from our car, and in plain view.

You know what's interesting. There's a much larger body of water, and far
more privacy to the east just across Hwy 47 in Council Creek, but there's
hardly ever any appreciable number of birds over there. They seem to really
prefer Beal, even though three of its four sides lie adjacent to a sidewalk,
a neighborhood street, private homes, and a busy highway.

Where? .... City of Forest Grove, approximately 1.7 miles north of the
intersection of Hwy 47 and Pacific Ave.
Thomas Bros Portland Street Guide, page 591, square J2. Coming from Forest
Grove; Beal Pond is on the left.

Google satellite image with turn-by-turn driving instructions from anywhere:
http://tinyurl.com/fo7n3

(Some of Google's driving instructions are incorrect at times so it wouldn't
hurt to check them against a Thomas Bros.)

Wheelchair friendly? .... Wheelchair access is pretty good, and the pond is
easily viewed from a nicely constructed platform, complete with benches and
a kiosk. No overhead shelter; but plenty of parking.

Restrooms? .... No

Cliff & Joanne Weber
Beaverton