[obol] Tualatin National Wildlife Refuge

[sandyleapt at comcast.net]

Hi.  I was in Sherwood today visiting my folks.  There were too many Juncos to count, a dozen or more Mourning Doves and a few Northern Flickers.  While enjoying the feeder birds Dad thought it might be fun to go to the new wildlife refuge just off of 99W between Tigard and Sherwood.  He has been wanting to stop.  So, we went and Dad was right.  Great, easy access for viewing of lots of waterfowl and other interesting birds.

I'm not proficient at identifying waterfowl and the light was poor so most birds appeared to be black, white and shades of gray.  Like a dummy I did not have a field guide with me so I had fun looking a guessing.  There seemed to be hundreds of Northern Pintails, at least one Common Merganser, Canada Geese, Mallards, maybe some Ring-necked Ducks? light blue bills with black tip, distinctive white on the sides?  Maybe a Wood Duck drake too.   A Great Blue Heron, a huge raptor at the top of a distant oak--maybe an eagle?  Heard Chickadees in the old oaks near the path to the bus stop.  Great facility, beautiful wide-open wetland space.   A really nice place to catch a breath of fresh air during the hectic holiday season.

Sandy