[obol] PCC / Rock Creek

[Greg Gillson]

Darin asks: "What are your thoughts on Tualatin Hills Nature Park and  
Beaver Creek Wetlands Park?"

The Tualatin Hills Nature Park (15655 SW Millikan Blvd, Beaverton, 219  
acres) is one of the 5 major birding sites in Washington County. It  
has several miles of trails (paved, gravel, bark) and a variety of  
woodlands, forests, and forested marshes and creeks. It is best in  
spring, for neotropical migrants. But resident woodland birds are  
there now, probably including early spring singers such as Hutton's  
Vireos, Anna's Hummingbirds, Townsend's Warblers, and Brown Creepers.  
The Trimet MAX train runs to the NW entrance; the east side has  
restrooms and education center. I saw a Pileated Woodpecker in a tall  
snag yesterday as I rode past on MAX.
Brief birding site guide, directions, and map:  
http://thebirdguide.com/washington/site_guides/tualatin_hills/tualatin_hills.htm

Unfortunately, the nearby Beaverton Creek Wetlands Park (North of TV  
Hwy, West of 153rd, 14.74 acres) is just not as good as it should be  
for birds. One problem is access. The only way to visit this area is  
to park in the back lots of some of the businesses in the industrial  
parks that surround it. Since the paved trails come out at these  
points it would seem public access in inferred, but obey any posted  
signs and ask permission from any security (I've never seen either).  
When it was first created it seemed like it would be good for  
shorebirds. But it quickly grew up. It is mostly a dense marsh  
suitable for herons and a few ducks, and the landscaping has grown up  
to pretty much hide the little wetland creek from view along much of  
the trail. It is about a mile to walk around, if you come out on the  
street. You may wish to simply walk in and out on the single paved  
trail.

Birding Washington County site:  
http://thebirdguide.com/washington/washington_co.htm

BirdNotes: http://birdnotes.net/
Select: "Generate a custom checklist for a given place, county, or  
state/province"
Then select: "choose from the list of Oregon locations below"
"Beaverton Creek Wetlands Park," and "Washington County"
then "Create checklist"
The checklist currently lists 52 species, but what you want to do is  
click the link that says: "Show counts which contribute to this report."
This shows you each individual count with with numbers, by date.

In this case you'll see only 7 checklists submitted by 3 observers in  
the time period from 1999-2002. It seems no one has bothered since  
then. But there are lists from March-May, July, and December, to give  
you a general idea of what you might see.

As a comparison, Tualatin Hills Nature Park lists 106 species, with  
over 30 checklists submitted in 2006 alone (by Erik Knight, mostly,  
who has been monitoring birds and entering lists into BirdNotes for  
this park since 2000).

Greg Gillson
Hillsboro, Oregon
greg at thebirdguide.com
http://thebirdguide.com