Rain, You Say?

Big drops of rain spit off my hat as soon as I stepped out of the car. Opening the back door to retrieve my binoculars left a dark gray line of wet on the rear seat.  And, garbage bag in hand, we were off!

Soggy as it was, I have to admit it was kid-like fun splashing along the trails that are more like flowing streams, particularly in the southwest corner of the Patch. There, the water is flowing so quickly it doesn't have time to pick up any dirt, and the water runs clear as it slips toward the creek. In other places, sticky mud sucks at your every step.

It seems every new place I look now, with the vegetation in slumber and beat down by the rain, there is a new scattering of garbage.  I completely filled the bag today and had to stop. Then we found the bike, or what's left of it.....

On the positive side, the osoberry leaves are showing green:

Not one of my better pictures, but it was raining and I didn't want to soak my phone!

Nine species of birds braved the downpour, including a new one at the Patch for us, a Hutton's vireo!

Night No-Owl

The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1840 - 1844 

Last year about this time, I joined a night walk searching for owls on the Tualatin National Wildlife Refuge. Of all the time I have spent outdoors, I have rarely been out and about after dark. Usually I'm too wimpy cold, or I'm tuckered from all the day's activities.

The timing of the TRNWR walk was to coincide with the January and February nesting times for great horned owls.  Sure enough, about a mile into our walk, with darkness around us and city lights glowing on the clouds above, we heard a pair softly hooting to each other.

This year, we decided to visit the Patch at dusk and remain until after dark.  Several trees along the creek or in the oak grove seemed like possible habitat for great horned owls. We arrived while it was light enough to pick up a few items of trash and splash on paths that were really wet.  As darkness crept in, we listened around the perimeter of the grass field, then with headlamps and flashlights went into the trees.  

I have noticed before that there is a lot of background noise at the Patch, but it seemed to reach new volumes as we strained to hear a quiet hoo-hoo-hoo hoooo-hoo.  Sadly, there was so much noise from the freeway (about 1/2 mile away) that, unless we were very near, I'm not sure we would have been able to hear any owls.

We may try again, but unless we have some event to decrease the freeway traffic (snowstorm?), this may be an exercise in futility.

Think Like A Duck

To say we've had some rain really doesn't describe the last week.  Over 6 inches of rain in five days - more than three of those inches in one day.  Along with all the rain, we've also had some mighty big wind gusts.

At the Patch today, much of the trail was a little canal of water with swampy ground on either side. Glad I was wearing waterproof shoes.  

Near the creek, things must have gotten really exciting.  Water from a branch of the creek had overwhelmed a culvert and run right over the top of the trail, neatly combing all the grass in the direction of the water flow.  On the main creek, several alders in the flooded area fell and the underbrush was flattened.

In the flood plain

Amazingly, only one tree fell across the trail:

We also lost a snag that collapsed across the creek:

It was interesting to see how the area responded to all that water.  In a way, I wish we would have been out there at the height of the flood. Somewhere safe.

Also interesting was the flock of about 30 mourning doves spread through what was left of the underbrush until we scared them up into the trees.  I haven't seen that many mourning doves in this area for a long time.

Amazing Trees and Ice

We've had a little wind lately and the oaks are pretty much bare, as are most of the other trees; surprisingly, the willows seemed to have the most persistent leaves.  The tree that I have been photographing on each visit recently is totally bare as is the other tree growing next to it.

With the leaves on the ground everywhere, the woods are much more open and it is easier to see how close we are to civilization on the Patch.  Houses hidden by vegetation before are now visible.

We noticed this tree stump today.  There is something unusual about it.  

Bark has continued to grow and has sealed off the cut.  Well, this tree has no needles (leaves) to supply energy, so how did this happen?  I think this is evidence that this (former) tree and another nearby are sharing a root system, perhaps through a mychorrhizal connection.  This stump is drawing energy from the needles of the other tree and has treated the severing of itself as a bark wound, which it has now healed.

Another interesting observation today was the presence of frost and ice.

It was 47 degrees while we were on the Patch today, yet water in several shady spots was still frozen from the 29 degree night we had 36 hours ago.  Our relative humidity is also quite low right now. I could find nothing (easily) on the maximum temperature in which ice will persist, but now I know it is at least 47 degrees.

Leaves Everywhere

As the human activity in the Patch slows, nature moves toward winter sleep.  The oaks are becoming more bare, but the leaf color provides a glow in the forest canopy.

Mushrooms continue to sprout, from the tiny and delicate:

to the massive:

foot for scale

The particular tree that I have been watching is now completely bare of leaves, but the oak next to it is holding on:

picture from a different angle so the evergreen is not directly behind my tree

The creek at the western edge of the Patch shows actual current flow (as opposed to looking like a pond like before) and, at the northwest edge, the path leading to the Tigard library is completely under water.

Our garbage haul for the day filled less than a plastic grocery store bag except for the family-picnic-sized foam cooler, complete with lid, that we picked up at the north end of the property.  We don't always walk to the north end, but I swear, the last time we did, this cooler was about 20 yards farther north onto another piece of property that is semi-fenced from the Patch.  If the lid was not with the cooler, I might have thought about wind or an animal moving them, but maybe the other property owner just decided to toss them over the fence.  I mean, who's gonna know or care, right?

Mushrooms and Leaves

An occasional breeze shook blizzards of leaves and needles from the trees today as we walked the Patch.  The transition from green continues.

We had a little rain over the weekend, bringing out an amazing variety of mushrooms.

Grass sprouts and flowers have woken from their hot naps.

Prunella vulgaris

These were just bitsy little green spots on September 9.  Someday, maybe I will figure out what plant this is...

I think we picked up the smallest amount of trash ever, in spite of the more than three weeks since our last visit.

It was a glorious autumn day.

Another Day, Another Feather

I'm starting to think I should have titled this blog "Feathers" because nearly every time we've been to the Patch, I have found a feather. Could it be that hunting for trash on the ground has a good side?

Anyway, this is the tail feather of a Stellar's jay.  We saw two lurking around.  Seeing these two made me pause later when I thought I heard a red tail hawk, because Stellar's jays do a decent red tail imitation.  This time, however, after searching around, we saw a red tail flying high overhead.

We picked up the clothes left behind from the camp and all the other trash we could see.  Not really too much today.

Fall is beginning to tinge the trees:

The spiders are webbing in:

And there's even a new flower that popped out of the ground:

This appears to be a cyclamen, and although I don't think it is native, it was a bright spot in an area much trampled by former campers. 

A Little Moisture Goes a Long Way

We had just a bit of rain since our last visit, and everything in the Patch just seemed fresher!

 New bitsy green sprouts had popped up everywhere.  There were even a few little gray mushrooms (which we couldn't find when we went back to take a picture).

In addition to the recent rain, we had a blustery day that brought down many oak galls.  Two types are readily distinguishable;

Andricus californicus make apple-like galls that I've seen attached to twigs

 Besbicus mirabilis, form spotted, round galls that seem to be stuck to the underside of leaves until they end up on the ground

The galls are formed by wasp larvae.  The wasp lays its eggs in plant tissue, and when the larvae emerge, they start munching away on the tree, all the while releasing a growth hormone that causes the tree to make the gall, a little protective case around the larvae.  I have read that there are other types of wasps that do this: one in particular I'll be on the lookout for is Neuroterus saltatorius. The tiny galls on lower leaf surfaces drop in the fall and are described as hopping around like Mexican jumping beans because of the activity of the enclosed larvae.

When I was in elementary school, several gigantic oak trees shaded us in the playground where we had recess.  We used to find the Besbicus mirabilis galls everywhere in the fall, except they went by the truly unscientific name of "puff balls." Many pairs of brand new school shoes somehow didn't look so clean after a stomping on the gall, which would cause a little puff of dust to issue forth.

But I digress.  It wasn't all sunshine and roses in the Patch today.  The camp posted by the police last time was gone, but the former occupant left several items of clothing behind.  And we found more spray painting and other minor acts of vandalism.

Carving and paint on a western red cedar

Less Trash =), New Camp =(

Today we came prepared to clean up the former camp and it actually took less time than I expected once we got going.  While we were there, however, we noticed two police officers on bikes on the main trail.  When I walked over to see what was going on, they pointed out ANOTHER camp that we hadn't seen.  I'm starting to really wonder about this area.  We saw a woman walking along the path picking up sticks.  When we passed her, she informed us that she was looking for a stick to use in her hair.  Um...okay.  Later, we encountered a man who was trying very hard not to stagger and he reeked of alcohol.  Good thing I bring my bodyguard.

We had taken along a rake for the camp clean up and I used it to bushwhack to the roots of the downed oak tree, just to check out how it could be lying on the ground and still be alive.  It seems that some of the roots were flexible enough to bend instead of snapping off.

Down, but not out!

Still no rain, so the camped-in side of the patch is very dry.  Today, in almost the same spot that I found the downy woodpecker feather last time, I found a flicker feather.  Woodpecker heaven?

Day Two - The Bad and the Good

When people ask, do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first, it is always a tough decision for me, so I'm going to make it for you:

The Bad News

We have a homeless problem here in our area, just like many places.  Because we live in the 'burbs, I see it only a small fraction of the time I used to when I worked downtown.  In our neighborhood one time, I was walking in the early morning and happened to notice a thickly-bearded man crawling out of a sleeping bag under the slide in the park. He had a dirty backpack beside him, so maybe he was just passing through?  Today, we came across evidence of both a former and active camp in the Patch.

Sometimes we also come face-to-face with our prejudices that the homeless are lazy deadbeats. Last time we were in the Patch, one of the dog walkers told us that he talked to a camper.  During the conversation, the camper asked him about his three kids.  The dog walker was a little freaked out and asked the camper how he knew about the kids.  The camper said, "I work over at the Pizza Hut, you told me about them there."  

Today, I walked over to check on the active camp we saw with Adam.  It was fairly clean and I was surprised to see a fresh tube of toothpaste on a log.  I have to admit that good dental hygiene does not fit my picture of a homeless person.

So why not just leave the campers alone?  Well, we discovered a former campsite, this one not quite so clean.  The vegetation is trampled and there is a sanitation issue (there being no restroom facilities nearby).  I don't pretend to even to fully understand the problem, but I see enough to know this is a problem.

The Good News

We found nine species of birds in our two hours of on-site time, without even trying.  Twenty or thirty bushtits congregated with a few black capped chickadees.  I could hear both white and red breasted nuthatch.  Bewick's wrens were buzzing and singing, warning the rest of the forest that we were present.

The trees here are beautiful: ash, oak, big leaf maple, western red cedar, and the weed of the tree world, Doug-fir. Many other native plants are here.  We also discovered what might be a little seep at the far end of the patch and a beaver dam right off the edge of the property.  

Ending with the good news makes me feel better.

The Beginning

Several weeks ago, I ran across a posting for volunteer "site stewards"  Choose a site owned by Metro¹ and walk it at least twice a month, just to keep an eye on what's going on. That sounded easy enough. I need volunteer hours for my Master Naturalist certification, so my husband was dragged into yet another project with me.

After filling out an application and having a criminal background check (were they afraid I was going to steal a tree?), we met with Bonnie, who told us a little about our patch and gave me my "uniform" and supplies.  Next was to set up a meeting with the Natural Resource Technician for the site.

We met Adam, a Metro employee, at the site for our first visit.  Finding the site was a surprise, since I have lived within a few miles of it for decades and had never noticed it. This made me wonder about the many other little treasures hidden at the end of roads and within neighborhoods, isolated little islands of green in suburbia.

Adam showed us around the patch and told us what he knew about it.  He showed us where crews had worked on taming invasive species. He commented on two well worn paths through the patch, telling us that people had been using the forested area as an unofficial campground.

After walking a bit, we saw someone on a bicycle bumping along the rough dirt path.  Then we created a small dam for the flow of dog walkers who just happened to all pick the same time for their constitutional today. (For the record, Metro's policy is to ban dogs from its properties, but while this patch is undeveloped, the policy is not being enforced.)  We had a nice chat with the "regulars," Adam doing a little PR work for Metro.

Although this patch is not big and not wilderness by any means, I am excited to be underway!

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1 Metro is a regional government in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. Metro's agenda includes preserving green space and supporting regional trails. Metro purchases properties with bond-supported funds from willing sellers.  The particular property that is mine was acquired so that a regional trail connection could be put in.
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