Located in the outskirts of Portland, Oregon, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge is one of only a handful of urban national wildlife refuges across the country.
To break up a dreary, rainy weekend and get some fresh air we decided to go for a visit when the weather seemed to improve a little on Sunday afternoon.


Situated within the floodplain of the Tualatin River, the refuge supports some of the most abundant and varied wildlife in the watershed.
Among the four designated flyway routes in North America, this refuge is along the route of the Pacific Flyway route; this migratory route is utilized by billions of birds every year, and spans from Alaska through South America. Tualatin River NWR provides important habitat for migratory birds seeking refuge and respite along their migratory route.

We walked through the small visitor center, learning a little bit about the area, the refuge and the wildlife and had a look through the scopes that are set up in front of a large viewing window.
Besides lots of Canadian geese and ducks we spotted some Nutrias:

       

                               

Nutria, a large, semi-aquatic rodent native to South America, were brought to the United States for their fur in the 1880s. They construct burrows in banks of rivers, sloughs, and ponds, sometimes causing considerable erosion.

In Oregon, nutria are classified as an invasive species and unprotected non-game wildlife.  That means they can be trapped and killed; they cannot be relocated.
Here in the refuge they are 'monitored' ...

We spend some time on the viewing platform outside which overlooks a couple of large ponds ..
Besides lots of Canadian geese I managed to spot a few different ducks like these Green-winged Teals:



And these Pintailed ducks ...

The geese were loud to begin with but when they all of a sudden all took flight it turned into a cacophony!



Reason why ..

              

I didn't think geese or ducks would have anything to fear from a Bald Eagle but apparently they are  incredibly opportunistic feeders and will take everything from their primary food source, fish, to ducks, geese, swans, and other waterfowl, especially when the weather is bad or, as in this case during the immigration flights there is a true smorgasbord right in front of them.

The weather held and we decided to go for the 2 mile hike which leads you through the forestry areas of the refuge. There's another hike which takes you around the ponds and through the swamps but it's closed from November to April to protect the birds while resting and nesting.

I was lucky to spot this small snake hanging in a bush besides the path. I think it is a Western Garter snake variety:

The path leads you by the Tualatin River ..

According to this info-board there are river-otters, salmon, trout and even craw-fish in it's waters!
None of them were present, or visible, but the river was beautiful and very calm ..

A little further we crossed a bridge over a muddy creek ..

And spotted a blue Heron fishing for dinner. Most likely he was after frogs which we heard croaking everywhere around us.

     

At the farthest end of the 2-mile loop you could see the visitor center where we started from through an opening in the trees ..

It stayed dry all the way back which made for a very enjoyable walk but it started up again when we drove back home. Perfect timing!
We definitely want to go back in the spring when they re-open the other trail. It's a beautiful place to walk!

And than of course there was Halloween this week:

Last year I missed it somehow, I didn't think it would be much .. small town, you know, how good can it be?
But when I saw some pictures of the event I regretted not having been there, so it definitely was on my calendar for this year:

Despite the weather, fortunately it was only drizzling, main street was packed with children and their parents ..

Many of the stores were open and gave out candy:

I've never seen so many different costumes in my life!

I hate spiders and I would never in my life walk around with one on my back, not even a fake one!

 

There were a large number of hilarious inflatables walking around:

  

Everybody in this family got into the spirit! Even Grandma went giddy-up!

After a while we drove to The Greens, the 'rich neighborhood' of town around the golf course, where people like to go all out decorating their houses for Halloween (and Christmas).

How about this family sitting around the campfire, complete with a dog, a cat and .. a dinosaur?

And that was Halloween for this year. Up next .. Thanksgiving!

 

Just before the rains I managed to take a picture of Sunset Blvd in Sherwood, probably the most beautiful street in the area right now!

The Fall colors are reaching their peak and of course we had bad weather in the forecast ... there's always such a narrow window for the leaves to color and not been blown off or rained down almost immediately .. and also for us to have time to go out and find them!

We had a couple of days that started out in fog .. one of my favorite weather-conditions ..

Everything is so quiet and looking spooky and mysterious ..

                                                                       

I've been coming across several Woolly Bears (the larva of the Isabella tiger moth (Pyrrharctia isabella) lately ..

Looks like a milder/average winter?

I've written before about these weather-predicting fuzzies and how the longer the woolly bear's black bands, the longer, colder, and snowier and more severe the winter will be. Similarly, the wider the middle brown band is associated with a milder upcoming winter. The position of the longest dark bands supposedly indicates which part of the winter will be the coldest or hardest.

No real science is backing this up, but some are taking this rather serious:
For over forty years, Banner Elk, North Carolina, has held an annual Woolly Worm Festival in October, highlighted by a caterpillar race. Retired mayor Charles Von Canon inspects the champion woolly bear and announces his winter forecast.
Similarly, there is a Woollybear Festival that takes place in Vermilion, Ohio, each October.

                                          

This little fella (gall?) is a Black-capped Chickadee

We haven't seen a lot of Chickadees this summer, they prefer small insects and spiders during that time, but this last week I've noticed a few at the feeders again.
They stock up on seeds for the harsh winter months by tucking them into crevices so they can return to eat them later, a behavior called “caching.”
Technically, chickadees don’t migrate, but in many years there are apparently large movements (irruptions) of primarily young birds.

                                   

                                         Gold Finch

Same thing has happened with my large flock of Gold Finches whom, from one day to the other, after eating me out of several pounds of Thistle seeds over the summer, all packed their bags and left without a single goodbye!
Apparently they are considered to have 'irregular migratory habits'. The same individual or flock may migrate one year, but not the next and most northern populations do move south in the winter.
Such ungrateful little buggers!
(Btw, the collective noun for a group of Goldfinches is a 'charm'. How charming indeed ..)

How about this charming creature:

It was sitting next to the gate where I get my eggs, you can see the basket there hanging on the gate. I just take the eggs and leave the money in that little jar .. I'm amazed you can still get away with this in this day and age ..
I just wish they wouldn't have stuck that big spider inside the basket .. I know, it's fake, but it gives me the shivers every time I reach for them eggs!

                                        

I can't believe it's the end of October already, I guess Halloween is just around the corner.

This month's visit to the local theater snuck up on us as well.
The play was 'And than there were none' (although the original title was, and still is in many countries, 'ten little niggers', which referred to the nursery rhyme 'ten little Indians/Injuns') ... an Agatha Christie classic of course.

So .... ten strangers are summoned to a remote island. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they’re unwilling to reveal and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. As the weather turns and the group is cut off from the mainland, the bloodbath begins and one by one they are brutally murdered in accordance with the lines of a sinister nursery rhyme.

As we have come to expect by now it was another excellent performance and we had a lot of fun again while sitting pretty much 'on stage' in the middle of the actors, since this theater is very small and intimate.
(Hence one of the reasons it was sold out before it even opened!)

'Back at the ranch' .. I finally unearthed my fingerling potatoes and yams!
Well .. what shall I say, a whole summer of taking care of the cuttings and tubers resulted in a rather measly harvest I'm afraid:



I'm heartened by several of my neighbors though, who have assured me that it's not really my fault, it was such a lousy spring that nobody had much growing of anything in the end. Oh well, next year!

The weather has changed to some 'real' fall-weather right now.
The nights are getting quite cold and the days are grey and dreary. We even had some rain, yeah!
Time to bring on the comfort food! We already had 'hutspot' (a dutch winter-dish with carrots and mashed potatoes) and Dutch pea-soup (with smoked sausage):

No dutch desert but how about Pumpkin bread-pudding (with raisins and pecans)?
I can tell you, it tastes as good as it sound!

I'm afraid we gained a couple of pounds already and the winter (and the Holidays) have not even started ...