[birding] Naturalist Adventure at Finley

[Don Boucher]

8-16-09: Finley NWR
About a dozen of us enjoyed the dike trail along Cheadle Marsh this morning. There was a lot of tarweed growing in the path, coating our pant legs with fragrant resin. There is a small meadow full of the native Gairdner's Yampah (Perideridia gairdneri) blooming, which superficially looks like Queen Ann's Lace. Nearby there were several impressive Black and Yellow Garden Spiders (Agriope aurantia). There were thousands of grasshoppers and many black beetles on flowers (hard to identify, they had soft wing covers). We spotted an Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme) and several Woodland Skippers (Ochlodes sylvanoides). We heard the cry of a Red-shouldered Hawk and briefly saw it fly into the forest. About a half hour later we saw three Red-Shouldered Hawks soaring. We got good looks at Western Wood-Pewees, Western Tanagers, Cedar Waxwings, an American Kestrel and Red-tailed Hawks. In Muddy Creek we saw a couple Raccoons and two Great Blue Herons tolerating each others presence. A very tiny Red-spotted Garter Snake was caught (our local variety of the Common Garter Snake) and then released once everybody got a good look. We found a dead Pacific Jumping Mouse and got a good look at it's multi-toned pelt and its long tail.

Future Naturalist Adventures: 
3rd Sunday of each month, 9am-Noon 
All trips meet at Avery Park Rose Garden: 1210 SW Avery Dr., Corvallis. 
September 20:Destination TBD 
October 18: Destination TBD 
November 15: Destination TBD 

Don Boucher
Corvallis, OR
www.Neighborhood-Naturalist.com

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