Dave could read coyote scat like tea leaves. “See this hair? That’s nutria.” Others contained grain, a mouse, grass. “That’s a thigh bone,” he pointed down to the ground to what looked like a mess inside of a mess.
We saw no possums but were told that no one enjoys eating them, not even vultures.
Go to the Bertlesen Nature park to do this walk. It’s a riparian woods adventure for the whole family! It ‘s not strenuous; there are no hills.
Goose poop is green and they often poop up to a pound a day to stay light and get airborne.
80% of the geese around here are cackling geese. The grass farmers have drawn them to stay. They look nearly identical to Canada geese. The audubon explains the difference: https://www.audubon.org/news/learn-tell-cackling-goose-canada-goose.
There are more white oaks out here than black oaks. Look at the leaves to see which is which. Black oak leaves have spiked tips; white oak leaves have rounded tips.
Mistletoe is very visible this time of year. Folklore says druids gathered it for ceremonies as it was believed to be the life source of the tree.
Trailing blackberries wind around some of the oak bases. They are native and have smaller yet delicious berries. The big patches we commonly see are not native, and now referred to as Armenian rather than Himalayan.
Native ash trees love wetlands and are the dominant tree out here. The female with winged seeds propagates. To control numbers, females are removed periodically.
This wasn’t a bird walk but the birders among us called out random polite bird announcements such as, “kestrel.” “Woodpecker.” “Snipe.” “Sandpiper.”
A nutria appeared after much discussion about their origins in South America.
On a more glamorous note, there is a pond out here that has attracted record numbers (30-40 species) of dragonflies and damselflies. Someone thought it could be because of the “Patagonia effect,” which means something like, trained eyes watching will see more. And this area was watched well. It looks a bit like a big mud puddle. Maybe that is because it’s December.
We found an old dump and briefly examined rusting metal parts.
An update of terms:
A bird blind is for hunters.
A bird find is for birders.
Sometimes called a bird hide as well.
Duck stamps are cool if you want to support bird habitat conservation. They are not used to mail packages. Many in the group have them. Hunters are required to buy them. The stamp is a pass to get into any national wildlife refuge.
Thank you to Eugene First Saturday Park Walks!
why are the blackberries now called Armenian? what an interesting thing! and cackling geese, is that a proper name, like Cackling Geese, or just something they get called cause they cackle? they sure LOOK like Canada geese! I’ll bet I poop over a pound a day, and yet, cannot achieve flight: yet.
nice adventure there-