Summer arrived two days ago but it's hardly felt like it as since then we've experienced the two wettest days since returning from France three weeks ago. All that's history now though, as the rains passed in the night and aren't expected to return for at least another two weeks. It's dry but chilly and dampish as I bike across the bridge on my way to Bread & Honey, chilly enough that I'm rueing not having brought my raincoat along as a third layer, chilly enough that I only stop for two quick snaps as I cross the river before moving on.
Scott AndersonTo Kathleen JonesYup. It really is a pretty exceptional corner of paradise. No gannets though, unfortunately. Reply to this comment 1 week ago
It's bearable for a couple of miles though, and I manage while biking up Williams by thinking of the coffee and empanada that will heat me up when I arrive when my new favorite cafe opens its doors at seven. After hanging out there for a couple of hours the day should have warmed up enough so that after that I'll be fine.
That doesn't happen though, because as Rachael will point out later I foolishly failed to check out their hours of business. I had done so several days ago but didn't look closely enough. I thought they were open at seven daily, but no - on Sundays they sleep in for an extra hour. Drat!
It's different every day lately. Yesterday I was startled to see the ghostly silhouette of an osprey swiftly gliding upriver high above my heads the first osprey I remember seeing on this part of the river. Today it's dry but still nippy and with a dampness in the air. The rains ended just about three hours ago.
I'm not in favor of just sheltering somewhere for the next 45 minutes waiting for someone to show up so I pull out the phone and am relieved to see there's an open alternative nearby - very nearby, a coffee shop on the opposite corner of the block that I just biked past a minute ago: Hard Day Coffee. The best that can be hoped for: they're open, it's a comfortable place, they have coffee, and they have a decent food selection. I order a fennel sausage breakfast sandwich, but then when the pastry tray gets loaded a few minute later I add a vanilla bean scone to the plan and turn to the blog.
A half hour later I've long ago finished off the breakfast sandwich and the first cup when it occurs to me I haven't seen the scone yet. I go back to the counter and ask the server if she serves it to herself but she just spaced it. She hands it over along with a coupon for a free drink, which later I'll redeem for a second refill before I waste the gift by just losing it.
They're right! It will be a harder day, with the modest ascents of Mount Tabor and Powell Butte lying ahead once it warms up.
I finally wrap up at ten, with the sun just barely breaking through in spots and the temperature nudged upward by a few degrees, just enough that I feel like I'll be OK on the forty miler I have planned for the day. I bike east through Irving Park and the neighborhoods for the next few miles, soon coming to the eastern flank of Tabor, one of only four extinct volcanoes in the country that lie entirely within city limits. The others are Pilot Butte in Bend (Oregon has two of them!), Jackson Volcano in Jackson, Mississippi, and Diamond Head in Honolulu.
There are three different approaches to the summit, but today I choose the one that circles the reservoir because I'm on a bird hunt and hope to see some life open the water. When I was here last winter there were redheads, a goldeneye and a coot diving on the water but not surprisingly it's a still bird-free zone this morning.
Looking up at Portland's urban volcano from the reservoir.
And the view from above. It's just for show now and an attractive backdrop to the views, but a century ago it and three other reservoirs here were the source for Portland's water supply.
There's little to shout about bird-wise on the summit either so I'm not there for long. I enjoy a lazy spin around the top but then soon I'm dropping down the south flank of the mountain heading for nearby Powell Butte, the place I'm holding out more hope for this morning anyway .
Usually when I bike Powell Butte I approach it from the Springwater Trail, a route that requires overshooting it by circling through the neighborhood on its east side and doubling back. Starting from the northwest like I am today though that would add a couple of miles so I take the direct route - south to busy Powell Boukevard and then east to the butte, keeping it relaxed by sticking to bike routes through the neighborhoods except for a safe but unpleasantly busy mile near the freeway where there's no alternative.
No argument from me. There should be more of this in the world. A lot more.
I don't have much to show for my birding day when I reach the park - just what I've come to think of as my starter kit of the usual subjects: rock pigeons, crows, house sparrows, a few song sparrows, a robin. I've got high hopes for the day though and expect to easily break twenty again. I'll swing by the floodplain wetlands again when I'm done up here, but there are a lot of possibilities on Powell Butte, with a number of species I haven't seen yet this year. I'm especially hopeful that I'll see a lazuli bunting, as was reported on eBird a few days ago.
First though I have to get up this damned, steep little hill between Powell Boulevard and the visitors center. The steepest part is short - maybe an eighth of a mile - but pretty painful at 15%. I've always grunted my way up this cliff in the past but today I'm cautious and get off and walk the last bit because of a health issue I didn't know I had until a few days ago when my latest blood test showed that my cholesterol has shot sky high. I'm sure it's because I haven taken my statin that controls it for nearly three weeks now, for reasons that are too good of a story to include today because it's not complete yet. For now just know that I'm working at getting an emergency refill asap and taking care in the meantime to not have a widowmaker before we make it to London.
So no heart attack happened (obviously), but no real birding happened either. I barely saw or heard birds at all, and by the time I dropped down from the top I still wasn't even up to ten for the day, having added only a tree swallow, a Savannah sparrow, and an American goldfinch. And I didn't see any snowcapped mountains either, one of the main reasons folks come up here. Instead I generally kept my eye to the ground as I circled the meadows on top, watching out for wildflowers and for rocks or potholes that might topple me into them.
Looking here beyond the daisies toward Larch Mountain. Twenty miles to the east, it's about the farthest we can see today.
I'd given up hope of hitting twenty, but things changed quickly once I was back on the floodplain. to my surprise though I did even better with a slightly different way today, seeing mostly the same birds but with a few new ones swapped in for ones gone missing and I came away with some photos I was especially pleased with when a few birds landed or opened their mouths just yards from me and then just stayed there. Best though was the great blue heron on the lake in Oaks Bottom, presenting a pose so startling I didn't trust my eyes at first and thought it might even be an excellently detailed artwork placed on a floating mat. I watched it for several seconds watching for a sign of life, and finally got it. Amazing - I had no idea a heron would pose like this.
I quickly captured this peacock with the phone so I wouldn't miss it but then reached for the Canon so I could get a more detailed closeup.
It's a sequoia all those seed-eaters were congregating beneath the last time I biked through the Lents floodplain, but coast redwoods grow here too. No new species today, but the grosbeaks and chickadees are still around.
This astonished me. Has anyone ever seen a heron behave like this? He looks like he's air-drying his feathers like a cormorant often does, but when does a heron ever get submerged enough to need this?
It's nearly six by the time I finally make it home. Rachael of course went out today too but she's not back yet from her walk up to Council Crest. Having all day, she sensibly stayed around the house until early afternoon when the sun finally Brooke through in earnest. By then she didn't have time for much photography but did return with a few pics from her day. Impressive walk, Rocky!
I’ve bicycled up to Council Crest many times, but the hiking trails up there were wonderful!
I had to take the photo below! Not only did I finally find a restroom but it was also very colorful and featured a tv series I use to watch, it had female characters about my same current age.
Today's list: Red-winged blackbird, Eurasian starling, Great egret, Spotted towhee, Killdeer, Mallard, Canada goose, American robin, House finch, House sparrow, Song sparrow, Eurasian collared dove, Rock pigeon, American goldfinch, Great blue heron, Dark-eyed junco, California scrub-jay, American crow, Turkey vulture, Black-capped chickadee, Black-headed grosbeak, Barn swallow, Tree swallow, Northern rough-winged swallow, western gull (25)
Today's ride: 38 miles (61 km) Total: 1,357 miles (2,184 km)
3 days ago