Oxbow Park

Every last Sunday of each month, the Portland Tracking Club meets at 9AM at Oxbow Regional Park for an informal tracking session.  These lovely people are always very welcoming to beginners.  Spring is an excellent time for tracking at Oxbow, because animal migrations mean interesting tracks are to be discovered.  The floodplain is sandy, and prints will last for a very long time unless it rains.  (To connect with the Tracking Club, you will need a Facebook account, and their group is here:  http://www.facebook.com/groups/117827544940736/).  

As we gathered in the parking lot, a doe and two fawns arrived.  If you are ever at Oxbow for any length of time and are reasonably quiet, you are highly likely to see deer up close.  The fawns were suffering from some sort of hair loss. One of the trackers advised that they've been seeing this all winter, the fawns do not seem harmed, and the cause is as yet unknown.  

Salmonberry.

Elk print.

Bird tracks.

Jasper examining some mysterious tracks that they theorized were from a centipede.

Horsetail.

Bird tracks marked to indicate its rather wide stride.

Coltsfoot.

This bird followed us around for a while, scolding us.  It was very dark but I'm guessing it's a stellar jay
because I'm unable to find another likely candidate.

Sandy River. Photo by Jasper.

Sandy River.  Photo by Jasper.

Fairly slipper orchid. 

This was one of the coolest things we saw.  All up this alder tree were these impressive claw marks (I should have
measured but they were from paws about 4" across).  Our leader said that three tracking groups had examined these previously and came to the conclusion that a baby black bear made them, perhaps climbing the tree while its mother fished in the river.

Wood violets.

Trillium.

Male downy woodpecker.

Snow queen.

We stopped to watch this downy woodpecker for a while.  He made quite a racket.