A Walk to the Park & Glorious Dahlias

Holly - Ilex sp.

Since I haven't been working in the library anymore, I haven't been doing my usual "walk to work".

Now I've started walking around "our neighborhood".

I decided to head to the small forested park about a mile south of our house. You can see my route on Google Pedometer.

Cosmos - Cosmos bipinnatus

It was a nice day for a walk, but at first I didn't see too many things that inspired me to take pictures.

... Then when I got near the park, I found a beautiful garden (right by the road) It was full of Dahlias.

Same flower from another angle

An old man came out of the house to check his mail and I said hi and told him I'd bring some photos by when I get them developed.

He told me his wife would love that, but that I should make sure that I have a whole hour or more because his wife would talk my ear off about Dahlias :)

There were so many different styles and colors that I couldn't decide which ones to post. So I put them all up.

I've discovered that taking pictures of flowers from the back side or under side can be very interesting.

... of course the view from the front is very nice too.

This kind reminds me of fireworks.

Another picture of the same flower from a different angle

Nice natural bench in the forest.

I looped around the trail in the park. (the route on my map is approximate because the trails are not mapped) and sat for a minute on the bench to enjoy the freshness.

A cute squirrel was watching me as much as I was watching him.

On my walk back home I saw another dahlia (in a different garden).

This one is nice too, but I preferred the first garden that had tons of flowers in different styles and colors.

I've definitely decided that I should plant some dahlias in our garden next spring.

Quick Trip to Commonwealth Park

Sami and I spent most of Sunday indoors, reading and resting and doing things like that.

Late in the afternoon we decided to take a quick trip to Commonwealth Park to enjoy the beautiful weather. It's been a while since we last visited the ducks.

Baby Mallard

Most of the wild ducks were gone for the summer. (We see a lot more species in the winter.) But there were still a bunch of female mallards and a few late-season ducklings.

Sami finds a cat.

Sami claims that he is not a cat person, but I have proof!

He was very worried about this cat and thought we should call the number on the tag. I said I was sure this was a neighborhood cat just having fun chasing the ducks.

Mama duck is concerned by the approaching cat.

She called another female duck over to help her protect the babies.

Sami, the duck whisperer.

Sami's very good at getting close to the ducks without scaring them off. Sometimes he doesn't even have to try - they just come to him.

The family rests peacefully.

There weren't any male mallards left on the lake. Sami felt bad for all the single mamas.

Duckling close-up

We leave the cat to continue its stalking

Nutria

Puppy & Poppies

Star

Melissa and Erica invited me over to their place for a 4th of July BBQ this afternoon. Melissa and I went over to the nearby park to walk Star before dinner.

Garden Poppy

Melissa went to walk Star for a couple laps around the field, but I got distracted by the pretty flowers.

California Poppy - Eschscholzia californica

This poppy is actually native to the West Coast. It can be a bit of weed in this area, growing all along roadsides.

Poppy and Bachelor's Buttons - Centaurea cyanus

Cherry Thieves

Our cherries are starting to get ripe.

Doesn't seem to be as good a crop this year - of course I didn't get many last year either. I waited too long and the entire tree was picked clean in one day.

Our tree is in the front yard.

I could just hear the animals feasting on the cherries while I was still in bed this morning.

Here's what I saw when I got up.

It's not just the birds either.

The squirrels just right across the wire from the back yard to the front yard and stick whole cherries in their mouths.

Looking for Ducklings

Small Pond in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. (MAP)

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and since it's the right time of year we decided that we would go see if we could find some ducklings.

I remembered finding ducklings and goslings in this nearby pond last year so I thought it would be a good place to try.

Close-up of far end of pond.

When we first arrived we saw three mallards nearby and several baby ducks off in the distance.

While we were sitting there watching (and Sami was sending out duck ESP messages) a wood duck flew in.

It was then that I noticed the wood duck house there to the left of the picture.

Baby Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos

The ducklings were incredibly fast and zipped all around the pond. They were so fast it was hard to keep them in the frame to take a picture.

Male Wood Duck - Aix sponsa

These are probably the most colorful ducks we have here. They're also quite interesting because they're the only ducks that hang out up in the trees.

Female Mallard and Duckling.

We thought the female duck and ducklings might be wood ducks too. The ducklings were following the wood duck around. When I got home I looked up these birds in the book and realized that these are just regular mallards.

Nutria - Myocastor coypus

Lots of people mistake these animals for muskrats but unfortunately they are not. Nutrias are a non-native species introduced from South America. They do quite a lot of damage in some areas by eating sensitive wetland plants. They are cute though.

Here's the nutria scratching his head, and getting back in the water.

Black-Capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapilla

The wood duck swam over to a corner of the pond where we couldn't see him anymore. We tried to follow, but didn't find him. We decided to go over to Commonwealth Lake to see if there were any ducklings there.

American Wigeon (m) - Anas americana

Unfortunately we didn't see any ducklings at Commonwealth lake. Maybe it's still too early, or maybe the ducks don't lay eggs here because there are so many people around. I don't know.

We saw lots of people fishing for trout there this afternoon and lots of wigeons. Aside from mallards and domestic ducks, wigeons are the most common type of duck at Commonwealth Park.

Goldfinch

Not sure exactly which one this is - he was way up in the tree. I didn't even see him 'til Sami pointed him out to me.

Domesticated Swan Goose - Anser cygnoides

These geese are totally fearless and came right up to us looking for food. Unfortunately a lot of people feed the birds in this park even though it is not allowed.

Another Domesticated Swan Goose - Anser cygnoides

Tualatin Hills Nature Park

Sitka Mountain Ash - Sorbus sitchensis

I was tired and the ground was pretty wet so I asked Aaron to meet me at Tualatin Hills Nature Park instead of our usual Forest Park.

Skunk Cabbage - Lysichiton americanus

This plant really does smell like a skunk. It also produces heat and will melt snow nearby.

Side view of skunk cabbage.

White Fawn Lily - Erythronium oregonum

This one was fenced off. I don't know if there have been problems with people picking them in the park or not.

Bigleaf Maple Flower - Acer macrophyllum

Deer Track

We also saw a raccoon track.

No birds here today.

Red-Tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis

Not a good picture, but that's what he was. We also saw a Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) but it kept hopping behind branches and I couldn't get a decent photo of it either.