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.

Pink & White

Japanese Spurge - Pachysandra terminalis

It's another beautiful spring day today and I took my usual lunchtime walk around the campus to see what I could see.

I was surprised to find these flowers growing underneath a dark stairwell.

Red Flowering Currant - Ribes sanguineum

This is one of our northwest natives. The berries aren't too tasty, but the flowers are beautiful and the hummingbirds love them.

Evergreen Clematis - Clematis armandii

I found this great smelling vine growing up and under the stairwell outside building 7. I thought it was really interesting that the open blooms were the ones in the shade, not in the sun.