In winter, the woods around the Audubon Society of Portland are dark and squishy yet full of life such as licorice ferns pictured above. It was foggy all day and the mist condensed on branches and dripped to the ground, making it feel like rain.
I walked to Upper Maclay Park and took in the view of Balch Canyon. The snag on the right is a great place to see olive-sided flycatchers perch in the summer.
One of the first signs of winter life is the opening of beaked hazel catkins.
Back at Audubon, I said hello to Aristophanes the raven, the newest (and smartest) education bird.
A pair of varied thrushes were calling to each other near the feeders.During lunch, Sarah gave a talk on winter raptor identification to Audubon volunteers. We prepared the talk to get people ready for our Raptor Road Trip event next month.
After the talk, the volunteers were invited to watch the release of a Cooper's hawk that was patched up at the Wildlife Care Center. The small male flew up to a branch as everyone watched and quietly cheered.
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