Birding Day: Willamette Birding: Tualatin to the Molalla Rivers

Join Dan van den Broek to visit lesser-known birding spots along the Willamette River and its tributaries. We will begin at Brown’s Ferry Park on the banks of the Tualatin River where meadows and riparian areas attract a variety of songbirds including White-breasted Nuthatch (Slender-billed race), and we hope to encounter some early migrants. A highlight at Brown’s Ferry is a kolk pond (a depression in the bedrock from the Missoula Floods) that hosts a variety of duck species. We will likely get close-up views of Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, and Northern Shoveler. 

Next, we’ll drive to Molalla River State Park, where we’ll begin by checking out a nearby farm pond that has an ever-changing variety of ducks, including Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, and Ring-necked Duck. Inside the park, we’ll begin our 3-mile hike along wooded ponds where occasionally Black Phoebe are found hunting their insect prey. The walk continues along hedgerows and fields, where we hope to encounter many species of sparrows, swallows and perhaps Western Meadowlark. 

Our final stop will be Anderson Road Swale, an oxbow of the Pudding River. Flooded fields on the way can be good for Cackling Goose, American Pipit, Dunlin, various raptors, and the Oxbow Lake at the end of the road can attract an impressive number of waterfowl, including Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail and sometimes hard-to-find ducks such as Eurasian Wigeon and Redhead.   

Along the way, we’ll discuss some of the ongoing conservation issues in these areas.

Birders of all experience levels are welcome. Make sure to bring lunch and dress for the weather.