The Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge is located a few miles southwest of town. It’s one of only a handful of urban wildlife refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Since 1992 the Federal government and volunteers have been working to turn the Refuge back to a more natural state within the floodplain of the Tualatin River Basin.
We took advantage of a cool and cloudy day in mid-February to hike the Refuge’s two-mile out-and-back winter trail. There were a few rough-skinned newts on the trail, several Savannah sparrows, stream violets and many wildfowl to be seen in the oak tree-dominated wetlands.
It is always a nice place to visit.
Rough-skinned Newt
Your Humble Scribe
Mallards
Stream Violet
Savannah Sparrow
Canada Goose
Wetlands
New growth
Nice work John, I’ll have to get out there!
Thanks Geoff. It’s better to visit starting in April when the longer loop trail is open. We’ve seen deer, egrets, herons and lots of other critters there.
Great photos as usual, enjoyed the rare photo of you. I like the beard!