Great Blue Heron

The Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge is located a few miles southwest of Portland, Oregon. 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.

On a nice springtime day we hiked the Refuge’s four-mile perimeter trail. There were many varieties of birds to be seen.

Osprey

To our delight, there was a family of Canada geese with little goslings to watch. And, we saw great blue herons, ospreys, ducks, song birds and a handful of nutrias to keep us entertained.

Nutrias are not native to North America and can do lots of damage in places.They are a large, herbivorous, semi-aquatic rodent that can weigh up to 20 pounds. We watched a young one get out of the water, wash its face and begin munching on the grasses. 

Always a nice place to visit.