https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield Birding, small town & cozy Airbnb en-us 2017-07-22 04:33:52 UTC 2023-06-01 17:10:40 UTC hello@padlet.com ganancj https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield/wish/179216149 This Ridgefield Wildlife Sanctuary, north of Portland is a spilling-over-banquet for birds and wildlife.  Our host said winter is the best because the Alaskan birds come down for the winter.  We enjoyed a few good sitings of crane, heron, chickadees, goldfinch, western tanager and ___________ (fill in the blank).   There may be a time in my future when I can name the less common birds with ease and confidence and take more time to page through the field guides. I'm not quite there..... yet no matter.  The appreciation for wildlife does not require me to carry around a headful of names. ]]> 2017-07-22 04:39:03 UTC https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield/wish/179216149 ganancj https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield/wish/179216327 Full-scale replica made of cedar. Took volunteers two years to build - hand and machine assisted. REALLY BIG.
Lower picture (source unknown: This is a depiction of the Lewis & Clark crew trading with the people of Cathlapotle. The Friends of Richfield have some valuable primary source references on their website:
 "at 3 oClock P.M. we arrived at the Quathlapotle village of 14 Houses on main Shore to the N.E. side of a large island. those people in their habits manners and customs differ but little from those of the Clatsops and other below. here we exchanged our deer skins killed yesterday for dogs and purchased others to the number of 12 for provisions for the party...i also purchased a sea otter robe. we purchased wappatoe and some pashaquar roots. gave a Medal of the small size to the principal chief,"
https://www.ridgefieldfriends.org]]> 2017-07-22 04:49:05 UTC https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield/wish/179216327 ganancj https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield/wish/179216575 We witnessed a rare sighting of an albino nutria. It's a big-ass rodent that was brought to N. America from South America. Difficult to see, but behind the rodent are 2 or 3 offspring. Apparently Nutria is a nuisance in southern states. Also worth hunting for good Louisiana grub. Read this Eat the Weeds informational piece of you have further interest. ]]> 2017-07-22 05:03:41 UTC https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield/wish/179216575 ganancj https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield/wish/179216785 One moth. 
Quite a few tiger swallowtails. 
No caterpillars.]]> 2017-07-22 05:15:17 UTC https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield/wish/179216785 ganancj https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield/wish/179459521 We know these as black berries.  I wanted to know what marionberries are.  So I found many wild berry bushes with small blue-berry-like berries.  I approached a man in a parking lot (on the Pacific coast) and asked him about the small berries (pictured in my coastal padlet).  He didn't know about them, but he opened his back trunk and showed me the "marionberries" he and his wife picked.  To me they were blackberries. Delicious either way, and I regret not purchasing a jar of marionberry jam at one of the tourist shacks.
Factfinding from NPR Oct.2016 The marionberry, a cross between Chehalem and Olallie blackberries, was bred at Oregon State University as part of a berry-developing partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture that dates back to the early 1900s. It's named for Marion County in the Willamette Valley, where most of the field trials took place.  It goes on to say how they are too delicate to ship, and that's why they are generally confined to the state or Oregon. ]]> 2017-07-26 02:17:40 UTC https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield/wish/179459521 ganancj https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield/wish/179486133 Hoping to take more time to learn about the oaks. Very hardy and appearing to be old. ]]> 2017-07-26 09:15:49 UTC https://padlet.com/ganancj/Ridgefield/wish/179486133