Thompson's Mills

On Wednesday, October 22, Dallas Retirement Village provided a bus trip for interested residents to historic Thompson's Mills State Heritage Site. Located off of Highway 99E near the quaint town of Shedd, the flower mill was operational before even Oregon was a state. It has survived fire, floods, and the ravages of time to provide an interesting visit with a glimpse into the past.

 It was particularly exciting for Jeanette and me because we had worked there as volunteers around 20 years ago.  Of course, we were interested in noting the changes to the mill proper, the additional collection of historical machinery, and the changes to the water system that provided power to the mill. Puzzling to us was that we did not have any notes or photos of birds for our time there, but that was a before birding had taken over our lives and became our passion.  We sought to rectify that on this day and made up an eBird observation list, used the Merlin app to identify sounds, and took photographs. The most exciting bird of the day was this Bald Eagle, shown below trying to hide out in a cottonwood tree.