Red-shouldered Hawk

I have been hearing this bird for the last three days, and it’s been driving me a little crazy.  The first day I only heard it, but could not quite remember what it was.  The second day I got a quick glimpse of it and recognized it as a Red-shouldered Hawk.  We became very familiar with the Red-shouldered Hawk last winter in two different locations in California, San Lorenzo Park in King City, and El Chorro Park in San Luis Obispo. It has a very distinct call of a series of high clear notes. Today just as I was stepping out the door to take Buster for his walk, I heard the call, and then saw the hawk fly to a tree where I was able to identify it for sure and get this photo even though it’s not the greatest. I’m thrilled to be able to add it to my Douglas County sightings. 

Brother returns to Civilization

On September 22 my brother Mark and his wife Holly finished up their epic journey on the Pacific Crest Trail and have returned to their home in Bend.  He reports that they hiked 2130 miles from the Mexican border to Washington’s border on the Columbia River.  Although they had originally hoped to make the Canadian border, a heavy snow pack, and lack of days forced them to stop short of that goal.  I am extremely proud of what they accomplished, and once again they have raised the bar of competition in the Scott Family.  

Mountain Chickadee

We took several bird walks while at Collier Memorial State Park.  Yesterday’s walk up Spring Creek produced this photo of a Mountain Chickadee, a rarity for those of us that live west of the Cascades.  I was actually able to add three birds to my Life List.  Besides this Mountain Chickadee, we also saw a White-headed Woodpecker and in the evening walking along the Williamson River I saw a Fox Sparrow. We came back home to Elkton today ahead of the rains and with hopes to recover from our colds.   

Some Office Time

Jeanette has been suffering from a cold almost our whole trip and today it seems that I have succumbed, so it feels good this morning to stay inside the warm motor home and spend some time working at the computer desk on Cascade Ramblings.  We had already decided last night to spend an extra day here at Collier Memorial State Park, so it seems a good fit. Collier is the park we volunteered at last October, we love the area and find it extra enjoyable to be here as campers not workers.

Collier Memorial State Park

Here is our campsite in Collier Memorial State Park.  We arrived at the logging museum area of the park late morning to meet friends Ron & Beverly Noble.  While Ron and I wandered through the logging equipment, the girls made lunch.  After lunch the Nobles journeyed on and we moved our motor home to the campground. I got out the chairs and we actually sat down to just relax and enjoy the nice weather.  We soon noticed bird activity and were pulled into watching, identifying and counting. We counted a dozen Yellow-rumped Warblers that were busy feeding on aphids in the aspen leaves. Most active and entertaining however were the squirrels.  Douglas Squirrels chattered away with their squeaky calls high in the tall ponderosas where they were harvesting pine cones. Chipmunks scurried through the campsites looking for left-overs. Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels poked out of their burrows and scampered to boulders to sit in the sun, their bodies fat from a summer of feeding. Ah,-- we may stay another day.   

Dan the Man

We stayed last night in Bend with friends Dan & Charlene Lawry.   Dan is show here pointing to the 400 watt inverter he installed today in our View.  This will allow us to use our TV and also charge up our computers when not connected to an electrical connection. Which means we will have the freedom to camp in small campgrounds that do not have electrical connections and we will still have all the comforts of life. Dan, you’re the Man!

Tonight we are camped at La Pine State Park, tomorrow we travel on to Collier Memorial State Park and meet up with friends Ron & Bev Noble.

The New View

This is our new Winnebago View which is proving to be the perfect vehicle for my own new personal view as I shared in yesterday’s post.  We are currently camped at Champoeg State Park as a part of a little trip we are taking. We left Elkton Friday taking the back-roads through little towns such as Lorraine and Monroe in route to Rickreall where we planned to stay at the Polk County Fair Grounds for the night.  Arriving there we found it full for a special event.  No problem, we called my daughter Lisa in Dallas for permission to camp in her drive way.  We were in fact going to watch her boys play soccer the next day.  After soccer on Saturday we continued on to Champoeg State Park taking the back-roads through French Prairie, roads I have bicycled many times in years past, arriving to find the campground full.  Again no problem, we called Jeanette’s cousins Larry and Ginny in nearby Donald to see if we could park in front of his house, which we did and had a great time visiting, walking the historic streets of Donald, having dinner, and watching the Ducks play.  Today we came back to Champoeg, and with the crowds of the weekend leaving, easily got a site.  This new View (view) is working out pretty good.