From the Contact Station: The Refuge in the time of Coronavirus

I wrote this article a month ago when we were still able to do the River ‘S’ Auto Tour.  Things have changed with the closure and we are all missing our refuge.  And, a rewrite was required.  I imagine, in our absence, the deer are dancing in the fields, otters are happily fishing, American Bitterns are “ooooohnk-A-Doonking” and the Great Horned Owls are maybe watching their owlets make their way out on a limb. Party down critters!  The Yellow-headed Blackbirds should be here, and our Wilson’s Snipe are winnowing with their mating display.  Yes, I miss it, I miss all the creatures.

One of my last tours around the River ‘S’ was on a cold March morning which eventually turned into warming sunshine. I’ve been driving this tour for almost seven years now, enough time to get to know the trees as individuals. We have had some significant storms in those years, and I have lost a few tree friends along the way. Between marker 9 and 10, there was a hollow Ash tree that housed a Barn Owl. It was at a turnout so I would always stop for a while hoping to see the owl.  No luck. Then after a big storm, I found the tree had been split open. I could see the inside of the owl’s home, but there wouldn’t be a barn owl there again.

But even when they fall over and die, the trees have purpose. Across Bower Slough to the right of the tour there are a lot of fallen Ash trees. In summer, some branches, the ones angling out of the water, become favored hauling out spots for our Western Painted Turtles. If the trunks are just above the water, they can be used by our summer visiting Green Herons. The herons poise over the water just waiting for that tasty fish to move into striking range. And small branches or overhangs provide perches for our Black Phoebes and Belted Kingfishers.

There used to be a big tree to the left of the hunt gate where a Red-tailed Hawk liked to sit and watch the field on the other side of the road.  Several times I watched the hawk plunge to the ground and catch a field mouse or vole.  Well, we lost the top of that old tree too. But the hawk is still around, I just must look a little harder to find it.  That’s the thing, when the landscape changes the critters adapt and I must too.  It’s kind of what we are doing to control the spread of coronavirus. We are adapting.

Do you remember the nest tree for the Bald Eagles near the entrance to the River ‘S’?  Eagles like to have a good nesting tree and a look out tree or two near it where they can survey the land around their nest for food or danger. We lost the nest and then the nest tree in a big storm about four winters ago, but the look out tree is still there. During my times in the contact station, there has hardly been a day that I have not seen an eagle in that tree. Some would say the eagle is reliable; I like to say the tree is reliable too. Even though it is leafless and probably lifeless, it is still standing. Sometimes it holds a Red-tailed Hawk, sometimes a few blackbirds, sometimes a Kestrel and even a Great Blue Heron earlier this year. Some trees are just so reliable. Meanwhile, the Bald Eagle pair has moved down (south) along Lake River to nest in some evergreen trees. They adapted. I live on the ridge above the refuge along Lake River and have seen the adult Bald Eagles overhead when on my neighborhood walks. It is nice to know they are there when we are not.

On my last drive along the River ‘S’ before closure, it was a foggy morning to start, but the sun broke through to a glorious day.  I stopped for a while just beyond #9, where the road turns at a gate, and rolled down the windows. This area of forest is just amazing and worth a pause along the tour.  The Tree Swallows have been here in mass since end of March and were house hunting then.  The old Ash trees are full of hollows, perfect for a Tree Swallow pair.  If you look closely, you can see rows of holes circling some of the trees.  Red-breasted Sapsuckers have been at work, creating sap wells for food.  Outside my passenger side window, I heard a high-pitched call, then had the pleasure of watching a Brown Creeper move UP a tree trunk looking for insects in the bark.

Our Oregon Ash trees, which comprise most of the forest along the auto tour and Bower Slough, are a rather scraggly bunch in winter.  Well, they look downright dead. But they are full of life, theirs and that of the creatures that depend on them. They are the last trees to leaf out in summer and the first to turn yellow and drop their leaves in fall. By the time we get back to the refuge, they will be green with leaves. They like wet areas along sloughs and creeks. They average about 50 feet tall, but in a good spot with less competition they can grow to 75 feet. Some of the new plantings you see along the auto tour are Ash trees. In the right environment, young Ash are quick to grow. It will be fun to watch this happen.

When we get back to the Refuge, it will look a lot different in summer dress than it did when we last saw it. Whenever that happens, the anticipated increase in numbers of visitors will put some extra pressures on the infrastructure and the wildlife that lives on the Refuge. Depending on when that is, babies of all kinds will be around and not used to us. Be kind to the Refuge when you visit; follow the rules. Stay healthy everyone. Meanwhile, make friends with a neighborhood tree, it will likely introduce you to some of its neighbors in a local forest or your own backyard.

Abundant thanks to Scott Carpenter (owl) and Fred Kerr (Tree Swallow) for again contributing photos for the Friends to use. The tree photo is mine!

-Susan Setterberg, Contact Station Volunteer