Walk with me. It’ll be the last hike in Oregon for a while. I am going on a roadtrip to Los Angeles this week, and will write from there until my return in November.

The birds were active today. Little finches busily harvesting seeds.

Raptors in the air.

Egrets on the go,

competing with a lot of blue herons for space and food sources.

This little caterpillar portends a short winter, a long winter, a cold winter, a dry winter, oh, if I could only remember.

These guys were fighting over a fish, until one gave up. The kingfisher watched on.

Lots of preening: the bald eagle, the ducks, the mud hens, the nutria.

Lots of flora still clamoring for attention,

some berries ready to provide for times of scarcity.

What I will miss: a concert that I urge you to consider – Annelies: The Voice of Anne Frank, co-sponsored by the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland and the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education. Details about the Portland performance are in the link – I have heard from several friends who are singing in it that it is beyond amazing, an important reminder of what matters in times when human life is under threat. The link at the end of the blog is a recording of the concert by a different ensemble.

What you will miss (if you don’t get going…): our exhibition The Gorge Beckons: Change and Continuity is still up at the Columbia Gorge Museum in Stevenson until the end of the month. Your thoughts on the work would be much appreciated.

Alternatively you could sensibly decide to enjoy the arrival of autumn in the wetlands instead.

The geese were gathering to fly formation, I wonder if they go South along side of me. I will report, stay tuned!

Music today by James Whitbourn with the MSU Chorale.