WILDLIFE VIEWING AT THE DELTA PONDS IN EUGENE, OREGON Guest Post by Caroline Hatton at The Intrepid Tourist

52 Places to Go: Week 37

Green Heron (Butorides virescens) with a fish story to tell, at the Eugene Delta Ponds

My friend and fellow children’s book author Caroline Hatton took the photos in this post in July 2021 when she enjoyed this free outdoor activity.

For the first time since my husband and I moved to Eugene, Oregon, our car was due for an oil change. I googled “Eugene Toyota” to see where to go and more importantly, where to take a walk while waiting. On the map, my eyes focused not on the red pin, but on what it partially covered: a sprinkling of blue fragments between a freeway and a bend in the Willamette River!

The Delta Ponds, a wildlife oasis in the city of Eugene

Zooming in revealed Delta Ponds City Park. There, what was once the natural network of water channels of the braided river became disconnected from the main stream by urbanization and gravel extraction. After the City purchased the residual ponds from the gravel company, decades passed. Then eight years of award-winning efforts restored native plants and the connection to the river, offering a haven for American Beaver (Castor canadensis), River Otter (Lontra canadensis), juvenile Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), and Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata), a place where over 150 bird species have been observed.

Delta Ponds pedestrian bridge over a highway

On July 3, 2021, the temperature was predicted to reach the high 90s F (30s C), but not until 5 p.m. or later, as is usual for the daily maximum in Eugene. At 8 a.m. it was almost chilly at the ponds. The adjacent freeway was invisible from the trail, but traffic was heavy and fast, its whooshing noise inescapable from anywhere around the ponds. Yet the air smelled fresh.

The main trail, around the outside of the ponds, was a wide, flat gravel path. That’s good because it won’t get muddy when it rains, but not so good because footsteps make crunching noises that might scare wildlife away.

Trail spurs allow peeks at busy pond life

Soon the first of several spurs appeared, silent dirt paths leading to the water’s edge. Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) and Canada geese (Branta canadensis) went about their business.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) keeping his legs crossed, maybe for fishing luck

In the hour we spent there, we saw five lone Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) and three lone Green Herons (Butorides virescens), planted in the landscape like statues or taking flight and landing again.

What was that?

At the end of the second spur, we were scanning the water when a flash of movement left behind some ripples in growing circles. “Beaver?” I wondered out loud, but not too loud.

“No flat tail,” whispered my husband. “Nutria?” (the unwelcome South American swamp rat, Myocastor coypus).

“Too big for that,” I said, buzzing with excitement at the only remaining possibility: a River Otter!

Nutria (Myocastor coypus)

But when it surfaced, its brick-shaped muzzle was thickly whiskered and its round ears rather large. It was a nutria. It dove, its long tail lingering in the air like a tease. It emerged and dove a dozen times. The show wouldn’t end. Yet I tore myself away, hoping that on such a lucky day, I might see a Beaver.

We didn’t see a Beaver, but we saw people who did, a gray-haired couple with binoculars and a lens twice as long as mine. The only other visitors we met were a jogger, a woman with her dog, and a young family.

Green Heron holding a fish out of water

From a peninsula with an info board, I saw a Green Heron catch a fish (see the photo at the top of this blog post), flip it the long way, and swallow it whole, and I got photos to prove it! I couldn’t wait to get back to my laptop, to see them all on a larger screen.

Oops—we forgot to get the oil change. We’ll just have to go back!

All text and photos, copyright Caroline Arnold.  www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com

 

 

FLOWERING BRIDGE, Lake Lure, North Carolina: A Real and Miniature World

52 Places to Go: Week 36

Lake Lure Flowering Bridge, Lake Lure, NC

From roses to succulents, pollinator gardens to art installations, the Flowering Bridge at Lake Lure, in the mountains of western North Carolina, is a wonder of nature and testament to the volunteers who turned an abandoned bridge into a beautiful floral walkway. 

View toward Chimney Rock from the Flowering Bridge

The project began in 2012, when gardens were first planted at either end of the bridge and then in following years on the bridge itself. I visited the Flowering Bridge in August 2021, on a trip with my family. As we wandered the 550 foot path across the bridge, each turn gave us a new view--of the plants and flowers themselves, art objects, mirrors, and ornaments decorating the garden, the Broad River that flows under the bridge, and the wooded mountains that rise above the valley.

Rabbit and tiny fairy angel along the path.

And tucked among the plants was a host of delightful surprises–tiny scenes with miniature figures in a fairy-tale like world. 

Tiny log home with wishing well and fairy perched in a knothole window.

In some, wooden stumps and clumps of moss were turned into tiny forest homes. Other scenes were nestled into open spaces among the plants. Occupants varied from tiny gnomes and fairy figures, to little people and animals.

Mr. McGregor's Garden and Peter Rabbit's family.

Peter Rabbit and his little blue coat.

Each of the thirty garden areas has a theme. Peter Rabbit Children’s Garden features a scene from Mr. MacGregor’s garden, which, if you remember, Peter Rabbit visited when he should have been picking blackberries with his brothers and sisters, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail. If you look carefully, you can find Peter--and his blue coat that he left behind as he escaped from Mr. McGregor who was said to have turned Peter's unfortunate father into a pie.

Bringing home a plant for the garden.

Getting ready for a mini-barbeque.

Among my favorites of the various tiny scenes were two gnomes with a miniature grill outside their tree stump home. Another favorite was a small pickup truck pulling a tiny teardrop camper.The fairy scenes are on display between June 1 and September 7. They change from year to year.

Guides and maps to the garden are available at the entrance.

At the beginning of the walk, informational panels tell the history of the garden walk project and provide guides to some of the wildlife–birds, bees, butterflies–one might encounter in the garden. The Lake Lure Flowering Bridge is a stop along the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail, which begins in Plains, Georgia, at the home of President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter. The mission of the trail is to promote the full life cycle of butterflies common in this area with a special emphasis on the monarch.

Mirror, mirror on the Wall! Throughout the garden, various mirrors reflect both the plants and visitors!

My visit to the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge was at the beginning of August, when summer flowers were in full bloom. The garden is free and open to the public year round.  For more information go to www.lakelureflowergingbridge.org .

A day the beach for tiny garden gnomes.

All text and photos copyright Caroline Arnold at The Intrepid Tourist.