Author Archives: Rose City Bluff Restoration

Thanks again to Trask for another cool photo! This time he captured a banded alder borer, BAB for short. This Northwest native is not a pest; its presence in the bluff ecosystem is to be appreciated. The larvae eat dead and dying wood. Adults feed on nectar and pollen, and occasionally on fruit. In the larval stage they are food for woodpeckers.

Thanks to Trask for the following cautionary story and photo: Recently a neighbor sent us a picture of a Western Screech Owl, a great find! As someone who birds the bluff a couple of times a week, just one picture was enough for me to know where to look. Sure enough the next day I found the screech owl, perched in a cavity.

I shared this photo with my friends at the bluff and included the picture on ebird. The next day I received an email from a stranger asking for the location of the owl, so he could take pictures. Here lies the problem with sharing information about owls. No doubt owls are the absolute coolest of the birds we have in the PNW, if not everywhere. Having only seen a handful of Screech Owls (including 3 times at the golf course) I know the allure of seeing these amazing birds! We kept the location of the bird secret, as I had hoped the cavity would contain a nest, and though it ended up not being a nest, keeping it secret was the right thing to do.
Surprisingly Western Screech Owls are likely to be the most common raptor in the city of Portland. They are in most large parks, graveyards, and neighborhoods with many old trees (think Laurelhurst). Nonetheless, as all birds face significant declines, it is important that we approach sharing information about owls carefully.

Here are some important things to consider, from the Chicago Audubon Society, when it comes to owls:
– Don’t get too close – if the owl looks at you frequently, you’re too close.
– Stay on “the sidelines” and don’t enter an open area where an owl is hunting.
– Use binoculars or a scope for viewing and a telephoto lens for photography.
– Use a blind to minimize your presence – your car or even just hide behind a tree.
– Do not intentionally “flush” an owl.
– If you use audio recordings, minimize their impact on birds, and follow the ABA Code of Birding Ethics.
– Use discretion when sharing the location of an owl; usually it’s best to provide details only to people you can trust to treat the owl safely.
– Avoid the use of flash photography, especially after dark.
– Eliminate noise to avoid interfering with a bird’s auditory hunting. If you’re viewing from a car, turn off the engine; if you’re with others, talk in a whisper only when necessary.

The person who shared the original photo with the bluff did absolutely nothing wrong. They found an awesome bird and shared it with people who can be trusted. I followed the rules for dealing with owls and the Audubon’s guide to ethical bird photography: https://www.audubon.org/get-outside/audubons-guide-ethical-bird-photography

I hope our followers and volunteers continue to share their sightings of owls, hawks, and other cool plants/animals seen on the bluff. As the bluff gets more amazing and more people come to visit, it is important for us all to remember to be the best stewards of our environment as we can be.

Rose City Bluff Restoration volunteer and Xera Plants co-owner Greg Shepherd led a native plant walk exploring the plants growing on the Bluff. He identified many of the Bluff plants and discussed their ecological benefits. He also highlighted some of RCBR’s restoration techniques.

Rose City Bluff Restoration thanks all our volunteers who have helped transform the bluff into a special learning environment. This Earth Day Cedar Tree Learning hosted a walk for kids that included plant identification, naturescape art and exploration. Two more Cedar Tree Learning trail walks will be scheduled this summer. And RCBR is hosting a bird walk for kids, May 21, 2023.

You’ve probably experienced the serenity of a walk along the Rose City Bluff lower trail. Somewhat like a canyon trail, the slope rises to your side. Vegetation is close and the city is obscured. A term for similar trails in Europe and elsewhere is sunken lane or hollow way. (Wikipedia) The bluff trail is just a half-hollow way, and wasn’t created by foot and wagon traffic. However, the overall effect, being down low with a green embankment to your side, is much the same. “Sunken lanes have a large touristic potential because of their many values and functions: i.e. scenic beauty (reflected among others in paintings), recreational (hiking, biking), scientific (biodiversity, geomorphology), educational and geoheritage.” (Sunken Lanes, Earth Science Review.)

Claude Monet, The Sunken Road in the Cliff at Varengeville

Many thanks to our wonderful volunteers who showed up last Sunday in the cold and rain for our second annual Fall Planting Day! They planted over 400 native trees, shrubs and perennials, all volunteer grown from seed or transplanted from their gardens. As you walk the trail next year look for new lupine, self heal, Oregon sunshine, blue wild rye, shade phacelia, pearly everlasting, and many others.

Thanks to Suzanne for this cool photo of a few of the 35 folks who came out for Fall Planting Day 2022.

Special thanks to Margaret for creating our new sign! We’ve placed a couple along the bluff and are already getting inquiries.

Last April we kicked off our Native Seed Project. With the help of Greg’s document, Growing Willamette Valley Native Seeds, and Margaret’s management we now have several volunteers busily tending to seedlings. We hope to be putting many of these in the ground this fall. Our Native Seed Project folks are also learning what works, which they’ll share later this year.

Thanks to Sue for this photo of her project.

Years of hard work by Rose City Bluff Restoration are paying off as we watch existing native plants thrive, and our new plantings grow and bloom! Spotted today on the Bluff:
Lupinus rivularis- Strambank Lupine
Tellima grandiflora- Fringe Cup
Iris tenax – Tough Leaf Iris
Aquilegia formosa- Western Columbine
Rosa gymnocarpa- Bald Hip Rose
Prunus virginiana- Chokecherry
Rosa nutkana- Nutkana Rose
Amelanchier alnifolia – Serviceberry
Crataegus gaylussacia – Suksdorf’s Hawthorn
We’ll be working on weeding and maintaining our new plantings this month…join us if you have free time on Sunday mornings- we meet at 9:30am!

Photo by Greg Shephard