Street fairs and block parties…

Lots of interesting things to do this weekend — and being Portland at least one of them has to do with beer. 

Bridgeport Brewery is celebrating their 25th anniversary with a block party on NW 13th outside the brewery, Saturday from 4 -10. There will be live music and maybe a couple of birds. Bonus for helping them celebrate is that $1 from every beer sold will go to Audubon Society of Portland.  Official press release with schedule.

Also on Saturday is Multnomah Days which starts with a pancake breakfast at 8am. Special activities in Multnomah Village including an arts and crafts sale at the Multnomah Arts Center from 9-3. Link here for more info. Note that this site doesn’t allow anyone who isn’t a registered user to see some information.

Sunday take a stroll down Hawthorne and enjoy the Hawthorne Street Fair from 11-5.  Music, children’s activities and local vendor events all along Hawthorne. More info at http://thinkhawthorne.com/happenings/#event_88    This year’s Street Fair coincides with the Southeast Sunday Parkway event which goes on from 9am-4pm and covers several neighborhoods including Hawthorne.

If you’d rather visit art in the woods, the Arts Festival in the Forest is on both Saturday and Sunday from 10-5 down in Mary S. Young Park in West Linn.  It’s fun to stroll through the trees and find artworks, musical performances or aerial dancers. More info at http://www.marysyoungartsfestival.com/

 

Quiet Mother’s Day…

A quiet day today, catching up on a few things such as getting the plants actually into pots instead of just sitting “by” the pots. My mother and surrogate mothers are all on the east coast so telephone or email was the extent of my Mother’s Day contacts.

I did make the day more pleasant for an Anna’s hummingbird mother by putting out new food. She paid repeated visits to the balcony while I was working on the plants and didn’t seem at all concerned that I was there. After the chores were done as far as I intended to take them, I sat outside reading Jon Raymond’s collection of short stories called “Livability” and watching the elm seeds drift through the air like snowflakes.

As I was idly watching the seeds, as flash of color in the trees caught my eye. Hm, yellow but too big to be a goldfinch. Then I saw a flash of red and couldn’t believe my luck. Don’t get to see Western Tanagers in downtown very often. Usually I see them someplace like Mount Tabor where they’re up in the tip-top of an evergreen. Beautiful but not as satisfying as a somewhat closer view.  I grabbed the binoculars that more or less live on the dining table and confirmed that it was indeed a Western Tanager, inspecting the trees for insect snacks. There were at least two males and a couple of the less colorful but no less interesting females.

An excellent ending to the afternoon.

Western Tanager photo by Tom Talbott

 

Snail mail surprises…

Like most people I know, I don’t get a lot of fun snail mail these days — excluding the occasional check which is by definition fun. So most of my mail is various kinds of “official” notices and a few magazines (not drawing attention to the various requests for payment and/or donation by mentioning them.)  Somewhere along the line I stopped expecting a lot from my trips to the mailbox. That just reminds me of the days when mail was the highlight of my day but that’s really a separate story.

 

Swifts update for October

Went to see “On the Wing” yesterday at Cinema 21 (see earlier story at http://tinyurl.com/54×72v ).   It’s a documentary about our local Vaux Swifts and their pre-migration roost at Chapman School.  If you’re interested in birds, urban wildlife, or just an experience that’s very much “Portland,” then I’d highly recommend it. 

 Dan Viens captures the experience of sitting outside Chapman on a fall evening, enjoying the acrobatics of the birds and the enthusiasm of the crowd.   He also shows close-ups of the little birds — hard to get since they’re almost always in motion — and has commentary from adults and children who come to watch as well as neighbors and staff and volunteers from the Audubon Society of Portland.

A trailer for the film is posted on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vojNdQf53bQ

Cinema 21 will be showing it again at 1PM today, Sunday October 5, and will have evening shows from October 10-16 at 7PM.  Further film info available at

 

Update — On The Wing

The documentary “On the Wing” about our local Vaux Swifts (see earlier story at http://tinyurl.com/54×72v ) will be shown at Cinema 21 on October 2, 2008, and will be a benefit for the Audubon Society of Portland. A trailer for the film is posted on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vojNdQf53bQ

If you don’t have tickets to that show, Cinema 21 has announced that it will be showing the film on Saturday and Sunday (October 4 and 5) at 1PM.   Further film info available at

 

Vaux’s Swifts in Portland

Went to watch the Vaux’s Swifts at Chapman Elementary School last night — it was a beautiful night in Portland after a warm, almost summery day. The full harvest moon was coming up in the east as the sun was settling down and the the swifts funneled into their chimney for the night.

About four inches long and very fast (there’s a reason they’re called “swifts”) Vaux’s is the smallest North American swift. Birders often refer to them as looking like “flying cigars” because of the short stubby body and long wings. In case you’re wondering, it’s pronounced “vox.” It looks French but was named for an American — William S. Vaux.

You don’t see very good pictures of swifts because they’re always in motion — I have dozens of attempts showing blurry black dots in the sky. In fact pretty much the only time they’re not in motion is when they’re inside a roost. That was originally something like a hollow tree, but they’ve adapted to man-made structures and chimneys are one of their favorites. In Portland, the chimney up at Chapman Elementary School is the place to go on September nights to watch them. The swifts come together in these communal roosts in the fall as they prepare for migration to Central America.

 

Celebrate birds — Saturday, May 10

Take a walk, listen to music, meet a bird of prey — all kinds of activities are scheduled on Saturday from 10-4 at Sellwood Park to celebrate International Migratory Bird Day.  See http://www.audubonportland.org/events/festival for more details.  Free, no registration required.

 

Hawks have hatched!

The pair of Red-tailed hawks making their home on a fire escape in downtown Portland now have their work cut out for them.  The three chicks hatched yesterday and will be needing lots of food.  Check up on them at the Raptor Cam set up by KGW and Audubon Society of Portland.  Watch the Raptor Cam at http://www.kgw.com/livecams/content.html?livecams_birdcams  

And in case you’re wondering, those bars are part of the fire escape — the camera is set up on the level above the nest.  The birds aren’t restricted in any way.