Travels with a Muse: From Fern Ridge to Battle Creek

It was a nice day today sunshine and warm weather (by Oregon standards) so we headed out to a spot a friend told me about at the Fern Ridge Wildlife Area maintained by Oregon Fish and Wildlife. The spot we stopped at was the Coyote Creek Nature Trail. Coyote Creek was up and flowing with sedimented water and a few fallen trees in the creek.

"Fern Ridge Wildlife Area was created in 1957 under a license agreement between the Corps of Engineers and Oregon Game Commission (now Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife- ODFW). The agreement provides authority for the state to "develop, conserve, and manage all wildlife resources on a 5,010 acre portion of the 12,716 acres owned by the USACE around the reservoir.

Management emphasis on the wildlife area centers primarily around waterfowl and wetlands habitat management to provide food, water, and sanctuary for wintering waterfowl, shorebirds, and other wildlife. The expansive marsh and flyway proximity in the southern Willamette Valley are ideally suited for support of many wetland wildlife species. Active management techniques are combined with protective measures to provide a habitat base that supports a diverse array of wildlife. Bird life is particularly rich on the area with over 250 species of birds utilizing the area at some point in their life cycle either as resident and nesting birds or as seasonal migrants."

Fern Ridge got its name for a reason and here is one. Ferns are all over this wetlands area.

Between the ferns and moss there are places you can't even see the bark on the tree branches.

The second stop at Fern Ridge Wildlife Viewing area was this open wetlands.

This was a very marshy area with lots of croaking frogs and reeds.

I liked these cattails that were a little distance away but thanks to Isaac's telephoto lens they were in photo reach.

There are canals in the area I suspect the are used to carry overflow to Fern Ridge Reservoir a short distance away.

I did find this mushroom that was a deep purple or possibly brow that appeared black when I first spotted it.

We took a back road home through the town of Crow and along the drive we spotted this covered bridge on Battle Creek Road. The creek it crosses is the same Coyote Creek we visited at Fern Ridge Wildlife Area.