Sporktastic Travel

I generally like to write about things while they are still available.

6. "Overgrowth" by Rae Sheridan, Pioneer Courthouse Square

As it was, I got it into my head that I needed to see all of them, which made me need to keep postponing right up until the final event.

2. "Oregon Botanica" by Emma Halsema, Oregon Symphony

This does mean that it can be paired with my Friday post, encouraging people to go see the movie:

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2026/11/go-see-wildwood.html

8. "As the Crow Flies" by Jordan Mason, Central Library

With that I will give you the birds in roughly the order I saw them, with each one marked with its number on the map, name, artist, and location during the Finding the Crows period.

4. "Bloom" by Victoria Smith, Portland Art Museum

I really loved doing it, but it was a lengthy route, especially covering most of it by foot and TriMet. I don't have Prue's stamina.

5. "Flying Fields Forever" by Sue-Del McCulloch, Director Park

I must say that the maps ended up working much better than they did during Coraline's Curious Cat Trail. Birds were mainly where they were supposed to be.

16. "Mirrorball Messenger" by Isi Matasavage, Darcelle XV Plaza

I did think a good case could be made for placing Mirrorball Messenger in Director Park with the big disco ball there (though Darcelle probably would have loved this crow), but then they brought the disco ball over for the Farewell Event.

"Mirrorball Messenger" also went well with the Sneaky Sasquatch in the plaza at the time, so I have to feel like it worked.

I mainly mention it because I probably could have found more crows sooner if not for also doing other things. I couldn't locate every Sasquatch, but I was going to get every crow.

29. "Watercolor Crow" by Rose Jubb, Yamhill Pedestrian Plaza

I have encountered similar issues with events like Bloom Tour and the Winter Light Festival; it can be impossible to see it all, and frustrating that it is impossible.

3. "Paul Birdyan" by Michael Buchino, Pride Plaza

On the plus side, there can be fun -- and community -- in the trying.

17. "Sakura Hatami" by Maya McDarragh, City Hall

I did not find a single crow without finding other people looking and taking pictures. Sometimes they were on the hunt, or sometimes they just happened by and were drawn in.

24. "Kindred Spirits" by Lil Hobbit Cosmonaut, Keller Fountain

One noticeable difference with this one is that apparently many people were sticking crow feathers in the bases of the statues.

18. "A Crow of a Different Color" by Mike Bennett, Lincoln High School

I get it, there are crows -- and therefore feathers -- all over the city. In fact, if you were to try following the crows you would become hopelessly confused as they would keep turning up in different places going different directions. (You could run into similar issues with pigeons and squirrels.)

26. "Sir Chester" by Nina Oberlin, Lan Su Garden

I love these birds. I kind of hated that they were sort of villains in the movie. Changes were obviously coming, so who knows? Maybe they will reform.

1. "Be Kind" by Celeste Potgieter, Car Wash Fountain

Even though the crows were villains, they made for really good-looking art, for the most part.

23. "Do-nuts for Portland" by Julianne Zane, Ankeny Alley

One of my complaints about the Curious Cat Parade was that the cats were kind of ugly. As someone who not only loves cats but finds them adorable, this seemed wrong.

14. "Iridescence" by Daisy Nolz, Saturday Market

That did not end up being a problem here.

21. "The Shape of Us" by Tristan "TK" Irving, Pod Plaza

The head tilts and the intelligent eyes... these were charming birds.

27. "Vuela Corazon" by Christian Tellez Garcia, North Park Blocks

Okay, maybe my artistic tastes are a little bourgeois, but then I should probably appreciate steampunk more.

10. "Ravel" by Reshidev RK, NW 13th and Everett

I did love that "Ravel" was right outside of a shop called Joybird.

28. "Midnight Crow" by Amanda Burns, Couch Park

Speaking of taste and my preference for pretty, this was my least favorite. What can you do?

25. "Freak'n Crow" by Freaky Footwear, Jamison Square

Sir Timber Cawthorn was notable for two things:

22. "Sir Timber Cawthorn" by Lizzie Keenan, International Rose Test Garden

One is that there were four other animals hidden in the design. The easiest to spot was the owl in the eye, but there was a video that showed them all. I hope the link works:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1752439995873638

In addition, he had his own trinket box, kind of like Beverly the Beaver. I thought the trinkets should have been shinier, but I liked the idea.

These three locations -- the Rose Garden, the Pittock Mansion, and the Bird Alliance of Oregon -- connect to the Wildwood Trail, an almost 30 mile trail with segments in both Washington and Forest Park.

7. "On a Mission" by Nelson Lowry, Pittock Mansion

I was fortunate to get driven to these three locations.

11. "Heart of the Forest" by Ana the Artist, Bird Alliance of Oregon

"Heart of the Forest" was probably my favorite. It's not necessarily the one that is most beautiful as a whole, but the more you look, the more you find, and it is very much a celebration of local nature's beauty.

It's much easier to find than the extra animals on Sir Timber.

I got one more ride to OMSI, also not great to get to for a pedestrian.

15. "A Murder Huddle" by Allison McClay, OMSI

My sisters were going to help me with one more, but not being familiar with that area, we went to the wrong spot. However, I could tell we were not the only ones.

Therefore, everything else I saw happened at the Farewell Event, which meant it happened with a lot more people around and long lines to get to the birds.

13. "Back Alley Flora" by Ruben Lancaster, Albina Vision Trust

But I did get to see them all.

12. "Stash" by Stephanie Hower Derheimer, OHSU Knight Cancer Research Building

There had been a costume contest, so there were costumes in the crowd and people buying crow art kits.

One crow was painted by the book's illustrator (and wife of the book's author) Carson Ellis. Her crow incorporated the maps she drew for the book.

30. "The World of Wildwood" by Carson Ellis, St. John's Library

I was also happy to see that Sir Timber's trinket box had stayed with him, at least for the time being. I know they had to replace it once with something waterproof.

Some of the artists stopped by. There were at least three by their crows while I was there, including Mike Bennett. I visited his Dead Media Haunted House the same day I found "A Murder Huddle" and did not find "Back Alley Flora."

Finding his "A Crow of A Different Color" had been no trouble at all.

20. "Emergence" by Olivia Mount, Salmon Springs

While it was harder to get to some of the crows, I think it is valuable that there were crows in North, Northeast, and Southeast.

19. "Dusk" by KSRA, Waterfront Park at SW Clay

Maybe there could have been easier locations in those quadrants, but if you are having locations on the Wildwood Trail, they may not be easy to get to by bus and may involve some climbing too. It's still a good tie-in.

9. "Feather and Flowers" by Sam Warford, Park Blocks Farmer's Market

There may have been difficulties, but I think they still achieved something special.

COVID: Finding them out in the open, they were all outside and while there were people, social distancing was easy. At the plaza, it was still outside but I wore a mask. Social distancing was not possible there.

Accessibility: Aside from the previously mentioned issues in getting to locations, once there the options for approaching the crows were generally good. Pittock Mansion and the Rose Garden can be steep, but there are ramps.

The one exception was "Be Kind" at the Car Wash fountain. While you can easily approach the fountain, there are only steps to get down by the bird. These steps do not have rails and can feel a little precarious.

Ironically, this was the one location where one of the other birders was on a scooter.

https://ohsufoundation.org/wildwood-follow-the-crows/

Mike Bennett is at it again.

The free haunted house actually runs through November 8th, with a holiday edition opening on November 13th.

I don't know how that's going to work.

For now, you have a gallery of movie monsters, arranged in a theme that reminds us of the VHS tapes we used to watch them on.

Of course, there can be different definitions of monsters.

On the topic of movie monsters, I had never thought of Jaws but it makes sense.

But this little guy?

Regardless, it was fun to saunter through and find the familiar faces.

In addition to the haunted house, there were some vending booths set up, and at least one game.

There was also the wonderful smell of fresh hay, though after a few days of rain, that may have changed.

Plus, scary, scary monsters.

There was also fun decor throughout, some of which can be taken home from the gift shop.

It was fun, and not too scary.

COVID: While it was a sunny Saturday -- so there may not always be as many people as there were when we went -- it is still inside. It's just better to mask.

Accessibility: This was mostly good, and the site says they are ADA-accessible. I did notice that the ramp had rope across it. I am sure that they would quickly remove it for anyone needing it, and that the rope was mainly there to keep children from doing weird things that resulted in tripping, but you might have to ask to have it moved.