Audubon Society of Portland

The Audubon Society of Portland has educational resources, performs animal rescue, and has a large amount of hiking trails.

The hiking trails were kind of a bust. Their location on a steep hillside means that while we might have gotten our mother down these trails, we would never have gotten her back up. Those kinds of trails do work for some people, but they can definitely not be considered all access.

Other aspects are better. Rescued birds can often be seen - sometimes up close with handlers. We got to learn more about their raven, Aristophanes.

Having never seen a raven around here (lots of crows, though), it was a good reminder that there are more local species than what you see: habitats and fauna change, even in relatively small areas.

Because of that, one of my favorite features is the bird-watching window, something that had stuck in my mind from a school field trip long ago.

It is just a large picture window with multiple bird feeders outside to attract birds, but that can create a lively scene.

Unfortunately that day, two of the feeders were empty and one was broken. We only saw a handful of dark-eyed juncos, two Steller's jays, and two rats.

Still, I appreciated the book of pictures underneath the window to help identify the frequent species. One of my hopes was to identify a new visitor to our yard, and the book showed me that it was a Wilson's Warbler.

(But not this. This is a Steller's Jay.)

Ultimately, that particular visit might have been disappointing, but there were good things about it, and I know that the work they do is good, both for the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation and for the educational programs that are frequently run. We can find good walking trails in other places. Also, it was free.

The did have a really good gift store, full of fun and educational options.  But ideally they would keep the feeders full and in good repair.

https://audubonportland.org/