Migratory birds from all over refuel in Oaks Bottom

By Merry MacKinnon

The Bee, Jul 7, 2010

Woodstock resident Kathleen McCann transformed her yard from “plain vanilla” to a sylvan retreat – with native trees and shrubs that invite songbirds like the Western tanager.

Merry MacKinnon / THE BEE

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Heartbreaking images of oil-drenched pelicans along the Gulf of Mexico, from the current oil spill disaster there, have many people in Southeast Portland wondering if there is anything that they can do to help save the birds.

Some might volunteer. The Audubon Society of Portland’s Internet website (www.audubonportland.org/news/gulf) includes information if you’d like to help with the disaster in whatever way is useful.

But, volunteering to go to the Gulf states, where the worst oil spill disaster in U.S. history continues its relentless onslaught, is more difficult than it might seem, cautions Audubon Portland Urban Wildlife Specialist Karen Munday.

“They’re really trying to use local volunteers right now,” Munday explains. Yet, the urgency is compelling. It’s not only pelicans that are dying. Millions of migratory birds are also at risk of being sickened as they fly to nesting places in northern Canada from Latin America and stop off in coastal Louisiana to rest and eat.

Because birds traveling through here also sometimes travel through there, Munday cites steps people here can take to try and protect birds whose migratory path from Central America over the West Coast to Alaska includes a stop-off for resting and eating in Portland.

Oaks Bottom is one of those resting places. “At least 100 species of birds use Oaks Bottom,” says Audubon Portland Conservation Director Bob Sallinger. He will visit the Gulf Coast in August, Sallingers says, to look at what’s happened, and to bring lessons back to Oregon.

Here in Southeast, Oaks Bottom is a sanctuary for birds — but the birds still face hazards. One is habitat loss through species invasion — such as ivy, reed canary grass, purple loosestrife, and Himalayan blackberries.

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