River Otters and Tree Frogs at Ridgefield Refuge 2010-09-12

[Peder]

The Kiwa Trail in the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge offered an abundance of wildlife today. Note that the trail is only open from May through September, although you can drive the auto loop all year. The highlight was sighting three river otters for about 20 minutes on the way out, right next to the trailhead. As a bonus; one otter came by as we returned to the car.

The above guy is chewing on a frog – boy was he a noisy eater!

They look better when filmed with my camera:

[or you can go here if you wish to see the clip on full screen]
Otter food:

We also found a number of tree frogs:

Here Greg is pointing out the tree where we found the most tree frogs (and the frogs seemed to favour these trees); it is about halfway around the 1.5 mile loop:

There was also the “classic” stuff: Three types of herons, great egrets, osprey, etc. Finally, Greg was greatly thrilled to see 14 garter snakes, mostly on the Boot and Carty Lakes loop hike:

As you may guess, we had a wonderful day and Greg insists that I recommend the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge to other Portland Hikers – and this is hereby done!

[Roy]

That is a great video it looks like the bird was enjoying show to. I saw a couple of otters in Salmon creek park a few years ago but haven't seen them since.

[Peder]

Actually the bird was scavenging on the leftovers from the otters' meals and following them around. I forgot to mention in my text that the logs were covered in turtles until the otters appeared; I guess that otters also eat turtles!

[IDratherbehiking]

Excellent trip report Peder!

Your report inspired me to go out to the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge yesterday afternoon.

This was my first time there since it first opened in June 2009. By the way, the visitor's information center is closed on Mondays however, the trails are open daily from dawn til dusk. I was wondering if you have ever been to the TRNWR since you live relatively close to it and if so how does it compare to the Ridgefield wildlife refuge? I know that they are in two different areas but it seems like there are many more wildlife photo opportunities at the one in Ridgefield just by looking at your report.

[Peder]

I have only visited the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge when the "longer" trail is closed (it is also seasonal to leave the birds in peace). We saw far more wildlife in the Ridgefield Refuge and I would recommend a visit!

[IDratherbehiking]

Yes, the service road is closed to foot traffic from Oct. 1 to April 30. I pretty much walked the entire road yesterday while I still had time. In my opinion it was nothing to write home about. I enjoyed the year round trail a lot more.

[cfm]

Love that otter movie! It gave me a warm thrill, as if I was there.