William L. Finley NWR Galleries

William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge is located south of Corvallis, Oregon and is one of several National Wildlife Refuges in the Willamette Valley. It is the largest of the valley refuges and offers the most diverse habitat and longest hiking trails (some of which remain open during the winter, when many trails are closed to protect wintering waterfowl).

Eastern Cottontail

Outsiders Many of the people who live in Oregon aren't natives (myself included), and that increasingly applies to our wildlife as well. One example is this eastern cottontail, a native of the East that is now common here in parts of the Northwest. Many references don't include Oregon and Washington as part of the range of this cottontail, which is confusing, as we do have several species of native cottontails that can be found in appropriate habitats and for a long time I didn't realize that many of the cottontails I was seeing out here were the same species as those I grew up with.

Great Egret

High Perch A great egret perched high in a tree along the Muddy Creek trail. The trail closes during the winter, but during the warmer months it is a great spot to watch for egrets (and herons) in the trees, they often perch there near one of the smaller ponds.

Canada Goose

V Canada geese flying in their famous V formation.

Oregon Iris

Tough The scientific name for this species of iris is Iris tenax, which literally means tough iris. They are also commonly known as the Oregon iris and are native to the Pacific Northwest, they are fairly short for an iris and have narrow leaves. I first saw these blossoming one spring day in a meadow at Finley and fell in love with them, so I bought one at a nursery and planted it in our garden. Unfortunately, we moved before I ever got to see it bloom and I don't know if the new owners appreciated its subtle beauty compared to the large, showy irises more commonly seen in gardens.

Rough-skinned Newt

Newt’s Eye View I had tried for a long time to get a picture like this but was never very happy with the results. The depth of field is pretty shallow here, I took some pictures with more depth of field but I didn’t like how busy the background became. I love this viewpoint, though, as it seems to highlight the dinosaur-like aspect of the newt.

Frosted Newts The grains of sand on this newt make it look like it has been frosted with sugar. Predators with a sweet tooth, however, should be cautious as some roughskins are highly toxic if ingested.

Although rough-skinned newts are one of my favorite creatures, I had never been really happy with a lot of my photographs of them that I had taken over the years. Then one cool, wet day early in 2002 I found this one on a trail at Finley National Wildlife Refuge. With it sitting on the bright green moss and not moving much due to the cold weather, I spent about 45 minutes laying on the ground taking pictures. I rested my camera on one of my gloves that I layed on the wet moss. After a while I got chilled enough from the wet ground that it got hard to hold the camera steady, but I was thrilled with the chance to study this newt for so long.

	From this top-down view of the newt’s head, you can get a pretty clear idea of where the “rough-skinned” part of their name comes from.
	Rough-skinned newts have four fingers on their front feet and five toes on their rear feet. This is a shot of a rear foot, with its tail sweeping out-of-focus across the background.

With this shot, I wanted to show how the newt’s coloring makes them blend into the leaves of the forest floor, which is why I keep an eye out while hiking to avoid stepping on them. While I do most of my wildlife photography with my big cameras, this picture was taken with a point-and-shoot digital camera.

Scenery

This little section of moss and firs isn’t impressive for the size of the trees (toothpicks compared to the old growth and second growth giants elsewhere in the Northwest) nor for the size of the forest (it lasts just a short while before the trail enters more open forest). It’s a little pocket out of place compared to the surrounding woods at this refuge of reclaimed farmland. A throwback to another time and another place.

Stepping into this part of the forest almost always brings a smile to my face, brightens my mood, quickens my pace but then slows my steps, to look up, to breathe in, to listen, to be. I’ve seen a variety of wildlife on the trial, but mostly I love this part of the forest not for what I see but for what I feel.