We got up with the alarm this morning and went downstairs
to breakfast. I drove Marty up to her NRCS State office, then returned to walk around downtown Spokane’s Riverfront Park, located along the Spokane River & containing the upper Spokane
Falls.
This was the site of the 1974 World Expo, which was the first environmentally-themed World’s Fair.
There were 5.2 million visitors to the fair,
which was considered a success, nearly breaking even, revitalizing the blighted
urban core, and pumping an estimated $150 million into the local economy and
surrounding region.
The site had been industrial, inaccessible, and unappealing prior to the
Fair.
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| Bacon Concrete was one of the beneficiaries of building the Expo site |
But now, the park anchors the residents of Spokane to its downtown, with trails
and great views of the Spokane Falls cataracts.
There are historical monuments, as well as civic artworks. The sculpture, The Call and the Challenge by Ken Spiering, was commissioned in 1986. In recognition of the centennial of Sacred Heart Medical Center, the piece depicts a Sister of Providence laying bricks.
Mother Joseph was 20 years old when she
entered the convent of the newly-founded Sisters of Charity of Providence (now
Sisters of Providence) in Montreal. In 1856 Mother Joseph was chosen to lead
four missionaries to the Pacific Northwest Territories of the United States.
The Sisters made their home in Vancouver, Washington. In 1857, the Sisters
opened a small cabin that would quickly serve various charitable purposes. Over
the next few years, it housed the convent and infirmary, was an orphanage for
both boys and girls, and boarded the elderly and insane. This cabin would
eventually become the first St. Joseph Hospital.
Mother Joseph decided to
purchase property and form the "Sisters of Charity of the House of
Providence in the Territory of Washington" in 1859. It remains one of
Washington State's oldest corporations and the parent corporation for the
Providence Health System. She was aggressive in her fundraising, braving
mountains and wilderness on horseback. Mother Joseph was responsible for
the completion of eleven hospitals, seven academies, five schools for Native
American children, and two orphanages throughout an area that now encompasses
Washington, northern Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
This artwork is actually a bike rack on the north side of
the INB Performing Arts Center. The sign
behind it reads “Bert Bike-A-Rack” (yes, those of us of a certain age just
groaned at the word-play…), indicating that it was crafted by Betty Gardner in
2009.
The dams and power generating facilities are operated by
Avista, which used to be called Washington Water Power Co. until they changed
their name in 1999.
The area had quite a few yellow bellied marmots.
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| How many rocks could a rockchuck chuck if a rockchuck could chuck rocks? |
There are a LOT of Canada Geese on the river and in the
park.
I noted that quite a few of them
were banded.
So, I spent some time walking through the flocks, trying to read
the band numbers with my binoculars,
and ended up reading nine of them well
enough to send in the numbers to the USGS Bird Banding Lab.
Whenever you can read a bird band - or one of the
“auxiliary” markers - please report the numbers to the Bird Banding Laboratory. You will receive a “Certificate
of Appreciation” for your efforts that will inform you of where and when the
bird was banded. Sometimes, you can
contact the bander and they will provide other information, such as what the
project was all about, whether the bird had been found previously to your
report, and so on.
It ended up that the birds were banded by WDFW biologists
locally. Here is one that had a plastic
neck collar with alpha-numeric identification that is much easier to read.
After about 10 a.m. it began to rain, but this cormorant
didn’t seem to mind.
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| Tightrope Walking Double-crested Cormorant |
I walked back up to
the motel and worked on some blogs (yes, I know I’m two months behind with
these) until I met Marty after she was done with work.
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| There are lots of gulls to scope through on the river |
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| California Gull |
Once again, I supped with my wife in the room, watched a
little TV movie, and went to bed early. It was fun to be "bird-watching with a purpose" today.
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| Drake Mallard in "eclipse" plumage |
Spokane Riverfront Park eBird Checklist is Here
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