Return to Sauvie Island

I went out to Sauvie Island yesterday. Every autumn I yearn to hear the calls of the Sandhill Cranes that gather there. It was a crisp, bright morning, so I made an impulsive trip. I pulled off on the side of the road near a fallow corn field they like to browse, propped my audio recorder on the car door sill, and made this sketch:

Sauvie Island Reeder Road view toward Mt. St. Helens

Flocks of hundreds of Canada Geese alighted and wheeled around, as they do. White-crowned Sparrows and Red-winged Blackbirds sang. Sandhill Cranes bugled and rattled, on land and on the wing.

This field recording is edited. I removed passing cars, trucks and airplanes. By the time I called it good, the run time was well under half of what it was originally. This process is tedious, but I edit all my recordings—now numbering in the thousands—compulsively. Some more than others, of course. I’m choosing to share this one more out of my fondness of the Sandhill Crane’s return, rather than it being an outstanding recording.

While on the island, I stretched my legs at Wapato Park. Seasonal Virginia Lake is a dry grassy bowl:

Virgina Lake at Wapato Park

Further north I made this drawing off Rentenaar Rd.:

A view from Rentenaar Rd.

PS. I bumbled my calendar organization and inadvertently posted about tomorrow’s release Creek & Raven a week early. It lands on all music streaming services tomorrow, October 17th, 2025. Catch that post here:

Creek & Raven

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading and listening!