Wood Ducks and Muskrats and Salmon… Oh My!
By Keith Daellenbach, Contributing Writer
Even today, the Columbia slough is teeming with abundant wildlife.
It is home to 175 species of birds including mallards, wood ducks, green wing teals, American widgeons, and mergansers, as well as Canada geese. Great blue herons, castle egrets, belted kingfishers, ospreys (Oregon’s state raptor), double-crested cormorants, killdeer, and songbirds of great variety and sound are present including the red-winged blackbird which makes an earnest “Uncle Wee-Bull” call. Binoculars help. There are beavers, river otters, muskrats, invasive nutria, cottontail rabbits, dragonflies and reptiles like the native northwestern pond turtle which has an estimated lifespan of 50 to 70 years. Bald eagles, black tailed deer, Western painted turtles, raccoons and coyotes, are also in abundance.
There are 28 species of fish including anadromous migrating Chinook and Coho salmon as well as steelhead, the juveniles of which shelter in 35 engineered logjams which were installed by the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) in 2015 along the lower six miles of the slough starting at Moore Island below the North Interstate Avenue bridge. These logjams provide habitat that is impacted by levees which altered this lower Columbia River estuary and dramatically scaled back the impact of spring flooding to aid juvenile salmon migration along with access to cold water and nutrients.
In 2025, 1,082,000 salmon crossed Bonneville Dam heading upriver which is only about 10 percent the 10 million (or more) salmon that migrated upriver in the 1870’s. Along the lower slough, young families often bank fish including those with young families. Because fish in the slough may contain PCB, PFAS, and pesticides, it is important to follow Oregon Health Authority advisories and limit consumption to no more than one fillet each month for all resident fish (e.g., carp, bluegill, bass, sturgeon).
It is incredible how much we can see right in our backyard.