Hendricks Park encompasses 78 acres that include a mature forest, a world-famous rhododendron garden, and a newly-completed native plant garden. The park, with its many trails, is a mecca for hikers, birders, and others who enjoy retreating to the tranquility of nature near the urban core. In the forest, one can walk among two-hundred year old Douglas fir trees surrounded by wildflowers, such as trilliums and iris. Hendricks Park is best known for its Rhododendron Garden, which has been the featured garden for several conventions of the American Rhododendron Society with over six thousand varieties of rhododendrons and other ornamental plants.

The trail system provides excellent opportunities to experience and learn about the western Oregon coniferous forest ecosystem. While the forest canopy is almost entirely Douglas-fir, there are Oregon white oak and an abundance of big leaf maples in the middle canopy. Under this mixed fir and maple forest, there are areas of osoberry and snowberry with some western hazel, dogwood, and vine maple.  There is an ongoing effort to remove English ivy and establish a diverse, native groundcover in the forested section of the park.

Sightings:

From the parking lot across from the shelter, one can head up paths into the wooded section of the park. Here one can expect to hear and see a variety of forest birds, the mix depending on the season. Spring brings a variety of warblers (Orange-crowned, Townsend's, Nashville, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated gray) to the upper branches.  The calls and plumage  of the Western Tanager and Black-headed Grosbeak are distinctive. These may be joined by Hammond's and Pacific-slope Flycatchers, Western Wood Peewee and a Swainson's or Hermit Thrush. Year-round residents include Bewick's and Winter Wren, Brown Creeper, Pine Siskin, Red-breasted Nuthatch, as well as Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees. If you are fortunate, you might glimpse Pileated Woodpeckers, who have occasionally nested in the park along one of the woodland paths.

In the Rhododendron Garden and more public areas, one can see Scrub and Steller's Jays, Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, House Finch and American Robin. Spring and summer flowers attract Rufous and Anna's Hummingbird. Northern Flicker often come flying into the trees. The variety of habitat, from forested slopes to open gardens, brings a corresponding variety of bird life to Hendricks Park.

Spotted Towhee