Fourteen birders from the East Lake WA AS birded the Malheur NWR for four
days, May 20-23. The weather was colder than normal, 50s and windy Mon. and
Tues., 60s and windy on Wed. and finally a nice day in the 70s for
Thursday.The water level was the lowest I have seen for any of our trips. We
met an Elderhostel group being led by Dave Helser and Steve Robertson ( I
hope I got the names right). I asked about their itinerary and then modified
ours so we wouldn't be going to the same place at the same time. Despite the
weather we ended up with a total of 134 species which was a record for our
Malheur trips. Counting other birds seen going to and from Malheur we had
148 species. Highlights are listed below. A full list is available to anyone
the wants to email me direct. We started out at the refuge HQ on Monday. We
were rewarded with and INDIGO BUNTING and LAZULI BUNTING pair, both in the
same field of view. The usual GREAT HORNED OWL was there. A BLACK-CHINNED
HUMMINGBIRD pair was at the feeder. At the Lava Pit Crater we were rewarded
with CANYON WREN, ROCK WREN and GREAT HORNED OWL. A lone TRUMPETER SWAN with
a green neck band was at Benson Pond and 6-7 River Otter were playing in the
middle. A VIRGINIA RAIL coaxed into plain view with a mini-disc recording.
Further south on the Central Patrol Road we saw two BLACK-CROWNED
NIGHT-HERON as well as two AMERICAN BITTERN. BOBOLINKS were seen in grass
field just north of the P Ranch. At the P Ranch parking lot we scoped two
adult and two young GREAT HORNED OWLS. The reported HARRIS' SPARROW was
found as well as LESSER GOLDFINCH. At Page Springs CG, we were able to bring
the YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT into view with the recording. We also were able to
find the LONG-EARED OWL nest with two young guarded by an adult. One day we
did raptor alley, HQ to Crane and Burns. We saw all the expected raptors as
well as BURROWING OWLS near milepost 11. Our total raptor count for the four
days at the refuge was 1 BALD EAGLE, 36 NORTHERN HARRIER, 7 SWAINSON'S
HAWK, 22 RED-TAILED HAWK, 5 FERRUGINOUS HAWK, 6 GOLDEN EAGLE, 5 AMERICAN
KESTREL, 1 PEREGRINE FALCON and 9 PRAIRIE FALCON. We left on Friday and
stopped at Idylwild CG at the top of the first pass north of Burns. As we
entered the CG we saw two WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKERS. In the CG we were able
with the help of the mini-disc recordings to bring into view CASSIN'S VIREO,
DUSKY FLYCATCHER, CHIPPING SPARROW and WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. Also saw
MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, HERMIT THRUSH and HAIRY
WOODPECKER while there. All in all it was one of our best birding trips to
Malheur even though the weather was not the best.

Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at bigzoo.net