On 19 April, Karen and I drove to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in
the eastern Oregon high desert (Eight hours from Olympia via I-5 and
Santiam Pass out of Salem, OR). We had four days, which I consider the
absolute minimum for this spectacular spring trip.

The first great birds were in the flooded fields in the valley around
Burns. There we saw thin clouds of Ross's Geese--I say thin because we
probably saw about 500 geese, while sometimes we have seen roughly
5,000 of these geese in the air here at once. I think we were a bit
late for the peak. Oh, and there were also lots of Sandhill Cranes,
Yellow-headed Blackbirds, and various ducks. Deciding not to dawdle,
we drove on toward Frenchglen; on the way, we saw a herd of 31
Pronghorns grazing in an irrigated field.

At Frenchglen, we discovered that the Frenchglen Mercantile--the source
of gas in this remote community--is closed. According to a volunteer
at Malheur, it has been closed since at least October and may be closed
due to a divorce. The funny thing is that it looks like it's still
open, with just a small "closed" sign on the door. We drove by three
times before I finally got out of the car, looked inside, and saw all
of about three canned goods on the otherwise empty shelves.
Fortunately another fixture of Frenchglen, the scores of Turkey
Vultures roosting on the P Ranch fire tower, didn't disappoint us.

We drove on to the Page Springs BLM campground, a terrific camp tucked
along cliffs adjacent to the Donner und Blitzen River--originally named
by cavalry officer George Curry crossing the swollen river while
thunder and lightning (donder und blitzen) crashed around his troops,
who were searching for Snake Indians--then later corrupted in spelling
by local settlers. The cliffs provide homes to a troop of swallows;
and in some years a Long-eared Owl pair nests just up the nature trail
from the campground, in the juniper forest. If you go, and if you have
trouble sleeping, the Common Snipes will keep you company late into the
night, American Robins will wake you up with the rising moon, and a
Canyon Wren will provide its musical accompaniment to the morning.

Sunday morning we drove the short distance to P Ranch and walked
through the barn and around the grounds. The highlight was a Great
Horned Owl, which was hooting well into the sunlit morning. We spotted
it on a huge cottonwood, then it settled into a broad cavity in one
tree and hooted while we watched and photographed.

Next we drove slowly along the Central Patrol Road to the refuge
headquarters, where we walked around the grounds looking for migrants.
But we were seasonally early for songbirds, and not much was happening
here--though the ground squirrels messing up the refuge lawn are always
entertaining.

For the rest of the day, we drove the refuge roads, inspecting whatever
wildlife we could find. In addition to birds, we saw several Coyotes,
scores of Black-tailed Deer (one with two Black-billed Magpies sitting
on its back), Yellow-bellied Marmots, and a Long-tailed Weasel.

Our highlight of the day was finding a Black-crowned Night Heron, which
is nice to see in itself; but this time we observed it for a long time
and saw it catch, subdue, and eat a Ribbon Snake. I wish I could link
you to a picture of this event, but my computer-linked-to-my-scanner is
sitting at a Seattle computer store waiting for repair after I wrecked
it this week. Karen got some great videos of the predation event, and
my slides are pretty good.

The next morning we awoke at 5 a.m. to drive to the Sage Grouse lek,
located on BLM land on a mesa above the refuge. There we watched for
several hours while a dozen-or-so male Sage Grouse danced and vocalized
in their attempt to attract a female. We didn't see any females, and
the males apparently didn't either, so they all flew off in a rush to
have breakfast on a nearby sagebrush-covered ridge.

Then it started raining. We decided to drive to the Alvord Desert, a
miles-wide broad dry lakebed of blindingly white alkaline soil. Not
many wildflowers on the sagebrush slopes above the lake this year,
probably due to a dry winter and spring. We were going to soak in the
Alvord Hot Springs, a nicely developed hot spring adjacent to the dry
lake, but this midwestern boy was intimidated by the naked people
occupying the hot pools. I guess if I had grown up in California, it
wouldn't be a problem, but I was taught the midwestern value of SHAME.

We decided to refuel at the remote outpost of Fields, Oregon. There
people poured out of the cafe (well, the one person eating there at the
six seat cafe anyway) to inspect our scarlet Pontiac Aztek. Our car
was a revelation to him, and he was filled with questions: "Is it
electric?;" "Why is it shaped like that?" To his questions I answered
"No" and something to the effect that it's because we are nerds and
think it's cool.

The rest of the trip was filled with birding experiences of the
ordinary kind. This is our favorite place to visit in the springtime
and, if you've never taken this trip, it is inspirational.

A political note: The Bush administration recently proposed replacing
federal employees of the land management agencies, such as the refuge
biologists, with privatized corporate employees. Does this make any
sense? Are biologists working for the equivalent of Enron going to
care properly for our American land?

Species List:

Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Ross's Goose
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Osprey
Northern Harrier (scores of them!)
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
Chukar
Ring-necked Pheasant
Sage grouse
California Quail
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Willet
Long-billed Curlew
Common Snipe
Franklin's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Great Horned Owl
Short-eared Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Say's Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Canyon Wren
Marsh Wren
American Robin
Sage Thrasher
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
House Sparrow



Lee Rentz
Shelton, WA
lee at leerentz.com