NORTHEASTERN OREGON
13-16 MARCH 2003

Ellen and I made an early spring trip to parts of northeastern Oregon.
There, we visited the famous Zumwalt Prairie landscape, skirted the
stupendous Hells Canyon, hiked into conifer forests in search of Great Gray
Owls, and, on our return home, checked some of the wetlands and flooded
fields to view the waterbird migration.

RAPTORS OVER ZUMWALT PRAIRIE (13 MARCH). North and east of Enterprise, we
slowly drove most of the way to Zumwalt over miles of the wide-open
grasslands. Fierce winds hampered our efforts, I'm sure, but it was clear to
us there weren't many birds about. We encountered a couple of Red-tailed and
Rough-legged Hawks, scattered Horned Larks, and Common Ravens. In areas of
Quaking Aspen, there were Black-billed Magpies; while pretty Mountain
Bluebirds graced nearby slopes. It was evident spring was still some time
away here; certainly there was as yet little evidence of greening or
wildflowers. Drifting snow over the road stopped us several miles south of
the old site of Zumwalt.

Nearby Crow Creek Road, on the other hand, was full of raptors. We soon
noted that Belding Ground Squirrels everywhere. After driving it's entire
length (north to Lewis Road) and finding numbers of raptors and squirrels at
every stop, I became curious why there seemed to be a difference in numbers
of birds of prey here as compared to the Zumwalt Road. The following come to
mind: first, the Zumwalt Prairie is higher in elevation; possibly the
Belding Ground Squirrel had not yet emerged from hibernation. Second,
shallow-soiled lithosols seem to characterize the Zumwalt Prairie landscape
as compared to deeper soils along Crow Creek, possibly indicating less
habitat for squirrels. Third, we noted more obvious nesting sites along Crow
Creek (cliffs and rimrock and Quaking Aspen and other trees). In my opinion,
the Crow Creek Road, which appears to be mostly in private ownership,
deserves the recognition the Zumwalt Prairie has achieved, where more than
26,000 acres are owned by The Nature Conservancy of Oregon.

Raptors noted along this road:

Bald Eagle - 6
Northern Harrier - 4
Red-tailed Hawk - 9
Ferruginous Hawk - 4
Rough-legged Hawk -4
Golden Eagle - 4
American Kestrel - 1
Prairie Falcon - 2

We watched a soaring Ferruginous Hawk for 30 minutes, at times putting down
just out of view behind a ridgetop. Each time it reappeared with a stick
which it took to its mate building (or rebuilding) a nest in a Quaking Aspen
up a gulch west of the road. We also enjoyed watching the male hawk dive
bomb a troop of magpies, who were venturing too close to the nest in the
aspen stringer.

After admiring so many birds of prey in this rodent-rich area, I reflected
on my experience in Washington, where I haven't encountered a landscape with
so much prey for raptors that specialize on medium-sized mammals such as
Ferruginous Hawks and Golden Eagles do. Long may this continue! I talked
with Frank Conley, the local expert on birds, who felt that squirrel
numbers, over the past 30 years, have seemed stable in the Zumwalt Prairie
ecosystem, but that numbers of breeding Ferruginous Hawks have clearly been
diminishing. During this time, he estimates a 70% reduction in numbers of
nesting Ferruginous Hawks, to only 10-18 pairs now. Frank speculates that a
decline in the quality of wintering habitat as a cause of the downturn in
numbers of this regal bird.

Along the road on the way back to Joseph, we had reasonable views of a pair
of Gray Partridge.

South of Joseph, we paid a short visit to Wallowa Lake, and northern edge of
the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area. Driving along the lake, she noted a flock of
American Wigeons. Scrutiny of this flock revealed a male Eurasian. We took a
mini-hike up to the crest of the huge terminal moraine that dams the lake;
roughly following sketchy game trails 800 feet up the bunchgrass and
buckwheat-grown slopes and arrived back just as darkness fell. By that time,
we felt we had earned dinner, so headed into Joseph and had a fine supper at
a brew pub.

IMNAHA CANYON (14 MARCH). The following morning, we looked forward to
hiking in Imnaha Canyon on the Nee-Mee- Poo Trail which descends into the
Hells Canyon. At the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Information office in
Enterprise, we were told it was a three-hour drive to the Snake River at Dug
Bar and the lower trailhead. As we sped at almost freeway speed east from
Joseph, I reflected this seemed pretty silly advice. After all, it was only
55 miles to the river. The reality check came five miles past Imnaha when
the road abruptly deteriorated into a narrow and rocky, switchbacking track.
We soon gave up, deciding 50 miles (roundtrip) of this was going to consume
too much time, patience, and wear and tear on our car. Instead, we elected
to take several short walks on the benchlands at our turnaround point. One
was along a Water Birch-lined draw, where Prickly Pear cactus was abundant
on the overgrazed grasslands (cows rule supreme in northeastern Oregon).
Birds were very few: a couple Red-tailed Hawks and Common Ravens overhead,
one Prairie Falcon, and lots of singing Song Sparrows in the riparian
growth. Another walk was down a steep slope covered with a dense growth of
Bluebunch Wheatgrass. Singing Western Meadowlarks were conspicuous;
otherwise we noted few birds. The scenery here was dramatic, very similar to
that in extreme southeastern Washington along the Grande Ronde River.

LA GRANDE AREA (15-16 MARCH). On the afternoon of 15 March, we descended
into the La Grande area, stopping to admire a sizeable (600) flock of Tundra
Swans, milling in flooded fields northeast of the city. There were also 40
Greater White-fronted and about the same number of Canada Geese. Early
spring ducks were also present: lots of Mallards, Northern Pintails, and
wigeons, all American save one drake Eurasian.

At the Ladd Marsh, we noted the ponds were quiet, indicating flooded fields
was where the action was for waterfowl. We added one early Cinnamon Teal,
and Gadwall and a few Northern Shovelers to our list. Out in a distant field
were 20 Sandhill Cranes. I could not tell if these were local breeders of
the "Greater" race or, migrant "Lessers."

As the main purpose of our trip here was to search for Great Gray Owl, we
hurried to the La Grande National Forest Ranger Station before it closed to
see if we could get an update. The folks there were very helpful, even
giving us a sheet detailing directions to three different Great Gray Owl
nests that were active in 2002. To give ourselves several chances at this
elusive bird, we set off to the Spring Creek area west of La Grande. It was
but a 300-yard walk through partially logged mixed conifer forest to the
artificial nest platform, situated only 150 yards from an open fescue and
buckwheat meadow, rimmed by Ponderosa Pine. After searching about the forest
interior with no luck in finding the owl, we carefully scanned the meadow
edge, again with no success.

The following morning, though the weather appeared ominous, with dark
brooding clouds all about, we went again to Spring Creek. Within a minute of
getting out of our car, we heard a Great Gray Owl hooting from the woods,
out in the direction of the nesting platform. We lingered by the car for 10
minutes, also hearing a Northern Pygmy-Owl. We were excited! The weather was
holding out, too. It seemed as if the forecasted storm was going to wait a
bit to arrive, so we set off on the ten-minute walk to the nesting woods.
Ellen promptly picked out a Great Gray Owl perched not 100 feet from one of
the nesting platforms. We viewed this very imposing bird for a few minutes.
It seemed unconcerned by our presence. After awhile, it flew a few hundred
feet south to the top of a 30-foot high snag, from which it peered intently
down to the ground, and occasionally looking up and around. All the while
the owl was perched here, wails from an accipiter issued from the denser
mixed conifer forest just west of the nesting platforms. The owl seemed to
ignore all this commotion, which surprised me. After about 30 minutes of
viewing, the owl took off into denser forest, followed by another,
presumably its mate.

We decided to venture towards the accipiter (s), which were still wailing.
Ellen barely noted one bird spring from the trees as we approached and then
the forest was quiet. Scanning the trees, she noted a large platform of
sticks midway up a Douglas-fir, which we took to be a nest, possibly, the
one the hawks were working on. Though we lingered here for 30 minutes, the
birds did not return. So, we don't know if this was a Northern Goshawk or
Cooper's Hawk territory. My hunch is goshawk, though.

We were both pleased by the number and diversity of birds here. We compiled
a list similar to the mixed conifer forest where Great Gray Owls reside near
Havillah, Washington:

Bald Eagle - 1 overhead
Accipiter sp. - 2
Northern Pygmy-Owl - 1
Great Gray Owl 2
Williamson's Sapsucker - 1 drumming and calling
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Gray Jay - 4
Steller's Jay - 2
Clark's Nutcracker - 2
American Crow - heard in the distance
Common Raven - 2
Mountain Chickadee - 5
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 5
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Brown Creeper - 2, singing
Winter Wren - 1 singing
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 3
Western Bluebird - 2
American Robin - 2
Varied Thrush - 1 singing from dense larches nearby
Dark-eyed Junco - 10
Cassin's Finch - 1 singing
Red Crossbill - 5+, lots of singing
Evening Grosbeak - 3

MCNARY WILDLIFE AREA (16 MARCH). Our final stop in the region was in the
wildlife area below McNary Dam, in the lowest and warmest part of
northeastern Oregon. Here we added a few wintering species that apparently
had not departed from the food-rich climes here for the colder areas we'd
just visited. Species on this list included Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Cedar
Waxwing, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Fox, Golden-crowned and White-crowned
Sparrows.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA
Steppie at nwinfo.net