Ten people went on the E. L. WA Audubon extended field trip to Malheur NWR.
We drove down on Sun., birded extensively Mon. - Thurs. and drove back on
Fri. We all stayed at the Malheur Field Station. The fields south of Burns
had lots of water and numerous waterfowl, but in the Malheur area the water
was the lowest I have ever seen. Malheur and Harney Lakes are really just
small mud puddles. Each morning we were awakened by the "will-will-willet"
cries of the WILLET which nest in the surrounding sage brush areas. There
were hundreds of nesting CLIFF SWALLOWS and you felt like you were walking
thru a cloud of flying swallows. On Monday we birded to the HQ and stayed
there for a couple of hours, seeing GREAT HORNED OWL, LAZULI BUNTING,
WARBLING VIREO, WESTERN TANAGER, YELLOW WARBLER, a rare BLACK-AND-WHITE
WARBLER was seen by some. We got good looks at a LEWIS' WOODPECKER. This is
the 7th trip I have made to Malheur and the first time I have seen the LEWO
and we saw them at three different locations. We continued on toward the
Round Barn and saw LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE and the SAGE THRASHER with the
beautiful song. After lunch at the Round Barn we went to Lava Pit Crater in
the Diamond Craters area. We saw the usual GREAT HORNED OWL, ROCK WREN and
CANYON WREN. And also saw WILSON'S WARBLER and MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER. On
Tuesday we drove the Center Patrol Road(CPR), had lunch at the Buena Vista
Overlook and continued on to Benson's Pond and Krumbo Reservoir. The YELLOW
and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS were numerous. Three SHORT-EARED OWLS were seen
flitting over the grasslands. We watched the graceful flight of a number of
BLACK TERNS over Benson's Pond and also saw a TOWNSEND'S WARBLER. Krumbo
Reservoir yielded the reliable CLARK'S GREBE, with a WESTERN GREBE for
comparison. On Wednesday we drove back to Benson's Pond. On the way we
stopped by some lava cliffs, played the CHUKAR call and right on cue one
showed up on the top of one of the cliffs. We saw a pair of TRUMPETER SWANS
that regularly nest near or at Benson's Pond. We continued south on the
Center Patrol Road to the "P" Ranch and saw a BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON fly
by us. We ate lunch at Page Springs CG and then walked the trail to the
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT area. We heard it first and then coaxed it into view by
playing its calls. We also saw the HOUSE WREN and LESSER GOLDFINCH which are
reliable at the CG. On Friday, the group split up. Three of the women did a
Bird-A-Thon and got 101 species. My car visited HQ again and saw WILSON'S
PHALAROPE in ponds on the way to HQ. At HQ, we saw CEDAR WAXWING. then we
proceeded on what is known as raptor alley to Princeton, Crane and Burns. We
saw NORTHERN HARRIER, RED-TAILED HAWKS, two FERRUGINOUS HAWKS and four
GOLDEN EAGLES and AMERICAN KESTRELS. Later, south of Burns we saw a COOPER'S
HAWK while the Bird-A-Thon team saw a NORTHERN GOSHAWK and EASTERN KINGBIRD.
On the drive back home on Friday we encountered snow on two passes north of
Burns and also at Snoqualmie Pass. It was a very good trip and resulted in a
lot of good birds. The group had 127 species for the four days at Malheur.
Two species we usually see, but didn't on this trip were Prairie Falcon and
Burrowing Owls. If anyone wants to see the complete list of birds, email me
and I will send it to you.

Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at bigzoo.net