Subject: [Tweeters] Lake Co, Oregon, day 3, 6/18/08
Date: Jun 24 12:07:08 2008
From: Mark Vernon - ma_vern at yahoo.com











Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge
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June 18th, 2008 I awoke at the Hot Spring Campsite to Mountain Cottontails hopping about the camp. There were some resident Sapsuckers, at first I thought they would be Red-naped. But they turned out to be Red-breasted Sapsuckers. Another pair of birds in camp were Bullock's Orioles.
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We went over to the South Border of the Refuge to look for two US Army graves from the 1860s, which we found. We also walked on a jeep road that is called the South Border Road.? There were lots of Antelopes here. But I saw something that looked strange, at least to me. There was a swirling cloud of gulls over the sagebrush. When I got close to them I was sure they were California Gulls. I think they were after insects, the most common that I could see were Tent Caterpillers, but I don't know. The Refuge bird checklist did not include California Gulls, but I think that was an oversight. Here I also had a great look at some Sage Thrashers.
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Then we went down to plush for gas and stopped at the Warner Lakes Viewpoint with it's observation blinds. It was bird heaven! Many birds were here that I haven't seen since last I was at Malhuer. There were White-faced Ibis, Willets, Long-billed Curlews, an American Avocet and a Black-necked Stilt. I was amazed about how many Cinnamon Teals there were. I had great views of Redheads which I am not all that familiar with. Black Terns were very active and Caspian Terns were also present. I did not see any Forrester's Terns. I really enjoyed getting close to the Yellow-headed Blackbirds. ?A Black-crowned Night Heron topped things off nicely.
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Back in camp that evening I flushed up a Short-eared Owl on the hill above camp.
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Mark Vernon
Renton, WA
mailto ma_vern at yahoo.com