Sixteen birders went on this May 22-26 ELWAS field trip to the Malheur NWR. We left on May 22 for the 500 mile drive to Burns, OR. Three days were spent birding in the Malheur NWR area. This NWR is one of the largest in the U.S. and is rated as one of the 10 best birding areas in the U.S. It is obvious why when you visit there. I have been there eight times and it is always a wonderful experience with beautiful scenery and excellent birding.

Our first birding stop was at De Moss Park, about 15 miles south of Biggs, OR, for lunch. We recorded 21 species, including:

Prairie Falcon, Red-tailed & Swainson's Hawk
American Kestrel 3
Belted Kingfisher & Warbling Vireo - the only ones on the trip
Townsend's, Yellow, Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers
Bullock's Oriole
Western Tanager

We stayed at a motel in Burns and went to the NWR each of the next three days, and, surprisingly, had a total of 94 species on each of the days and a total of 125 overall.

DAY ONE - we drove the 35 miles to the refuge headquarters while stopping at many of the wetlands to view hundreds of waterfowl and shorebirds. We then drove to the Round Barn for lunch, visited Lava Pit Crater and ended at the Buena Vista Overlook. Highlights include:

White-faced Ibis & Yellow-headed Blackbirds in the hundreds
Ross's Goose one all by itself, suspect it may have been unable to fly north on schedule
Trumpeter Swans 2
Black-crowned Night-Herons
Ferruginous Hawks
Golden Eagles 3
Wilson's Phalaropes very numerous
Willet hundreds, calling and displaying in flight
Franklin's Gulls were numerous
Swallows 6 species at one location
Black Terns many gracefully flying over some of the ponds
HOODED WARBLER one female at the HQ which has been there a few days
EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE near farm east of HQ & not on bird checklist yet, reported at HQ on May 27.
Great Horned Owl 1 adult and 2 young in Lava Pit Crater
Rock & Canyon Wrens also at crater

DAY TWO we drove the Center Patrol Road to Buena Vista ponds, then to Benson's Pond, and then Krumbo Reservoir which was a disappointment. Highlights:

MacGillivray's Warbler at field station
Red-necked Phalarope a few hundred, most I have ever seen in one place, in one pond area.
Blue-winged Teal & Ring-necked Duck new for the trip
Ring-necked Pheasant
Bonaparte's Gull one still in non-breeding plumage
Caspian Terns
Say's Phoebes & Cordilleran Flycatcher
Benson's Pond was very good for warblers & flycatchers and 4 Great Horned Owls, 2 adult & 2 young

DAY THREE We started at Benson's Pond and drove Center Patrol Road down to P Ranch and then to Page Springs CG for lunch and walking two trails, and lastly at Frenchglen. We had lunch at the CG in the middle of a heavy hail storm, fortunately we were under a picnic shelter. There was pea to marble sized hail which accumulated to about one inch thick. This made the river trail icy and muddy until it all melted in about an hour. The following new species were recorded:

Clarke's Grebe among a large number of Western Grebes
Forster's Terns
BOBOLINK very good looks at two birds perched on top of bushes
Cassin's Vireo along nature trail at CG
House Wren at CG
Lesser Goldfinch at CG
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT heard several times, only seen briefly a few times, but not by everyone, in trees by cliffs along the east side of the Blitzen River.
Chipping Sparrow at CG
Cassin's and House Finch, Pine Siskin at Frenchglen

We drove north on hwy 395 as we headed home. We stopped at Idlewild CG about 20 miles north of Burns and at Long's Creek Rest Area for lunch. Four new species at the CG were:
Winter Wren
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Mountain Chickadee including one in a nest box.
WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER a male and female

At the rest area we got two more species Dark-eyed Junco and a Ruffed Grouse heard drumming.

It was a very enjoyable trip and we ended up with a respectable total of 134 species. Email me at the address below to get the complete list. This report with a few photos is on the ELWAS website under Birding tab.

Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at earthlink.net