Hi everyone,

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I just got off the water on my annual float trip down the Deschutes River in Oregon.? Spectacular weather, gorgeous scenery as always, and tons of photography and sketching opportunities.? Here are?some highlights ?from the trip.? The first was actually prior to the trip, while staying with my friend in Sisters, Oregon.??In recent?years I look for Green-tailed Towhees (and so far have been lucky to find - many thanks to Khanh Tran for his initial tip on where to find them ).? These birds are skulky and so I had not previously ?been able to get shots of them...this year I did.? The first of two (click next for the second one) is at - http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/detail.asp?LID=&photoID=12029238&cat=38992 .

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This year on the Deschutes itself (Trout Creek to Maupin) I had 45 species, about the usual number, with a few new ones (my life list for the river ?is 88 after this year).? Raptors are what I look forward to most on this trip, due to the remote nature of the canyon.? This year's raptor list included two Peregrine Falcons seen hunting near the river, multiple American Kestrels, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Bald Eagle (presumably one of the pair that we've seen for five or six years in the same general area each trip)?and most notably, two Golden Eagles in separate locations.? The float trip has been reliable for Golden Eagles (with attention paid to large birds soaring high and sometimes distant) the last few years.? This year was particularly noteworthy in that the second eagle I saw flew across the river and landed on a steep canyon slope carrying a large prey item.? My scope was back in camp ?and so?with ?only binoculars?I could not ?identify the prey, but it was a good size load even?for that large a bird.? No Prairie Falcon this year, unfortunately.? Osprey, of course, were thick as flies - their nesting density along this river (a fabulous wild trout and steelhead river) must be one of the highest anywhere.? 'Our' pair, which has a nest within 50 yards of a very popular camping spot, only about twenty feet up in a railroad telegraph pole (used currently to carry signals for a rockslide warning system?along the tracks in an unstable area) had another successful year.? The nest was absolutely packed with five birds - the adult pair and three fledged young (with the scope, the eye colors ID'd which was which).? Although all the young periodically took flight and at times the nest was completely empty, the adults were still bringing trout back to the nest to feed the youngsters.? This pair has fledged?at least fifteen young ?in the last six or seven ?years.? I only recall one year that they had a single youngster - two or three has been the norm .? Over the years, their nest has grown to a size that looks uncomfortably big for the pole it's in.? Every year there are new Osprey nests either on the telegraph poles, or on platforms that ranchers and others have installed for their use.? When actually floating the river, it seems that never more than a few minutes go by without seeing a perched, soaring, or diving Osprey (or three).?



John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net

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