Hi Tweets,

I drove down to Malheur on 5/13 and back on 5/16. The major feature to report was the weather which in a major way affected the birding. As I was tent camping (at the Narrows RV campground) I was quite aware of the weather. First the water levels are very high, which not only disperses the water birds but also closes a lot of birding access. There has been major snowmelt from Steens Mountain which had water levels higher than I had ever seen in the four to five years I have been going there. There was a thunderstorm on the night of 5/13 and it rained off and on for 5/14 and 5/15. New records were set for rain on 5/14 and 5/15 with wind gusts on 5/13 to 45 mph and slightly less on 5/15. Reportedly the Page Springs Campground was evacuated at 2 a.m. on 5/14 due to flash flood concerns. A flash flood warning was issued for all of Harney County at about that time as well. Parts of the Center Patrol Road were closed due to water flowing over the road. On 5/14 I met fellow birders Kathy and Ed Volz at the Diamond Hotel for dinner, water is flowing over the road in several places on the road into Diamond and while I drove through it very slowly, I must admit I kept wondering what was happening to the road under me in terms of softening and erosion. I was at the P-Ranch about 6:30 a.m. or so on 5/15. The Blitzen River was running very close to the top of the dike - maybe a foot or so from over-flowing the dike, and for those who don't remember, the ranch itself sits below the dike. It snowed most of the night on 5/15, accumulations probably about two inches on Wright's Point (the ridge that one crosses going from Burns to Malheur) and there was a state snow plow heading south toward Malheur when I got to Burns about 6:30 a.m. As a side note there was flooding at John Day (in case anyone is planning to drive down that route) which was making the news in the area regularly when I was leaving.

Notwithstanding the weather (I am getting too old for tent camping in that stuff), lots of Western and at least two Clark's Grebes at the Narrows, lots of Great Horned Owls (I saw 12-13 without trying in two days), a flock of Lazuli Buntings was hanging out at the Visitor Center, otherwise mostly what one would expect.

In spite of all the weather drama, I had a great time and the Clark's Grebes were a new life bird for me.

Happy birding,
Jud Scovill
Green Lake neighborhood of North Seattle