Klamath Basin NWR Birding with Bro. John

In the spring of 2006, my younger brother John and I took a trip to the Klamath Basin birding.  I flew the Cessna down from Hillsboro, and John drove over from his home in Medford.  We got at it fairly early, and got in a good 100 species day!  Since then I have wanted to go back with him and concentrate this time on trying to photograph some of the amazing birds in that area. We got that chance this last May 7, and it was really fun.  Lot's of romance in the bird air!

The Klamath Basin NWR is one of the largest concentrations of open water in the NWR system.  A nesting spot for many shorebirds and a stop off point for many passarines, it is really a goldmine for anyone with a few hours to spend.  Much of it can be birded by car, making it possible to get very close to many of the birds.





Great Egret



Canada Goose family.





Pied Bill Grebe






Black Crowned Night Heron.  This was one on a roost of at least a couple of dozen including several juveniles.




A couple of my favorite Blackbirds including the Redwing,





And the very proud Yellowheaded.







Ring Billed Gull




One of the really fun things to watch is the Coot's running across the water.  Later in the post I want to show the Grebe breeding dance which is similar, but the Coot's do it as part of a long takeoff!






As I have stated in an earlier post, this year seems to have particularly good for Yellow Rumped Warblers.  This Audouban variant was seen along the river in Bend.


A lot of the ducks were seen this day including:


Redhead



Greater Scaup




And the following are the Lesser Scaup and a Lesser Scaup Pair.







Common Merganser


Cinnamon Teal



And Northern Shoveler


The aerial show being put on by the Forster's Tern's was really spectacular.  





One of the most interesting nesting display's was the Bank Swallow.  Collecting mud from the edge of the river and the lakes, it was building nests under every bridge and against virtually every abutment we saw.


Collecting the mud.


Starting a nest.


Fighting for territory.




At the visitors center in the south unit on the Tule Lake road (California side), there is a very high cliff with owls nesting.  These shots of a fledgling and an adult were probably taken from about 400 yards.




A variety of Raptors was seen including the following:


Red Tail Hawk


Ferruginous Hawk


And one very large Golden Eagle. (Alas no Balds this trip even though they are usually very easy to see on the Klamath unit.)   To give you an idea of how big this Golden Eagle was, we saw an araiel dogfight between it and a Red Tail Hawk.  Look at the size difference in these pictures.








 Ok, let's throw in the Mystery Critter here.  Should be pretty easy.  Klamath in May!!






And now for the Grand Finale of the Klamath trip.  The Western and Clark's Grebes are very similar and very unique birds.  They both share a mating ritual that is remarkable to see.  First the difference.  The Western Grebe is slightly smaller (almost no difference), but is distinct in that the dark patch on the head covers the eye, whereas on the Clark's Grebe it does not.  See the following portraits:


Clark's Grebe

Western Grebe

While most of the rest of these pictures are of the Clark's, there were equally as many Western's as Clark's all exhibiting the same behavior.

Eating and Courting was the primary activity that was being observed.








The dance that they do when they court starts with a series of bows to each other.


Then they literally rise up and run side by side across the water.



We took some video, but I found this BBC video which is better than the stuff we were able to get on what was a grey and overcast day.  This is definitely worth watching.  If it does not open in your browser properly, click here to go to youtube   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1XAFo_uVgk&feature=player_embedded. 



Seeing this with my brother John was fun.  Here is to more of these kind of experiences.

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Just up the road from Portland on I-5 is a little known gem of a wildlife photography location.  Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge is a beautiful area along the Columbia River that was the site of a former Native American village.  Lot's of geese, shorebirds, hardwood forest dwellers and mammals.  I spent an afternoon on May 2nd of this year, (a little late for best bird counts) cruising through in the convertible with the lens hung out!



Ruddy Duck





Pied Bill Grebe




Cinnamon Teal Pair





Beautiful Northern Shoveler Male

And now for the Mystery Critter.  You know where I saw it and otherwise this one needs no clues.

Yellow Warbler

Yellow Rumped (Audubon) Warbler

Marsh Wren


Common Yellowthroat



And one seriously ugly haircut on a Red-Winged Blackbird!!


Peace Out

A Walk in the New England Spring

In and around Windsor, Vermont are many, many jewels.  The history and natural beauty are remarkable, and one place where those two are combined is in the amazing village of Woodstock.  Once owned almost exclusively by the Rockefeller family, it has been carefully preserved and cultivated to retain a quintessential New England spirit.  One of the many gems of Woodstock is the Marsh - Billings - Rockefeller Farm National Historic Park.  It was there that we decided to do a Saturday hike with Chelle, Brig, Anders, Maddie and Eddie this last April.  The snow was just then melting, and The Pogue, a lake up in the hills above the farmstead was not yet clear of ice.  It was muddy, exhilarating and really fun .  With Chelle on the map, we had no worries!  Brig had the "bazooka"



On the way up the mountain we heard and finally saw several Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers pounding away.





When we got to the lake we had a picnic while Eddie looked for and found all of the puddles.



All around the sunny edges of the "Pogue" were the most beautiful Painted Turtles.






I did get a shot of the crew before we left the lake, but Maddie was too busy chewing snow to smile!





On the way down the hill we heard another woodpecker pounding away and thought we would see our Sapsucker friends.  Instead we saw this nice little Downy male working the trees for bugs just starting to hatch in the bark.




A far off Hermit Thrush was singing it's Vermont birdsong.  We managed to get a look at it and got a couple of shots.



And down a bit lower we had the chance to watch this White Breasted Nuthatch busy building it's nest.






One thing I can really say for sure is that Eddie loves his Grandma Paula.



As we came down back into Woodstock, we saw an amazing sight.  I think I will make this the mystery critter for this post.  Remember this was seen in April in Vermont!!!!!







One last little story.  My last post had some birds from behind WalMart in Lebanon, New Hampshire.  After our hike we went to get some grub at the Burger King across from WalMart. But we thought we would cruise the back parking lot quickly before we ate.  A few days before this we had been over at the "Blow Me Down" pond at St Gauden's, and seen a dead beaver which had appeared from under a snow bank.  The kids named him "Dave the Dead ", and we talked about him for days.  Behind WalMart we saw his cousin Barry, who was still alive, and he really didn't care that we were there!



Another great memory with a great family.