Alright, back to Malheur...
This is my worst nightmare of a warbler to ID:
My best guess from Sibley's would be a brownish 1st year Yellow Warbler...
Another creature that's not a bird....
At least this one didn't fling itself inside my car..
At stop #17 there's a teeny trail covered with plants with thorns that leads to a spot where you can peep at the river (or creek?). I caught these three mergansers heading downstream..
Next I stopped at P Ranch to check out the river trail and the barn... I have a lot of mystery birds from this trip... I won't post them all, but this one really bugged me..
Another bird I had trouble with is this one:
And here's a view of the backside:
So far my best guess is immature MacGillivray's Warbler..
At P Ranch I was greeted by the king of the barn:
After P Ranch I stopped at The Narrows for a grilled cheese, then headed to the Sod House Ranch. I was greeted by a very friendly volunteer named Tom who taught me the history of all the different buildings and even let me bring Jake inside them.
Goldfinches perched on the fenceposts..
Quail were running all over the place...
Several kinds of blackbirds were around including my first Yellow-headed Blackbird of the trip...
In addition to birds and great history, the ranch is home to a bunch of cows. Tom told me that a woman from The Narrows takes in calves that have lost their mothers and bottle-feeds them and keeps them at the ranch. Because of their close relationship with humans they walk towards you instead of away from you... Jake liked that.
It's pretty cool... The cattledog in Jake was going nuts though.
I stopped at the refuge headquarters after that and found a pair of Lewis's Woodpeckers working on a telephone pole.
Back down Sodhouse Lane I discovered the reason for so much poop in the road:
I guess the cows roam freely this time of year... Monday morning I saw a victim of the free-ranging cow lifestyle...
Anyway... back at the pond on Sunday afternoon were quite a few Black-necked Stilts..
Monday morning at the pond was another gorgeous sunrise...
I had decided to drive up Steens Mountain but I made a quick stop at P Ranch on the way... I finally got to see the vultures nesting on the tower.
That's a lot of vultures!! And there were dozens more napping in the trees around the ranch...
After Steens Mountain (I'll post about that drive separately) I stopped at the pond one last time before the long drive home...
Egrets and ibises and pelicans, oh my!
What a great place!!! Stay tuned for my post on Steens Mountain!
This is my worst nightmare of a warbler to ID:
Another creature that's not a bird....
At stop #17 there's a teeny trail covered with plants with thorns that leads to a spot where you can peep at the river (or creek?). I caught these three mergansers heading downstream..
Next I stopped at P Ranch to check out the river trail and the barn... I have a lot of mystery birds from this trip... I won't post them all, but this one really bugged me..
Another bird I had trouble with is this one:
And here's a view of the backside:
At P Ranch I was greeted by the king of the barn:
After P Ranch I stopped at The Narrows for a grilled cheese, then headed to the Sod House Ranch. I was greeted by a very friendly volunteer named Tom who taught me the history of all the different buildings and even let me bring Jake inside them.
Goldfinches perched on the fenceposts..
Quail were running all over the place...
Several kinds of blackbirds were around including my first Yellow-headed Blackbird of the trip...
In addition to birds and great history, the ranch is home to a bunch of cows. Tom told me that a woman from The Narrows takes in calves that have lost their mothers and bottle-feeds them and keeps them at the ranch. Because of their close relationship with humans they walk towards you instead of away from you... Jake liked that.
It's pretty cool... The cattledog in Jake was going nuts though.
I stopped at the refuge headquarters after that and found a pair of Lewis's Woodpeckers working on a telephone pole.
Back down Sodhouse Lane I discovered the reason for so much poop in the road:
I guess the cows roam freely this time of year... Monday morning I saw a victim of the free-ranging cow lifestyle...
Anyway... back at the pond on Sunday afternoon were quite a few Black-necked Stilts..
Monday morning at the pond was another gorgeous sunrise...
I had decided to drive up Steens Mountain but I made a quick stop at P Ranch on the way... I finally got to see the vultures nesting on the tower.
After Steens Mountain (I'll post about that drive separately) I stopped at the pond one last time before the long drive home...
What a great place!!! Stay tuned for my post on Steens Mountain!
A fabulous selection from your Malheur trip. I'm delighted to see someone is seeing plenty of birds. The sunrises with the Heron and Geese were smashing. Well done Jen.
ReplyDeleteVery creative posting. I don't have a creative eye so I focus on the bird rather then the surroundings. Very nice. I'll visit often.
ReplyDeleteYou always see the best stuff! About the swifts: I plan to go see them again on Monday night between 7-8pm. I put the word out to some friends too. It would be great to meet you if you'd like to join us. E-mail me if you want to meet up and I'll try to figure out how we would find you in the crowd!
ReplyDeleteThe bird does appear to be a MacGillivray's but the eye cresents seem a bit tough to make out and maybe a little less obvious then I would expect but I think its just the photo. The other possible bird would be Mourning Warbler.
ReplyDeleteGreat birds and photos! I've never seen a stilt before-and interesting for me to see the different species of woodpecker too.
ReplyDelete