My first trip to Malheur last May was so exciting that I could not wait to return... I spent all of Labor Day weekend down there looking for birds and checking out places I had missed before. It's a much less popular time to visit, and there are fewer birds, but it was still an awesome trip.
First stop: Double O Ranch Road. There were quite a few of these birds flying from sage to fencepost to sage...
Loggerhead Shrike? My first one! And my second and third and fourth....
Back along Highway 205 is a good-sized pond that I don't know the name of, but there are always tons of birds hanging out around it.
Of course there were plenty of White-faced Ibises...
I took some terrible pictures of a pair of American Avocets...
I didn't see any avocets the rest of my trip...
Greater Yellowlegs....
A Forster's Tern was diving for lunch...
There were a handful of gulls around also, but I won't even try to ID them...
I began the long slow drive down Center Patrol Road... Jake pointed out some mule deer...
The insects are out in full effect right now... Grasshopper-type things, butterflies, dragonflies, you name it.
It was super hot and very windy which made driving down a dusty road pretty miserable. I barely saw any birds and decided to quit for the day around 5:00. I got up early Sunday morning completely revived and ready to look for birds...
My first stop was along 205 to get a granola bar out of the trunk. A bird had just flown in front of my windshield so I took a quick shot of it posed on a telephone pole... It was blurry and I didn't even really look at it at the time. Of course, had I looked I would have tried to take more...
It appears to be a Great Horned Owl... I had assumed it was a hawk. Lesson learned.
Back at the pond on 205 were some Pronghorn...
The sunrise over the pond was beautiful...
That's a young Black-crowned Night-Heron flying in front of the sunrise.. I kept spooking them from their perches unintentionally...
Canada Geese and White-faced Ibises were flying in constantly...
I took a drive by the Krumbo Reservoir. California Quail were everywhere...
This hawk was catching some sun...
No doubt about what kind it was....
My next stop was Benson Pond.. A Turkey Vulture came by to check me out... then another and another...
The pond itself was filled with skittish coots...
That was it for the pond... More from Malheur to come!
First stop: Double O Ranch Road. There were quite a few of these birds flying from sage to fencepost to sage...
Back along Highway 205 is a good-sized pond that I don't know the name of, but there are always tons of birds hanging out around it.
Of course there were plenty of White-faced Ibises...
I took some terrible pictures of a pair of American Avocets...
Greater Yellowlegs....
A Forster's Tern was diving for lunch...
There were a handful of gulls around also, but I won't even try to ID them...
I began the long slow drive down Center Patrol Road... Jake pointed out some mule deer...
The insects are out in full effect right now... Grasshopper-type things, butterflies, dragonflies, you name it.
It was super hot and very windy which made driving down a dusty road pretty miserable. I barely saw any birds and decided to quit for the day around 5:00. I got up early Sunday morning completely revived and ready to look for birds...
My first stop was along 205 to get a granola bar out of the trunk. A bird had just flown in front of my windshield so I took a quick shot of it posed on a telephone pole... It was blurry and I didn't even really look at it at the time. Of course, had I looked I would have tried to take more...
Back at the pond on 205 were some Pronghorn...
The sunrise over the pond was beautiful...
That's a young Black-crowned Night-Heron flying in front of the sunrise.. I kept spooking them from their perches unintentionally...
Canada Geese and White-faced Ibises were flying in constantly...
I took a drive by the Krumbo Reservoir. California Quail were everywhere...
This hawk was catching some sun...
No doubt about what kind it was....
My next stop was Benson Pond.. A Turkey Vulture came by to check me out... then another and another...
The pond itself was filled with skittish coots...
That was it for the pond... More from Malheur to come!
I just found your blog today. I look forward to following every post! I love Malheur NWR and I try to go there at least once a year. Haven't made it yet this year. I went one summer with my father-in-law a few years back when I first got into birding. I owe a lot of life birds to Malheur.
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