I spent a couple days of my precious spring break cruising Malheur NWR. The
highlights include:
An enormous flock of thousands of SNOW GEESE in the fields along HODGKISS
LANE along with a flock of 50+ LONG-BILLED CURLEW and a handful of SANDHILL
CRANES.
A nice mixture of ducks and swans at BENSON POND and KRUMBO POND.
A nice mixture of raptors including GOLDEN EAGLE, BALD EAGLE, AMERICAN
KESTREL, PRAIRIE FALCON, REDTAILED HAWK, FERRUGINOUS HAWK, ROUGHLEGGED
HAWK, and many NORTHERN HARRIERS.
SAYS PHOEBES seemed to be everywhere; I don't spend an enormous amount of
time in their normal range but it was a nice study.
On the way home CALLIOPE CROSSING outside of Sisters had a calling VIRGINIA
RAIL along with the usual Ponderosa forest suspects like RED CROSSBILL,
PYGMY NUTHATCH, etc
MALHEUR HQ was open but there were few birds, a YELLOWRUMPED WARBLER,
RUBYCROWNEDKINGLET, and some JUNCOS and BLACKBIRDS. I was happy to be able
to walk around HQ. Happy weekend,
Jimmy Billstine
