The official tour

Today was the morning for my official tour of Malheur NWR.  I was to meet the Volunteer Coordinator at 8:00, and she would drive me around and fill me in on the details of the refuge.  It didn’t quite start on time because the Visitor’s Center was bubbling with people attending a birding workshop at a nearby retreat.  My fellow volunteer, Sue, was manning the VC, but needed an extra set of hands while the visitor’s made purchases.  She was also supposed to ask the visitors if they’d be willing to participate in a NWR survey.  I stepped in and helped her out with that because you have to write down their names and addresses.
While all the folks with binoculars, scopes, and cameras were scanning the surrounding trees for birdlife, the resident great-horned owl came to pose for pictures.  :)  How thoughtful of him.

About an hour later, the tour finally began.  This refuge consists of more than 187,000 acres of prime habitat.  That is big!  I must say that it was the fastest tour I’ve ever had, considering it’s size!  Of course, she knew I had already driven the auto tour route on my own, so we pretty much skipped that, and really didn’t stop anywhere to look at anything.  We also talked about my doing a special project in the field for her so I won’t be stuck the whole time I’m here in the VC.  I was all for that!  She also picked my brain about how to go about setting up bird tours here on the refuge.  I was happy to give her my input.  :)
 
We were back before noon, so I returned to the rig for lunch, and then made a call to Winnebago about the fluid leak from the leveler.  They gave me an email address to use to find out where the nearest place is to have it fixed.  I also asked them where the dipstick was located for checking the fluid levels.  It took him a while to figure that one out.  In the owner’s manual, there is a picture of the dipstick, but they don’t tell you where to find it.  What’s up with that?  Eventually, he told me it was on the frame under the motorhome in front of the passenger’s side front wheel.  So this afternoon, I crawled under the rig on my back to have a look.  I couldn’t find anything that looked like a dipstick (except myself:)).  I’m not giving up, though.
These two pics are of a yellow warbler I found hawking for insects on the wing in the willows along the Blitzen River the other day.  Notice how the bird on the left has his eye on an insect at the top of the pic.  :)

Tomorrow, I’m off early to go to a farmer’s market in Burn, OR, to hunt down some more home grown tomatoes.  It’s a 70 mile round trip, but it will be worth it to me if I’m successful!
                                                                   THE END! 

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy