This place if for the birds!

Literally!  Some readers, who have been journeying with me for quite a while, know that this will be my fourth time volunteering at this refuge.  My blog posts are generally full of bird pictures from here since it is a refuge for birds.  :) 

 

The volunteer coordinator, Stephanie, doesn’t want any grass growing under my feet, so she sent me off this morning with the folks that are presently doing this year’s bird survey route.  When I get back from my cruise, I’ll be working on this as well.

There were four of us in the vehicle, and since I was just along for the ride, I sat in the back.  Of course that meant I didn’t get to see very much.  At one of the stops, I got out for this pic of a young double-crested cormorant.  I liked how the bird and the dead tree both seemed to be flowing to the right.  Seems funny to see a bird with webbed feet perched in a tree!

As I was taking the cormorant picture, this fellow stealthily made his way from one side of the road to the other by swimming through the culvert pipe.  I was happy to see about a half dozen alligators on today’s drive.  They are the survivors of the devastation of hurricane Ike.  Many of the ’gators’ were drowned in the 15 foot high storm surge that came five miles inland.  This guy was about four or five feet long.

After the official bird survey was over, we did a little birding on our own.  The sora, a type of rail, was working the shallow water along the levy.  Don’t you just like the white dot camouflage? 

As we walked a short distance of the levy, this elusive marsh wren kept hopping in and out of the reeds while keeping up a buzzy chatter. 

Lots of waterfowl are out there on the wet areas of the marsh, and many of them took flight as we drove along the back roads.  Hunting season begins soon, so they’ll be even more skittish as time goes by.

I felt like Jeff Corwin as I tried to sneak up on this big old guy.  :)  Yes, I’m back at Anahuac NWR, and happy to be here, mosquitoes and all!

 

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

Diamond Craters – Oregon’s Geologic Gem

After visiting Peter French’s Round Barn yesterday, we took the auto tour of Diamond Craters.
“There is no other place in North America like Diamond Craters.  That’s the opinion held by scores of scientists and educators who have visited and studied the area.  It has the best and most diverse basaltic volcanic features in the United States… Yet visitors with little or no geologic training will probably see nothing more than acres of sagebrush and a few lava flows and craters.”
Well, I’m one of those visitor’s with little or no geologic training,
and acres of sagebrush and a few lava flows and craters is what I saw.  :)  I read the guide at the appropriate stops, but I have to tell you that after a while, all that stuff about domes, ash flow tuff, pyroclastics, and magmas just began to flow like lava around in my mind.  It never did congeal.  :(
However, I did enjoy the scenery, and I noticed that the rain storms that came through on Wednesday and Thursday dumped quite a bit of snow on the Steens Mountains.  I was thinking of taking the rustic road up to the Steens tomorrow, but I’m going to think a little more about that.
The road back home did take us through about half of Malheur’s auto tour route, so you know I had to get a couple of bird pics.  :)   This great blue heron was very intensely looking for a bite to eat.  They are just like statues when they are hunting.
Rails are usually very secretive, but these young soras were out in the open.  There were actually four of them feeding in the same area.  Next year, they will have yellow beaks and a distinctive face pattern.  They are about the size of a quail.  (it’s hard to tell size in a close up picture)

Today was a day of rest and relaxation after heading to the farmer’s market in Burn.  I tried to attend the Harney County Fair, but I was there too early in the morning.  :(

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

It isn't easy being a mom (the tale of a yellow-headed blackbird)

When I take the auto tour routes on the various refuges that I’ve visited, I’ve found that using the car as a blind is one of the easiest ways of getting a peek into the lives of the creatures around me.  Such was the case yesterday.  I had been hearing the piping of many Soras (a type of rail) as I drove along the marsh.  Rails can be very elusive for a person to see, let alone photograph.  So, I pulled the car over, shut off the engine, and rolled down the windows.  I was prepared to wait a while and see if a sora came to the edge of the marsh.  As I waited, a different story unfolded before me.
There was such a raucous cacophony going on across from my window that I searched the reeds and found this female yellow-headed blackbird peeking out.
And right behind her, a youngster screaming bloody murder!  Isn’t it amazing how much bigger the baby looks than it’s mother?  It doesn’t look like it’s starving to me!  So, off she went to shop for some food.  :)  (the marsh is a veritable grocery store of insects)
Soon she was back with a bite for the screamer, but what’s this above her in the corner?
Another youngster appeared and sounded just as insistent as the first one!  What’s a mother to do?
She made numerous trips back and forth while the youngsters impatiently waited.  What a racket ensued whenever she got close!
At one point, I thought she was pursuing an insect down one of the reeds, but it turned out…
she was just looking for the perfect spot to take a little refreshing bath!  A lady deserves a nice soak after a morning of taking care of the kids.  :)  (I guess dad was off playing golf on a Sunday morning :))

With all that noise, no soras came poking out of the marsh, so I moved on down the road a ways.  It almost always pays off when I stop and take the time to look and listen.

Today was another drizzly, overcast day, so I hung around at home and did the laundry.  With temps only reaching the 50’s today, my hummingbird feeder has been seeing some action.  It’s giving those little birds a little boost for their high metabolisms.  Skies are supposed to clear tomorrow, so I think I’ll go investigate the town of Burn, Oregon.

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