Smoke Clogged Days

Sunrise in Christmas Valley

Endless days of ‘unhealthy’ and ‘very unhealthy’ air pushed us to a point where we drove into the belly of the beast, Summer Lake. It’s a few miles north of what was at one point this summer, the nation’s largest wildfire.

Air quality doesn’t seem to matter to the snow geese, sand pipers, American avocet, and stilts who feed across the shallows.

California fires are the major contributor to the choking particulate count but Oregon has added to the plume. Which at last view stretches from left coast across the nation. In all it’s been a bad summer for outside activities.

The one thing poor air quality offers is unique sunrises. So the first stop was Fort Rock to catch the orange globe.

Fort Rock is a great location to watch the progression from dawn to sunrise.

We broke out the drone for some aerial footage.

No obstacles … no wind … perfect flight conditions for this novice drone pilot

The gray haze and lack of wind created some really cool conditions on the water at Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge.

Harshly backlit black-necked stilts stride across a silent expanse of water.

The gray haze and lack of wind created some really cool conditions on the water at Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge.

Birds are starting fall migrations and that was reflected in the variety of species we saw.

 

A pair of coyotes, one roaming, the other hunkered down in a lone patch of grass.

And for the first time we came across a pair of coyotes that appeared to be hunting.

Photos were shot in brief excursions from the cab of our car and the ever-present masks helped.

There is rain in our forecast so that may bring some relief as season weather patterns shift and temperatures cool.

2 Replies to “Smoke Clogged Days”

  1. As usual some amazing pics! I love the black-necked stilts. Hope your air has cleared with some rain. We haven’t been too bad, just haze in the morning. It’s giving us some pretty sunrises too.

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