jstv – Page 30

April 30, 2022May 1, 2022

May Day

Black-necked Stilt at Summer Lake Refuge

It’s the first of May and aside from Maypoles or the Wobblies, we’re hoping it really does mark the start of spring.

Ancient Brits, the Celts actually, celebrated ‘Beltane’ as the return to life and fertility. These festivals didn’t imigrate to the new world, as they were discouraged by the Puritans. However, May Basket Day did, to some degree, and I’ve a faint childhood memory of handformed paper cones filled with flowers, candies and treats, as something my mother did.

April was a record breaking wet month. Good for the rivers, but not so much for our excursions. Weather aside, we have managed a couple of road trips.

A return visit to Summer Lake allowed us to catch up on migrating flocks.

Sandhill Crane

These regular visits have provided us with a wealth of bird pix’s and a much better understanding of what to expect in the lakes. reeds and marsh lands. This trip we made an effort to collect a larger library of sounds to lay under videos.

As always we spent some time on the Crooked River. Levels are coming up which bodes well for better fishing in the future.

However, at the moment, the birds and wildflowers hold most of our attention. At one of our favorite parking sites there was an osprey.

An osprey, perched on an isolated tree, patrols high above the water.

Looking forward to increases in temperatures and more sunny days coming up. The Middle and Lower Deschutes, above Maupin officially opened and the stoneflies are starting to hatch. We also have to make a swing by Spring Basin to check on wildflowers. In all, the summer calendar is filling up.

April 17, 2022April 16, 2022

Winter Redux

We watched this belted kingfisher plunge headfirst into the river, catch a fish, then eat his catch. Brilliant!

It was 79 degrees and sunny at one point last week. We spent a relaxing day sitting on the banks of the Crooked River getting berated by a pair of Canada Geese.

Then this week … it snowed.

Every morning we woke to a couple of inches of fresh snow. We had to break out the snow shovels and they even plowed streets again.

On the bright side, snowpack in the mountains is closer to normal. However, we didn’t attempt any road trips all week. These morning snows would mostly melt away by late afternoon, at least on the roadways. But it brought our adventures to a standstill.

Central Oregon didn’t have as many problems as some western parts of the state … we didn’t lose power or have a bunch of downed trees. I’m sure the skiers were glad to have the season extended.

We are SO ready to shake off winter and jump into spring.

But still, we are ready for spring to come back. Right now, the forecasted week of rain is actually looking good.

April 3, 2022April 3, 2022

Spring Bugs

Rolling hills in the Deschutes River Canyon are draped in spring green

This week found us on the Lower Deschutes River near Maupin. The river is still running crystal clear, but the fishing was slow. One of the reasons to ply the Deschutes as spring starts, is to see what stage the stonefly and caddis hatches are at.

Starting early spring, I’m picking at the river’s bottom looking for Skwala, Golden and Dark Stonefly Nymphs. As the river temperatures rise, these bugs (order Plecoptera) start their march to the river’s edge. Eventually these aquatic insects climb onto rocks and bushes to transform into large Stoneflies and present excellent dryfly fishing.

The canyon vegetation has started to shift from winter’s dull browns into spring greens. Wildflowers are also starting to emerge. patches of tiny little pink petals, clumps of yellow blossoms from Balsam Arrowroot, as well as buds on the trees and bushes. With new flowers are butterflies and a variety of insects.

Mixed in with all the fresh plant growth were Woolly Bear Caterpillars coming out of winter’s rest.

Folklore has it that a longer black band is a predictor of more severe winter. Not saying we hold to folklore but our caterpillars seem have mostly black. For now these guys are just eating a bit more in preparation for their transformation into Tiger Moths.

Central Oregon is putting on it’s Spring regalia … which we’ll enjoy before the dry summer weather sets in.

March 27, 2022March 26, 2022

The Equinox

This week we marked the first day of spring. The earth has started it’s annual tilt toward our galaxy’s brightest star, making the light part of our day slowly get longer.

The seasonal shift also means there will be increased activity at Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge. That is where we headed on the first of what will be a couple of spring drives to this excellent birding spot.

Fremont Point (right), located west of Summer Lake and Abert Rim (upper left) is south

Over the course of a few months the population at Summer Lake ebbs and flows. various groups of migratory flocks move in, stay a few days, then move on. From late March to May. northern movement is at its peak.

Coots are residents of Summer Lake year round.

Early in the morning you can find a wide variety of birds resting up for their next journey. By midday the migration starts. Conversely, at the end of the day you catch new arrivals settling in.

Trumpeter swans and Canada Geese at Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge

There was enough wind to push clouds of mosquitoes out of our way. A light cloud cover allowed the sun to warm the day to shirtsleeve weather. Perfect conditions for a birding expedition.

These reeds offer good cover for nesting birds.

It’s still early in the season, but Red-winged Blackkbirds have started staking claim to patches of reeds and cat tails along the canals. Trumpeter Swan numbers have grown since January.

We also caught sight of a pair of Sand Hill Cranes and watched flocks of Red-billed Gulls perform aerial acrobatics in the sky overhead.

There are still a large variety of ducks paddling and diving in the ponds. Though this close to the end of hunting season means they’re still rather skittish.

There are a couple of camp sites where you can scan groves of willow and poplar trees for a variety of small birds. This trip we didn’t take the time to do much of that type of counting. Did catch sight of some flickers and followed the flight of some raptors. By the time we headed home we’d noted a couple dozen different bird species.

March 20, 2022March 24, 2022

Art of the Nap

Boo, one of four cats who run our household

As the pandemic ebbs, mandates ease, and business attempts to crank back up to normal, we look back on some of the lessons learned . . . hopefully to be taken forward.

It was discovered that napping is an excellent means of self-care. The best practitioners would be our cats. Besides the efficient distribution of hair to all corners of a house, cats are innately adapted to finding and filling small, quiet spaces. All around us are examples of the cat nap.

“think I’ll rest up a bit before lunch … “

Social distancing measures certainly aided in slowing the daily pace. Retirement also removed a lot of daily pressures associated with work. We completely understand how getting pulled out of the daily grind has given people a new prospective. There isn’t so much an unwillingness to work as the realization life has many more important aspects.

Nearly 16 years ago we took in a tiny black stray. Long story short, she was pregnant and we kept the entire litter. Over the years we have fostered, adopted and rescued 19 dogs and cats, most of whom have lived out their lives with us.

The nap is a natural component to quieting your life. Wading into a moving stream, watching the flight of a raptor, or picking up a good book are points of meditation. Napping may be less an indicator of old age and more the culmination of life lessons teaching us to take a moment.