Nature – Page 17

June 18, 2023June 18, 2023

Along the Marshes

This week we headed over to Summer Lake and birding. The sage plain and hay fields along Route 31 were dressed in a lush green hue. Small patches of snow still clung to the upper edges of Winter Ridge, but the refuge was in full summer regalia.

May and June are great months to be at Summer Lake. You’ll still encounter some migrating birds, but the majority are nesting residents.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Redwinged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds have taken up stations in the cattails lining the canals. offering up a chorus of calls as we drive the dirt roads marking the Marsh’s edge.

This trip never disappoints. There is always some visitor or resident to pose for a picture. Most of the large migratory species have moved north, but a squadron of pelicans is still here.

Most of JQ’s subjects were small residents, some hanging in reeds others dancing along branches.

We’re not expert at this, which is reinforced when a windowed mini-van with birders pulls up to chat.

Occupants are six bespectacaled folk with narrow brimmed boaters. We observed more than one set of Swarovski binoculars on lanyards around their necks. The question … have you seen any Snowy Plovers?

Tip is tucked into the Subaru’s shadow, I’ve got Nikon bios on a Sony camera strap and push the bill of a stained ball cap back to exchange information.

Attempting my most knowledgable voice I name a few sightings, ones I can actually pronounce correctly, then deny seeing a Snowy Plover.

Only …

After the van is gone and we consult the Field Guide, we then realize that wasn’t true.

We HAD actually . . . we had chased a Plover along the road for a few hundred yards.

I was saying something to the effect “stupid little bird… move” as a Snowy Plover (as best as we can tell) was actually hopping off the roadway in front of our car.

In our defense there are a dozen Plover varieties in Sibley’s book, and to that, one really should include Killdeer. Though twice a Plover’s size the Killdeer exhibits similar colors and markings.

Had we known . . . there would be an image of a Snowy Plover.

Alas, we didn’t, but JQ got a lot of great frames and Plovers are now on the list.

June 11, 2023June 16, 2023

Wildflowers

High Desert summers get hot, dry and eventually smokey. We try to take advantage of the days before the sun has beaten the green down to just the river’s edge. This year that seems to be extending into June.

This week’s excursion was full of blossoms and bird song as we were back on the Crooked River. Water levels are down to summer flows, fishing is getting better and the riparian was full of wild flowers and wild life.

There are always field guides for Bird, Wildflower and High Desert Plant identification in the car. We’ve found it’s better to have a printed copy than rely on an internet connection when you’re trying to figure out what that brownish bird is.

JQ discovered an excellent resource when you’re trying to find where the flowers might be blooming. NorthWest Wildflowers (duh!) . . . no, it’s actually a web site that has color coded dots on a map showing when and where flowers are in bloom. From this ‘bloom map’ you’ll see points in Washington, Oregon, Southern BC and Northern California where wildflowers are.

Click on a location and you’ll be presented with a set of directions, an Oregon hikers guide, and a link for plant identification tools starting with the most likely flowers at that spot. All from this one web page . . . very cool.

We don’t plan to leave the field guides at home, but when you’re looking for a spot to explore this is a great site. It takes the guess work out of planning where and when the blooms are. There are still a lot of “early bloom” locations to check out, so we’ve been updating the calendar.

May 28, 2023May 27, 2023

Chasing Bugs

Just a brief post this week as we’ve been busy tracking Stoneflies.

Flyfishing is always about the aquatic insects. However, in late spring there is an increase in activity. As rivers come out of their winter hibernation, water warms and invertebrates start to move about.

This usually means dry fly fishing . . . that’s the best kind.

Plecoptera; stonefly (Pteronarcys californica: Salmon fly and Calineuria Californica; Golden Stones) have been burrowed in gravel on the river’s bottom for a few years.

When the water temperature gets around fifty degrees, these very large bugs crawl to the bank, shuck their aquatic shell and fly up into the bushes.

Come evening they fly back over the water and deposit their eggs, which sink to the rocky bottoms and the cycle starts over.

To a flyfisher this means those large fish who normally hold in deep pools are lured out into the shallows along the bank to feast on stoneflies. Thus, we are prowling river’s edge hoping for a hook-up.

May 21, 2023May 20, 2023

Return to Maupin

Spring shifts to summer quickly in Central Oregon. The days are already getting near eighty . . . not complaining, but rivers will get crowded soon enough.

In the spring the canyon is all shades of green

In a typical year the Deschutes has a salmon fly hatch at the end of spring. This is not a typical year and with the high run-off we’ll not see salmon flies for a few more weeks.

The other infamous Deschutes River event is the ‘rubber hatch’ which fills the river with rafts overloaded with happy boaters. This year it’s looking like that event will overtake the salmon fly hatch, at least downstream from Maupin.

Musical trills of redwinged blackbirds echo through the canyon

This week we made one more trip to Maupin, hoping to enjoy a relatively uncrowded river and a canyon just coming into summer foliage.

The day was sunny and warm, though we didn’t hit any hatch, the fishing was good.

Caught in mid-flight protecting his territory

As is usually the case, wildlife was active along this stretch of water. JQ managed to get some great images of Red-winged blackbird and a Heron who seems like a permanent resident of this stretch of river.

Male Merganser, the perfect shape to hunt fish

We’ll try to fish salmon flies a little further upstream in the next few weeks. In the mean time, we just set up the camp chairs and enjoy a rare quiet day on the Lower Deschutes.

May 14, 2023May 13, 2023

Runoff continues

Our weather lately has looked like this.

Haven’t seen the Crooked this full, ever.

Months of snow, in what normally would have been spring, have translated into an extended runoff.

Rivers and reservoirs are at capacity and that means fishing isn’t at its best.

While we wait for the flows to subside, it’s still interesting to witness all that water.

Someone has jury duty, and while she’s not happy about it, this week we’re sticking closer to home. Thus a return trip to the rushing Crooked River.