Tag: Summer Lake

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Winter Refuge

The perfect spot for shore birds  .  .  .  except this day

Winter may actually come to Central Oregon in the next couple of weeks, but at the moment it feels more like spring (false spring to be honest).

With a break in the weather, we decided to take a drive over to the wildlife refuge at Summer Lake. There’s no anticipation of great birding,

It’s between migrations. However, the sun was out, the roads were dry, and we really needed a road trip.

Winter’s palette, shades of brown

Summer Lake, even in the winter, has some avian population. After all, there are year-round residents, just not many. The draw this time of year, well anytime of year, is the quiet solitude.

You hear wind in the reeds, water bubbling between canals and the occasional bird song. Most of the time there are no other humans around.

Hunting season is over so the loop gate is open allowing access to the eastern dike road. This narrow track, literally the width of the dike, runs between two ponds that always have at least a thin layer of water.

Looking back at the east dike road

This is also a stretch that on most days would have a variety of shore birds; Stilts, Avocets, Dippers and the like  .  .  .  not this day.

We got the scope on a couple of hawks, Red Tails, we think. They were a distant challenge, even for the spotting scope.

There was a bevy of swans, paired up, but still too early for cygnets. There were plenty of ducks and a couple gaggles of geese.

Wildlife was keeping a distance from humans and cars. That’s fine  .  .  .  we were there to take in the day.

The telephoto lens and spotting scope offered plenty of opportunity to watch the action. It does make us more anxious for the spring migration to  start.
We definitely will be back  .  .  .  Summer Lake is our refuge as well.
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Shifting to Fall

A Blackbird perches effortlessly on bare tree branches

It’s Fall. The equinox was this week and the weather has cooled. Just yesterday we had our first frost.

It’s not snowing, yet  .  .  .

Mornings are still mild and we continue to have warm days ahead, but still,  .  .  .  it’s feels like Fall.

The trees around our house fill with a different species of songbird nearly every week. A gang of Jays has been stalking the area and V’s of Canada Geese honk their arrival overhead.

Before duck season fills the parking sites with RV’s,  and chains close off loop roads, we like to make a seasonal visit to Summer Lake.

Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge

It’s just an hour’s drive, so if there’s no activity, we’re not giving up much of the day. That was not the case this day.

The refuge was filled with activity and a wide variety of birds.

American White Pelicans

Year around there’s a least one Squadron of Pelicans, a Great Blue Heron, some raptors, and a smattering of the hardier song birds to populate the marshes of Summer Lake.

Then, a couple of times a year, seasonal migrations bump those numbers and bring in a lot of different species. These are ideal times to visit.

Before we even got to the refuge, there were a couple of Sand Hill Cranes resting in a field along the road. We spotted a few more pairs at various points during our regular loop drive.

A pod of pelicans float by a Great Blue Heron

In managing the refuge there is a seasonal shifting to water levels in the various ponds. In the fall it seems the ODFW attempt to give hunters some easy access points, but also offer more protected spaces.

On this trip the pond on the west side of the dike loop road had just a thin layer of water. This seemed to be just what the shore birds wanted. The place was filled with a huge variety.

Refuge managment means shifting water levels

Once again we enjoyed the space without any other people. This makes it easy to stop on some of the narrow roads to get a photo or put the binoculars on an unfamiliar group of visitors.

They do look a bit like dinosaurs

We’ll be back, of course, but not before winter takes hold and then it will be a very different landscape  .  .  .  beautiful in a different way.

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Summer’s Refuge

High Desert morning looking south from Sunriver

The heat of summer has settled in so our daytrips have shifted to early morning departures.

The high desert cools overnight and offers a chilly morning  .  .  .  light sweater cool. This is true even when we hit ninety plus afternoons.

The sun was just cresting over Fort Rock as we passed on our way to Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge.

The Pacific Flyway has already started to show signs of winter migration. The distinctive honks of Canada Geese have been overhead often during the last few weeks.

Summer Lake is a 45 minute drive, so with an early start we got a good bit of birding in and were home before the oppressive heat of the afternoon settled in.

This trip we encountered an unusually large number of Ibis  .  .  .  flocks of them.
An Ibis feeds at the pond’s edge

Mostly they bolted from the canal ahead of our car, but occasionally we caught one wading a pond or picking its way among the reeds.

Looking southwest from the refuge towards Summer Lake

Winter’s heavy snows seem to have benefited the refuge. Even this late in the summer the marsh grasses, cattails and reeds are still brilliant green.

This lush growth on ponds edge is contrasted by sunburnt field grasses that extend up the edges of Winter Ridge.

Black Birds stake claims with song and a physical presence.

Black Birds, Red Winged and Yellow Headed, are in typical large numbers and quite vocal. The other species we found in large groups were Killdeer.

Which as you might remember are similar to Snowy Plovers  .  .  .  of which we saw one.

There weren’t any other people there, birding or camping. We had the large expanse of Summer Lake to ourselves.

We enjoyed the solitude and being able to park wherever we liked.

Tip keeps watch as Jack gathers sound files for the video

Just before noon we spotted a couple of cars coming in as we made our way out. A good time was had by all.

 

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A New Spot on the Flyway

Tree Swallow

It’s the height of migration and the wetlands along the Pacific Flyway are filling with all types of birds.

Usually we visit Summer Lake a few times during April and May. These trips often get extended east to Abert Lake. It’s prime birding time and locations.

Last year the Klamath River was in the news as several dams were removed. What followed was the nearly instant return of ocean-reared salmon to the lower river.

We’ve been charting a trip to Northern California and southern Oregon to see early stages of this rehab project.

Reflections on a marsh pond

In that planning process, we discovered a wetland refuge to the east of Crater Lake.

Klamath Lake Wildlife Refuge is south of the park, and while it’s a large area, we’ve not had much luck finding good birding sites.

Klamath Marsh Wildlife Refuge on the other hand, is a smaller track of wetland directly east of Crater Lake. Until this week, unexplored.

A wide expanse of natural meadow borders the marsh on the Crater Lake side. Ponderosa pine forest lines it’s western edge.

The great part of this birding spot is you can drive right through the middle of it. This makes it very much like an experience at Summer Lake.

Also, like Summer Lake, it’s only about an hour’s drive from the house. Our early morning arrival was met with a wall of fog rising off the marsh. The sun burned off these clouds, but not before we captured some great footage.

The road through the marsh takes off from Highway 97 and is a dozen miles north of Klamath Lake. It continues onto OR 31 at Silver Lake, which is about 30 minutes from Summer Lake, making it a perfect birding loop.

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Pacific Flyway Visit

In the Pacific Flyway

Well, that was a False Spring.

For the past few days we greeted each morning with a thin blanket of snow. It’s gone by early afternoon, but still  .  .  .  when will we get a Spring?

Before the winterish weather settled in on us, we managed a trip to Summer Lake.

Expanse of sky above Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge

As migratory birds start to move, we make somewhat regular excursions to the Wildlife Refuge on the Northwestern edge of Summer Lake.

This week there were not a lot of birds to see, but a start to the spring migration through the Pacific Flyway was evident.

Red-winged Blackbirds were starting to claim nesting areas. We spotted a few banks of Trumpeter Swan and a pair of Sandhill Cranes.

Mostly, it was a good excuse to get out while the weather was nice.

There was some wind that cooled the 50 degree day, but not too much.

A bank of swans

We’ve marked the calendar to come back in three weeks which will likely be the height of migration.

We are also charting a trip to the Klamath Lake area as there are some spots there we’ve not checked out.

A chaotic take-off

The Pacific Flyway will be crowded in the coming months, so it’s the perfect time to do some birding  .  .  .  weather is the only question mark.