Summer Lake – Page 2

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.

January 30, 2022January 29, 2022

A Spring-like Day at Summer Lake

The sun shone and the temperatures warmed … seemed like the perfect time to make a trip to Summer Lake. There is still some snow banked along the Fremont Highway, but the roads were clear. The same icy fog banks that we encountered last week hung over some of the valley around Fort Rock. Once we crested Picture Rock pass and started down into the Summer Lake Valley it was all sunshine.

These guys seem to be permanent residents

Winter is also hunting season, so we don’t expect to see a lot of bird activity. There are plenty of ducks and geese but not in the ponds around the campgrounds. Canals and marshes have filled up so there is plenty of water, most of the still pools are crusted with ice.

We hiked along a dike to get closer to a pair of swans and watched a few raptors sail over head. The real reason for a winter photo excursion to Summer Lake is the contrast a cover of snow gives to the cliffs that line the valley.

Reeds and grasses along the water ways give the foreground tones of caramel, ochre and brown. The snow-covered rocks of Freemont Ridge make the perfect transition to the blue skies. On a still day these are also reflected across the water surfaces.

The lack of any wind and the sun made for a comfortable day of walking the wildlife refuge’s paths. It’s still a few months before the migration brings flocks of birds to the space, but for now we can find plenty of other subjects for the lens of our cameras.

September 12, 2021September 11, 2021

Smoke Clogged Days

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.

May 16, 2021May 13, 2021

Summer Flights

Maybe you noticed the increase in birds around your house. The spring migration is in full flight and millions of birds (222 million last night) were making their way north. It’s the perfect time to see species that don’t typically nest in your area.

Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge is a a major layover spot on the pacific flyway. As regular readers of this blog know we make frequent visits to the refuge, most of which are timed to take advantage of seasonal migrations.

This week we returned to Summer Lake, a second time, to check on the late spring migrators

We found a summer resident, the Red-winged Blackbirds, were already staking claim to cattail patches and singing mating songs.

A pair of Great Egrets were poking around in the reeds and a huge flock of Pelicans were gathered on a pond.

Some Black-necked Stilts were still around, but not nearly as many as last visit.

The new species, for us, were Caspian Terns who seemed to be hunting as they skimmed over the water heads down.

Two other shore birds we’d not seen in pervious trips but got pix of this time were White-faced Ibis and Long-billed Curlew.

Like Stilts, these are waders with long beaks however, they are much larger. Unlike the stilts they were tucked into the reeds and much more difficult to get a good look at or frame for a photo.

This is likely our last trip to Summer Lake until fall. There are too many other adventures to fit in, plus the refuge’s inhabitants are already started to shift from visitors to the regulars.

March 28, 2021March 27, 2021

In the Flyway

More than half of the 650 species of birds in North America migrate. The westernmost edge of North America is the Pacific Flyway and includes coastal plains, the valleys on the west side of the cascade range, and also marsh and wetlands in Central Oregon.

Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge is one of three major stopping points along the Pacific Flyway and happens to be an hour’s drive from our house. The marshes on the north end of the Summer Lake Valley are an excellent spot for birding.

Binoculars, the extra long camera lens and of course “Shirley Birds West” … a favorite guide book … are primary tools in our bird watching. However, recently we discovered a couple of online tools that are invaluable.

Bring up BirdCast on your browser and you’ll get an animated map of current bird migrations. There are also some interesting forecasting tools here as well. But the best tools come out of Cornel University. It’s eBird web page is packed with helpful goodies.

There are species specific maps that show monthly migration patterns. Which will help predict when the Evening Grosbeaks will be showing up at the feeder.

We used this as an identification aid when trying to figure out which species of swan was sitting on the water at Summer Lake.

Tundra swans have entirely white plumage and their bill is mostly black.

It’s spring so naturally we are making somewhat regular trips to the Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge. This week we were greeted with hundreds of swans. The question is Trumpeter or Tundra … it’s not an easy ID … we think they were Tundra.

The Cornell site also has an application where you can set up an account and track of what birds you’ve seen, get a list of the types of birds most likely to be in a specific area and find out what other birders are seeing.

There is also a mobile app that turns your smart phone into a bird identification tool and even plays song/call recordings.