provided by:

Priscilla Sokolowski

Eugene, OR

Photos from personal trips  AND trips with

“Birds of Oregon and General Science” (BOGS)


Priscilla’s  

Bird photography


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Lakeview: 3-day Birding Trip, May 17-19, 2016
to Central Oregon - led by Floyd Weitzel

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Floyd wrote a summary of the two Lakeview bus trips for us:

I thought it would be interesting to all of you to know a little about the two trips.
Both groups saw much the same birds, but in some ways the circumstances were very different. The first trip had beautiful, shirt-sleeve weather. The second trip had a little bit of nearly every kind of weather possible: over the pass, we had a couple minor flurries of snow; on the east side we had rain showers and even a shower of hail, but the showers were interspersed with sun. One evening we had quite a lightning and thunder display!

We went to basically the same locations on both trips, although the second group went to a portion of Summer Lake that the first group didn't. I'm sure those on trip 1 remember the outstanding numbers and variety of birds in the trees near the outhouses and picnic tables at Goose Lake. On trip 2, those trees were empty of birds! However, at Mario's Restaurant where we had dinner, one of the head waitresses invited us to come by her home very near the restaurant the next morning. She and her husband had converted their yard into a virtual bird paradise. In addition to the usual seed and suet feeders, they had a drip water fountain and a grape jelly feeder! I had never heard of feeding birds grape jelly, but the birds loved it. She said they go through a $2.00 jar of jelly every day!

They attracted Western Tanagers, Black-headed and Evening Grosbeaks, Bullock's Orioles, House Finches, Purple Finches, Cassin's Finches, Red-winged and Brewer's Blackbirds, and a variety of other birds. Their house and yard is on the side of a steep hill with a path that goes along the the hill in back of the house. From the path just in back of the yard we were able to look down upon the feeders, trees, and shrubs in the yard for a fantastic view of the birds. It was an amazing show! Another person told us of an active Red-tailed Hawk's nest a few miles from town that had nestlings in it. We found the nest, and while we were looking at the nest and nestlings, a pickup pulled up in back of the bus. Thinking that it was the homeowner or someone else wondering what we were doing, I walked back to the pickup. There were 2 ladies in the truck who said they were local raptor rehabbers. They said they were in the process of rehabbing a Golden Eagle and a Great-horned Owl. They invited us to follow them a short distance when we finished looking at the hawk nest and they would show us the eagle and owl! Interestingly, Ken, our bus driver, had just that morning shown me a magazine article about one of these very rehabbers! All in all, it turned out to be quite a morning that more than made up for what we didn't see at Goose Lake!

Between the 2 trips, we saw a little over 100 species of birds.

Floyd

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We stopped at Salt Creek Falls and wandered around for a while, looking for American Dippers and woodland birds along the trails. I think Don might be the only one out of the 25 of us, who found a Dipper. That wouldn't surprise me, though I suppose it should. I found a few things to photograph that were more or less stationary

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Out in Central Oregon, our discussion went around in circles trying to ID this bird. Part of the problem was that when it had taken off it appeared to have the slow, labored wingbeat of an Eagle. In the sky high above, it was difficult to see much. Only in looking at the photographs, Don and I both concluded separately that it was a light-morph Red-tail Hawk.

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Headquarters at Summer Lake Wildlife Management Area had lots of bird activity, along with some beautiful landscaping, as can be seen in the following photos.

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I've been working on my technique for photographing birds in flight. This Forster's Tern proved to be nearly impossible to capture except when he was hovering.

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We ended the day, or at least I did, with a Western Kingbird out just a little bit too far away for a photograph that is really sharp right out of the camera. I love Western Kingbirds and had not seen any yet this year, so far away or not, it was fun to see one and get a picture of it.

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I did not find out about the Eared Grebe in breeding plumage until the next morning. It was in one of the ponds at the resort. I've only had a few distant glimpses of this species in breeding plumage, because in Western Oregon it only passes through in migration. Until now I've only had good views of it in Winter plumage which is entirely gray, white and charcoal. This was an especially fun bird for me to see and photograph. The morning light was mostly behind the bird, which is not favorable, but I'm happy with the picture below.

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Because the Warner Wetlands area and Plush were extremely dry, Floyd took us to GOOSE LAKE, which is south of Lakeview, on the California border. We found lots of interesting birds there; Waterfowl, Warblers, Quail, Orioles, Grosbeaks ...

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I really love the color gradation from orange to lemon yellow on the male Bullock's Orioles breast

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Jody saw this Black-crowned Night Heron as it flew towards and over the back of the bus. She knew what it was immediately. Good show Jody!! By the time I got my camera to focus on the bird through the tinted windows of the "Experience Oregon" bus, it was too far away for any kind of sharp photo. Still some of the coloration and profile can be seen.

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I love the high contrasts in brightness and in color seen in the marshes of Central Oregon

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Our last birding stop for this trip was Fort Rock. Prairie Falcons are a regular nesting species here and we usually see them. It took a while before we finally saw the two adults flying around. Once one of them perched we were able to get good looks at them. The distance limited the quality of photographs, but we did okay.

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This is the composite list of birds seen by both groups on the recent trips to south-central Oregon.
Floyd

1. Pied-billed Grebe
3. Western Grebe
5. Double-crested Cormorant
7. Great Blue Heron
9. Black-crowned Night Heron
11. Turkey Vulture
13. Trumpeter Swan
15. American Wigeon
17. Cinnamon Teal
19. Northern Pintail
21. Ring-necked Duck
23. Ruddy Duck
25. Bald Eagle
27. Red-tailed Hawk
29. Golden Eagle
31. Prairie Falcon
33. California Quail
35. Sora (heard)
37. Sandhill Crane
39. Black-necked Stilt
41. Willet
43. Western Sandpiper
45. Wilson's Phalarope
47. Ring-billed Gull
49. Caspian Tern
51. Rock Pigeon
53. Eurasian Collared Dove

55. Anna's Hummingbird
57. Downy Woodpecker
59. Northern Flicker
61. Loggerhead Shrike
63. Western Scrub Jay
65. American Crow
67. Tree Swallow
69. Cliff Swallow
71. Black-capped Chickadee
73. American Dipper
75. Sage Thrasher
77. Orange-crowned Warbler
79. MacGillivray's Warbler (heard)
81. Western Tanager
83. Sage Sparrow
85. Song Sparrow
87. Golden-crowned Sparrow
89. Red-winged Blackbird
91. Yellow-headed Blackbird
93. Brown-headed Cowbird
95. Purple Finch
97. House Finch
99. American Goldfinch
101. House Sparrow

2. Eared Grebe
4. American White Pelican
6. American Bittern
8. Great Egret
10. White-faced Ibis
12. Canada Goose
14. Gadwall
16. Mallard
18. Northern Shoveler
20. Green-winged Teal
22. Bufflehead
24. Osprey
26. Northern Harrier
28. Ferruginous Hawk
30. American Kestrel
32. Ring-necked Pheasant
34. Virginia Rail (heard)
36. American Coot
38. Killdeer
40. American Avocet
42. Spotted Sandpiper
44. Wilson's Snipe
46. Franklin's Gull
48. California Gull
50. Forster's Tern
52. Mourning Dove
54. Great Horned Owl (1 with fledgling)
56. Rufous Hummingbird
58. Hairy Woodpecker
60. Western Kingbird
62. Steller's Jay
64. Black-billed Magpie
66. Common Raven
68. Violet-green Swallow
70. Barn Swallow
72. Marsh Wren
74. American Robin
76. European Starling
78. Townsend's Warbler
80. Wilson's Warbler (heard)

82. Green-tailed Towhee
84. Savannah Sparrow
86. White-crowned Sparrow
88. Black-headed Grosbeak
90. Western Meadowlark
92. Brewer's Blackbird
94. Bullock's Oriole
96. Cassin's Finch
98. Pine Siskin
100. Evening Grosbeak

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Generally if you want to know what is happening next at BOGS, or want to see the latest photos/reports,
you can find these on the HOME page:
http://priscillanhk.com/index.html
Enjoy!
Priscilla

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Questions about BOGS? EMAIL: priscilla@blog.priscillanhk.com