Summer Lake – Page 2

December 11, 2022December 9, 2022

Winter at Summer Lake

Trails and dikes wind through the Summer Lake marshlands

Foul weather is the reason most stated for not going outside … saw it on FaceBook, I think. Since moving to Central Oregon we’ve grown very attached to iPhone weather apps. Our weekly sojourns are guided by the trove of information available via this visual piece of software, now bundled with iOS.

Weather permitting, we like to take in at least one winter day at Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge.

Waterfowl forage and rest along these channels

Granted, peak birding season is March to May when a majority of the migratory birds are in the flyway. But winter weather doesn’t just affect wildlife, there are seasonal changes to vegetation around this marshy lowland.

Weather on the valley floor is dependent on and very different from Fremont Ridge to the south or Abert Rim to the East.

Snow covers sage and rocky desert terrain

Summer Lake and La Pine are at nearly the same elevation with a couple of ancient lava mounds between them.

Our day starts in a pine forest as Highway 31 scales the southern edge of Paulina’s lava flow. At the Fort Rock junction scenery changes to sage. There is a distinct high desert landscape along the southern edge of Christmas Valley, through Silver Lake.

From there it’s a gradual climb up the western slope of Fremont Ridge. Looking back, west from Picture Rock Pass, you’ll get a better sense of that elevation change.

From the same vantage point looking east, Summer Lake sits in a wide valley butted up to the nearly vertical rockface of Fremont Ridge. The slope along the lake’s southern edge, and in the distance Abert Ridge, present great photo backdrops. Wind has scraped recent snowfall into crevices defining Fremont Ridge as it pushes up from the valley.

Freemont Ridge (right) skirts along this snow swept wetland

In the refuge’s marsh golden shades of reeds and grass jutting out of snow add texture, as well as color.

It’s the middle of duck season and RV’s fill the camp sites but we encounter no one.

It’s a cold, sunny mid-week day and we’re finding lots of landscape photo ops, as well as a handful of raptor sightings. Just a typical winter’s day at Summer Lake.

May 29, 2022May 28, 2022

Fledgelings

Red-winged blackbird coming in for a landing

This week we headed back out to Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge. There are always some birds that use the refuge as a nesting site. We were hoping to catch images of some babies.

American White Pelican

Summer Lake didn’t disappoint. A trip to the refuge always presents something new. The seasonal changes alone are worth the drive. This visit was no exception.

A Great Horned Owl family, nesting in a willow, seemed as curious about us, as we were them. This owl starts nesting early with both parents sharing in the rearing.

Perched throughout the tree, we sighted four baby Great Horned Owls.

The fledgelings are climbing trees in 5 weeks and fly by the 10th, but are still being fed by parents for several months. Their body is covered in a downy white fluff and lack the pronounced ear tuffs, but have the darker facial disc and yellow eyes.

Great Horned Owls vary in color by region with PNW species having a dusty gray brown tone.

We also happened across a flock of American White Pelicans. Breeding adults have a yellow plate sticking up on the front of their massive bill.

This group included some fledgelings, as southern Oregon is one of the few breeding sites along the migration route.

Several babies were snuggled in amongst this group

These are one of the largest birds in North America. The American White Pelican has white plumage with black flight feathers and has a nine foot wing span.

We also caught sightings of yellow-headed blackbirds staking out breeding territory and foraging. The Stilts were still around in great numbers, though we didn’t see any chicks. As well as the usual pairs of ducks in a variety of species and Canada geese.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

There was also a White-faced Ibis wading and feeding in the short grasses on the edge of a shallow pond.

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.

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.