Nor does it look like it will next week. Lots of gray days meant we got house projects done. Luckily, we managed to work in a day trip over to Summer Lake.
We took advantage of a break in the weather and headed over to the wildlife refuge.
In the winter the highlight is swans, who typically spend the season at the refuge. We had a nice chat with the local Fish, & Wildlife ranger who pointed out that both Trumpeter and Tundra swans swim together.
The view southeast to Paisley and Abert Rim is crowned with an azure sky.
It was a “summer” like day with no one around. We got lots of footage and watched the swans paddling around.
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.
Pacific Wren
May and June are great months to be at Summer Lake. You’ll still encounter some migrating birds, but the majority are nesting residents.
Red-winged Blackbird
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.
American White Pelicans
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?
Swan
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.
Taking some picturesSandhill CraneIbis
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.
Watching the watchers
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.
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.
