Deschutes County - reaching 200

Deschutes County - On reaching 200

One of my goals this year, besides reaching 100 in each of Oregon’s 36 counties, is to surpass 200 in Lane, Linn and Deschutes Counties, mainly because I was within striking distance, so to say.  I was able to do so in Lane earlier this year with  the help of Dan Heyerly and Diane Pettey.  My focus was now on Deschutes, and Judy Meredith has been providing me with birding info to get me to my goal.  I ended last year at 190, and in February increased it to 197.  Even though it is early for most migrants, there were enough holes on the list which should be gettable by now, so made plans to head over last Thursday and return Friday.  Plus, it was just plain convenient for me to go at this time. 

Late Wednesday, on a whim, I called Roy Gerig to see if he might be interested in going along, to which he was.   He even had an old friend Dan who had just moved to Bend whose house we could crash at, so that was a plus.  Roy’s former wife had recently passed away from cancer, so he appreciated the invite to help him move on to a new era.   He had been toying with the idea of doing a big year anyway, so this seemed to come at the right time.

When coming over the bridge into Salem, there were at least 100 Cliff Swallows swarming about, no doubt soon to be nesters. I met Roy as his house around 0800 and we headed east, stopping at Detroit Flats, which was pretty birdy with Yellow-rumped Warblers, White-crowned Sparrows, Tree Swallows, Crows, various ducks, Song Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, a Lincoln’s Sparrow,  an Orange-crowned Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Rufous Hummingbird.  The best bird was a Common Loon though.  Detroit Flats has become a great place to find displaced east-side migrants, but there were none today.  

Common Loon at Detroit Lake

From there we continued heading east and stopped at the Hoodoo Ski Resort.  We saw 5 species:  Stellar’s and Gray Jay, Pipit, Raven and a small flock of Brewer’s Blackbirds.   We spied the blackbirds at quite a distance, coming toward us in their undulating flight and began to get our hopes up that they just might be something unique to the higher elevations, but were let down when they landed nearby, allowing the ID.  We went over to the snow park and arrived when the snow mobiles were not in hearing range, but even with the quietude were not able to hear anything.  On the way back to the highway, I saw a Mountain Bluebird, which was new for my Linn Co list, so that was encouraging.  

The next stop was Indian Ford Campground.  We saw and heard a few birds:  Varied Thrush, Junco, Hairy Woodpecker, Pygmy Nuthatch, Mountain Chickadee, Song Sparrow, and an early Common Yellowthroat.  We talked about and concluded that the place was just not as productive as it used to be.

Varied Thrush - Indian Ford Campground

Squirrel - Indian Ford Campground

Next stop was Calliope Crossing.  We did not find any Calliopes, but did find Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, a Red-naped Sapsucker (mostly at least), Northern Flicker, White-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatches, Mt Chickadees, Song, Fox, White-crowned and Lincoln’s Sparrows, Brown Creeper, 

We next headed to Bend, picked up Dan and went to Hatfield Lake.  Roy was wondering why a sewage lagoon was named after a senator, and we could not come up with a good reason, although there were a few not so good ones we joked about.  We walked around the east side, went to the second lake, and returned on the west side.  There were many ducks with a good variety of species. I wanted to find a marsh wren, but we dipped on it.  The recently reported Red-breasted Merganser, White Pelican and Redheads were not to be found either.  At the second lake I added Greater Scaup (198) and Yellow-headed Blackbird (199) to my county list, leaving me within one by the day’s end.  Otherwise, it was great to see at least 10 Cinnamon Teal.  Other waterfowl were Canada Geese, Canvasback, Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Ducks, Bufflehead, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser, Shoveler, Mallard, Gadwall, Wigeon, Pintail, Common Goldeneye, Pied-billed Grebe and Coots.   Some 150 Coots were all in a very tight group in the middle of the first lake, and stayed together the whole time we were there, except when dive bombed by a Bald Eagle.  We figured he must not have been very hungry since the coots were easy pickings.  Guess he enjoyed scattering the flock.  Land birds encountered were Meadowlarks, Solitares, Robins, Mt Chickadees, Flicker, Red-winged Blackbird, Cowbird, Killdeer, Rock Wren, Savannah Sparrow.

After that we went back to Dan’s place and chilled out for a while.  After watching the Beavers sweep the huskies we ended up eating pizza while we watched the Warriors serve notice to the Spurs that they are still the champs.  

The next morning we left Bend about 0600 heading east to the Millican Sage Grouse Lek.  We arrived before sunrise, but there was plenty of light.  The lek is some 200 yards beyond the gate, but the birds are so huge they can be seen easily even from quite a distance.  I think we counted about 17 birds altogether.  Please remember to not disturb the lek by doing something you should not do, like trespass onto the private property they are on.  The Grouse was a cool bird to reach the 200 level for the county as well.

Sage Grouse at Millican Lek

Sage Thrasher near Millican Lek

Sagebrush Sparrow near Millican Lek

While watching the Sage Grouse males strut their stuff, Roy (Biologist/Experienced Birder) began explaining to Dan (Engineer/Novice Birder) that by mating season the male testicles become enlarged by 200X, hence they have a lot of testosterone, which helps explain why they were so macho around the lek as they inflate their chest sacks and chase each other around. So when female grouse wander around among the males, she chooses some lucky strutter and they go off into the bushes and do their thing. It was soon afterward, we came up with the analogy of comparing them to men at a pub, and what happens when some lady walks into the bar:  Muscles flex and bulge, eyeballs pop out of spring-loaded sockets, competition follows, tempers rage, bar fights ensue.  Such is the conversation when three dudes have nothing better to talk about while watching male sage grouse strutting their stuff, and other details and jokes are here left out.  

Toward the end of our time there, a nice young female BLM worker arrived and we offered her what info we thought would be helpful, which I am sure she appreciated.  She relayed that soon a web cam would be set up near the lek so they could be watched/studied from a distance.  One of us took it upon themselves to share our pub analogy, but I don't think she was very impressed.  So after feeling rejected, we strutted off into the sagebrush, looking for other birds of interest. 

Other birds in the area were Vesper and Sagebrush Sparrows (201), Sage Thrashers (202), Horned Larks, Ravens, a Kestrel.  We thought the Vesper Sparrows were likely the first early migrants.  I thought I needed one for the county but after getting home and looking over my list, I see it was already checked.  We drove slowly back out to the highway looking for Lark and Brewer’s Sparrow, Loggerhead Shrikes without success.

Next stop was at the canyon overlook a mile or two west where we finally heard a Canyon Wren (203).  There were also  Rock Wrens, Robins, Mt Bluebirds and Tree Swallows there, but no White-throated Swifts.  Next stop was at the bottom of the hill where we went north to the badlands parking lot.  The best birds here were a flock of 5 Pinyon Jays.   Man, it has been many years since I saw them, so that was a nice reacquaintance.  Otherwise, more of the usual common species were there:  Mt Bluebirds, Meadowlarks, Ravens, White-crowned Sparrows, and one migrating Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Mountain Bluebird at Badlands

From here we headed to the First Street Park in Bend to walk along the river, and try (again) for the Black-capped Chickadee, as well as look for a Marsh Wren, neither of which we found.  There were a pair of Trumpeter Swans (204) which was probably a nice bird.  I was expecting a Mute Swan after someone told us there were swans ahead, but such was not the case.  (We did see the Mute Swan at Hatfield Lake though - but figured these are not countable) Otherwise, birds in attendance were Anna’s Hummingbird, Tree and NRW Swallows, Mt Chickadees, Juncos, Scrub Jays, House Sparrows, Starlings, EC and Mourning Doves, Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Mergansers, Red-tailed Hawk, and a distant accipiter.  

Trumpeter Swan - Bend

After this we returned to Dan’s to pack the rest of our stuff, and headed to Sisters where we bought brunch and then headed the 4 miles to Cold Springs Campground to eat it, and hopefully listen to Woodpeckers while enjoying the food. Cold Springs was pretty quiet, and no woodpeckers graced us with their jack hammers.  After eating we walked around the area and did find a female Williamson’s Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker and Flicker.  Non woodpeckers were Brown Creepers, Red and White breasted Nuthatches, Juncos, Mt Chickadees.

Mountain Chickadee at Cold Springs Campground.

We next headed west over the mountains while Dan headed back to Bend.  We stopped at Hoodoo once again, but the only bird we found was a Steller’s Jay.  This was Roy’s first trip to the east side this year, so was happy to have added a few species to his year list.  One we somehow missed was a Magpie.  Seems to be quite the exception when that bird does not get seen.

Just think, another 100 species or so and I might be getting close to Crabtree in Deschutes County.