Towheeblog

Here are some images from our Malheur Field Station birding trip last week:Above, Great Egret takes flight  at dawn.  Below: one of the many southbound flights of cranes.  We heard their bugling as they headed for their California wintering grounds.Above siskin flock in a spruce at Malheur Refuge headquarters.  I marked the four I could pick out.  Below, waxwing in Devine Canyon north of Burns.Two more canyon birds, solitaire and White-breasted Nuthatch on ponderosa trunk, far from nearest oak tree:

Least chipmunk on cliff face in Devine Canyon:My favorite sagebrush eating mammal:We saw several harems similar to this one; it was along Sodhouse Road just east of the Field Station Lane.  Male is second from left.
Below (click on any image to enlarge) are gopher snake, meadowlark–at sunny moments one might sing and thrashers would do the same though autumn bird song is an exception, peregrine over French Glen, Turkey Vultures sulking at dawn in headquarters “forest” as they wait for some solar heat to generate those blessed up-drafts:

At dawn, two sleepy Great Horned Owls at headquarters.  One of them had hooted at us before we saw them:HARRIER CRUISES LAKE SHORE AT CHICKAHOMINY