Month: April 2014

Osprey at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Although I’ve never seen an Osprey at Malheur before and was told that they’ve failed to establish nests there because they can’t spot fish in the muddy water in the middle of summer, I managed to get the best shots I’ve ever gotten of one on this trip.

This Osprey was circling the small pond at the visitor’s center as I pulled up, so naturally I watched as it made several passes over the pond.

Osprey

Although I got shots of it on passes where it failed to catch a fish, it was behind a tree when it caught this whopper and I had to settle for a shot of it carrying the huge trout

Osprey with trout

to a perch

Osprey with trout

where it could eat its catch.

Assuming that it would take a while to eat that big of a fish, I decided to get

closer, using the blind at the east end of the pond. Even though the Osprey seemed irritated by my presence

Osprey with trout

it continued its feast

Osprey with trout

long enough that I finally decided I wasn’t going to get a better shot than the ones I had already gotten and decided to look for more birds.

Pheasants at Malheur

I got a chance to photograph another bird at Malheur that has been elusive in previous years, the Ring-necked Pheasant. This is the first time I’ve ever see a male pheasant with females and was surprised to see this one with several females. A little research showed that male pheasants often have harems. Unfortunately, I only observed them together a long ways off, so I only managed to get a shot of the male with one of its harem.

pair of Pheasants

When I got closer, they scattered though the male pheasant headed towards the long grass that lined the road, which might have been a good strategy for most predators but wasn’t the best strategy if you were trying to avoid human hunters.

It did, however, give me a change to get some great shots of him. I liked this shot showing the beautiful patterns on his back.

Pheasant

Then, as if to offer a perfect profile, he made a sharp right turn and followed the grass line for several more feet

Pheasant

before finally disappearing. If I’m going to improve on the shots I’ve gotten this year, I’m going to have to really step my game up and go back to Malheur when there’s snow or doing the earlier mating season when males compete for mates.

Long-Billed Curlews at Malheur

I spent two or three years at the coast looking for Long-Billed Curlews without any luck. So last year when I got a distant shot of one at Malheur I was thrilled. This year, though, I wasn’t nearly as happy when I saw this one in the distance even though it was much closer and I got a better shot.

Long-Billed Curlew

It seems to be human nature to always want more than we have. Photographically, that means I want more than just a shot of a curlew walking across the grass.

I was a lot happier, though, when I caught a picture of this curlew with its wings spread out in the sunshine.

Long-Billed Curlew

If you can’t catch a picture of one actually flying, this is the next best thing.

Later, though, I got an even better series of shots when I was attracted by one curlew’s persistent “call.”

Long-Billed Curlews

Though I could never figure out exactly was going on these three had a squabble that went on for quite a while. Two of the curlews seemed determined to drive the third off, though they never actually touched each other. No matter, it made for some

Long-Billed Curlews

dramatic shots.

Long-Billed Curlews

I never did see what happened in the end. When I decided to leave after nearly fifteen minutes, the bird they were trying to chase away was still voicing its displeasure.

Long-Billed Curlew

Sandhill Cranes at Malheur

Judging from my recent experiences, this must be The Year of the Crane. Upon my arrival in Malheur last week, I was met by a field full of Sandhill Cranes, quite a change from past years when I was lucky to see one or two cranes on my whole trip.

Sandhill Crane

As a result, I had more time to actually observe their behavior, which, in turn, raised questions I’ve never had before, like, what the heck they were eating

Sandhill Crane

when they drove their beaks into the wet muddy soil? As it turns out, they are omnivores and eat almost anything, though I think in this case they were probably eating tubers in the mud.

On the second day of my trip I was driving through cattle country looking for raptors when I noticed Sandhill Cranes browsing with herds of cattle.

Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Cranes are often described as “very large” birds, and looking through binoculars or a telephoto lens they look huge, but as this photo reveals, “very large” is a relative term, isn’t it?

My trip to Malheur ended the same way it began, taking pictures of the Sandhill Cranes in the flooded fields just south of Burns. This pair of cranes held my attention the longest, though, because of how closely they stayed together,

Sandhill Cranes

at times almost appearing as a single, two-headed bird, impossible to separate.

Sandhill Cranes

The morning light also gave a quite different look than the late afternoon light did. Perhaps the blue reflections off the water made them seem “ bluer,” too, Even the crane’s white faced appeared blue in this shot, but it made me wonder why the colors varied so much in the shots I had gotten of different cranes. Although Sandhill Cranes are “slate-gray” birds, they apparently preen themselves with mud, giving themselves a rusty sheen, which is certainly more noticeable in the first shots in this entry.

Although I don’t think I really like any of these shots quite as much as the shots I took earlier of the Sandhill Cranes flying overhead at Ridgefield, but it was definitely fun to get a closer look at them and beginning to understand more about them.