This is another area of Oregon (and Northern California) that I love for birding.  Lots of great places to see and visit.  And the birds…..  In fact there are six national wildlife refuges and 200,000 acres of bird habitat in the area:  Klamath Marsh NWR, Upper Klamath NWR, Lower Klamath NWR, Tule Lake NWR, Clear Lake NWR, and Bear Valley NWR.

You can’t go wrong at the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake NWRs and we scored an impressive 55 bird species on an overcast, windy day.  Granted many of the species observed were waterfowl and raptors, but still a great productive day.  I just love this area (can’t say it enough).  Come visit and spend some time checking out the birds.  Any season is great.  You won’t be disappointed.

We arrived in the Klamath Falls area (Jack’s sister lives nearby) on Tuesday, November 15th.  The route we took (Highway141) skirts Klamath Lake.  This lake is host to large numbers of grebes and pelicans during the summer months, and plenty of diving ducks during the winter, plus a few grebes and gulls as well.

Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge

Several days after arriving in the region we decided to visit the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge.  This refuge was the first national waterfowl refuge established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt.  And the refuge is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark.

During the spring and fall, the 50,092 acre refuge plays host to approximately 40 percent of the Pacific Fly-way’s migrating waterfowl.   Peak waterfowl populations have reached an estimated 1.8 million birds.  Imagine.  Wow!!!  And everywhere we went a lake or pond had thousands of waterfowl.

According to the refuge’s website, 500 Bald Eagles and 30,000 Tundra Swans make the refuge their home during the winter.   An estimated 20-30% of the Pacific Flyway population of Sandhill Cranes (including some of the Homer cranes) use the refuge during migration.  From 20,000 to 100,000 shorebirds use refuge wetlands during spring migration.  During the spring and summer, nesting birds include many colonial waterbirds such as white-faced ibis, Clark’s and Western Grebes, Herons and Egrets, American White Pelicans, and Gulls.

This is one very important bird area

The refuge has a 10.2 mile auto tour loop.  We drove only a portion of the loop.  We heard a number of shotgun blasts so people were out hunting on the refuge.  We wanted to avoid these people if possible.  Plus we also wanted to get to the nearby Tule Lake NWR before nasty weather set in.

Before reaching the refuge we stopped at a lake located on private property.  From the road we were able to scope the lake.  At first glance (with the naked eye) it didn’t look like many birds were on the lake, but once I got my spotting scope out we must have seen several thousands Canvasbacks hugging the far shoreline.  Mixed in with the Canvasbacks were  American Coots and Ruddy Ducks.

Once back on Highway 161, which leads to the refuge, we flushed a Bald Eagle, several Black-billed Magpies, and a Common Raven alongside the road.  We stopped to investigate and discovered they were feasting on a dead coyote.  Based on the intact body, the coyote had probably been dead less than 12 hours.  Highway 161 is a busy road – lots of large semi-trucks (hauling onions and such) – so the birds are continually interrupted in their food fest on the coyote.  Watching it all was a Golden Eagle on a nearby power pole.

Further along the road we found a dead Great Horned Owl.  Poor thing must have been hit by a car.

The refuge consists of a number of lakes, sloughs, and wetlands.  These water bodies were loaded with waterfowl – primarily ducks.   Lots of Northern Shovelers, American Wigeons, Ruddy Ducks, Gadwalls, Canvasbacks, Northern Pintails, Green-winged Teal.  What we didn’t see were a lot of were Mallards, and only one Cinnamon Teal.  Also lots of American Coots.

I decided to count the number of Red-tailed Hawks we saw during our bird outing – 34, and in all different plumage colors too.   No Rough-legged Hawks here yet – or at least we didn’t see any.   Today we also counted 9 Northern Harriers (this number seems low based on previous observations at the refuge), 2 Golden Eagles, 1 Cooper’s Hawk, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 3 American Kestrels, and 6 Bald Eagles.

When you have hundreds of thousands of waterfowl is it any wonder the area attracts 500 Bald Eagles, and many other raptor species.

Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge

After completing a portion of the auto tour route we headed to Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge  – about 20 miles away.  We stopped first at refuge headquarters to get a bird list and map.   Then the winds picked up.  Luckily we spent most of our time in the van.

All in all we saw or heard 55 different species:

• Eared Grebe
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Western Grebe
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Canada Goose
• Greater White-fronted Goose
• Snow Goose
• Ross’ Goose
• Tundra Swan
• Mallard
• Cinnamon Teal
• Green-winged Teal
• Northern Pintail
• Northern Shoveler
• Gadwall
• Canvasback
• American Wigeon
• Common Goldeneye
• Bufflehead
• Lesser Scaup
• Ring-necked Duck
• Hooded Merganser
• Common Merganser
• Ruddy Duck
• American Coot
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Bald Eagle
• Golden Eagle
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Northern Harrier
• Cooper’s Hawk
• Peregrine Falcon
• American Kestrel
• Ring-billed Gull
• Herring Gull
• Bonaparte’s Gull
• Belted Kingfisher
• Mourning Dove
• Common Raven
• Black-billed Magpie
• Northern Flicker
• American Robin
• Horned Lark
• European Starling
• Song Sparrow
• Marsh Wren
• Bewick’s Wren
• Brewer’s Blackbird
• Brown Cowbird
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Western Meadowlark
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• House Finch

Oh but it was a “Great Day to Bird”