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Our Trip to Oregon |
| We left home after work on Friday, June 16th, 2006, got out of town about 4 pm and stayed in Rawlins Wyoming that night The following morning we stayed on I-80 to Utah and took I-84 north-west to Boise. We stayed in Nampa Idaho but not before we stopped at Red Lobster in Boise for my early birthday dinner. (For your information the only Red Lobsters between Scottsbluff and Sisters Oregon are in Cheyenne and Boise) We left Nampa early, got off the interstate on Hiway 26, and headed west. The first new bird of the trip was seen just inside Oregon. A pair of California Quail. Not a very good picture since they were in the shade but at least he stood still while we went back and looked at them them took the picture. We saw several more along the roads all over Oregon. |
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Somewhere along Hiway 26,
near Vale Oregon, I think, (the road zigged and zagged so many
times I forget where we were) we stopped and checked out this
old volcano. I should have written down what it was called.
There was a nice roadside area to view it from with information Closer to John Day we drove through a canyon with lots and lots of Green-tailed Towhees. They seemed to be singing from every sagebrush and juniper tree. Wow! Next we stopped at a roadside pond and saw a Golden Eagle and baby coots. |
| We stayed in John Day on Sunday night. Bob took a nap when we got there and I checked out the town. They have a nice park by the river but didn't see anything interesting there. In the evening we went out to Starr Campground south of town to look for woodpeckers and other birds. The only woodpeckers we found were Hairy Woodpeckers, no White-headed. We did see beautiful Western Tanagers. Also Black-headed Grosbeaks, Dusky Flycatchers and a little bird making very strange noises in a bush near a stream but wouldn't come out and let me see him so I have no idea what it was. It will remain a mystery. |
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Monday morning we continued west. First stopping at Clyde Holiday State Park where I saw my second new bird of the trip, Vaux's Swifts. Other birds seen there were Bullock's Orioles, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Least Flycatchers, Yellow Warblers and lots of Tree Swallows nesting in boxes. I got to close to one box and got buzzed by mom, she flew so close to me I could feel the wind from her wings. (I don't actually know it was the mom, just humor me) This is a very nice rest area along the John Day River with lots of trees and shrubs along the waters edge. |
| Our next stop was the visitors center
for the John Day Fossil beds. The center is really nice with
lots of displays and pictures. We stopped and took a picture of
the area from a lookout. There are very interesting rock
formations. If you look at the picture you will see where the
road we drove on goes between the hills. Our next stop was Mitchell, Oregon, on Hiway 26, the same hiway that goes past our house in Mitchell Nebraska...... We ate at a little diner and stopped by a place where the guy makes furniture out of old juniper wood. When we told him we were from Nebraska he said did you know that Hiway 26 goes though Nebraska too? When we said we not only knew that but we lived in Mitchell, Nebraska just off Hiway 26 he was really surprised. I don't think he believed us until Bob showed him his ID with our address on it. He gave Bob a piece of juniper wood that he used for furniture. |
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All the furniture pieces
are not as big as the rocking chair. We didn't ask him who he
made it for. (Didn't really want to know!) The population of
Mitchell was about 150 Next we drove through the Ochoco National Forest. Here is a picture taken at a rest stop in the forest. We drove though a campground there just to see what it was like. There are lots of hiking trails in the forests but we didn't do any hiking until we got to Sisters, which is were were were heading. At Prineville we took Hiway 126 and stopped at Cline Falls Park on the Deschutes River. I looked around for a while but didn't stay long. There seemed to be a problem at the other side of the park. Lots of police. Looked like kids getting busted for having beer, don't know what else was going on and didn't stay to find out. We did see this pretty pink flowering grass along the water. |
| We got into Sisters fairly early, got
our room at the Ponderosa Lodge and unloaded our stuff. The
lodge is on the edge of the forest outside of town. (It isn't
actually a lodge, it's a Best Western Motel made to look like a
lodge, sort of) Sisters is a mountain town for tourists kind of like the little towns in South Dakota or Colorado. Lots of little shops and restaurants, all looking very old and western (and most very expensive!) We did buy a t-shirt and a couple other things at a store where everything was $12.99. We ate at Bronco Billy's Barbeque one day. They use the original Bronco Billy's recipe from the 1800s for their barbeque sauce. (Hey, that's what it said on the menu and I believe them) |
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I checked out the birds in
the forest around the motel and found Pygmy Nuthatches nesting
in a stump near the parking lot and also another family in a
birdhouse decoration by the front door of the motel office.
Also saw Western Bluebirds, Steller's Jays and others. I watched one of the little nuthatches fledge the next morning, two others weren't so anxious to leave the nest but were gone when we got back later that afternoon. We saw Pygmy Nuthatches everywhere. If there was an old tree with a hole there was a nuthatch family. I think they were the most common bird we saw in the forests. |
| The next morning we stopped at the
Forest Service Office and got a map of the area and headed off
on our adventure. They said they had a White-headed Woodpecker
at the feeder earlier. (Actually what the girl said was the bird
lady wasn't in but they had lots of birds at the feeders, even
the white-headed guy) Our first stop was Calliope Crossing north of Sisters. It is in the forest and has a stream running though the middle of it. We saw Purple Finches, Cassin's Vireos, Willow Flycatchers, Dark-eyed Juncos (the Oregon race, imagine that!! ) Then finally what we came to see, woodpeckers. Williamson's Sapsuckers (a new bird) and Red-napped Sapsuckers, also Flickers but no White-headed. We walked around the area but didn't find anything else interesting. Did see a hummingbird buzzing around and several little flycatchers, also Pinyon Jays along the road which are kind of unusual around there. |
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We checked out other areas
in the forest then went to the head of the Metolius River. Where
the river begins is a spring coming out of the side of the
mountain. I didn't take a picture of it because there was to
much vegetation to see anything but this is the view down steam,
already it's fairly wide. Here is what the sign says.
"Head of the Metolius River |
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We headed north of Sisters
looking for Mountain Quail, Blue Grouse, White-headed
Woodpeckers and what ever else we might find. We did get great
looks at a Williamson's Sapsucker and a Goshawk that flew out of
the woods and across a clearing. This is the best look I have
had at a Goshawk, and it still wasn't all that great. Someday..
We drove around the area and saw some very beautiful scenery but no White-headed Woodpeckers. We still hadn't been to Cold Springs Campground where we were pretty sure to see them, but I was still getting discouraged. |
| On Wednesday morning we headed out towards Trout Creek Swamp. Along the road I could head woodpecker tapping and we stopped to check it out. Finally! A White-headed Woodpecker. I tried to get close enough for a picture but it flew off. We watched for quail and grouse along the roads as well as Fox Sparrows that live in the Manzanita Shrubs long the road. We headed down to Trout Creek Swamp to see what we could find. The first thing we found was giant mosquitoes and headed right back to the car to get sprayed. Now we were able to check out the area. We walked along the steam and through Whispering Pines Campground, only Woodpeckers we found were Red-breasted Sapsuckers and Flickers. |
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I kept looking for Fox Sparrows, I could hear them off and on but not see them. When I thought I had one up on a bush or tree the lighting was bad and I couldn't tell for sure. While I was taking this picture of a mountain Bob said one was about 3 feet from me in the middle of the road. Of course I only saw it when I started to move back to the car and it was just a flash into the bushes. Never did get a good look at one. |
| We headed back up the road where we
saw the White-headed Woodpecker and got out and started walking
into the area. The woodpecker pair were very agitated with us
being there and started making lots of noise so they were fairly
easy to find. I heard the babies in an old snag. They finally
got used to us being there and started feeding their babies and
I could get a picture.
Now that I finally found the bird I came to see we took the afternoon off from birding and went shopping and had lunch in town. We were going to camp at Cold Springs that night but the weather forecast was for mid 30's temperatures so we stayed another night at the motel, or rather, 'the lodge'. We shopped for some camping food and headed for the motel. (I already had the s'mores stuff) |
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As soon as we got to the Cold Springs Campground on Thursday morning we looked for the sites that the Oregon Field Ornithologists were going to try to get for their weekend campout. Judy was going to be out later that night to hold the sites for them. There were some campers already using a couple of the sites so we were checking out other ones. Bob was talking to another camper when I saw a White-headed Woodpecker fly through. I followed it to site 18 where it was feeding babies in a snag. So we moved into site 18 and set up our tent. At first the woodpeckers were nervous about us being there but soon were flying right through the campsite just above our heads. |
| After I took several pictures of the Woodpeckers at the nest neat the campsite I took a walk down the stream to the springs. Along this trail I found nesting Red-breasted Sapsuckers and tried to get pictures of them but they were not so photogenic. I did get pictures of another White-headed Woodpecker and a few bad photos of the Red-breasted Sapsuckers. |
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While I'm out looking for
birds in the campground and surrounding forest Bob is keeping
watch at the campsite. |
| That evening Judy came to the
campsite, set up her tent then we went owling while Bob went to
bed. We were looking for Flammulated Owls and Western Screech-owls. We went down forest roads and Judy played her Flammulated Owl call. We could hear a couple in the distance and they seemed to get closer, but then farther away. We finally went back near the spring and she played her Western Screech-owl call. Wasn't long before the little owl answered and kept getting closer. Then he flew right by us. This was on Thursday night when the moon was nearly new and it was really really dark out! We couldn't see him but we could feel him as he flew by again. He was calling right in front of us and I found him with the flashlight. He sat there in the light and called at us for a while with his tail twitching with each call then flew off into the dark. Another new bird and a fun experience. We went back to camp and to bed. It was cold that night so I was glad I had put in some extra blankets. |
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Friday morning we got up and Bob started breakfast while Judy and I went up the hill to try for Northern Pygmy-owls. We had no answer to the tapes, Bob called us for breakfast on the radio so we headed back to camp. We were just getting ready to eat when a guy from the campground came around ready to cut down all the dead trees. We talked to him about the nesting birds but he wasn't sure he could leave any. Judy asked him to wait while she went to the forest service office to talk to them. A little while later she returned, then the forest service people and the campground people showed up. The guy was only supposed to be cutting down some big pines that they thought were hazardous to the campers and not every dead tree. Judy showed them where the nesting birds were that we knew of and they marked the trees to be cut down. A few minutes later we head the chain saw and a loud crash. We only hope they got the tree cutter straightened out. Judy was going to be there all weekend with the Oregon Field Ornithologists group so I'm sure all are safe, for now anyway. |
| Friday morning after breakfast and all
the excitement we got loaded up and headed for home. We stopped
at a place east of Bend to look for Sage Sparrows which were
right where Judy said they would be. Another new bird for
me, though I could probably find them in Wyoming if I would
look. We also saw a Ferruginous Hawk on a power pole. We headed for Burns Oregon to check out the Malheur Lake and Wildlife Refuge. We checked out the lake and saw lots of White-faced Ibis and ducks then went to the Headquarters but they were closed. We had planned to go back though Boise but since we were already 30 miles south of the highway I decided to head south instead. |
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We went south on Hiway 205 through the middle of nowhere towards Winnemucca Nevada and I-80. What a beautiful drive! No traffic. We didn't even see another vehicle for miles and miles (about 100 miles). We saw 2 ranch houses and no other signs of civilization until we came to the town of Frenchglen, population probably about 5, or maybe 0. We did see one boy on a horse heading cattle down the road a few miles past the town. The scenery was like driving through a postcard. The sun was going down and the mountains were all purple and windswept. Should have taken some pictures but we really wanted to get somewhere before it was dark and I was driving. |
| We got to Winnemucca and got a motel
room and had a very late supper. We had never been to this area
before so was a new experience. Saturday morning we headed east
on I-80 towards Salt Lake City. We stopped on the border in
Wendover Utah and had lunch on the Utah side after getting gas
in the gambling Nevada side. They have some huge casinos
there and they looked busy with the parking lots full of cars,
probably from Salt Lake City. Bob had never seen the Great Salt Lake before we drove by it on the way to Oregon so we wanted to stop by and check it out. Neither of us had been on the road though the salt flats. Wow! What an interesting place. |
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We stopped at the Great
Salt Lake, checked out the birds near the marina and Bob tasted
the water. We stopped in the little store and talked about the
brine shrimp then back to the road home. We stayed in Rock Springs Wyoming Saturday night and got home Sunday about 3:00. We had a great trip, saw the White-headed Woodpeckers, other new birds and lots of new places, even some that wasn't planned but it was fun and I'm glad we took a new way home. |
| In Oregon they have a crazy law there that only gas station employees can pump gas so the gas is $3.25+ per gallon since they have to pay someone to do the pumping. |
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