A male Yellow-headed Blackhead along Wingwatchers Trail, Klamath Falls.
Saturday I birded a few spots around Klamath Lake and Klamath Falls with three other Ashland birders. Some highlights include: numerous Redheads, a small flock of Bufflehead, young birds and nestlings from Yellow Warbler to MacGillivray’s fluttering after parents, from Black-headed Grosbeaks to Western Grebes. There was a Pileated who showed up as soon we got out of our cars at Eagle Ridge, a dense fleet of White Pelicans seining Link River and a Black Tern who repeatedly floated past at close-up distance, not stopping for a photo.
Fishing pelicans in Link River, note relatively tiny DC Cormorant next to them.
White Pelican under full sail, Link River. This is a youngster without the vertical wafer on its beak.
Forster’s Tern turning above Lake Ewauna.
The best of my many feeble attempts to capture the always moving, circling and swooping flight of the nearly tame Black Tern at Rocky Point.
The Black Tern is elegant, lightweight, never perching nearshore. The small tern is about half the size of the Forster’s only a small fraction of the Caspian’s bulk.
A pair of female Yellow-headed Blackbird photos.

A male Yellow Warbler sings, willow topping at Eagle Ridge.
Look carefully through the leaves as we did. There’s an adult Yellow Warbler atop a finely woven plant fiber nest. The dark spot is the eye. There were visible newborn chicks in the nest.
Here’s picture of the nest.
The nest was in the parking lot shubbery next to the boat dock at Rocky Point.
Below: Western Grebe.
White-faced Ibis in flight formation over Lake Ewauna. The species now breeds in Klamath Basin. It is also possible the Bufflehead and Redheads we saw are breeding, along with several dozen Lesser Scaup we saw in a tight flock. Baby ducks we saw: Mallards and Wood Duck and Gadwall. There were breedig plumage Ruddy Ducks at Eagle Ridge but no visible females.
Black Tern passing. We got closer to them at Rocky Point than we could at Eagle Ridge. They breed in the reeds at both locations.
Checklist for the day: Canada Goose 120
Wood Duck 6
Gadwall 12
Mallard 45
Redhead 20
Lesser Scaup 45
Bufflehead 12
Common Merganser 25
Ruddy Duck 10
Pied-billed Grebe 35
Eared Grebe 20
Western Grebe 340
Clark’s Grebe 50
American White Pelican 50
Double-crested Cormorant 60
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 2
Green Heron 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron 4
White-faced Ibis 15
Turkey Vulture 6
Osprey 2
Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk 4
American Coot 50
Sandhill Crane 2
Killdeer 6
Ring-billed Gull 40
Herring Gull 1
Caspian Tern 2
Black Tern 40
Forster’s Tern 60
Rock Pigeon 8
Mourning Dove 3
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
Red-breasted Sapsucker 2
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 8
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Olive-sided Flycatcher 2
Western Wood-Pewee 4
Western Kingbird 2
Cassin’s Vireo 1
Warbling Vireo 2
Steller’s Jay 3
Black-billed Magpie 1
Common Raven 4
Tree Swallow 12
Violet-green Swallow 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Cliff Swallow 200
Barn Swallow 45
Mountain Chickadee 3
Pygmy Nuthatch 2
House Wren 4
Marsh Wren 1
American Robin 7
European Starling 12
Cedar Waxwing 12
Yellow Warbler 4
Hermit Warbler 1
MacGillivray’s Warbler 4
Spotted Towhee 2
Song Sparrow 4
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 2
Black-headed Grosbeak 15
Red-winged Blackbird 100
Yellow-headed Blackbird 60
Brewer’s Blackbird 40
Brown-headed Cowbird 6
Bullock’s Oriole 20
Purple Finch 4
House Finch 6
Lesser Goldfinch 4
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 50
Location: Klamath County, OR, US
Observation date: 6/27/09
Notes: Nests inc: Yellow Warbler, WW Pewee, Wood Duck, Western Grebe,RT Hawk, Cliff Swallows, Orioles. Juveniles inc. MacG Wrbler, grebes, Gadwall, Wood Duck, orioles, grosbeaks, Tree Swallows.
Number of species: 75