I’ve already blogged about chasing raptors across the frozen steppe that is the Klamath Basin in winter…fine birding.  Well, Thursday, June 19, the weather was far better, perfect in fact.  Almost the end of spring, but it was summery to the feel.  Crisp and cool in themorning but rapidly warming under the sun.  The only hint of moisture being the lake and the rocks along its shore where the tiniest of wavelets gently licked the stones.

And the birding was far different from January, but just as worthy.  TWO LIFERS.  One I’d actually seen before but had not registered it as a new bird.  Duh.  That was Forster’s Tern.  I first saw them in Oregon at the south end of Klamath Lake a month ago.  Because they’re so abundant around San Francisco Bay, I never checked to see if I’d seen the Forster’s in Oregon before. * So they are/were/will be Oregon # 205.  The top bird of the day for me: Black Tern.  Oregon #206.  And we didn’t just catch a glimpse of these spiffy, delicate, small terns.  We saw them, heard them, ate lunch on a dock as they fished up and down, around and overhead.  There were dozens as they nest here in Shoalwater Bay Marsh on the western shore of Klamath Lake.

 

That pale dot in front of the reeds is a Black Tern speeding by, trust me.  Thanks to digital tech I took dozens of shots, none of which really show much.

 

 

 

 

This is a “BLACK TILT” not a Black-necked Stilt, simply one of the many swift, bouyant little terns turning, wings tilted, eyes almost always looking down at the water.  That’s a useful field mark to help distinguish gulls and terns: the terns fly looking downward often.  The gulls usually fly with their beak and eyes forward, rarely pointed down at the water over which they are flying.

The Black Tern is a specialist of inland waters and marshes in flat country.  That has made their fate an unhappy one.  They’re a shrinking population in the arid and grassy portions of northern North America, from California across southern Canada to Maine.  Marshes and potholes are favorite habitat for draining and development. The species in the Western Hemisphere winters from Panama southward.  In Eurasia Black Terns breed in Europe and eastward into Siberia, wintering mostly in Africa.

THE SETTING

This is a view west across Shoalwater Bay and its myriad tule-covered islands.  The snowy pinnacle on the horizon is Mt. McLoughlin, elevation 9495 feet. A not-too-recently active volcano, our local Mt. Fuji.  Expect some of that snow will still be up there in July. 

Here, at Klamath Lake just about 4200 feet, were Coots, Canvasbacks which breed, Clark’s and Western Grebes, Pied-billed Grebes, White Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, Mallards of course, a zillion Yellow-headed Blackbirds, a few Red-winged Blackbirds along the shoreline.  And the crusing terns, when the larger Forster’s hove into view they would shriek and add their voice to the croaking and gurgling of the grebe families.  One Western Grebe sound Bill Hering and I heard frequently along Shoalwater Bay was very frog-like. 

MUSIC OR NOISE?

Here he sits, the voice of the Klamath.  Yes, this picture was taken miles to the south in California’s Shasta Valley, but then the YH Blackbirds at Klamath must surely be near cousins.  They certaily share the vocal proclivities of their kind.  The cry of a constipated cow in distress?  A baboon with a bassoon outta tune?  Rusty doors coming unhinged?  It is almost indescribable the squeaky, metallic grating sound they can put forth.  And there were dozens, males flying up in showy displays above the tules.  Yellow tops bright in the sun, white wing patches like a piece of Mt. McLoughlin’s snow.  Chasing, perching, nervous, near madness from testosterone poisoning.  The activity of spring.  Here’s the best pic I got of them here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And out in the Bay: loafing White Pelicans with their miniscule Double-crested Cormorant pals.  A suny day down at the old neighborhood log.  Do pelicans snore?

Notice the level of boat traffic and general crowding on this finger of the lake.  And all that urban sprawl on the far shore, and the helicopters, and the…boy was it quiet, except for the grebes, the blackbird cacophony and the wheezing Wood-peewees.

ABOVE:  Four of the many Canvasbacks we saw on the lake.  They breed in the marshes there.

Clark’s Grebe trolling for some of the minnows we saw swarming in the warm shallows along the lake shore.  This bird did not seem to mind our nearness as long as we stayed on land, the grebe knew he could out-swim us.  Heck, he’s faster than a minnow…

 

 

*Johann Forster was a leading German-born naturalist who went on the third British expedition to the Pacific, led by Caoptain Cook, in  1772.  Later–stillworking in England–he recognized his namesake bird, the Forster’s Tern, in a shipment of bird specimens from Hudson’s Bay outposts around the Hudson Bay in Canada. 

We weren’t the only sharp-eyed predators along the Klamath Lake shoreline this day.  And this one was not appreciative or our mucking up his hunting.

 

 

 

 

Our most surprising encounter of the day: small groups of Cedar Waxwings.  I hadn’t realized they were a breeding species around Klamath Lake.

Further up the slope of Eagle Ridge we saw a Townsend’s Solitaire, above 4500 feet.  And both Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks with the smaller chasing the larger. And we failed to find a hoped-for Williamson’s Sapsucker.  This rea is where the specimens were collected 160 years ago.  We did find a few Red-breasted Sapsuckers along the lakeshore.

HOWARD PRAIRIE LAKE

 Crane, Mountain Bluebird, Crane again.

Try our new spring colors, Howard Prairie.  Click in box above for full effect.

NOT EVERYTHING THAT FLIES HAS FEATHERS

Western tiger Swallowtail, Pterourus glaucus or Papilio rutulus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOCAL RESIDENTS, KLAMATH

Open ranger on the open range.  Moooooving verrry slowly in the shade…

This small garter snake joins the heron, grebe and terns as another admirer of the minnows along the shoreline.

 

 

 

 

 

Location:     Shoalwater/Eagle Ridge, Klamath Lake, Oregon
Observation date:     6/19/08
Notes:     Juvenile birds seen inc: nesting House Wren, Western Grebe, Bullock’s Oriole, Red-winged Blackbirds.  Numerous species were calling, inc. flycatchers, icterids, Cassin’s Finch, Warbling Vireos in a territorial frenzy, Western Grebes, both tern species, Song Sparrow, Robin, Grosbeak and Tanager.
Number of species:     51

Wood Duck     8
Mallard     10
Canvasback     22
Pied-billed Grebe     6
Western Grebe     150
Clark’s Grebe     2
American White Pelican     15
Double-crested Cormorant     8
Great Blue Heron     1
Great Egret     1
Black-crowned Night-Heron     1
Turkey Vulture     4
Bald Eagle     1
Northern Harrier     1
Sharp-shinned Hawk     1
Cooper’s Hawk     1
Red-tailed Hawk     1
American Coot     35
Ring-billed Gull     20
Black Tern     45
Forster’s Tern     5
Mourning Dove     1
Red-breasted Sapsucker     4
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)     2
Olive-sided Flycatcher     8
Western Wood-Pewee     24
Willow Flycatcher     2
Warbling Vireo     6
Steller’s Jay     2
Black-billed Magpie     1
Tree Swallow     15
Cliff Swallow     2
House Wren     4
Townsend’s Solitaire     1
American Robin     16
European Starling     6
Cedar Waxwing     16
Yellow Warbler     4
Western Tanager     3
Spotted Towhee     2
Song Sparrow     6
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)     2
Black-headed Grosbeak     4
Lazuli Bunting     1
Red-winged Blackbird     12
Yellow-headed Blackbird     75
Brewer’s Blackbird     10
Brown-headed Cowbird     14
Bullock’s Oriole     20
Cassin’s Finch     1
Lesser Goldfinch     6

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/Klamath-Siskiyou)