The first trip of the season is under our belts! Waddles and I went to La Grande Oregon for the
Ladd Marsh Bird Festival. This is an annual event that I try to get to most years.
Ladd Marsh is a very special place, and this year it was very very wet; so wet that the water was running over the road in a number of places, and some of the standard staffed stations were under water. AND that didn't stop the fun.
Waddles and I left home on Friday and drove the 200 miles to La Grande in cool, but ok weather. We arrived in the early afternoon and got set up at the
Grande Hot Springs RV Resort. I tend to not like RV parks, but this one is very close to Ladd Marsh, and I had some early mornings planned, so this seemed like the best place to stay. The weekend was predicted to be quite rainy so I was prepared for the worst.
Friday night the Festival kicks off with a speaker. This year it was Dr.
Rob Taylor who talked about his time on Midway Island helping with a project transforming the military base into a refuge for birds and other wildlife. It was VERY interesting and I learned a lot. Did you know that mice will eat away at live birds? I didn't.
At the RV Park the first night we didn't have any close neighbors and I got to listen to the Sandhill Cranes all night long, which was delightful.
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| Waddles with some space around her |
On Saturday morning I was up early to get onto the marsh by 6am. I took a long walk into the marsh on a road which is closed to the public except during the festival. There is water on both sides of the road, with lots of reeds for birds to hide in, and many open water areas as well. Click on the photos to embiggen them.
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| Sunrise over the Marsh |
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| White Pelican on the fishing pond |
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| White Pelicans at Dawn |
I heard lots and lots of Bittern, Sora and Virginia Rails, but didn't see any. I did see Marsh Wrens, Common Yellow-Throat Warblers, many different kinds of ducks, Sandhill Cranes, White Pelicans, Wilson's Phalaropes, Cliff, Barn and Tree Swallows, and lots more. During the Festival there are staffed stations, where spotting scopes are set up and bird experts are available to assist in spotting and identifying birds. My first walk, described above, went to station 4. I then went to station 3 and saw a
Sora. This is a very shy wading bird that can be heard all the time, but they rarely show themselves; they hide in dense reeds. This one came boldly out in to view and walked along the edge of the reeds for quite a while, so I got a good look. I did not, unfortunately, get a picture of it. This is only the second time in my life I've seen one.
Then I went to station 5, which was staffed by friends. As the day turned out to be LOVELY, I decided to just hang out with them for most of the morning. The water was so high that this station was moved from its normal location so we had a different perspective. We were treated to Ruddy Ducks, White Ibis, Northern Harriers, Coots, Yellow-Headed Black Birds and more. We also got to see, up close and personal, a
Great-Tailed Grackle, which is not a common bird in Oregon. I also didn't get a picture of this one. Darn.
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| Reflections at Station 5 |
After lunch there was a speaker from the
Blue Mountain Wildlife Rehab Center with raptors that had been injured and are not able to be released into the wild. They have become ambassadors.
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| Raptor Talk |
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| Barn Owl |
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| Red-Tailed Hawk |
After the festival activities a friend and I drove around the valley to find more birds and had a lovely afternoon. When I got back to the RV Park I had two new LARGE neighbors. Waddles is still by far the cutest.
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| Feeling a bit small... |
Sunday morning I was signed up for a field trip called 'Dawn Chorus'. This trip started at 4:30 a.m. and was a walk through the marsh as the sun was coming up. The rain held off and the morning was spectacular. It was a great exercise in identifying birds by ear, as many were hidden in the reeds, and we didn't have a lot of light at first. We saw yet another Sora, and a Virginia Rail; another shy bird that hides in the reeds. We heard many Bittern, but I didn't see one until I was back in my car and one flew across the road in front of me.
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| Dawn over Ladd Marsh |
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| Great color and reflections at dawn |
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| More lovely reflections |
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| Not a great picture, but this is a Virginia Rail |
Then I went, with 3 friends, on a second trip to a place called
Growiser, on a shield volcano at the north end of the Grande Ronde Valley. You can read about it on the linked web page, but I will tell you it's a pretty special place. The north side of the area has heavy soils, dropped as Mount Mazama Ash, and is covered with dense forest. The Southern side has thin soils, and is open meadows. The whole area is being restored to native habitat and we walked all over the area looking at plants and birds. If you ever get a chance to go there, do. The web page tells you how to arrange a visit.
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| Field Trip across Growiser meadow, looking south over the Grande Ronde Valley. It was spectacular. |
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| Camas |
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| Looking South |
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| Lupin, not quite blooming yet |
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| Calypso bulbosa Fairyslipper |
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| Peach colored Paint Brush |
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| Sierra Pea |
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| Don't know what this is called |
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| Mountain Goldenbanner |
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| Ponderosa Pine Male Cones |
| After that field trip I spent the afternoon going to some of the stations I missed on Saturday and found Bullock's Orioles, House Wrens, a Flycatcher I couldn't identify, and a Downy Woodpecker. And then it started to rain. I found evidence of a hawk that had been killed by something. It had LOVELY feathers. |
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| Red-Tailed Hawk Feather |
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| Tree Swallow |
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| Wild Iris |
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| Red-Tailed Hawk and Stormy skys |
And then it started to thunder and lightening, and then it rained some more! So I retreated to Waddles after having dinner with friends.
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| And now it is Pouring Rain |
I spent one last cozy night in Waddles, dry and warm. Monday morning I got up to the promise of some sunshine. I packed up and pulled out by 7am. I made a short stop in Pendleton to visit friends, and then home.
It was a fun and successful trip. I didn't really get to test the new batteries, since I had shore power at the RV park, but everything seems to be working just fine.
In less than 4 weeks I will be heading north to Prince George British Columbia to attend the Association of Northwest Weaving Guilds (ANWG) Conference. Waddles and I will be joined by friends who also have a little homemade Teardrop Trailer. This trip will be a couple weeks! I am so looking forward to it.
