Fort Rock | Summer Lake WMA 8/7--SAGEBRUSH SPARROW + 25 Year Birds

Fort Rock

This was a high desert/sagebrush habitat day. As we drove through the toddling town of Fort Rock we scanned the utility poles for raptors--Swainson's Hawks were pretty easy to find, along with the practically ubiquitous Red-tailed Hawks. We stopped briefly at Fort Rock SP itself, where we picked up a surprising number of year birds in such a short time: White-throated Swifts high above the cliffs, Loggerhead Shrike on the barbed wire (perfect for the "butcher bird" to store food on), Sage Thrasher, and the first of many Brewer's Sparrows. Every time we stopped on some dusty road and found a new trip bird, I started a new eBird list. I did a lot of eBird lists this day. On Pitcher Road, somewhere in Fort Rock, we came upon SAGEBRUSH SPARROW, which to me was an unexpected lifer. Looking back on our itinerary, I see that it is mentioned, but I didn't highlight it as I did other potential lifers. I don't think I even knew there was a such a bird until Dave pointed one out. It is another split species, once considered the same as Bell's Sparrow and both were named Sage Sparrow. Apparently, it was wiser to rename it Sagebrush so no one would expect the sparrow to have smarts. 

Anna's Hummingbird (pretty sure) Summer Lake Rest Area

After various quick stops--Pitcher Road in Silver Lake, Picture Rock Pass, the Summer Lake Rest Area (where we picked up both Anna's Hummingbird and Black-chinned Hummingbird at feeders, along with a Rufous Hummingbird), we finally drove into Summer Lake WMA, a marsh where the water is managed by the state. The first pond we came to had Sora, Virginia Rail, White-faced Ibis and the expected shorebirds. Moving along, another pond was full of American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts, and American White Pelicans. We had decent scope views of an Eared Grebe, and very good comparison views of Western Grebes and Clark's Grebe. New shorebirds for the trip were Snowy Plover and Baird's Sandpiper. I could have stayed there all day, like a trip to Brig, but places to go, birds to see...This was by far our most "productive" stop with 50 species (51 counting the Swainson's Hawk that I couldn't see out of the van window). 

Canada Goose  50
Trumpeter Swan  2
Gadwall  230
American Wigeon  1
Mallard  30
Pied-billed Grebe  3
Eared Grebe  1
Western Grebe  6
Clark's Grebe  6
Common Nighthawk  20
Virginia Rail  1
Sora  2
American Coot  2
Black-necked Stilt  56
American Avocet  15
Black-bellied Plover  1
Snowy Plover  5
Semipalmated Plover  4
Killdeer  5
Baird's Sandpiper  2
Least Sandpiper  28
Western Sandpiper  9
Long-billed Dowitcher  200
Wilson's Phalarope  115
Red-necked Phalarope  1
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Greater Yellowlegs  30
Lesser Yellowlegs  5
Franklin's Gull  50
Ring-billed Gull  2
Caspian Tern  55
Black Tern  1
Forster's Tern  50
Double-crested Cormorant  1
American White Pelican  91
Great Blue Heron  1
Great Egret  2
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
White-faced Ibis  30
Turkey Vulture  3
Northern Harrier  4
Common Raven  2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  6
Bank Swallow  35
Cliff Swallow  1
Marsh Wren  1
Yellow-headed Blackbird  1
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Common Yellowthroat  2

Distances in the west are deceptive. On the map, Lake Abert doesn't look that far from Summer Lake. On the road, it is about 70 miles, through the most boring landscape I have ever been through and that includes the Bonneville Salt Flats which, while monotonous, have an otherworldly quality to them, while here, it was thousands of acres of sagebrush. And because the road runs along a high rim around the lake, what there was to see was dots.  Lots of dots that were mostly Red-necked Phalaropes, Wilson's Phalaropes, and American Avocets. Dave pointed out clouds of brine flies that the dots were eating. The flies looked only slightly smaller than the dots. I was singularly unimpressed. We did add Willet to the trip list. 

From there it was another two hours through sagebrush back to Sisters. We stopped very briefly at Riley Pond alongside the road, where there were a couple of hen Redheads, which I was surprised to find were year birds for me (I didn't go to their usual spot in Ocean County this year), and then, on E. Hwy 20, in Brothers, we saw, sitting on a utility pole, a Golden Eagle. It upped and flew around for us. That was impressive.