Back to Oregon…back to Fort Rock where several miles beyond pine forest meets high desert sage. The summer heat draws to birds to the shallow basins where water from the winter rains, caught on steel aprons and directed into underground cisterns, flows into these two sites and provides a source of life-giving water to many bird and mammal species.

Even though it was hot and dry, bird activity was much less this year than before. I logged in about 21 species in 3 days but many were only single sightings. But, only a year away from 80 I prided myself on still being able to camp out again, even though I needed the comfortable cot and foam futon to replace sleeping on the ground on a thin Thermopad. But away from the light pollution of our cities and two moonless nights, the star show was spectacular. How it brought back my many nights almost 60 years ago in the Arizona deserts.

Fort Rock

Ponderosa & Sage Ecotone

Water Basin

Photo Blind

Camp

Pinyon Jay

Red Crossbill

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Mourning Dove

Western Tanager

Clark’s Nutcracker

Green-tailed Towhee

Sage Thrasher

Brewer’s Blackbird

Mountain Chickadee

Chipping Sparrow

Lazuli Bunting

Cassin’s Finch

American Robin

Mountain Bluebird

Western Bluebird

Northern Flicker

White-headed Woodpecker