When I was a child, my parents took me to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. I have been wanting to take my husband, an avid birder, there for years. We finally got our chance and my husband’s sister’s family and my brother joined us on the trip too. We had lots of fun and saw scores of birds. On the trip my husband and I identified 82 birds. (My list is at the bottom of the post.) Rather than tell you anymore about our trip. I’m just going to share tons of pictures with captions in chronological order of how they were taken.
Horned Lark — taken in John Day, Oregon, shortly before we arrived at Malheur.
My brother with our new bird scope.
American Avocet
Great Blue Heron
White-faced Ibis
Common Yellowthroat
Bullock’s Oriole
Yellow Warbler–in flight and perched
Lazuli Bunting Pair
Happy campers enjoying a pancake breakfast.
Cliff Swallow
Northern Shoveler
Ruddy Duck–Can you see his blue bill?
Barn Swallow
Canada Goose with goslings.
House Wren serenading us during our lunch.
American Robin feeding her chicks. It was really special to watch the parents feeding these chicks. They were perched right in between a couple of our tents. This was one bird that the kids were actually willing to stay quiet to watch.
Looking at a Northern Pintail–sorry no picture of the Pintail, but boy, was I happy to see it!
My favorite photographer in the world! (My husband)
Common Raven and chicks–This Raven is landing in her nest. You can see the mouths of the babies wide open waiting for their snack.
Just a nice view (to prove that my point-and-shoot can take good pictures too! Actually, i took all the people pictures with my point and shoot too.)
Zippy, the birder.
We don’t completely have Zippy’s life list updated with her Malheur list. We have to finish weeding out the doubles, but she should have around a hundred when we are finished. Not too bad for a nine year old who’s been working on her life list for a year.
A displaying Red-winged Blackbird
Sandhill Crane
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Female California Quail
Western Tanager–Is he pretty or what?
Ring-necked Pheasant–This seemed to be the kids’ favorite bird to see and he really is a beauty.
Long-billed Curlew
Black-necked Stilt
Great Egret
We read the book The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon while we were on our expedition. (A few times actually. It was such a good one.) That is the artist that we’ve decided to learn about right now. I thought it would be fun to learn about him while we were getting to do this birding trip. We’re really enjoying learning about nature and art together.
We also tried our hand at our own bird illustrations. The two big kids and I did some nature journal entries in our individual journals.
Ring-necked Pheasant by Zippy (age 9)
Sandhill Crane by JD Boy (age 6)
American Avocet by me
Here is our list of identified birds from the trip:
| 1 |
Horned Lark |
|
42 |
Yellow-breasted Chat |
|
2 |
Bald Eagle |
|
43 |
Common Raven |
|
3 |
Wilson’s Snipe |
|
44 |
Cliff Swallow |
|
4 |
Wilson’s Phalarope |
|
45 |
Goldfinch |
|
5 |
Magpie |
|
46 |
European Starling |
|
6 |
Common Grackle |
|
47 |
Song Sparrow |
|
7 |
Western Kingbird |
|
48 |
Bobolink |
|
8 |
American Robin |
|
49 |
Barn Swallow |
|
9 |
Mourning Dove |
|
50 |
Brewers Blackbird |
|
10 |
Great Egret |
|
51 |
Northern Harrier |
|
11 |
Great Blue Heron |
|
52 |
Mallard |
|
12 |
Canadian Geese |
|
53 |
Trumpeter Swan |
|
13 |
Red-winged Blackbird |
|
54 |
Spotted Sandpiper |
|
14 |
Western Meadowlark |
|
55 |
Black-crowned Night Heron |
|
15 |
Killdeer |
|
56 |
Black Tern |
|
16 |
American Kestral |
|
57 |
Ruddy Duck |
|
17 |
American Avocet |
|
58 |
Forster Tern |
|
18 |
Black-necked Stilt |
|
59 |
Tree Swallow |
|
19 |
Yellow-headed Blackbird |
|
60 |
Redhead |
|
20 |
Long-billed Curlew |
|
61 |
Lesser Scaup |
|
21 |
Franklin’s Gull |
|
62 |
Northern Pintail |
|
22 |
Sandhill Crane |
|
63 |
Bufflehead |
|
23 |
Northern Shoveler |
|
64 |
Willet |
|
24 |
American Coot |
|
65 |
Gadwall |
|
25 |
Brown headed Cowbird |
|
66 |
Western Grebe |
|
26 |
Turkey Vulture |
|
67 |
Black-headed Grosbeak |
|
27 |
White Pelican |
|
68 |
Western Wood Pewee |
|
28 |
Ring-necked Pheasant |
|
69 |
Osprey |
|
29 |
California Quail |
|
70 |
Western Tanager |
|
30 |
Double-crested Cormorant |
|
71 |
Olive-sided Flycatcher |
|
31 |
White Faced Ibis |
|
72 |
Evening Grosbeak |
|
32 |
Cinnamon Teal |
|
73 |
House Sparrow |
|
33 |
Common Yellowthroat |
|
74 |
Red-tailed Hawk |
|
34 |
Bullock’s Oriole |
|
75 |
Pine Siskin |
|
35 |
Red-shafted Flicker |
|
76 |
Warbling Vireo |
|
36 |
Yellow Warbler |
|
77 |
Eastern Kingfisher |
|
37 |
Lazuli Bunting |
|
78 |
Canvasback |
|
38 |
Virginia Rail |
|
79 |
California Gull |
|
39 |
House Wren |
|
80 |
Mountain Bluebird |
|
40 |
Song Sparrow |
|
81 |
Scrub Jay |
|
41 |
Cedar Waxwing |
|
82 |
Mountain Chickadee |
What a terrific opportunity! And, what gorgeous pictures! The drawings are terrific too. I would love to have more time and opportunities in my life to bring my kids places like this. Thankfully though, we do live in total country so they do get to see lots of wildlife :-) Thanks for sharing the pictures.
We saw a Western tanager this last week on our trip to Yosemite….striking colors! New to our list too.
This looks like an awesome trip and isn't it wonderful that all the family can participate and enjoy such a refreshing activity together.
Bravo on the photos, love the raven and chicks!
Thank you so much for sharing your trip. I was hoping you would share soon. :)
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Oh my gosh Rhonda! You rock! This is an outstanding post! We are also birders and I am so impressed with your photos…and all this with a point and shoot, Wow!
I love the Western Tanager, I was just watching a female Summer Tanager this afternoon. It is also interesting to see the different birds that you guys have up there that we don't have here.
I am so impressed, I guess you can tell :-).
Blessings and have a great week!
Julie
Wow! That is so cool! You all found a lot of birds!We have a tiny bird refuge here in town. You mostly see ducks, geese and cardinals.
Blessings,
Dawn
All I can say is wow. Such a variety of birds! How big is his lens? Were you actually able to see some up close like that? I mean could you see the Robin feeding her babies and the Cliff Swallow in it's nest with your naked eye? Very neat. I like that first bird that you saw the best only because it's so unlike anything I've ever seen. Love it's little eyebrows.
Thanks for sharing. I'm glad you got to go there and got to go having been so well outfitted. That's neat too to infuse your young ones with a love for birds.
Cathy
You're pictures are just spectacular!
One small correction, if I'm alllowed: I believe your "Yellow-throated Warbler" is actually a Common Yellowthroat.
Sincerely yours,
an amazed viewer!
Amazed Viewer,
You're absolutely right. My husband is a walking bird book and he told me it was a Yellow-throat, so I looked through the bird book under yellow-throat to make sure that I got the whole name. I got the wrong one.
Thanks much. I corrected it.
Rhonda
I have awarded you a blog award! Stop by my blog to pick it up. Visit me at cabin in the woods.
Diane