Feb 13 - 16, 2015: South-Eastern Oregon

Rachel chauffeured me 1,037 miles down to south-east Oregon and back. We drove east through the Columbia River Gorge then headed south, and then headed south-east, past Summer Lake and Lake Abert, spending the first night in Lakeview.  The second day we traveled up to Hart Mountain, past Hart Lake, Crump Lake and then into northern-Nevada, before turning north and travelling up the western side of Steens Mountain, past Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and up to Burns.  The third day we traveled to Sisters and then headed home on the fourth day.  We saw lots of beautiful mountains, vistas and wildlife.  Below is my sighting list followed by a selection of pictures.

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Mule Deer - 150                        Pronghorn - 97                       Marmot - 5
Jack Rabbit - 1                         Coyote - 2

Bald Eagle - 5                          Golden Eagle - 5                      Red-Tailed Hawk - 40
Kestral - 13                              Raven - 51                              Black-Billed Magpie - 13
California Quail - 50                 Snow Geese - 82                      Tundra Swan - 54
Western Meadowlark - 3           White-Breasted Nuthatch - 1    Common Merganser - 8
Evening Grosbeak - 2                Mourning Dove - 2                  Scrub Jay - 3
House Sparrow - 3                     House Finch - 4                       Robin - 4
Crow - 30                                  Sandpiper sp? - 150                 Seagull sp? - 3
Duck sp? - 50                            Starling - many                        Canada/Cackling Geese - many
Townsends Solitare - 1

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First up, the glorious beauty of the Black-Billed Magpie.

Now a series of Canada Geese at Smith Rocks.

Also at Smith Rocks, some (unoccupied) cliff-side nest sites.

A Red-Tailed Hawk at the Frenchglen Rest Stop.

Also at the Frenchglen Rest Stop, a couple of Evening Grosbeaks.

Some of the marmots we saw.

Some California Quail in Lakeview, OR.

Pronghorn Antelope.

A Golden Eagle.

Some Mule Deer.

A Mule Deer, jumping a fence.

A short Mule Deer video.

 A Townsend's Solitare.

 

And, finally, while hiking in the forest in Sisters, OR I found my second metate.  Actually only half of a metate.  A metate and mano is equivalent to a mortar and pestle, respectively, and was used by Native Americans to grind foods. This one was probably used to grind pine nuts.  I found my first metate in the California desert when I was twelve or so.  It was a full metate.  This one cracked in half and I only found this half.  It is worn about two inches deep.