Oregon- Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

For most of my childhood through high school, I grew up in a small town, about a ½ mile from the beaches of Puget Sound.  Salt water and sea level.   My travels as an adult took me many places, mostly on or near the ocean or sea.  Living on a cruising sailboat pretty much guaranteed that I was going to continue to be near the sea! 

I’m now experiencing, for the first time that I can recall, a truly dry, high desert climate. Eastern Oregon is about a mile high. It’s dry.  There is very little humidity.  It’s dusty.  Did I mention dry? Oh, and let’s not forget to add in all the smoke from the forest fires in the western states! My skin, cuticles, hair and eyes, not to mention my sinuses don’t quite know what to do!  I can’t seem to get enough fluids in me! My hair is staticky and almost board straight. While brushing my hair, I feel like I’m in that science experiment where you place your hand on the electrically charged globe and your hair stands on end, only without the charged globe!  

And then we arrive at Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge, north of Lakeview Oregon.  This area is on the Pacific Flyway for the bird migration from South America to the Arctic.  We seem to be a bit early for the southerly migration as there are not many birds around.  And, there is not much water.  But there is lots of dry!

It is really, really dry here.  There are ponds that haven’t seen water in quite a while, like maybe several years. So, we drive on the refuge’s dirt roads, sending up big clouds of brown dust searching for an elusive bird or two that might be early or decided to summer over here.

We have to be sure to roll the windows up quickly in the case of a passing car, or we make a bird stop. But, no matter, the dust is everywhere. Our white truck is now the color of the tan interior!  

With a couple of tips from a volunteer worker at the refuge center, who also happens to be a wildlife photographer, we headed to a few good ‘local knowledge’ viewing spots.   Tom managed to check off of his list 3 different owls in one afternoon, and a 4^ththe next day. The Barn Owl, the Short-Eared owl, the Great Horned owl and the Burrowing Owl.

Can you spot the owls in this shot? There are two of them.

You’re looking for Burrowing Owls.  They take over a rabbit’s burrow, sit around camp during the day, and wander out in the evenings to hunt.  Sometimes in the late afternoon they can be seen sitting on nearby fenceposts… but not today.

Here’s a close up of them… see the eyes poking up over the mound? Without the help of another photographer, we never would have spotted these guys.  There are five of them, but only two are visible.

The resident Great Horned Owl was taking a nap on a tree in the visitor’s center.

Due to the extreme dry, the smoky skies and the dust on everything, the colors of the refuge seemed to be very muted, like soft watercolors.  Some of the dry ponds and fields have had some interesting color patterns.  Makes me think about getting shots with a drone to see the patterns better.  We haven’t had a clear day for scenic shots, so everything seems dim, somewhat hazy.  I’m sure a couple hours of rain would lay the dust down and brighten things up.  But then our ‘sunshine’ streak would be over! We’ve seen 6 days of rain since leaving Mexico in February and traveling around the world.  So, here’s a case of good and bad.  I’d like to see the rain clear up things, but I really like the sunshine.

So, I’ll keep working hard to stay hydrated, my skin sun-screened and hair conditioned.  I’m in the desert and the scenery tends to be muted, so my photos will be a bit like that also. Keeping my lenses and gear dust- free may just be a full-time job!