Showing posts with label Lower Klamath. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lower Klamath. Show all posts

Friday, July 20, 2007

Lower Klamath NWR and Butte Valley area

Thursday morning, July 12th we left Klamath Falls (where we stayed overnight) and headed for Lower Klamath to finish the auto tour. Shortly after getting to Lower Klamath we could spot Mt. Shasta. Here is a view of Mt. Shasta as I zoomed in on it.
Click on this photo to get a larger view of a red-winged blackbird I was able to capture along the road tour. Other birds I had seen, but don't have any photos of: western meadowlark, marsh wrens, terns sp., brown-headed cowbird, cliff swallows.

Here is one of my better shots of a great egret we saw along the road. Other birds seen along the road: gadwall (many mamas with their chicks), red-tailed hawk, American white pelican, Forster's tern, and a male ruddy duck. We also saw several flocks of white-faced ibises flying all over the refuge.
As we left Lower Klamath NWR, we came into Butte Valley National Grassland and Butte Valley Wildlife Management area. As we were driving along my husband spotted this bald eagle along the roadside. This was our first bald eagle in California. We've seen bald eagles before in Alaska and New Mexico, but never in this state.
As we drove around the Butte Valley Wildlife Management area we came to a small lake - Juanita Lake. Local folks were camping there and fishing. Walking along the trail around part of the lake I spotted this cormorant.
Then as we left the wildlife management area, we kept watching to see if we would see the bald eagle again. He apparently moved from one snag to another about 40 feet from the first snag. And here he was surrounded by (I think) a bunch of crows. Click on the image to get a larger view. The eagle is in the lower left of the tree/snag.
As we continued to travel south on US 97 to catch I-5 we stopped by the vista point to get some photos of Mt. Shasta.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Tule Lake and Lower Klamath NWR

Here is a better view of the Lava Beds in the foreground and Tule Lake in the background. My husband and I drove over to the Tule Lake/Klamath Basin Visitor Center and saw a robin, a couple of Brewer's blackbirds, and a lizard. The lizard was sitting on the wall sunning himself and allowed me the privilege of getting a snapshot of him.

While touring around Tule Lake and Lower Klamath we encountered Western Grebes, Clark's Grebes, and even a horned grebe. We saw several flocks of ibises in flight. That was quite a sight to see. We also saw coots, a common merganser, a double-breasted cormorant, many yellow-headed blackbirds, and a northern harrier. Here are some other photos I took.
I think this is milkweed. Can someone verify this for me?
Another wildflower I cannot identify - but there were quite a few of these all around. It looks like something caterpillars and butterflies, or even dragonflies, etc. would make use of. As a matter of fact, throughout the entire trip there was a plethora of dragonflies, darning needles, and damselflies everywhere we went.
Clark's Grebes

White-faced ibis. Second photo also includes a Brewer's blackbird.
And here is a double-breasted cormorant with his "harem" of gulls.

And if you click on these photos you can get a better view of the red-wing and yellow-headed blackbirds on these tule reeds.

 

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