In case you are interested in helping Malheur and Tule Lake deal with avian botulism outbreak.
Rich, Nampa
———- Forwarded message ——— From: Richard Rusnak<rarusnak62@…> Date: Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 10:18 AM Subject: Fwd: Klamath Calamity – Urgent HELP Needed! To: yahoogroups <ible@…>
In case you are interested in helping Malheur and Tule Lake deal with avian botulism outbreak.
Rich, Nampa
———- Forwarded message ——— From: Friends of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge<friends@…> Date: Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 10:15 AM Subject: Klamath Calamity – Urgent HELP Needed! To: <rarusnak62@…>
Klamath Calamity
Your Urgent Help Is Needed
Greetings Rich,
In the West, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is just one among many Refuges that support the needs of migratory and breeding birds throughout the Pacific Flyway. In our neighboring basin to the west, the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex is in trouble.
Tule Lake is at the heart of this complex and provides critical wetland habitat that waterfowl and shorebirds depend on. Here, Avian Botulism is spreading and is estimate to have already impacted over 30,000 birds. The Klamath Refuge Staff are being supported by the non-profit, Bird AllyX which has done the best they can to staff the on-site Duck Hospital.
Over 1,500 birds have now been admitted for rehabilitation in just over 1 month. In order to provide enough care to these birds, the Refuge and Bird AllyX have reached out and asked for our help.
To learn more, please watch the video or visit our Website.
The Friends of Malheur NWR will send Bird AllyX a grant of $4,000 to pay for 2 Duck Hospital Interns.
I have been watching posts and trying to figure out where I need to be for the four days I am in town. I am headed your direction from Wisconsin, where Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Barred Owls and Blue Jays are common place, and plan to arrive late Sunday. Would anyone be interested in birding with me the week of August 31… I usually head to Hulls Gulch since I am in Boise visiting my son, but am open to reaching out and have transportation.
I am the one that found the Barred Owl, a common species here in Wisconsin, last year.
great to hear about the Greater Sage Grouse. This time of year is can still be tough to tell the young of the year males and females apart. Also given the very dry conditions hens and their broods will usually be close to wet meadows, irrigated pastures, alfalfa fields etc. still looking for “ice cream plants” forbs.
Yesterday Amy Bechtel & I birded the S Fork between Hwy 20 & the Cow Creek bridge where you have to turn left to continue to Prairie, or right to Anderson Dam. A good birding spot is about 3 miles S of the bridge where there is a bunch of growth on a sharp curve on the road. Here, most unexpectedly, a Fox Sparrow showed itself v nicely for about a minute, but we couldn’t relocate it after this. Then a few miles N of here where there is usually an abundance of Lewis’s Woodpeckers we found about 24 Turkeys grazing on a hillside, and 5 of them strolled across the road towards the river. But the real treat in the fading light was the sight of about 16 Greater Sage Grouse on the road right in front of us as we drove back, about 6 miles from Hwy 20. By the looks of them as far I could make out, they were all females.
Great end to the day!
John Shortis.
Ken Miracle chukar28@… 208-570-2780 “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” 2COR 3:5
Yesterday Amy Bechtel & I birded the S Fork between Hwy 20 & the Cow Creek bridge where you have to turn left to continue to Prairie, or right to Anderson Dam. A good birding spot is about 3 miles S of the bridge where there is a bunch of growth on a sharp curve on the road. Here, most unexpectedly, a Fox Sparrow showed itself v nicely for about a minute, but we couldn’t relocate it after this. Then a few miles N of here where there is usually an abundance of Lewis’s Woodpeckers we found about 24 Turkeys grazing on a hillside, and 5 of them strolled across the road towards the river. But the real treat in the fading light was the sight of about 16 Greater Sage Grouse on the road right in front of us as we drove back, about 6 miles from Hwy 20. By the looks of them as far I could make out, they were all females.
