Out and About Oregon Birds: The Maury Mountains and a BBS

Last summer I decided to sign up for a BBS, a Breeding Bird Survey, organized by the USGS.

I found two that were open, both of them a long way from home but in a very interesting area. Below is a screen shot of all eBird reports of Brewer's Sparrow, a rather common summer bird in the sagebrush of Eastern Oregon.

Please note the larger blank area in the center, above Hwy 20, the popular road to Malheur and below Hwy 380, the road from Prineville to Paulina. No eBird reports means to me an area that is not often visited. My kind of birding.

The map below marks my various wanderings.

The Clover Creek BBS run is in red, the Crooked River BBS run is in blue. I bit off more than I can chew on the BBS's. The time and effort makes it so I cannot do two in one year, I will need either to drop one or do them every-other year, if that is allowed. I did the Clover Creek run on Saturday morning and had a great time. What a beautiful part of Oregon.

After that I birded the Maury Mtns, the green blob of the Ochoco Nat Forest that sits below the Crooked River.

Before the BBS, I spent the night at Elk Horn CG in the Maury Mtns, I left the CG and got to the start point late by 30 minutes, I followed the route backwards until I figured out where the start was, I did not get off to a very organized start.

No time to take bird pics on a BBS, I had to keep moving to get caught up with my time frame. The route passes through juniper and pine groves, open plains, canyons and small ranches.

My eBird summaries, I grouped them into 10 survey points each, one-fifth of the survey per entry.

The route had not been run in 19 years. I think I should try to do the BBS earlier in the year, I am at the end of the time frame the surveys are allowed to be run (May 27 to July 7).

Clover Ck BBS Pts 1-10, Crook, Oregon, US
Jun 25, 2016 5:20 AM - 6:20 AM
Protocol: Traveling
5.0 mile(s)
13 species

Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 3
Northern Flicker 2
Gray Flycatcher 11 based on calls, very common
Dusky Flycatcher 1
Black-billed Magpie 5
Common Raven 12
House Wren 5
Mountain Bluebird 3
Chipping Sparrow 9
Brewer's Sparrow 16
Lark Sparrow 5 singing in early dawn over 5 miles of road
Dark-eyed Junco 3

Clover Ck BBS (pts 11-20), Crook, Oregon, US
Jun 25, 2016 6:20 AM - 7:20 AM
Protocol: Traveling
5.0 mile(s)
13 species

Red-tailed Hawk 1
Killdeer 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove 1
Mourning Dove 3
Prairie Falcon 1
Gray Flycatcher 1
Dusky Flycatcher 1
Ash-throated Flycatcher 3
Barn Swallow 3
Mountain Bluebird 5
American Robin 3
Brewer's Sparrow 9
House Finch 5

Clover Ck BBS (pts 21-30), Crook, Oregon, US
Jun 25, 2016 7:20 AM - 8:20 AM
Protocol: Traveling
5.0 mile(s)
23 species

Red-tailed Hawk 1
Killdeer 4
Eurasian Collared-Dove 1
Mourning Dove 2
Northern Flicker 1
American Kestrel 3
Gray Flycatcher 2
Ash-throated Flycatcher 1
Black-billed Magpie 2
Common Raven 2
Violet-green Swallow 6
Barn Swallow 7
House Wren 4
Mountain Bluebird 10
American Robin 2
Sage Thrasher 5
European Starling 5
Brewer's Sparrow 8
Dark-eyed Junco 10
Vesper Sparrow 3
Western Tanager 1
Red-winged Blackbird 4
Brewer's Blackbird 11

Clover Ck BBS (pts 31-40), Crook, Oregon, US
Jun 25, 2016 8:20 AM - 9:20 AM
Protocol: Traveling
5.0 mile(s)
13 species

Turkey Vulture 1
Swainson's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Northern Flicker 1
American Kestrel 5
Gray Flycatcher 1
Ash-throated Flycatcher 1
Mountain Bluebird 10
Sage Thrasher 5
Brewer's Sparrow 7
Vesper Sparrow 1
Western Meadowlark 9
Brewer's Blackbird 3

Clover Ck BBS (pts 41-50), Crook, Oregon, US
Jun 25, 2016 9:20 AM - 10:20 AM
Protocol: Traveling
5.0 mile(s)
18 species

Gadwall 2
Mallard 4
Turkey Vulture 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Killdeer 2
Western Wood-Pewee 3
Common Raven 3
Barn Swallow 9
House Wren 5
Mountain Bluebird 7
American Robin 3
Sage Thrasher 2
Brewer's Sparrow 6
Dark-eyed Junco 8
Western Tanager 7
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Western Meadowlark 4
Brewer's Blackbird 10

After the BBS I went back up into the Maury's to wander the roads. FR 16 loops through the forest with two entry points (yellow road on my map), FR 17 cuts through to Antelope Reservoir ( light blue on map) all three are well marked turns off Hwy 380. Getting out of area to the south is the issue. I did not try any other roads except the one that got me to the BBS route (the purple one, a bit rough in spots but okay).

My idea was to hit all the springs in the forest to see what birds were in the areas of water.

Meyer Spring is to the east, it was dry. Most of the springs had these basins that water fed in and out of, for cattle I suppose.

Birds at Meyer Spring:

Meyer Spring, Crook, Oregon, US
Jun 25, 2016 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Comments: spring was dry
8 species

Williamson's Sapsucker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Dusky Flycatcher 4
Mountain Chickadee 7
Mountain Bluebird 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 7
Chipping Sparrow 3
Western Tanager 3

This young Red-tailed Hawk was near Meyer Spring, it is growing in its red tail.

I also explored the entry roads on the north side of the mountains, along Hwy 380. Cliff Swallows own all the bridges across the Crooked River

A Bank Swallow colony can be seen on the way in FR 17.

At the end of the day, I hit Double Cabin CG. It is small, I saw two camp sites, but I had it to myself. I visited it in the morning then came back to spend Saturday night. It was a great bird spot.

Birds seen here (eBird list from that evening when I returned):

Double Creek CG, Crook, Oregon, US
Jun 25, 2016 4:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments: stayed night
22 species

Wild Turkey 3
Northern Goshawk 1
Common Nighthawk 2
Common Poorwill 3
Williamson's Sapsucker 3
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Western Wood-Pewee 4
Dusky Flycatcher 3
Cassin's Vireo 1
Common Raven 1
Mountain Chickadee 5
Red-breasted Nuthatch 4
Brown Creeper 3
House Wren 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Western Bluebird 5
Hermit Thrush 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 6
Chipping Sparrow 9
Dark-eyed Junco 5
Western Tanager 4
Cassin's Finch 7

The goshawk seemed to be playing a deadly cat-and-mouse game with the sapsuckers, at dusk it gave its alarm call and flew right over me as it was chased by what I thought was a sapsucker. The next morning I was tracking sapsuckers for a photo, I found them by their calls, as I approached the goshawk flew out of a tree and back into the woods, the sapsuckers left the same tree in opposite direction. I wandered for some time trying to get photo of the hawk, no luck.

The Huckster relaxing on a picnic table at Double Cabin. Yes, he has a face that can launch a thousand ships.

The next morning some of his distant relatives were in the woods:

Williamson's Sapsuckers were the common woodpecker.

I found this female feeding young above Antelope Spring on Sunday morning.

Up above Antelope Spring I found a campsite not on any maps. I will camp here next time. If I get here earlier in the year, maybe I will hear owls. I was bummed I heard none in two nights.

Antelope Spring, Crook, Oregon, US
Jun 26, 2016 6:45 AM - 8:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
Comments: Walked up FR 16 to spring, on up to top of ridge then back down to car
18 species

Turkey Vulture 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Williamson's Sapsucker 3
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Western Wood-Pewee 3
Dusky Flycatcher 2
Common Raven 1
Mountain Chickadee 7
Red-breasted Nuthatch 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 1
House Wren 2
Mountain Bluebird 5
American Robin 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3
Chipping Sparrow 5
Western Tanager 4
Cassin's Finch 3

I tried to find a Purple Finch among all the Cassin's. This sounded smooth like a Purple , but the end I decided was all Cassin's Finch.