Bird Madness in the Rain
A damp trip to Malheur Refuge reveals not just tons of birds but the strength of an electronic birding community
OK, we’re back from four days at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon’s deliciously remote southern Harney County. There we saw birds, deer and coyotes, took hundreds of landscape and nature photos, visited with old friends, and made new ones — all while dodging more rain than I think I’ve ever experienced in the eastern Oregon desert.
Perhaps the most intriguing discovery, though, was the realization that eBird, the massive citizen science project run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, isn’t simply a database of bird observations around the world. Equally important, it’s now the catalyst for a powerful sense of community that, in real time, unites everyone who’s paying serious attention to birds in any given area.
Take the Broad-winged hawk that recently showed up at Page Springs Campground near Frenchglen. When Noah and I arrived at the refuge on Saturday afternoon last week, we headed for Page Springs first thing to see this local rarity in its feathered flesh.
There we found a couple birders who hadn’t been able to find the young hawk, despite hours of watching. But we also had, via eBird, reports from the day before that the bird had been seen near specific campsites in the middle of the campground. With that detailed information — and his unearthly observation skills — Noah found the hawk within about two minutes.
But there’s more: Everywhere we went for the next couple days, people talked about the hawk sightings and named each individual who was involved in the chase, and exactly when and where they saw the bird. All that eBird data now forms a web that pulls people together around Oregon and, I assume, around the world.
The rest of our trip was — as usual — engaging and beautiful, so long as you don’t too much mind soggy weather. Here are a few photos I like: