Calling All Birds

Today begins the Winter Wings Festival in Klamath Falls, Oregon. We enjoy about 80% of the migrating waterfowl that use the Pacific Flyway, numbering at times to over a million birds. The Basin hosts the largest wintering concentration of Bald Eagles in the lower 48 states.

The birds are attracted to this area because of the large amounts of water in agricultural areas. This year has not been a typical year for the migrating flocks because of lack of water. The average temperature for this time of year hovers in the teens with snow on the ground. However, this year the area has only about 13% of normal for the water year. Contrast that with the wild weather year it has been for my friends on the east coast as they are digging out from yet another huge snowfall.

Yesterday the photography field trip was a “toad strangler” with torrential rains throughout the day. That means that not only are many visitors coming into town, but also the birds have started arriving. An adult bald eagle was majestically sitting on a snag (a tree that has no leaves) watching me as I sat in my office watching it. I grabbed my camera to take a photograph. What appeared to be a juvenile golden eagle flew in and landed above it on the snag. The Bald Eagle flew away. I captured a shot of the juvenile. I asked my friend Gerry Hill, an expert birder, what kind of a bird it was. He told me that it was a juvenile 1^st or 2^nd year Bald Eagle, not a Golden Eagle. The golden juvenile has no white near its wing pits, only a fairly large white splotch about 2/3 out on the under wing toward the tip.

In honor of the Winter Wings Festival, today’s gift was to submit a Nature Abounds observation form on a juvenile Bald Eagle on the snag. I hope the eagles tell all their bird friends that the Winter Wings Festival is this weekend and join us for the festivities.

In Giving,

Robin