Lekking for Mr. Goodbird, a play on the movie title "Looking For Mr. Goodbar", if you've never heard of it. Read on for the rest of the explanation...
Substitute Sage Grouse for Mr. Goodbird and you'd have it figured out. I have been fortunate to meet a gentleman with a tremendous amount of knowledge of the Southeast Oregon desert gleaned from a tremendous amount of time he's spent there. Larry was good enough to get me involved with the Oregon Wildlife Foundation so that Lynn and I could go spend a weekend counting sage grouse at their leks. "What's a lek" is a good question to ask, since most have never heard the term, myself included. A lek is a spot of ground where the male sage grouse congregate to strut and fluff while making strange noises to attract the gals. Kind of like the disco tech in my days, picture John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, as a sage grouse. These spots are generally used over and over again for many years. I don't know enough to say how many years or how they pick a certain spot but there you have it, we were going out to count sage grouse lekking. I lekked the thought of it, watching an ages old ceremony of nature.
As lek would have it, luck I mean and in this case bad luck, we hit major mud a mere quarter mile off the highway that stopped us cold. Driving up a hill the ruts in the road were running with water and the minute my tires hit the wet stuff we could go no further without destroying the road.
My wife had asked for several days off to do this and we didn't want to go home defeated and waste her time off, so we stayed out in the desert and drove the muddy flats looking for other birds. There are so many small lakes, reservoirs and cattle ponds for migratory birds to land on and spring is a good time for viewing. Plus I had a new spotting scope to use.
I spotted a familiar camper across the first reservoir where we camped.
It was good camping with the forever views we love. When we first pulled up several flocks of ducks and geese flew off, some stopping at the other end of the pond but most were off to other catch basins.
From this spot we could see the crater that we would visit the next day, the same one I had taken granddaughters to last fall. This trip would circle the lava field put out by that crater.
Lynn had been there before with me but it was during a blizzard and with visibility an issue she didn't get to see much of it.
Was I practicing my semaphore? Maybe just asking "What do you think?"
After lunch and appetites cratered we drove on to a gated community. It must have been for seniors, it was very old. No wonder I felt at home on that range.
It was a strange sight, a water tanker sitting in the middle of...water. Like it had definitely over-filled that small blue basin.
We stopped for the night at another small lake that was only half full when it should have had twice as much water. There had only been one large snow storm this winter and that isn't enough to sustain water levels needed.
The committee said it was good for the night.
Oh yeah, I was trying to get the selfie stick to work, it's always a hassle.
We took a walk to check out the lake and see for ourselves how low it was.
Was this a sign to not drink the water? I doubt it, the small lake was full of birds.
Even though the small lake was only half full, evening was great and for a second time we went to sleep listening to birds calling in the night.
Morning was the typical glorious affair that my wide angle shot managed to squeeze in, even tho it does make things look a little out of whack.
A quick walk was taken before leaving. If I don't ever come back I like to know the lay of the land. I had tried fishing for a short bit. I used power bait with maybe three feet of leader with weights and as far out as I could throw, I could still see my bait. That told me how shallow the lake was and any fish that might be there had to be small.
Still, there were the ruins of an old rock cabin and it is always amazing to think of the hardy people that tried to make a go of the land further back in history.
The fireplace is hidden by sage
One night was enough so we loaded up and left, looking for mud.
Not really right? It seems to find you whether you look for it or not. Luckily in many places there is a go-around.
Most of the time you just have to roll through it and hope it isn't a bottomless pit. Been there done that, it isn't pretty.
Stopping to check out an abandoned cabin we spotted a used grouse nest.
Come on in, dinner is ready...NOT! I can only imagine the hantavirus floating around waiting for nostrils to suck it up.
There I was, faking my time waiting.
Our next stop was a lake surrounded by the lava. It must be spring fed since the reeds around the lake were thick and I could only spot one place to access the water. The amount of reeds telling me this must have water year around.
This was a great place to camp, overlooking a lake with a lot of different migratory birds. We listened to them all day, into the night and first thing the next morning until we moved on. When we left to go home I had serious IHBIMH disorder, I Hear Birds In My Head.
I used a phone adapter for my new scope. Not as good as I had hoped and not as bad as I had feared. I guess that's means it was an ok picture.
The lake is just the other side of the camper and totally surrounded by lava.
Evening was gorgeous and my favorite time of day.
Clouds had not yet come up the next morning...
so we enjoyed watching the birds a little longer.
By the time we hit the trail clouds were back, threatening to drop more wet stuff.
It is a little disconcerting at times to have to drive through someone's property, but that's where the road takes us occasionally. As long as the owners don't start shooting I cruise real slow.
We stopped at the grave marker for Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, Sacajawea's son, for Lynn to see. I was here on another trip and think it is amazing to stand there and soak up a little history, and imagine his life as it was.
Ok it's time for us to fly, on to the next trip report. Thanks for reading
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