Klamath

I drove up Friday afternoon, arriving just at sunset. I stayed at the Best Western Olympic Inn, where there was a volcano outside my window. The drive up was uneventful. Tried to find a place for dinner, first a Mexican place (Maztalan) that was packed, then another place, then another... All of Klamath Falls must have gone to dinner that night at the same time. Ended up getting a pizza.

I woke early on Saturday, and headed off to the blue gate. This is a location from which you have the best view of the fly-ways for the eagles' morning commute. The eagles roost in Bear Valley but do their day's fishing at Tule Lake or the Klamath wildlife refuges. The first thing I noticed was how there was no snow on the ground, I think this is the first winter trip I've had where there was none on the ground. However, the few lakes remaining were frozen. Morning temperature was 21°F (-6°C.)

I arrived just before sunrise and got myself set up. I had my camera, my binoculars, and had borrowed my sister's spotting scope. I was ready to count.

The count was amazing. I saw a grand total of 25 bald eagles on the flyout. This is the fewest I've seen on any trip, well below the peak of 300+ that was the best. There were more red-tailed hawks and rough-legged hawks than eagles, which is a rarity. Two rough-legged hawks were dark morphs. One ferruginous hawk flew about 20 feet overhead. I was quite disappointed.

An hour after sunrise, I packed and went to the refuges. I had hoped to see more eagles there (maybe they just woke up early and went to work before sunrise?) but while there were a few there, there weren't that many. I did see one eagle take a fish, but that was the limit of the excitement.

I went to the visitor's center to get information on prairie falcons. Some of the discussion was political (see below), but they had no reports of prairie falcons yet that year. They reported that the total eagle count for the basin was 140-150 that week. By comparison, last year at the same time, they had 442. While frozen lakes hurt, the lakes were frozen last year, too.

I headed south towards Lava Beds National Monument, and 5 miles south of the visitor's center I saw my first prairie falcon. It was up on the cliffs, of course. I used the spotting scope to confirm the ID. I briefly visited Lava Beds, which had some excellent views, and some interesting caves and cones. Then, I headed over to the petroglyphs, where I saw two more prairie falcons.

After lunch, I did more exploring, and saw a golden eagle. The bald eagles were there, but not numerous.

For dinner, I went to a Mongolian BBQ in Klamath Falls that wasn't too bad. The place was swarming with high school kids in tuxedos and ball gowns, apparently the high school had a formal that night, and I guess a Mongolian BBQ is an inexpensive dinner for a date.

Slept well, drove home this morning, arrived safely.

Politics below:

Among other comments made to me at the visitors' center was that the wildlife refuge has received threats from local farmers, who are blaming the refuge for "stealing their water." We'll ignore, for the moment, the fact that the water system installed was run and owned by the US government -- ie all of us -- and not the Klamath farmers. This claim may sound good on the face of it, but it actually hides one the lies the farmers are spreading. The Wildlife refuges received no water at all last year. As a result, some of the lakes and marshes are drained, and there isn't much food for the eagles. That's the main reason why the numbers are low.

The farmers have a higher priority on the water over the refuge. They did receive some water, but not as much as previous years. Proprotionally, they received more water last year of the available supply than in previous years. There is water held back for the preservation of an endangered species, but more at the expense of the refuge than the farmers.

It was amusing to see the naivety of the farmers, particularly in their signs. The most amusing was the one saying "We don't want US aid, we want our water." I was left to wonder, if the farmers were to end up paying fair market price for their water, and if all US government farm subsidies were to be stopped, how long would they remain in business?

Anyway, I am a bit worried about the eagle conference next weekend. (I will be attending, FYI.) With the threats to the refuge, I wonder if the conference will need extra security. All it takes is one lunatic, and based on what I saw of the Klamath basin farmers, there's certainly more than one.