Summer Lake Wildlife Habitat
JULY 17, 2023
After living in Oregon now for over 10 years it amazes me that I still find new things to see in the state. I heard about a wildlife refuge that was in southeastern Oregon so I looked it up. Found out that I have driven past Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge several times in the past years not even knowing that there were large areas of water and marsh for a wildlife habitat. So we took a day and headed out. We knew it was going to be a little chilly but what we didn't account for was the super high winds. Made it rather challenging to handhold a 600mm lens with the winds whipping from 30-50 mph at times. Over all the day was a success with some good shots and I am very happy I found this little jewel of a place. It has been a while since I have been out photographing wildlife.
So I hope you enjoy the shots that I have on this blog and I will have a little more information on each bird shown.
Top Image: I managed to capture several awesome shots of these little birds. The tree swallow is a small and very fast bird and can be one of the most difficult to photograph and especially in flight. I started this shot with the 2 cute affectionate ones sitting on top of the nesting box when another photo bombed them by flying low. This picture is titled Affection and Flight.
Break Time Swallow
One thing that was really neat at this reserve was that they had a ton of these nesting boxes all over. It helped attract the swallows around them and made it a little easier to capture some good shots
Tree Swallow Flight
I think this is one of my best captures of a tree swallow in flight to this day. Their rapid speed and quick turns and moves really makes it to where you hope you get at least one good usable shot. This day was a very good day with several good captures of these cute and beautiful little birds.
Pied-billed Grebe
I have been taking a lot of wildlife shots at other wildlife habitats and I have never come across a Pied-billed Grebe before. A much smaller bird than other Grebes I have photographed. They surely aren't as colorful as all the others but they are still a beautiful bird. I look forward seeing more of this Grebe to capture some better images.
Awkward Moment
Well I had to put this funny shot on here. I could see this pair of Shovelers out on this rock in the water but they were a little ways out there so I couldn't see what they were doing. Looks like it was preening time for both but the male was doing some odd twisting of its neck and had its head upside down. Wanted to see its mate in a different point of view maybe?
Cattail Launch
Its been a while since I have seen a Yellow-headed Blackbird so it was nice to see them out in a big way in this wildlife habitat. I really wanted to crop this in closer on the bird but I felt having the cattails, being that they were in sharp focus, showed the environment that the bird was in and worked very well.
On Alert
I love the Sandhill Cranes. A large bird that is in the Heron family of birds and is close to the Great Blue Heron. This one stood still and studied me as much as I was enjoying it stand there letting me get some shots of it.
Killdeer Shore
killdeer, and all Plovers, are such cute shore birds. It's amazing at how much most all plover type birds have so many similarities in the markings.
Mallard Flight
Well I will finish off this photo blog with a shot of this Mallard with an awesome bokeh background from the brush around the water.
If you are a photographer that loves to look and photograph birds and other wildlife then checking out Summer Lake Wildlife Habitat is a must. Now granted this was my first visit and the weather wasn't great at all but I still had a great visit and it was awesome to get back out and photograph nature. I will be back to visit Summer Lake and the area again in May and hope to build on what I captured with this visit. Thank you for checking out my photo blog and hope to see you back on here again.
Just a few more shots to check out below.
