"Believe it or not, bird-watching is the hottest hobby in America…The National Survey on Recreation and the Environment names
bird-watching the fastest growing outdoor recreation in the nation – an interest shared by 70 million Americans…More than 400 bird species have been logged here…in some years the basin hosts
80 percent of the waterfowl migrating along the Pacific Flyway" says Sunset Magazine in a feature article titled " Wings over the West" in the November 2002 issue. The 6 Klamath Basin National
Wildlife Refuges are #1 on the Fantastic 5 list!
So Welcome To Our Backyard where viewing wildlife is always fun and exciting! Living on the Klamath River across from Putnam's Point provides us with endless hours of
entertainment and activity. Every season along the Lake is full of life and diversity. With the change of seasons comes a change in bird life around the riparian zone of the Link River as it bends south out
of the mouth of Upper Klamath Lake and heads downstream to the Pacific Ocean. After all, this is the hub and heart of the Pacific Flyway! We welcome the many ducks now arriving and
eagerly await the largest Bald Eagle gathering in North America here in January.
Since the water is very low this year the riparian zone is full of shore birds, which hang out for the easy pickings. Every
evening and early morning a pair of white egrets stakes out a spot on the edge of the shelf which transitions from shallow to about 6 feet deep. A threesome of young pelicans finds this spot of
special interest because they can herd the fish under our San Juan 21 sailboat onto the shallows near the bank and easily catch dinner every
night just like clockwork. We have seen a pelican swim directly at the egret and push it off its rock and out of the way as it rounded the end of the sailboat.
In summer the pelicans cruise in at dusk and splash
down one after the other to fish and hang out on the rocks midstream. In the morning the rocks are covered with pelicans preening their feathers and bathing in the water.
American Coot, California Quail, Ducks, Swallows, Clark's Grebe, Black-crowned, Great Blue, Green, & Night Herons, White Egret, Sandhill Cranes, Seagulls, Terns, Red Hawks, Canada Geese, and Eagles all
thrive. Young Grebes that ride on their parents back are a sight to behold. Grebe activity echoes nightly over the warm summer water as the babies cry out to be fed. We also have a
pair of shore birds, Stilt Sandpipers, which bob up and down along the shore and fly around the bay. The Belted Kingfisher, which always seems to rattle loudly as it flies & dive bombs
for fish up and down the shoreline, likes to perch on the mast of the sailboat.
Early morning and evening at dusk we see the beaver head up and down the riparian highway. One morning we saw two BIG
beaver rolling around and playing on the shoreline. Every day, all day we watch two mink cavort on the dock and in the rocky shallows, endlessly busy eating and playing.
Flocks of Common
Mergansers fly upstream and splash down to dive for fish. In an instant they all make a dive into the water to disappear. Now you see them, now you don't!
Come join us. Pack your gear! Let us be your guide to birding & wildlife right in our own backyard in the extraordinary & beautiful Klamath Basin.
Call Jim & Steph at 541-885-5450
