Very few people are sending in wildlife photos, so if you have some good ones, shoot them my way, please. Fortunately, ecologist Susan Harrison has come through with another batch from Oregon. Susan’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge her photos by clicking on them.
Mt. McLoughlin, Oregon
In southern Oregon at the tail end of summer, climbing a volcano to look for Gray-crowned Rosy-finches (Leucosticte tephrocotis) seemed like a fun thing to do.
Gray-crowned Rosy-finch (photo from AllAboutBirds):
Per AllAboutBirds, “This delicate pink-and-brown songbird is among the hardiest of all birds. Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches nest in the highest parts of the highest mountains in North America… they forage, seemingly at complete ease, on snowfields, forbidding talus slopes, and in high winds or snowstorms… (It) probably holds the record for highest-altitude breeding bird in North America.”
Who could resist looking for such superlative birds?? It required only a day hike to a 9,500-foot peak not far from my home base in Ashland, Oregon. The peak, Mt. McLoughlin, is just north of Mt. Shasta in the Cascade volcanic chain. The trail goes up its east (= right, in the photo below) side.
Mt. McLoughlin from the south:
Hikers often get lost as they descend the peak. Near the summit there is no clear trail in the loose ash and talus, and if you start a few degrees off-course you’ll end up far from your destination. Accordingly, there are many warning signs and route markers.
Trail warning sign:
The last half-mile to the summit is steep and slow going. This is the likeliest place to see Rosy-finches – which, alas, I did not see.
Approach to the summit, with trail on the left:
However, I did make it to the summit and back safely!
Summit:
The main birds I saw at the top were several Rock Wrens (Salpinctes obsoletus) and a pair of Sharp-shinned Hawks (Accipiter striatus) chasing around a Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius).
Rock Wren:
Hawk chasing Harrier:
On the descent it became easier to pay attention to other small wildlife.
Scruffy juvenile Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis); or is it an “American Jay” now??:
Townsend’s Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi):
Yellow-pine Chipmunk (Neotamias amoenus):
Rounding out this photo set, a few other recent scenes from the southern Oregon Cascades…
Upper Rogue River just below Crater Lake, where it flows through the collapsed lava tubes of ancient Mount Mazama:
Lower Rogue River at Blossom Bar rapid, where it flows through a scary and occasionally lethal (to rafters and kayakers) feature called the Picket Fence:
