You can see it is not fun for either Phil or the birds.

Here's a flock of young coots. They are able to fend for themselves. We caught several of these.

A ruddy duck. They have a blue bill. I think we caught one juvenile of these and released it.

The coots and grebes swimming away from the dam and fish trip area.

A grebe. Not sure if it is a Western or Clark's Grebe. They carry their babies on their back.

A mother quail with 12 chicks at the Visitor's Center.

Fish traps that catch birds

August 3 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F

This week after our time at French Glen, Phil had to learn about freeing birds from the fish trap. There is a large trap designed to keep in invasive carp from traveling between the two largest lakes at a place called The Narrows. Right now, this area is filled with a huge variety of water birds and is a popular place for grebes, coots, ducks, etc, to raise their young.

The water in Malheur Lake is higher than in the neighboring Mud and Harney Lakes, so the trap creates a whirlpool, and invariably, some of the curious younger birds get sucked into the vortex when they get too close.

Twice a day, someone has to go check the traps and scoop the birds out and release them. It isn't an easy job, and it's feels a little dangerous as you are wielding a large net with a 15-foot pole handle to scoop up the birds. Of course, the birds are scared and fast, and unless they are very small or already dead, it can be a strenuous undertaking.

Phil agreed to check the trap this weekend twice a day. It seemed dangerous, so I went along in case he fell in the trap or tripped on the rocks on the dam area. We caught each bird, put it in a bucket with a lid, and then I walked it down the boat ramp to release them.

We were supposed to identify each bird, indicate the sex, age, etc. Our knowledge is pretty limited. We know if they are alive or dead. We can tell a duck from a grebe or coot. That is about it. We could not really say what kind of grebe or duck, though. Certainly not the gender!

We released 18 birds. Five were sadly dead when we found them ( so 23 ). Phil is very tired, and he is going to tell them he just doesn't feel comfortable doing it again next weekend. Still, it is an interesting part of our work.

The fish trap doesn't always catch birds. This is an unusual problem because it is a high water year, and the administrators are trying to figure out how to fix the problem. In the meantime, I feel good that we were able to help so many young birds.

Lots of late afternoon lightening here this week. There are plenty of scattered showers. The wildland firefighters based here are out every afternoon putting out lightening strikes.

I'm not sure what we will do on our days off this week. There is another herd of wild horses near, so we might try to find them one day this week. They are the Keiger Mustangs with specific markings of Spanish horses, unlike the ones we saw last week.Read more