ABC’ers! Many of you have expressed interest in seeing Malheur this spring. We don’t have a lot of notice, so it looks like an actual field trip with leader isn’t in the offing (unless one of you steps up now), but here is some good information and an invitation from Jerry Broadus. He and fellow ABC’er Shep Thorp will be there starting now for just a little while (read details below) doing volunteer work and are willing to help out fellow ABC’ers who might want to come out in the next week or so. He talks about accommodations near the end:

> From: jbroadus@seanet.com > To: sthorp@theaec.com; avosetta@hotmail.com > Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:23:10 -0700 > Subject: Re: Malheur for the ABC Club (Advanced Birders Club) > CC: kennethwbrown@hotmail.com; edwardpullen@gmail.com; rwiese@wamail.net > > Hi all: I am home right now for a couple of days, and have delivered Clarice (she will be flying out to North > Carolina next week). I will head back to P Ranch at Malheur by May 1, and hope to get Shep back out there > from May 2-May9 or so. I will be leaving there May 15 or so, exact date flexible. Then will be around (here) > for most of the rest of May, until we go Rhody hunting probably in June. > > Birding started slow at Malheur this year, except at Ruh Red Road which is still excellent. We handled 7 > tours for the bird festival. Things are really starting to pick up now. > > All the fields at Burns are flooded and have many birds, except most of the Snow and Ross’ geese have > moved on. We had a lot of rain two days ago, which raised the Blitzen River considerably, and it is being > allowed to run into most of the fields on the refuge now. Benson pond was allowed to dry, but is filling back > up. Every where there is a flooded field there are a lot of waterfowl. I just saw FOY snowy egret yesterday > morning. As the fields flood the birding will pick up. Many Ibis arriving each day. Still not many warblers, > but the willows and smaller trees just started leafing out, and a lot of “non biting” midges are about, so the > migrants will be arriving at any time now (probably today, as I am at home). Swainson’s hawks have started > being more plentiful, and as the ground squirrel hunters are out near raptor alley I expect to see more > ferrugenous hawks (most of the rough legs have left). > > Stilts, avocets, curlews, and willets in very large numbers and started displaying a couple of days ago. > Sandhills and Clark’s grebes are also starting to display. > > If you can get together a smallish group real soon, I would be glad to lead it around some. I could take a > small group behind some of the gates to closed areas, including Sod House where the cormorants and > Great Blues are nesting. This is still not a busy time, so you could get rooms at Frenchglen (in the Drover’s > inn, the motel behind the hotel), I expect, with no problem. Or, of course, lots of rooms in Burns, and there > is room at Field Station (Dan Streiffert is staying there now, with some friends from this area). The Page > Springs campground is in good shape and has birds. Shep and I could probably put a couple or so up at P > Ranch, if we work out the logistics. Maybe we could also get Kelly Hazen out on a trip.

In addition to my earlier message, note that the sage grouse lek on Foster Flats Rd. has been extremely active this spring. > > Jerry Broadus > PLS 17660 >