_______ 5
WEdNEsdAy, M ay 22, 2002
ThE CI ac I< amas P rint
Natural history: not for the birds anymore
desert. The marsh contains
SHADRA BEESLEY
50,000 acres of water less
Staff Writer
than six feet deep. It harbors
Imagine going on a four-day many different types of fowl,
vacation and getting school as well as deer and antelope.
The great basin desert is
credit for it. For a group of
Clackamas students, that known for its turbulent,
dream is pretty close to reali unpredictable weather and the
group got to experience this
ty-
From May 9-12, Natural phenomenon first hand.
History class was in session. Friday morning they woke up
Jennifer Porter-Bown, John to a blanket of snow. “It
Snively, Bill Guthrie, and a snowed most of the morn
crew of students went on a ing,” Porter-BoWii said, “but
journey to learn about the then it warmed right up.”
geology and biology of Following the snowstorm, the
Oregon. First they drove to class experienced a weekend
John Day country in central of beautiful, sunny weather,
Oregon to investigate the fos complete with lots of bird
sil beds, and get in some good watching.
Porter-Bown reported seeing
rock hunting. After they’d
had their fill, they continued 142 different species of bird.
to their destination: The “I think that’s probably a
Malheur National Wildlife record,” she mused. The
Refuge, the largest inland field-trippers even saw two
deviant species of mid-west
marsh in the U.S.
The Malheur refuge is locat ern bird. They also got to see
ed on the east side of the a baby Great Horned owl and
Cascades at the base of the observe the mating ritual of
Steens Mountains, and is con the Sage Grouse.
“It’s hilarious to see all
sidered part of the great basin
these goofy birds puffing up
their feathers,” Porter-Bown
described the Sage Grouse’s
habits. The males all congre
gate in a part of the marsh
called a lek to show off for
the females.' The females
then pick their mate for the
season. Last Sunday, nine
males and three females were
in attendance, and Porter-
Bown declared that the spec
tacle was well worth waking
up at 4 a.m. to We.
Besides seeing all sorts of
different wildlife, the group
also got to explore different
types of land formations.
Outside the marsh, they
explored
the
Diamond
Craters, a volcanic complex
containing several lava tubes.
The students who attended
this trip earned one biology
credit for keeping a journal of
the different species they saw
(plants and animais), and
turning in a paper about what
they learned. The course is
entitled BI-163 - Natural
History.
Students try to Identify a species of saltbrush at the
John Day National Monument In the Painted Hills.
On the four-day trip, biology and geology students
got to see their subject matter up close and person
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