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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (June 16, 1963)
, , ,.. , ;' c.- , ft f.ft' ""--ftrr tuft vs- ... .L.A' Bfer -A llr . V.JK to- W .- - f-f r- i - J- ' 'jV .... t-4..';j j. 1 -r- r,v V - - 1 ?T - .. . v . f i3! iLteSs,t& -.t Ji fi.Vtfi4 1 CANALS MAINTAIN WATER LEVELS IN LOWER KLAM ATH SUMP Water flows through the headgates of one of a series of canals which divide the Lower Klamath Lake into "units." The Lower Klamath marshes are main tained through the use of surplus irrigation water pumped ' -A from the Tule Lake Sump via a 6,600-foot tunnel through the intervening Sheepy Ridge and by water diverted from the Klamath River through the Ady Canal. Pictur esque names such as Poverty Flat, Sheepy Peak and Pan handle Hills are common to the geography of the area. 4 If, "Ah' BASIN NEWCOMERS Four newcomers to the Basin fill the cap of one of the staff of game management bio logists who adds their number to other goslings hatched here this year. In future years, O'Neill will probably have some of the same birds in his census of mature geese or nesting pairs. PELICAN VICTIM OF WIRE FENCE Ed O'Neill ob. serves a pelican which apparently ended its-life in a col lision with the strands of a barb wire fence during foggy weather. Earlier the same morninq a Northern Phalarope (Lobipes lobatus) injured a wing in a similar accident and was placed in the "convalescent pen" near the head quarters where it improved rapidly. V, li.VV . SOARING WATERFOWL FORM GRACEFUL PATTERNS Some of nearly 250 different species of birds observed in refuges in the Klamath Basin soar skyward from Tule Lake in a graceful pattern of whirring wings. The birds known to have visited the Basin include 22 kinds of shore birds, a large segment of the entire Ross goose popula tion, and 26 different species of hawks and owls. More than 160 species have been recorded as nesting. Wildlife Experts Take Census In Refuge Biologists Began Count Of Birds During April I!) DICK IIKIC.GS The our-whecl drive pickup slid erratically alung the slippery field, its wheels churning up sott earth which (lew above the root of the cab and fell lazily back to the ground. 'he field was wet and the air contained the moist, frosty quality that comes to the Klamath Basin so frequently following an early morning spring rain. Despite the winter temperature, the turgid condition of the earth,! and the cirrose clouds which fore told the imminence of rain or snow, staff members of the Bu reau of Sport Fisheries and Wild lile at Tule Lake were that day cruising the levees and fields of the Tule Lake Bird Itefugc to take Klafila acuta tzilzihoal prepare to leave their annual nesting grounds in Alberta and Saskatchewan fur warmer climates in the southern part of Hie hemisphere. Meanwhile, thousands of other birds of the Pacific Northwest and furlhi'i- north begin their an nual fall migration southward along the Pacilic Flyway and veer inland across the Cascade Range. On the east edge of the vast flyway, countless oilier species of I wateitowl swing sharply westward at the Snake River in Idaho or the Great Salt Lake in Utah For approximately 70 per cent of the three (lights of waterfowl and others to follow the Klam ath Basin forms one of the more important slopping points on their a head-count of the fuzzy goslingS;aimual migrations south. which were making their tempo rary home within the refuge. Ed O'Neill, operator of the pick up and wildlife management biolo gist for the bureau, was among those taking a census ol the broods which hatched from some of tlie Vi million wildfowl mak ing their home in the Basin this spring, and I was along to observe him do it. The field we traversed by pick up, alternately sliding around soft spots and bouncing over high places, had been planted in rye the year before but already the grasses had been nipped tn the ground by foraging birds. Karly this century the Klamath Basin, comprising a part of North ern California and Southern Ore gon, was vast network of large marshes spreading over nearly a million acres. But during the past 50 years, most of the wetlands of this area have been drained and converted! to agricultural use with the result! that the vast acreage which forms the natural habitat for more than 3'j million birds has been con densed tn about one-tenth of its tormer size. Despite the reduction of facili ties attractive to wintering birds, the Klamath Basin has continued Thousands of downey goslings! " lf T " ' .nri in. n,,,ci,aiiv LLi10 .be e of.,l,e mi,Jr 'd'ng ranged the practically grassless plain with their parents, almostl inconspicuous at a distance but easily discernible from within 50 yards. Curious from a safe distance, the fledglings scattered in all di rections when O'Neill drove the truck among them. Once we left the pickup to capture part of a brood to use as props for a pie- Hire. They darted olf in six dif-! lerent directions and ran until winded. Then they plopped, their necks outstretched along the ground, and waited for us tn harvest them as one would collect eggs. Alter we released the goslings. tney scampered olf to an open part nf the field as a trio of seagulls watched the proceedings while in tliglil overhead O'Neill observed the gulls until the parent geese, calling liom a distance, gathered their brood. .Seagulls have been observed stalking a brood of goslings and then swooping down to kill fledgling that strayed ton far from its kind. The seagull then feasts uKin the gosling within sight of its resigned parents. A more wanton enemy of gos lings is a portion of those crea tures who seek most to protect them mankind. Many nesting geesp set up housekeeping along roads nrar the refuge. Whrn the goslings leave their nests they meander along the roadside; panicked by the whirr of passing automobiles, they rush onto the highways and under the wheels of speeding cars. In an effort to curb the useless slaughter, the Wildlife and Fisher ies Bureau proposed to the Cali fornia State Department of High ways that it erect a road sign urging the heedless motorist to slow down. Tlie bureau sugeest ed the punchy message. "Slow down, don't run down your wild hie." but California of f i c i a I s thought the message read loo much like a command and changed it to "Please! Don't run down your wildlife." Laic during the year begins a vast southward migration of hirdlifo which sets tlie program nf the Wildlife and Fisheries of Ih c at Tule Ijkc into motion. As the first nippy breath of f;ll announces the coming of win ter, millions of American Pintails and resting places lor waterfowl proceeding north and south along tne racinc Coast Flyway. So important is the Basin to the waterfowl within the flyway. that the Federal Government eslab- lished five refuges here to pro- viae loon and protection to the water birds and preserve their wetland habitat. The first was es tablished more than 50 years ago. another was lormcd in 1911, two more were set up in 11128. and. the most recent was organized in 1958. Concentrations of seven to eight million birds have been noted in past years on the five refuges winch include the Upper Klam ath. 12.5.1:1 acres, west of Chile- , . 1 : v . - JJ . J&aluAM KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON, SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 1963 SPUNKY GOSLING HAS LAST w5rD A spunky gosling rousted from its quarters in a tule patch scolds Game Management Biologist Ed O'Neill for his intrusion. Tho downey youngster and others of its kind were included in brood counts conducted this spring in five bird refuges throughout the Klamath Basin. Each year game management workers conduct censuses of broods and their parents to keep check on the population rrenas or warerrowi innaDiung rne refuges. 33,500 acres, source ot Lost River in .Modoc County. The task of administering the five refuges which in total area is one-thirtieth tlie size of Klam ath County and providing care and feed for the millions of winged itinerants that pause hrielly in the! Basin annually has come to the Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife. Heading the local branch of the bureau is Refuge Manager Rob ert Russell, who supervises a per manent stall ot 22 employes who1 are supplemented by 12 addition al workers during spring, summer. and early fall. The project of maintaining the marshlands at proper water levels and providing feed for wintering birds are but two of a number of tasks that keep personnel at the Tule Lake headquarters busy throughout the year. During the year, employes tra verse the countless miles of dikes and shorelines of the refuges tn take counts of the broods which hatched the same spring. In ad dition to conducting population counts from the ground, hoots, and through tules. biologists also1 quin: Klamath Forest, 15.000earry out part 01 their census-tak- acres, at the headwaters of t h e mR above the (light of soaring! Williamson River; tlie Ixiwcr birds. Klamath. 22,800 acres, cast of Dor- Belore the mating season each 11s: Tule Lake, 37,000 acres, south spring, personnel in aircraft fly of Tule Lake, and Clear Lake, above the five refuges and count tlie number of nesting pairs that consummate their courtship in the Basin. Alter the nesting season, biologists add the population ol tltc parents tn the new born and from these figures compute the estimated number of each species of birds residing in the Basin. Biologists begin their brood counts of goslings during April and usually complete their census about 10 weeks later. Duck count ing commences about tlie middle of May and continues through the first week of September. What conclusions have been formed by the Bureau of Sports Fislieries and Wildlife from infor mation gleaned by the census takers? First, statistics on the migra tory population have established that tlie Basin is providing its own goose hunting from the broods hatched in the live local refuges. In other words, more goslings are hatched in the Basin each year1 than the number of geese killed here annually by hunters. The population pattern of some species of ducks is much less promising. Four such species that are among the favorites of hunters have declined in number in the Klamath Basin during recent years, and two of them, the Red head (Nyroca collaris) and tho canvas-back INyroca valisinena). are being protected until the trend reverses. The oilier ducks in a downward cycle population - wise arc the Wood Duck (Aix Spousal, protect ed in most states, and the Gad- wall (Chaulclasmus etreperus). The decimation of tlie Redhead and Wood Duck has been attrib uted to the drought in the Cana dian nesting grounds in recent yeurs. One member of the bureau be lieved that certain birds would be better protected if the location of their natural habitat were closed to hunting rather than taking (Continued on Page 2) c""", iMHT-ir""""" - , St - j. . - t ' t s . rfrJ. t nl i,! ,,,1, MI,taiHMriiii' hi. jTitiMttuiii V 1 imi in. i nii n i'm REFUGE WATERS MATCH LEADEN SKIES Part of the waters forminq the 37,000 acre Tule Lake Refuge lap near the base of a ridge wher Gen. E. R. S. Canby (USAI established an encampment for his troops during the U.S. -Modoc Indian War in 1872-73. The plateau along the ridge forms the range for herds of deer and antelope. In a saddle alonq the ridge where U.S. troopers one marched, duck hunters hide in rock blinds and shoot at their quarry as they soar over the hill to the refuge below. 11 , hmM miif , 1 i1 - I - - - - - i. I!.., if, r-ir -i I - ' - " fcj..U:'v. i mm Hum .1 rti J-Jtoljjl'( '-.'fciWUt'f.'K' 3 .J&se our ..i'M. it mmfi.llm.mm mmMmMttti DUCK TRAP Later during the year personnel of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife bait the wire enclosure with food aid wait for hungry ducks to enter and trap themselves inside the pen. The ducks, which are banded and released, enter the trap through a funnel-shaped opening and cannot find their way out. Banding provides bureiu with information on the habits of ducks and the patterns of their migratory , flight,. MOTORISTS WARNED OF GOSLINGS ON ROADWAY A hiqhway sign urget motorists to be watchful of qoslings as they speed along roads in the vicinity of Tule Lake. Game Management Biologist O'Neill stresses the word "please" in requesting drivers to slow down as they approach the refuge. Each year large numbers of gos lings wander onto highways in the Basin end are crushed by passing automobiles. DOWNEY TIKES SCURRY FOR COVER A goose and her downey family of 19 glide toward the protective cover of weed beds growing from a portion of Lower Klamath Lake. The horde she escorts are not ail her own. Geese average about five goslings per brood but they frequently acquire the chicks of other parents and car tor them as well as their own.
