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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)
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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
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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.