The Wildlife Refuges
Klamath Basin Bird Watching
The Klamath Basin is perhaps most famous for the open water and marsh habitats provided by the 33 square mile Upper Klamath Lake and the six-member Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge complex. Wet meadows in the Wood River Valley and Upper Klamath and Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuges are home to Sora, Virginia Rail, and the elusive Yellow Rail, and Upper Klamath Lake provides nesting habitat for "dancing" Western and Clark's Grebes. Running Y Ranch is right in the center of it all, located on Upper Klamath Lake.
The refuges along the border of Oregon and California (Lower Klamath and Tule Lake) host upwards of 80% of the migrating waterfowl that use the Pacific Flyway, numbering at times one to three million ducks, geese and swans using refuge wetlands as vital stopover in their annual migrations, including large numbers of Ross's Geese. Over 430 wildlife species including 263 species of birds call these refuges home. Fall and spring bring the drama of migrating ducks and geese. Peak numbers generally occur in early November and late March or April. Klamath Basin wetlands are among the most prolific waterfowl and marsh bird production areas in the Pacific Northwest. During the spring and summer, large numbers of waterfowl and other water bird young can be viewed. Thousand of wetland nesting birds also raise their young on the six Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges.
These refuges and surrounding agricultural lands also provide hunting grounds for one of the densest concentrations of wintering raptors in the country. Indeed, the Basin hosts the largest wintering concentration of Bald Eagles in the lower 48 states, many of which roost together in Bear Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Some years more than 1,000 of these majestic birds are present with most daytime use occurring at Tule Lake and Lower Klamath Refuges. Winter bald eagle numbers peak in mid February with Basin populations ranking as the largest recorded in the contiguous United States.
