by Dan Streiffert

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For the past several years the low accumulation of snowpack and rainfall has resulted in a continual reduction in the size of Malheur Lake, to the point where the lake has nearly disappeared. But this changed in 2025 with a 150% snowpack. As a result, there is now enough deep water at the Narrows for Harney and Malheur Lakes to merge. This is both good and bad news.

The good news is an abundance of waterfowl throughout the spring with an extension of the nesting season to the point where many of the birds have had 2 – 3 broods of chicks.

The bad news is that with water everywhere, the birds are spread out all over the area, much of which has flooded making it hard to reach.  The flooding was so bad that the north end of Burns flooded the week before the Migratory Bird Festival that was ultimately cancelled.

But there were a few special spots for birding.  Just 3 miles south of the headquarters on the Center Patrol Road (CPR) is Wright’s Pond.  This has never had any water in it in all the years I have been going to Malheur.  This year, due to the snowpack and modifications in the water canals, the area became a large lake.   By the end of May 2025, the lake was full of Avocets and Stilts nesting on numerous islands in the lake. And by this time the birds had become use to the cars and were relatively close to the road. All the nests were about to overflow with new chicks.   And I had to leave the next day. But there was one nest with new chicks…

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