The main roles and responsibilities of my work have more or less stayed the same since my last update. I check three different fish passage sites along the Blitzen river leading into Malhuer lake to facilitate fish passage, remove invasive carp, and record my observations (notably the arrival of invasive gill copepods on native trout). Along with this, I also check for birds, mainly grebes, that can become stuck at the carp barrier near the Narrows, and help them find their way back to open water. I have also been helping out with a project led by USGS to monitor the conditions of Malheur lake using remote sensing devices. Rather than fill out this update with more details on my day to day duties I would like to highlight a few of the more unique opportunities/interactions I have had over the last month.

To start off, I had the opportunity to help out the Oregon Department of Fish and Game to look for invasive gill copepods in Krumbo Reservoir using electro fishing sampling. Although the reason for the sampling is rather grim as invasive parasites like these are nearly impossible to eradicate from a watershed once introduced, the opportunity to go electrofishing is one I will never turn down. If anyone is wondering what electro fishing is, it is a method for sampling a random selection of fish in a given area – a method that seems closer to an idea I would have come up with when I was a kid rather than complex science. In essence, you send an electrical current into an area of the water, stunning fish and giving you an opportunity to net them and place them in holding tanks until you can record the information you want. Although it seems a little intense, it has minimal to no impact on the fish being sampled. 

While carrying out this electro fishing work, I learned a valuable lesson. Do not electro fish where you recreationally fish after work. As a passionate angler myself, I am always in awe of large fish. During the night of sampling, we captured multiple “Trophy” fish, including a 7 and a 9-pound largemouth bass. Both of these fish being a fish of lifetime if caught rod and reel for any angler. Handling these fish fulfilled a dream in itself but also filled my brain with false hope. After that night of sampling, I was convinced I had a shot at catching some of these giants on my own. I have returned multiple times, and my luck has not fared as well as I was hoping. Getting to do this work and see those individual fish was absolutely amazing, but sometimes it might be better to not know what giants exist in a body of water that you’ll never catch. (See featured image above.)

Next, I had the chance to help teach local 1st and 3rd graders about the refuge, its purpose, bird migration, and scientific methods as a part of spring school field trips. As a passionate conservationist and someone who was exposed to conservation at a young age, I always value an opportunity to inspire kids to care about the environment, get them curious about what’s around them, and also have fun in an outdoor classroom. I led them in a game highlighting the importance of refuge habitats key to bird migration and also gave a tour of the refuge museum while teaching about scientific observations. We worked on noticing characteristics to record when trying to identify birds (E.g. beak shape, foot color, body shape, facial marking etc.) along with learning what we can infer about birds depending on these characteristics. A favorite for the kids was how you can use beak shape to help determine the food sources for which a bird might forage.

The highlight of these field trips was the sheer brainpower the kids displayed. I was blown away at the knowledge they entered with, and how much they retained from our short time together. Hearing the phenomenal and complex questions the kids were coming up with just from observations definitely gives me hope for the next generation of conservationists and scientists. Seeing kids smile while having fun outside is always an amazing feeling!

Lastly, while checking the carp barrier for confused birds one morning, we were met with an unexpected surprise. While we typically only encounter either western or Clark’s grebes, we unexpectedly discovered that a double crested cormorant had found its way into the barrier. Although the nets we use are made for much smaller birds and the cormorant was closer to the size of a turkey than our typical grebe, it was removed quite easily. Although I’m sure the bird was frightened, it almost seemed to recognize the net as a possible source of help and essentially swam right into it. It was an incredible encounter to be able to see such a magnificent bird up close, and I was delighted to see it swim off happily. Along with cool wildlife encounters like that, checking this spot every morning presents a great opportunity to interact with the visitors of the refuge. Most of my work is on refuge land but behind gates to prevent wildlife disturbance, so I rarely get to chat with the visitors of the area. I enjoy hearing about how far some people travel to enjoy this landscape, the passion some birders have, and hearing peoples’ opinions on what makes the land and ecosystems I work in so special.

Overall, I am still thoroughly enjoying my time working at the refuge. The staff, locals, and visitors I get to be around are some of the friendliest and most passionate people, and I continue to build a deeper passion for my work everyday I do it. It has been amazing to get to build a more intimate relationship with the ecosystems and landscape. While I start to really understand the geography and how different habitat types interact and flow into one another, it has especially been cool to see how different aspects of the ecosystems react with change. Seeing fish disappear and reappear with changing water temperatures. Seeing waves of native fish all migrate at once, seemingly notifying each other to do so by some signal I cannot see. Seeing birds start to disappear as they leave Malheur as a pitstop and take off for their summer hopes up north. All of these observations are only possible to see when you get to spend a prolonged period of time in a place and are out and about interacting with the natural world every day.

That’s all for now. I look forward to providing another update next month and have no doubt I will once again be able to share that I am having an amazing time doing such amazing work with incredible people in this spectacular place.