On a long weekend that just ended, Noah and I headed for Malheur Field Station and four days of prowling the remote wildlife refuge and the country around nearby Steens Mountain for birds and photographs. Weather was typical Harney County high desert spring: Blustery rain, wind, snow, sleet and hail, with one gorgeous day of (mostly) sunshine.

On Sunday we headed out early about 8 miles out Foster Flat Road, a steep muddy graveled track, to a sage grouse lek to watch the grouse doing their courtship display. That consists of the chicken-sized males rattling their fanned tail feathers and inflating their chests like feathered balloons to impress the females. About 20 males were out there displaying as the sun came up. One bird came to within 10 feet of the car, strutting nonstop for an exhausting 15 minutes.

While eating lunch in Fields (cheeseburger and chocolate shake at the Fields Cafe, of course), I looked out and saw a pigeon outside the cafe door looking like it was waiting for someone to come let it in.

A pigeon in Fields? When we got done eating and went out, Noah took one look at it and said, “Banded racing pigeon.” In fact, it wore bands on both legs, one green, one red; the red one had a number. The bird was tired, thin and pretty tame. I caught it easily and we read the band, which indicates it came from an Idaho racing pigeon club. We emailed a contact there and are awaiting a reply.

In the afternoon we nearly hit a large gopher snake stretched out on East Steens Road. When we turned back to look at it, the (non-venomous) snake curled up in a loop and hissed violently at us while we took photos; I finally picked it up with my extended monopod — why take chances on getting nipped? — and set him back in the sagebrush by the road.

Nice detail work on the roof supports and the raw cedar soffits.