Oregon Day V, Part II: Redmond and Bend scrubland birds

 From Sisters I cut across on route 126 towards Redmond to check out an promising area of pinyon and sage scrubland. Here, I found two pairs of Ash-throated Flycatchers (lifer), Pinyon Jay (another lifer!), a newly fledged Sage Sparrow (yet another lifer!), a male Common Nighthawk performing aerial display to a perched female, California Quail, a Prairie Falcon cruising by, and Western Meadowlark.

View from Barr Rd. towards Sisters (named after the three 10000+ feet mountain peaks seen in the background). A juvenile Sage Sparrow sat in one of those juniper bushes :o)

Male Common Nighthawk displaying to his mate resting on a tree snag below:

Ash-throated Flycatcher:

After this productive stop I headed back to route 126 and continued east of Redmond and spent the afternoon checking out some back roads leading me down to hwy 20 and eventually back to Bend. Some prime sage brush habitat along Powell Butte Hwy provided excellent birding and a bunch of new trip species such as Loggerhead Shrike, Sage Thrasher, Lark Sparrow, and Brewer's Sparrow.

Mountain Bluebird:

Lark Sparrow:

Sage Thrasher:

Nice end to my second-last day of birding before returning to Portland!