A visit to Summer Lake Wildlife Area is thought provoking.

I’d venture to say most of us don’t spend much time considering the migratory habits of waterfowl. But when you’re on the shores of Summer Lake, surrounded by thousands of gregarious tundra swans and snow geese chattering in unison and squabbling among themselves, you think about such things. And marvel at the chaotic symmetry of it all.

You also wonder, why here, in this High Desert scape of greasewood and alkali flats?

If you’re fortunate enough to have Area Manager Marty St. Louis of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife as your tour guide, you get the answer to that question and a whole lot more.

The 18,700-acre Summer Lake Wildlife Area is a waterfowl magnet, a marshy rest stop along the Pacific Flyway between Mexico and the Arctic.

It owes its avian popularity to a set of underwater springs beneath Ana Reservoir, which gives birth to the Ana River, which flows the seven miles or so into Summer Lake. The wildlife area, a series of ponds and marshes, lies between the reservoir and Summer Lake.

The birds that are there starting in mid-February, mainly tundra swans and snow geese, use the wetlands as a hard-won respite and feeding grounds during their migration north from California’s Central Valley. The snow geese that come through Summer Lake, for instance, spend the upcoming breeding season on Wrangel Island in the Russian Arctic.

According to St. Louis, these particular birds are hard-wired from birth to stop at Summer Lake along their migratory corridor.

”It’s their tradition,” said St. Louis, squinting into a pair of high-power binoculars.

St. Louis has been doing this long enough to know all the seasonal nuances of the wetlands, but not long enough to be jaded. When he picked an American avocet out of a bobbing gallery of snow geese, his enthusiasm was palpable. You could hear the excitement in his voice.

”It’s an early record,” he exclaimed, noting that the stilt-legged shorebirds usually don’t show up until later in the spring.

St. Louis also gets revved up when talking about the success of conservation efforts and the refuge system. Most of these migratory bird species are doing well, he said, thanks to the combined efforts of state, federal and private wildlife benefactors. The cast of characters at the Summer Lake Wildlife Area changes from one month to another. According to St. Louis, if you plan a visit every four weeks or so, the birds you’ll see will be wildly different every time.

What struck me was the safari-like feel of this fertile place; there are ducks and geese and swans on the ponds and massive bald eagles and compact harriers winging overhead. St. Louis took us to a barn in the River Ranch segment of the wildlife area, the site of one of four area campgrounds. As we chatted next to the Ana River, which bisects the area on the way into Summer Lake, he suggested we look up. There, perched on a branch not a dozen feet overhead, was a great-horned owl – wide-eyed and stock still. This one, St. Louis explained, has been brooding her eggs in the same tree for several springs. Her mate – every bit as studious looking – hangs out in an old barn nearby.

St. Louis is hard-pressed to say which month is his favorite out here. He enjoys the passage of time, as marked by arrivals and departures, and the subtle but sometimes ragged rhythms of nature’s symmetry, be it March or November.

So if it’s a nice day and you feel like moving outside your workaday box, by all means go. It’ll get you thinking.

From Bend, drive south on U.S. Highway 97. Just south of La Pine, turn left on State Highway 31, which will take you south past Silver Lake. The community of Summer Lake is 100 miles from Bend. The headquarters is on the left. The Summer Lake Wildlife Area is open throughout the year. The birds change from month to month, but the ponds remain the same.

Admission is free. Contact: 541-943-3152.

– Jim Witty