John Gottberg Anderson / For The BulletinA tent village, built for the 2015 U.S. Open golf championships, rises beside the Chambers Bay Golf Club in the Tacoma suburb of University Place. Scheduled June 18-21, the tournament will be held for the first time in the Pacific Northwest.

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KLAMATH FALLS —

If you’re a dedicated birder — if you’re among the millions of Americans who plan weekend trips, and perhaps family vacations, based on finding new birds to add to your “life list” — then what I am about to write will come as no surprise. Others might be startled to learn that one of the best places in the United States to discover birds in their natural habitat is two to three hours south of Bend.

The Klamath Basin, which extends roughly from Crater Lake in the north to California’s Lava Beds National Monument, has few rivals when it comes to diversity and numbers of species. At least 353 avian species have been observed in the lakes and marshes, upland forests and broad grasslands of the basin.

According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, more people in this country travel to see wildlife than to hunt birds and animals, and they spend more money than fishermen. The agency’s most recent National Survey of Fish and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, released in 2011 (the next one is scheduled in 2016), reported 13.6 million hunters and 22.5 million “away-from-home” wildlife watchers. While there were fewer wildlife watchers — those who traveled at least a mile from their homes to photograph or otherwise view — than anglers (33.1 million), they spent more money ($54.9 billion) than either fishermen ($41.8 billion) or hunters ($33.7 billion).

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In Southern Oregon, they are well-served by the Klamath Basin Birding Trail. Created by the Klamath Wingwatchers, a 10-year-old conservationist group, this trail has 47 designated bird-watching sites in an area that extends more than 100 miles from north to south and 60 miles from west to east, overlapping the Oregon-California border.

At the heart of the Klamath Basin is Upper Klamath Lake, the largest natural lake in the Pacific Northwest. Broad (over 61,000 acres) but shallow (average depth is 14 feet), it is the largest remnant of ancient Lake Modoc, which once covered the entire basin.

Today, the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges — a group of six, comprising the Upper and Lower Klamath, Tule Lake, Clear Lake, Klamath Marsh and Bear Valley refuges — encompass nearly 166,000 acres of prime habitat. It’s estimated that 80 percent of all Pacific Flyway waterfowl migrate through here in the spring and fall, and the largest concentration of wintering bald eagles in the lower 48 states is resident.

Peak season for the spring migration is considered to be mid-March to mid-April. Although millions of migratory ducks, geese and swans have now passed through en route to Canada or Alaska, those that have remained are beginning their breeding activity. It’s still a great time to visit.

Tule Lake area

The headquarters and visitor center for the joint refuges are in Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, just south of the California border and about 45 minutes’ drive southeast of Klamath Falls. Come here to pick up information, including the Klamath Basin Birding Trail brochure ($2, but 72 pages long) and a flyer — published almost every day — on recent bird sightings. Then head out on the designated auto-tour route (well-maintained gravel) and start marking off observations on your birding checklist.

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Tule Lake and Lower Klamath refuges are in close proximity. The 46,900-acre Lower Klamath refuge, established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt, was America’s first waterfowl refuge. Tule Lake adds 39,116 acres. They are unique in that the lakes double as cropland: Under a program administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, water moves between rotating infiltration basins, irrigating fields of grain and potatoes without the use of fertilizer or chemicals, and providing a major food source for waterfowl.

Beginning about 1905, ranchers pumped water from the wetlands to irrigate their crops and livestock pastures, eventually reducing the area covered by water to almost 20 percent of its original extent. The reclamation of these lands for agricultural development took a serious toll on wildlife habitat until the sustainable agriculture program, known by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as “walking wetlands,” was established.

In late March, the list of bird sightings included 29 species in Tule Lake and 28 in Lower Klamath. Of those, 17 species were seen in both refuges, but another 23 were observed in one or the other. Grebes, for instance — three species, including Western, Clark’s and pied-billed — were spotted only in Tule Lake. Lesser yellowlegs, a rare spring visitor, and cinnamon teals were observed only in Lower Klamath.

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Photographer Barb Gonzalez marked dozens of birds off her checklist as she drove the 10-mile auto-tour routes through both refuges. In Lower Klamath she found great blue herons, mallards, wigeons, buffleheads, ruddy ducks and black-necked stilts. White pelicans, grebes, mergansers and canvasbacks swam at Tule Lake, where American bald eagles roosted atop tall poles.

And everywhere were snow geese, gathering in flocks of thousands in the shallow lakes and marshes as they paused en route to their Siberian breeding grounds beside the Bering Sea. So dark were the clouds of birds in flight that they obscured views of distant peaks — even Northern California’s lofty Mount Shasta, which loomed in the near distance. Their constant loud calls, more of a “bowwow” than a honk, muffled the quieter quacks and whistles of lesser waterfowl.

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Upper Klamath

For years, Jim and Stephanie Carpenter have lived near the outlet of Upper Klamath Lake, beside Putnam Point just down Front Street from the Klamath Yacht Club.

An environmental consultant and wetlands restoration expert, Jim Carpenter helped to create the Klamath Basin Birding Trail. Today he and his wife have turned their waterfront home into a vacation rental and a bed-and-breakfast home.

It’s the perfect place to watch the unique courtship dance of mating Western grebes. Beginning about this time and continuing through late spring, these long-necked diving birds — which mate for life — can occasionally be seen racing side by side across the water’s surface, heads and long, daggerlike beaks held high.

“We have one of the most fantastic natural environments in the world,” Carpenter said. “Eighty percent of the Pacific Flyway comes right over these refuges. At times, there are millions of birds on these lakes. It’s a gift from God. You just can’t make that happen.”

At Eco B&B, Birding, Boating & Bed, the Carpenters offer a sailboat, kayak rentals and fishing trips, as well as ample information for self-guided tours.

They’ll often direct visitors to Miller Island, a state wildlife unit along the Klamath River south of Klamath Falls near Midland, where a variety of raptors — kestrels, harriers, red-tailed hawks — share the wetlands with sandpiperlike birds, including avocets, killdeer and black-necked stilts. Ring-necked pheasants hasten across the access roads as tricolored blackbirds and white-breasted nuthatches titter from among the reeds and trees.

The Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, established with Tule Lake as a federal refuge in 1928, comprises 15,000 acres of open water and marsh. The American white pelican, an ungainly looking bird that is iconic to the Klamath Falls area, is king of these wetlands. With its long pouched bill, extended neck and 9- to 12-foot wingspan, the big water bird is unmistakable to anyone who gazes in its direction. Gliding low over irrigation channels in search of small fish, or paddling through lake waters with its strong webbed feet, it cuts a fine profile.

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Curiously, the male white pelican develops a small flattened “horn,” like the keel of a boat, on its upper bill during breeding season. This horn is shed after the bids have mated and females have laid their two eggs in a gravelly nest, where they are incubated for a month or longer.

A series of highways — U.S. Highway 97 on the east, state Highway 140 on the west, additional paved roads on the north — encircle Upper Klamath Lake, providing easy access to the principal viewing areas of the Upper Klamath refuge. Key sites include the 3,600-acre Running Y Ranch Resort, 6 miles northwest of Klamath Falls, and the Rocky Point Resort, an additional 20 miles from the regional hub via state 140.

Either would make a fine base for birders, who might rent a motorboat, canoe or kayak for $20 an hour or $50 a day.

Marshy Agency Lake, at the head of Upper Klamath Lake, is another popular birding spot. Henzel County Park and the nearby Petric Boat Launch provide access not only to marshlands, but also to the woodlands of the lower Wood River area.

An ideal hub

Klamath Falls itself is an ideal hub for exploring the refuges of the surrounding Klamath Basin. A town of about 21,000, it has numerous inexpensive lodgings and restaurants, including the popular Creamery Brew Pub and Grill.

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Founded as “Linkville” in 1867, Klamath Falls was a key U.S. Army base during the Modoc War of 1872-73. Few buildings remain from that era, but downtown retains a unique architectural flair, highlighted by the three-tiered tower of the art deco-style, 1940 Ross Ragland Theater (218 N. Seventh St.).

Two museums are worth a look. The Klamath County Museum, in a 1935 National Guard armory, features exhibits on Modoc Indian leader Captain Jack and his 19th-century war against the U.S. Cavalry. The Favell Museum embraces world-class collections of Western art and artifacts from various Great Basin and Northwest Coast tribes.

The city’s new South Portal Visitor Center is a block south of the Favell Museum on Riverside Drive. Ask about “Pelicans on Parade,” an exhibit of painted birds by artist Stefan Savides.

Savides has also sculpted a large bronze pelican that stands near Veterans Memorial Park, on the shore of Lake Ewauna at the edge of downtown, across the mouth of the Link River from the Favell Museum.

Consider hiking up the 1½-mile Link River Trail, between the Favell Museum and Moore Park, where the river flows from Upper Klamath Lake toward Lake Ewauna. Look hard to see the true Klamath Falls, a set of rapids that cascade below a small PacifiCorp hydroelectric dam.

Along the western shore of Lake Ewauna, the Klamath Wingwatchers have built a 1.1-mile, wheelchair-accessible nature trail beside an 80-foot pine snag known as the “Eagle Perch.” It’s shared not only by bald eagles and ospreys, but also by other hawks, herons, cormorants and songbirds. More than 1,000 trees and shrubs have been planted along the trail to provide food and shelter for wildlife, and waterfowl nesting islands have been constructed in a large pond.

Klamath Falls, after all, likes to see itself as the birds’ best friend.

— Reporter: janderson@bendbulletin.com