Copyright © 1995, Don Baccus
All images copyright © 1995, Don Baccus
Riley is the classic "wide spot in the road", lying about twenty miles west of Burns, Oregon at the intersection of highways 20 and 395. On the north side of Highway 20 lies a weatherbeaten, institutional-green set of buildings which belong to the state highway department, and a historical marker. There is also a small pond which is spring-fed and has water year round.
I call it the "magic pond", because of the wide variety of birds found there and the general ease with which they may be photographed.
This is the easiest place to see and photograph photograph American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Willet, Wilson's Phalarope, and other shorebirds in the Malheur area. The light in late afternoon is fantastic, and as the pond is sunken below the surrounding fields and protected from the wind, the surface is often mirror-smooth.
A variety of waterfowl, occasionally including the often elusive Blue-winged Teal, also use the pond, but unlike the shorebirds they are very skittish.
As this pond is not part of the refuge, it is accessible year-round and is birded by relatively few people, which is convenient for photographers like myself who prefer solitude when shooting.
The only fly in the ointment is that in some years algae clog the pond, presumably due to runoff from the nearby irrigated fields. There are still plenty of birds around in these conditions, but the algae ruins most opportunities to shoot reflections.
