by Prof. Wendy Hill
Conducting research at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was an adventure as it is the largest wildlife refuge in the United States (185,000 acres). Although located at 4200 feet elevation, the Malheur Refuge receives less than 10 inches of rainfall per year. The diversity of the animal and plant life found in this high-plateau is exceptional. For example, Pronghorn Antelopes, Mule Deer, Coyotes, Badger, Long-tailed Weasels, White-faced Ibises, Golden Eagles, Sandhill Cranes, and Great Basin Rattlesnakes are among the long list of animals that call the refuge home. Part of the reason for this unmatched abundance of wildlife, besides the ecological setting, is that the refuge is found in the least populated county in the United States: Harney County is larger than the state of Massachu- setts but has only 7,000 residents. Needless to say, most days we saw more birds than people!
During my field work in easter Oregon this past year, I was lucky enough to have three field assistants, Marybeth Browne (‘94), Cynthia Hardenbergh (‘91), and Kerry Jones ('96). None of the students had ever conducted field work, nor I might add, ever lived “out in the boonies,” as the expression goes. The high-plateau desert offered much to experience--everything from seeing a golden eagle fledgling take its maiden flight from the nest to sampling the most effective techniques for removing ticks and avoiding rattlesnakes! The field work was hard, involved long hours (dawn to dusk!), and could be very tedious. Nevertheless, Cynthia, Marybeth, and Kerry were great assets to my project and always up for the next challenge, whether it be avoiding hoards of mosquitoes the size of grasshoppers to get to the Eared Grebe colony, learning how to get into a floating blind in the middle of a fresh water marsh while wearing chest-high waders that have become stuck in the soft mud floor of the lake, or capturing and banding birds in the middle of a terrifying thunderstorm. Throughout it all they helped me collect copious amounts of data which will increase our understanding of a unique bird and, in the process, experienced a memorable research adventure.