Thanks for following along on another Robyn Eggs local photo blog...
Please feel free to use these photos for your own purposes. I wish to add them to the collection of photos available on the Oregon Fish and Wildlife website, which are limited. I want to provide a more close-up viewer experience for those at home, and for those wishing to visit the area.
Signage at pullout for Camp Adair / E.E. Wilson 3024 x 4032
It was an impromptu Wednesday
I parked the car at the visitor's lot of the Wildlife Area. It was late August 2017 near Corvallis, OR. I had always wanted to get a close look at the birds there, kept in cages.
This trip I got to take my time and photograph most of them for Steemit. The quail were too small to capture, running around in the shade at the back of their pens, but the pheasants were very calm and chill that late afternoon, as it was hot, but not too hot to nap in the tall, dry grass.
The smoke was less hazy and my new camera was able to capture quite the scene, surprisingly well. Beams of light shone down in the cages, between the wire, and my eyes were welcomed by the bright colors and mysterious locations of each bird.
Native to the area, these birds looked well cared for. Or eaten and replaced with fresh ones every so often...I couldn't tell.
Visitor's Guide
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife purchased the area in 1950. The 1,788 acres of wildlife area offer hunting, fishing and a live shooting range, still in use after all these years.
Flag post at Camp Adair (historic preservation area) 3024 x 4032
The old training base of Camp Adair is nestled in the fertile Willamette Valley of Oregon and hosts a variety of wet and dry land birds, fowl, and small animals. It is filled with old, mossy apple, plum and cherry trees that were probably planted there by the troops, if not shortly after the land was purchased, 50 years ago.
Not the Visitor's Guide
What the visitor's guide doesn't have is first-hand, personal photos of up-close flora and fauna, capturing the interpretive trail from SW to NE and back around. Seriously, I got side-tracked on this awesome, overgrown back trail. It was magically awesome to behold as the afternoon sun got lower and lower in the sky...But first, we begin with the birds in cages, which are located adjacent to the visitor's parking lot.
Birds in Cages
Here we behold a typical pheasant. Out and about and wondering what the heck we are doing looking at it. It is tucked away towards the back of the cage.
The pheasant appears to be nesting comfortably in the heat of the afternoon, until I disturbed it. Surely it could hear me park the car. I tried to zoom in all the way to capture it better.
In the next cage rests a Silver Pheasant. It's hiding in the shade, in the back. Most of the birds were unimpressed with peering eyes and so they avoided the front of the cage.
Next we behold the beautiful and colorful Cinnamon Golden Pheasant. I left this image larger so you can zoom in on it. At first I didn't think I caught it on camera, but then I was delighted to find I did.
A mysterious bird...this one refused to budge. It was fun to find it, napping in the grass. Maybe it is the female partridge.
The Partridge remained elusive, as advertised. It's hiding all the way in the back, in the shadows, too far away to zoom in on it.
The quail were flat-out too quick to catch on my phone camera. They rushed to the back of the cage with their soft little sounds. So fat and tasty looking. I just love their head feather, so proud and elite.
The area boasts a multitude of quail and pheasant for hunters. But finding them in the brush is the fun part...
Stay tuned for Part 2
The E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area - "Not the Visitor's Guide" tour, Part 2, will feature photos from the interpretive trail, on the way to the seasonal reservoir (North), which is resting at a very low point, in the heat of the summer. Prepare to see more local flora and perhaps some amphibian action.
Part 3 will finalize the series with a trip down a less-traversed trail...
