Outside the small town of Wallowa, in the northeastern corner of Oregon,
I stopped along a country lane to photograph a Wilson's Snipe. Down the road a bit, another
fence post held a male California Quail. Then a Brewer's Blackbird flew in to the adjacent fence post.
All three of these species love fence posts, and I love the views they afford.
The target here is the quail, whose rather urgent-sounding songs occupy
the lower register on the moving sonogram. The blackbird is so close his insistent
chuks and his dissonant songs also demand attention. Both are signature species of farmsteads in Oregon,
although the quail was actually introduced from neighboring California. You would think they have been here
forever.