KLAMATH LAKE BIRD-LIFE 



KLAMATH LAKE is situated in northeastern California on the 

 Oregon boundary-line. Its shallow water permits a great growth 

 of tules, or rushes, which almost completely fringe the shore, 

 in places expanding to a width of several miles They also form islands 

 varying in size from a few square yards to many acres in extent. It is 

 on these islands that the bird colonies are established. There is no 

 soil or beach, and all the birds nest on the beds of matted tules, usually 

 at the border of the island. The White Pelicans, therefore, find here no 

 pebbles with which to construct their usual mound-like nests; the Cas- 

 pian Terns do without sand, and the Cormorants without rocks. Far 

 more important than these is the protection which ground-nesting com- 

 munal birds require, and this the islands supply. 



Fifteen colonies of White Pelicans were counted in this locality 

 between June 30 and July 7, 1906, and doubtless there were others, 

 since only a part of the bird-inhabited region was examined. There 

 were also great numbers of California and Ring-billed Gulls, Caspian 

 Terns and Farallon Cormorants, while Great Blue Herons, in default 

 of trees, built platform nests of tules among the growing reeds. White 

 Pelicans feed while swimming, and were here devouring diseased fish 

 which were floating in the water in large numbers, while Brown Pelicans 

 capture their prey by diving; but the young of both species make 

 their first attempts at fishing down the parental pouch, as a com- 

 parison of this group with the one of the Brown Pelican on the opposite 

 side of the hall will show. The White Pelican weighs sixteen pounds, 

 twice as much as the Brown Pelican. Its wing expanse is between eight 

 and nine feet and, when in the air, it is one of the most impressive of 

 birds. 



The group represents the border of a tule island, while the back- 

 ground shows other bird-inhabited islets, the surrounding treeless hills, 

 and Mount Shasta in the distance. 



Since it was made a land reclamation project has robbed this area 

 of its water and a dusty bottom has now replaced the lake. The birds 

 deprived of their homes have been forced to seek asylum elsewhere. 

 Our studies were made none to soon. 



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