Stop #3: Wright’s Pond

General George Wright led some of the earliest troops in settling the West. It is not certain whether Wright actually visited the Blitzen Valley, but in 1865 he died in a shipwreck off the California coast. His name is memorialized in at least two notable Harney County landmarks: Wright’s Point on Highway 205 and Wright’s Pond, which is before you now. 

The Blitzen River flows northward from Steens Mountain to Malheur Lake, making Wright’s Pond one of the last ponds to receive water in the spring. From May to October, however, the pond supports a broad diversity of herons, ducks, and grebes. 

Watch for Black Terns flying low over the water
to catch insects, and listen for some very vocal marsh-nesting songbirds, such as the Common Yellowthroat, Marsh Wren, and Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. From fall through spring, search the dried marsh vegetation for resident Song Sparrow. Northern Harriers hunt low over the marsh and grasslands throughout the year. 

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