Malheur Wildlife refuge for memorial day weekend

Am planning to drive down to Malheur national wildlife refuge in the hope of seeing some spring migrants, but guess its quite late for that.I bet a ton of people here would have visited Malheur. Is this sort of a bad time to visit ? Are there others who have already planned to go to Malheur in the same timeframe - I'll be more than glad to offer a ride.

thanks,
pradeep

My father, who is a world-class renowned birder heads down there every May, late in the month. It's peak season for birds, apparently. He once told me he counted 130 species in a single day there in May.

I visited Malheur last year April 20 and 21st. Unfortunately, I timed it perfectly for the few days of rain and dark cloudy skies they have each spring. Didn't get any great shots. The area around Malheur is generally amazing for bird shooting at any time of year. I think they may might still be pretty good on some of the migratorys. They have some nice web sites that list the current normal species present at any given time.

It's a long drive from the Seattle area - much gas even in my economy vehicle. I cut my budget by getting a room at the Malheur Field Station - tidy, sorta funky shared spaces. Have contact info if you're interested.... When are you thinking about going?

Janet B

Marc, thanks - so late May is not a bad time at all.

Janet, I plan to drive on friday evening/night so as to reach Burns by 4-5 AM on saturday. I'll drive from portland though,and google says its roughly a 7 hr drive from here. I plan to stay at the field station and then drive back monday night to be back in portland by tuesday morning.