Images

USGS scientist processing water quality samples near Hart Lake. Water quality can have huge impacts on hydrologic processes, food web characteristics, and prey availability.  

To get and process bugs, scientists use these supplies at Saline Lakes to gather macroinvertebrate data. These help them to better understand the lakes habitat and know how many birds that can be supported. 

Macroinvertebrates are largely important to the life cycle of migratory birds in the Saline Lakes. Researchers work to understand what food is available to them, and how changes can impact bird habitat and populations. 

American avocets are able to walk, stand, and dive after just a day old. They have tan heads with white bodies, black wings, and a long black beak

Lake Abert, Oregon is one of the 20 terminal lakes identified by USGS partners as priority ecosystems for study by the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA.

Eagle Lake, located in northeastern California approximately 16 miles north of Susanville in Lassen County, sits at an elevation of 5,100 feet above sea level. It is the second largest natural freshwater lake entirely within California. Eagle Lake is within the Great Basin, with all incoming waters remaining in the lake without outflow.

Goose Lake, on the Oregon-California border, is one of the 20 terminal lakes identified by USGS partners as priority ecosystems for study by the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA. 

Summer Lake, Oregon is one of the 20 terminal lakes identified by USGS partners as priority ecosystems for study by the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA.

Scientist using a core sampler to collect aquatic invertebrates from lakebed sediments in shallow water where shorebirds feed, Summer Lake, Oregon.

USGS scientists use boats to assist in their water quality surveys. This allows them to access deeper portions of the lake that would be hard to get to on foot.

Around Hart Lake, hundreds of bird species either reside or stop during migration. Nesting species include sandhill cranes, American white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, willets, Wilson's phalaropes, gadwalls, northern shovelers, American coots, western grebes, Clark's grebes, black-crowned night herons, Canada geese, mallards, and various ducks and terns.

A female Wilson’s phalarope with 2-gram Sunbird PTT transmitter. Wilson's phalaropes spin around in the water to stir up invertebrates to snack on. Large flocks gather on terminal lakes in the American west before migrating as far as southern most South America.

Research in the field means making the most of your surroundings! Scientist Andrea Mott set up this work station on the dry lake bed of Lake Abert to get the birds banded with GPS trackers close to where they were captured. 

Summer Lake is expansive and shallow, stretching approximately 15 miles in length and five miles in width at high stages, with an area spanning about 38,000 acres at an elevation of 4149-4151 feet. Despite its size, its maximum depth reaches only five to seven feet, though this level has seldom been reached in recent times.

Crump Lake is part of a 40-mile chain of lakes in the Warner Valley of south-central Oregon. This valley is a large fault-block basin, characterized by a series of marshes, shallow lakes, and drained meadows. The area around Crump Lake is home to many types of bird species, either residing there or stopping during migration.

Brine shrimp are an integral part of Lake Abert's ecosystem, contributing to its biodiversity and supporting many birds and other species. Brine shrimp have a high tolerance for salinity and are able to withstand freezing temperatures and are the lake's only winter residents.

Lake Abert, Oregon is one of the 20 terminal lakes identified by USGS partners as priority ecosystems for study by the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA.

The Saline Lake Ecosystems IWAA Waterbird Movement Project began tagging American Avocets in March 2023 to track their movements across the landscape. Tracking data from these birds will help scientists better understand why these birds choose to use the terminal lake and wetland habitats they do in the Great Basin.

American Avocet are a bird that relies heavily on the Saline Lakes ecosystem during their spring migration periods. Over 50% of these birds exist here. Part of their use includes using the terminal lakes there to breed. 

Yellow-headed blackbirds can be found in the spring and summer in the marshes of terminal lakes and wetlands. Common sightings occur in the Klamath, Summer, Malheur and Harney lake basins.

Eared grebes in a courtship behavior in the Great Salt Lake. They are one of many migratory birds in the Great Basin that rely on terminal lakes and wetlands in the area to stop rest and feed.