High Desert Issues: Steens Mt. - Alvord Basin At-Risk Species

		Environmental Update: Find out about issues important in Oregon		Find your group: Find out what is going on in your part of the state		Search the Oregon Chapter web site:

Chapter Home >> Conservation >> High Desert Home Page >> At Risk Species

High Desert At-Risk Species
High Desert Chair: Anne Mitchell - highdesert@oregon.sierraclub.org

Join our mailing list!
Sign up to receive news and information on upcoming trips, events and action alerts.

Ferruginous Hawk

Ferruginous Hawk; Image: Courtesy Raysweb

Name: Family: Hawk family Accipitridae (ak-sip-IH-try-dee), from the Latin accipiter meaning "hawk or bird of prey."

Common name: Ferruginous (fer-OO-jin-us) means "rusty color" and refers to the coloration of the birds wing and legging feathers.

Genus: Buteo (BEW-tee-oh), which is from a Latin word meaning falcon or hawk. Commonly describes a group of medium to large birds of prey that have long and broad rounded wings and short tails. These birds are masters at soaring for long periods of time. Twelve species of buteos breed in North America north of the Mexico border.

Species: Regalis (reg-AY-liss), from Latin meaning "kingly" or "royal." These are the largest of the buteos.

Night comes to the desert all at once, as if someone turned off the light. - Joyce Carol Oates

Many species of desert wildlife are threatened by the detrimental effects of grazing, mining, orv use, and invasion of non native vegetation.

Steens Mt. - Alvord Basin At-Risk Species

Plants

Steens Mountain paintbrush (Castilleja pilosa var. steenensis)
Desert needlegrass (Achnatherum speciosum)
Alvord milkvetch (Astragalus alvordensis)
Great Basin downingia (Downingia laeta)
Narrowleaf black cottonwood (Populus angustifolia)

Mammals

California bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis ssp.)
Kit fox (Vulpes macrotis ssp.)
Pacific Townsend's big-eared bat (Plecotus townsendii ssp.)
White-tailed antelope ground squirrel (Ammospermophilus leucurus)

Reptiles

Desert horned lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos)
Northern sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus graciosus)
Mohave black-collared lizard (Crotaphytus bicinctores)

Birds

Ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis)
Northern bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
Northern sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)
Western snowy plover (Charadrius alexandrinus)
Yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)

Fish

Alvord chub (Gila alvordensis)
Borax Lake chub (Gila boraxobius)
Catlow Valley redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss ssp.)
Inland redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss ssp.)

What You Can Do to Help

For more information about High Desert issues and what you can do to help, consider attending one of our monthly meetings held at the Oregon Chapter office on the first Wednesday of every month at 7:00 PM. Joining one of our outings to the desert is another way to become involved.

Attend an Event

Our Conservation Issues

Politics & Issues

State Legislative Updates

The National Sierra Club

Leslie Gulch photo by Richard Wilhelm

This page last updated Monday, January 28, 2008

For text and photos donated by volunteers, © 2000-2008 by the volunteer credited, All Rights Reserved. Thanks volunteers!
For material by Oregon Chapter employees, © 2000-2008 By Oregon Chapter Sierra Club® All Rights Reserved.
For material provided by the National Sierra club, © 2000-2008 by the National Sierra Club® All Rights Reserved.