Rimrock and Crooked River Parks
Seasons
Checklists
Location
Leave Prineville south on Main Street. Just 0.1 miles south of the big church (First Assembly of God) on your right and Lynn Blvd on your left, look for a parking area near a foot bridge. This is the parking area for Rimrock Park. Cross the foot bridge to access riparian habitat and a small pond. Return to your car and travel 0.2 miles farther south. Turn into the baseball complex called Crooked River Park. You can start at the bridge over the canal. Walk along the canal until you reach the Crooked River. Follow the river around the park and return to your car.
Directions
Habitat and Birds
Rimrock Park is mainly a migration spot in the spring and fall. Migrating passerines can be thick here as they feed along the Crooked River. In summer, look for nesters like Common Yellow-throat, Western Wood-pewee, Violet-green Swallow, Bullock’s Oriole, and Lazuli Bunting. In winter, search the sparrow flocks for White-throated Sparrow and Harris’s Sparrow. Crooked River Park provides large trees, marsh, riparian vegetation and rimrock. Check the canal for Virginia Rail. The large trees sometimes harbor perching raptors and nesting passerines. Yellow-breasted Chat sometimes nest in the riparian zone. Turkey Vultures, raptors, swallows, and swifts often cruise the rimrock.
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