Overview of spring 2010 birding trip

I took this trip because I needed a break from the winter boredom of small town living and the stress of witnessing the relentless decline of everything. The world, the country, the environment, common decency, ethical behavior, hopeful romance (as opposed to mutual exploitation) etc. Not that a trip was gonna change any of that, but it would allow me to work on a simpler goal which was seeing a hundred species of birds in every state. Maybe not Hawaii, maybe not Alaska right away. I dread flying anywhere, not the flying part, but running the gauntlet of paranoia at the airports.

When the year started I still had four states with less than the stated goal, Rhode Island to the east, and Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada to the west. I was close in Oregon and at zero in Nevada. I have geekish/nerdish genes which have been cultivated for a lifetime into a real weakness for numbers and science. I have immigrant genes that make me like to travel, or at least tolerate its discomforts. After I started birding I was a sucker for lists and such, and when I got listing software (I favor Avisys) I was doomed. It spits out with a few keystrokes all sorts of information about what I've seen, what I might see, what I haven't seen yet, how many of each and so forth. Run all that through a few, or many, long winter nights and spring simply screams to GET OUT THERE AND FIND SOME BIRDS.

I learned from Pete Janzen, one of the Kansas uber-birders, that they had planned a trip to see a Lesser Prairie-Chickens dance, and that gave me a hook to get started. I have a big US map on the wall, my dream stimulator, and it clearly showed Kansas connected to Nevada and Oregon, not that I would make the connection directly as it turned out.

Logically enough Kansas led to Colorado, but then seeing friends sucked me south into New Mexico and Arizona. I was gonna make some stops in Utah on the way to Idaho, but the friend connections didn't work out, and the weather was way more like winter than I had imagined while map-dreaming. Hadn't taken elevation seriously enough. So instead of going north, it was west into Nevada, and that was a great interlude. From there on into California, more visiting, this time folks were home, all the way to the coast and twenty miles into the Pacific. An incredible, literally, pelagic trip out of Monterey. Then I was able to get to Oregon where the birding was excellent, the weather fine (lucky there), and I finally made it to Powell's bookstore. Too bad the listserv was hampered by technical difficulties, which finally made me nasty. More on thet later.

Then the eastward trending, with a few days in Idaho, which was frustrating at first but suddenly got very good when I met some local birders. I had a sad day in Jackson, Wyoming and didn't stay long. I had really been looking forward to that part, but it was the low point of the trip. Back through a corner of Idaho and another good local birder encounter. Utah again, again missed friend connections, again escape into Nevada, ending in low desert heat around Las Vegas before making a second pass through Arizona and New Mexico. Some good west Texas followed by relentless all day mid-Texas dismality. Ended the trip on the Gulf coast in Louisiana and Mississippi amid the oil spill consternation.

I succeeded at finding the hundred birds, in fact greatly exceeded my goals, as well as adding a lot of species in every state I passed through. Also thirteen lifers, though a couple didn't count for ABA, I'll explain further on, and some more nemesis aggravations focused on the old one, Gray Partridge, a newer one, Mountain Plover, and a fresh candidate, Flammulated Owl. These critters make me want to take up pottery or embroidery, but those hobbies aren't such good excuses for traveling.

So: On to the narrative.

Oklahoma

The Lesser Prairie-Chicken field trip was on Saturday April 10, at a site SW of Pratt, KS. I was jonesing to get going, so left on the 7th. The days before were devoted to getting the truck well packed, trying to remember all the essentials, which for once I seem to have mostly done. I've driven off on trips and forgot the spotting scope, fortunately not for long, but I've learned to expect such stuff. The approach now is for a week before leaving to drop anything I'm doing when I think of something that has to go, get it and put it in the truck or on the porch.

The other prep activities are related to mapping and planning. Using TopoUSA, I work over the proposed route and tag all the birding sites I know of from various sources, such as bird-finding books, birding trail brochures, places mentioned on the various relevant list-servs for the states I plan to visit, other Internet birding location sites, word of mouth and whatever else catches my fancy. The point is that I can't remember all that stuff when I'm actually traveling, paper resources are prone to entropy, but the mapping software is running at all times when I'm moving and the GPS shows exactly where I am. So the map tags are always letting me know when I'm in reach of a possible site, or several, and I can figure out a fairly efficient route. I also download aerial imagery of the more interesting possibilities in advance, and while in reach of wifi at stops I'll add any others that seemed notable as the trip develops.

Between those two activities I've developed quite a library of birding databases and enhanced maps to go with them. Passes the winter nights too, but I'm afraid I often over plan, and have way inflated ideas of what can be fitted in. The actual trip consists of a lot ignoring possibilities. Maybe some other time, I say, but in some cases I'm unlikely to get back for a long time if ever. As my friend Larry Harrison says, "the finish line is in sight".

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Oklahoma was on the way to Kansas, and It's a state where I'm really close to having 60% of the species ticked. That's the real milestone I think. 50%, the ABA threshold for being in the published roster isn't all that hard with a little focus and judicious routing in all seasons. The only states where I've managed it are Arkansas where I live, and Texas where I've been at least a dozen times. Texas is attractive since almost every year there's a point when three lifers may be present at the same time, usually in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and along the coast. So I started with OK, where 8 more ticks would make 60%.

I got away from the house and through town with just a short library stop to harvest email. Made a stop at Centerton Fish Hatchery, still in AR, good early shorebirds, and then fairly directly across OK to Pawhuska, the Osage capitol, and the gateway to the TNC (Nature Conservancy) Tall Grass Prairie Preserve. It had become windy and drizzly, the day had gotten late, still officially winter you know, and I ended up staying at Osage Hills State Park east of Pawhuska, a nice small place with decent birding and some very nice CCC construction. I want to try it again a little more in migration, and also to get some pics.
Slept well.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Dawn was chilly but the wind was gone and the skies had cleared. Two or three hours brought me to Salt Plains NWR starting in the SE corner where there's a free campground with excellent birding. The day was young enough to allow a full loop around the refuge with lots of stops, at the State Park, shorebird trail, grocery store and library in Cherokee, around to the crystal digging area (Selenite) which wasn't active, and back to the campground. There were lots of Shorebirds at the shorebird trail, and lots of ducks and raptors at the campground. Notable were thousands of Ruddy Ducks, which I'd never seen in OK before. Somehow I ended up adding 5 ticks, putting me in spitting distance of the 60% goal. The sunset across the lake was long and glorious, and sleeping there was quiet and perfect.

Friday, April 9, 2010

When I woke up there was a Swainson's Hawk in the tree over the truck. Birded the camp again, and then the tour loop and shorebird trail again. The wind was picking up again too, and would be a hassle off and on for weeks. Spring weather. I took a back route up to Pratt, KS and explored the area around there, a Fish Hatchery, a small lake, a city park, called Lemon, which wasn't a, in fact looked like another ideal place for a migration stop, almost a migrant trap since it was mature river bottom hardwoods in a basically grassland setting. After dark and dinner the Wichita folks showed up at heir motel which was across the street from a truck stop where I sorta slept. It was the first of many on this trip and later I'll go into how to find the best spot in them, if there is one and you're lucky. This one wasn't much good for sleeping, woke up a lot, lots of dream recall.

Kansas

Didn't sleep too well, but up early and two Sausage McMuffin with Egg, one for breakfast, one for lunch. I get really tired of these, but they serve. Met the birding group at the motel and we convoyed out to the Chicken lek in the dark. The neophytes got led out to the blind, and the rest of us waited along the road. Chilly. The chickens came in as dawn cracked and we started getting some good looks, but when I finally got the scope set up in the back of a truck it was very good. Some other folks tried it too, and by then the birds were comfortable enough that they showed no signs of alarm, not until the falcon came by, and even then they carried on. Some of us made an excursion back along the road to some water spots and found a few species, Brewer's Blackbirds, and a Yellow-headed.

When the chicken action had faded and we released the blind folks, we all headed farther west to the valley of the Salt Fork. We made one stop at an almost abandoned village, nothing remarkable, and then drove on out to a ranch in the river valley. The owners and the caretakers welcomed us and led us on out to the actual river, where some small bluffs lined the far side. That was the place we hoped to find Rufous-crowned Sparrows. Not much luck on that, tho we did hear one call, but there was plenty of brush for them to hide and they may be a species that hunkers down when subjected to playback. I'm guilty there, need to work on a fine tuned protocol for using the recordings. First, second and third, just listen. Then one short play at low volume, listen some more, and so forth. Anyway nobody ever got a good visual, I walked a lot of cliff edge looking down, seems that's the only view I've ever had of them. We did get a good look at a Bewick's Wren, a new KS bird for me.

From there we drove out into the grasslands to some caves associated with a small creek. The focus here was bats, mostly as a sample of hibernaculum habitat. Didn't see any actual critters. I should mention that the botanizers were very happy with the general area, finding some unusual plants on the edge of spring bloom.

We went back to the ranch building area, some stayed and some left including me. I still had to get to Morton County before dark. In Elkhart, gas was as dear as anywhere on the trip which boded badly, but it turned out to go down as it worked out, partly maybe as the developing Gulf oil spill put a bad spotlight on the oil producers. I drove up to Cimarron National Grassland, and stayed at Middle Spring, a good place for birding, nothing special, still a little early for leaf bloom and migrants. Went to sleep early, needed some catch-up, and nights were still pretty long. Woke up well before dawn and was driving into Colorado with the sunrise in the rear-view mirrors. One curious thing was an area north of the grasslands with lots of low strobe lights not far off the ground. I'd never seen such a thing and was concerned for their effect on Prairie Chickens. Thought they might be something to do with oil wells. Later wrote the non-game biologist that had arranged the lek viewing, and he also didn't know what it was. But later his inquiries had paid off with the news that they were lights on irrigation arrays, made them visible at night so the ranchers could be sure they were turning. No chicken habitat there, so not a problem.

Colorado, eastern

Sunday, April 11, 2010

As I came into Colorado with the sun in the rear-view mirrors, the breeze was a tailwind and I sailed west. First stop was the National Park Service (hereafter NPS) site of the Sand Creek Massacre. Indians died there without a chance to fight. I got there too early and the gates were still closed. Didn't linger, but some other time I'll work in a real visit. Then on west, pick up the Interstate through Denver and north to Ft Collins where I had an appointment with a pair of White-winged Crossbills on a nest in the corner of a cemetery next to a golf driving range. When I first pulled up and parked, the folks waved me off to a different space since I'd made my first choice in the impact zone. Still found the spotting scopes set up and the monitors on the job. I would have never found them on my own since the birds were in deep thick cover about forty feet up a Spruce tree. It wasn't too long a a wait until the parents showed up to feed the two nestlings, and I got a poor quick look at the males back and wing. First lifer for the trip.

I celebrated by going to REI and buying a real nice two part parka on deep sale, perfect size, nice olive color, liner wearable separately. Optimal in all ways, and really good deal, $250 item for less than a hundred. Found the library and grazed wifi. From there back east a little to Pawnee NG, where I stayed in the campground. Ended up being there three days while I tried very hard to find some, or any, Mountain Plovers. The CG, which has produced great birds from time to time, where I've stayed three times now, had nothing to show but Robins and Starlings, spiced with a single Flicker and a pair of talkative Kestrels. Had a little spell of the blues, it was still early enough in the year that my seasonal depression could nibble at me.

Monday, April 12

Out early to check out the Weld County Reservoirs, Fossil Creek south of Ft Collins as well. Pretty good variety of ducks etc, added a few CO tics. Stopped by REI for a map, another Crossbill visit, saw both parents and both nestlings. On the way back to Weld County to look for Mountain Plovers made a stop at the landfill following listserv rumors of an Iceland Gull , a critter I've chase without luck before. Better today. Figured out that there was side dirt road that gave a view of the gulls loafing on a ridge of dirt and just started scanning. Maybe twenty minutes until payoff. Second trip lifer. Great big all pale gull with faint yellowish mottling, gave me over a minute look, enough to study it and then the field guide. Always do it in that order, bird first as in as much detail as your wit allows, then, only then, the guide which may point out a salient missed detail to check. You'll have the guide for years, but the bird for only seconds or minutes. Some folks get pictures but I haven't spent the money it takes for the kind of equipment that gives a better view than decent binocs.

Further west I started checking out methodically all the places that had been posted as sites for Mountain Plover, current year and some previous. Traveled maybe sixty miles of highway and dirt roads. And once I had an idea what that habitat looked like I'd just stop at anything with low sparse vegetation and some bare dirt. Some places were Prairie Dog towns, not all, and I did find a Burrowing Owl in one. But no Plovers. Back to the campground, a nice little visit with two local women from the little village across the highway taking a constitutional, still no good birds. Dark and sleep after a little reading.

Colorado, western

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Up and out about 5:30, well into dawn by the time I started up the Poudre River Canyon. Very scenic drive and some good quick birding stops along the way. Should be revisited mid-May some year, but this time it climbed into winter. Enough snow to hide the road markings and make driving slow and 4WD. After topping out, on the downhill side there was small state park, mostly closed still but the Visitor Center was open. Just managed to stop and pull in and it was a lucky thing. First was the feeder setup, allowing several new CO tics with little effort. Second was a small car from Washington State as I recall with four birders that I met twice again in the next two days. They sought Pinyon Jays, and I think got nemesis. But also the Sage-Grouse leks. Third was the woman holding down the desk. She knew everything important, like where the Walden Greater Sage-Grouse was located, and where her bird rehab place was located a little further on with feeders full of Rosy-Finches of all kinds. It's actually a birder B&B, Rosy Ridge Ranch. So I left with directions to a lot of good birds.

Once I got into Walden I had time to make a stop at Arapaho NWR, and took the tour route finding almost every species of duck you could expect, good for the trip list but none new for the state. That put me late enough in the afternoon to head out to the lek. There's a sweet site, a lake just west of Walden and the road past it leads to the twin buttes that shelter the lek. Same road goes on to RRR. If you want to see the grouse on this lek, I highly recommend that you contact her. First the ranch, which netted Mountain Bluebirds for CO, and the Finches and their associates. Then back to the lek, which was a just barely marked stub of dirt road ending at a snow bank. Parked there with back to the lek site, maybe 100 yds away. Popped open the camper-shell back lid, set up the spotting scope on short sprawled legs to make it fit under the shell, sat Buddha-style behind it and waited for dusk. Sixteen Greater Sage-Grouse came that I could see, third trip lifers, females may have been hanging around the periphery, but the light was dim, gray and cloudy. The great part was being close enough to hear the grouse popping and seeing the ripples down the pouches on their necks when they did it. I watched until it was dark, then just went to sleep right there.



Wednesday, April 14

Had to get up really early so I could drive off before there was any light. Making sure not to disturb the morning gathering of Grouse. I headed south out of Walden, somehow got on the wrong road, but it took me past Windy Gap Reservoir, which had several Barrow's Goldeneyes . Great bird, like a duck in a tuxedo, and one of the few I was missing for the state. From there it was a long drive south, hoping to find something at Baca NWR, but it must be a new one, land still being assembled, no facilities or signs, so on to Alamosa and Monte Vista NWRs. I found the Tundra Swan that had been reported on the listserv, and then over the divide into Gunnison. Dinner and some groceries, then east a little way to the Waunita lek, these being Gunnison Sage Grouse. They were there but I almost missed them, very distant, and I wasn't looking in the right place. Couldn't hear them either. Fortunately the carload of WA birders had them spotted and shared a scope view. Lucky for me. Fourth trip lifer.

It was after dark, and rather than the choice between a short sleep to get out early, or getting stuck to wait for them to scatter in the morning, I decided to just drive a little further toward New Mexico. It was a good idea at first, gassed up in Gunnison, then west and south on a two-lane mountain blacktop in the dark. Slow going and dangerous when the deer and elk started grazing the roadsides. I kept watching for a place to stop and camp, but all the campgrounds were at higher altitudes and closed by snow. Past mid-night when, after crossing the divide again, I finally spotted a snow-mobile staging area, south of Lake City, and I crashed there. Almost 11,000 feet.



Thursday, April 15

It was 18C when I woke up, cold gray dawn of ice and snow world. Fortunately it was downhill from there, through Creed, South Fork and Pagosa Springs and into New Mexico. Somewhere along there I found a great old library, it had wifi, but was being decommissioned for modernization reasons. Stupid modernization. Great tall narrow stairways, cool old woodwork and windows, upstairs rooms with high ceilings.

New Mexico, north

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Where I came into NM from Pagosa Springs wasn't very convenient for getting to Taos, the next stop. Didn't mind too much since I had treated myself to a greaseball breakfast, ham and eggs etc and was food mellow. Really scenic drive through Chama, Tierra Amarilla, and Tres Piedras. Some high elevation with snow, and I made a couple of stops to try calling Gray Jays, but no luck. One real interesting place was approaching the Rio Grande Gorge bridge. The recycled tire houses called Earthships have a large settlement there, maybe fifty plus structures, all different, colorful, imaginative and beautiful. Makes me wish I was young enough to devote a summer to pounding cementified dirt into old tires with a sledge hammer. Hoping to go back some time and look closer, they probably have some kind of limited tour setup.

In Taos I was trying to find a friend who had camped at my house in Arkansas a couple of times. I had her as a Facebook friend and had asked her to send a contact number, but it never came. I found some wifi in the library in Taos, sent another message after checking phone books and such, and then just had to keep going. We did eventually connect, but not to visit. I'll try again on another trip. I went down to Los Alamos, then west since I wanted to check out Valles Caldera, the remains of an old volcano. I had hoped to camp along a road near there, Rt 126, where I'd been many years before that seemed like it would be good birding, but it was still closed for the winter. About thirty miles south I found the first open Forest Campground in a long time and stopped there well before dark for a slightly more civilized and warmer night. Good birding along a little creek too.

Friday, April 16

I got out before dawn, having slept well. It looked like a fairly direct drive to the north end of the road along Sandia Crest, so I was sorta caught by surprise by one of those "low maintenance, may be impassable" signs. Kept going and did get to the top, but it was a lousy road, untouched by a grader since the previous summer probably, and leading into snow and mud by the end. Then suddenly blacktop, and quickly a parking area and picnic ground with lots of snow, but walkable crust back into the woods. I poked around in there for an hour. fairly good high elevation species, over 8000', but not many individuals. Just on the cusp of winter and spring. Driving out south-wards things got better quickly, made a couple of stops at pullouts, best birds were Red Crossbills, new for the state and possibly a new subspecies. Since the Crossbills have shown so much diversity, and are rumored to be subject to a major species split-up by song types, every one found in an region is a potential tic someday. Here's where recording every species seen every day has its justification.

Good roads all the way from there into Albuquerque, if you consider urban Interstates good roads. Took a little map puzzling to find my way into the Rio Grande Valley Nature Center, but it was well worth it. Great place, even being over-run by school kids. They tended to be clustered, and so easily avoided. The Visitor Center had a nice little wetland and pool with a viewing room. Got a few state tics there including Wood Duck. There was also some hummer action at feeders, and while chasing one of those saw a dove with red wing linings, Inca Dove, was only on the list there as an accidental. Very good bird. On the other side of the canal there was a Barred Owl sitting over the path, but I was disappointed to not be able to find Eastern Bluebirds which I'd been told were expectable. I ended up spending a couple of hours there.

Driving on south took me to Bosque del Apache NWR, one of the nation's premier birding places. It was later in the year than I'd ever been there, no big Crane and Goose show, but turned out to be very good birding, with some spring arrivals I'd have not expected. Got some new shorebirds for NM, and a couple of flycatchers. I ended the day with twenty new tics for New Mexico. As it was getting on toward dark, I headed into Socorro, food, then drive west to Water Canyon where I hoped to do some night birding on the road to the Cosmic Ray Observatory. Not to be. I was about halfway to the top when a major thunder-storm finally opened up. Found a wide spot on a curve where it was safe to park and sat it out. Like being in an artillery battle with half the strikes below me in a wide steep canyon, blasting and echoing. Lots of rain too, and I started to worry about getting back across the creek at the bottom. Drove back down and was turned back by the flooded crossing. There was a parking area with outhouse just before it, so I slept there listening to the storm and the raging creek alongside. In the morning it was a long hub-deep crossing, but not too bad since the storm had died and the worst of the run-off was clear.

New Mexico, south

After a food and wifi stop in Socorro I skipped on by Bosque since there was still s lot of rain about. Down the Interstate and, after a stop at Elephant Butte Lake and Dam, into the Black Range headed eventually for Silver City and friends with a bed an a shower. But first I wanted to check out some places in the Gila National Forest north of there. Stopped at the General Store in Hillsboro, where I've had good food and conversation, and instead got the world's most obnoxious waitress. Bossy, rude, down-right mean to other customers, and easily stiffed. Enough to mess up a morning. Started checking out various stops along the range crest, best was Iron Creek with Red-face Warblers, Painted Redstarts, and Grace's Warblers, among other good birds. Made an exploration into Gallinas Canyon, but the day had grown a little too warm for that to pay off. I turned off in Mimbres and headed for Lake Roberts, with a stop at the TNC Mimbres preserve. Again not a real good time of day, and the creek was high enough to keep me out of their deeper preserve, but just working the edge of the accessible meadow was rewarding.

I went on by the lake and drove north to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, but their bridge was closed so getting back into the edge of the wilderness area was more trouble than I wanted when it was already getting late. Went back to the lake and found the hummer lady, the one who has the festival later in the summer. She was really nice, and had a very birdy yard. Four species of hummers too, but she said at least four more would be around later in the year. Got a great up-close look at Magnificent Hummingbird. I stayed in the NF campground at the upper end of the lake, tried for owls, primarily Flammulated, up the hillsides after dark, but had no luck.

Sunday, April 18

The next morning I headed down the highway (a pompous name for an unlined hardly two-lane blacktop, still it has a state number) to Pinos Altos. Stopped at several of the campgrounds along the way, found Olive Warbler and Virginia's, both not very visible, but singing. Spring birding is good that way. Got into Silver city and went to my friends Diana and Bob Leyba's, where all the blessings of civilization were bestowed, to wit, shower, laundry, hair and beard cut, a bed to sleep in, mindless TV, and best of all, a Chinese buffet dinner with Diana.

Monday, April 19

A good night's sleep, wifi at McDonald's, mailing checks, bird around the Little Walnut picnic area, then back for a great visit with my old buddy and business partner from Philadelphia Patrick Mulligan, now retired full time curmudgeon and rider of off road bicycles. He could make a fortune writing political commentary for comedians. Back into town to hang at Diana's Art Supply called Leyba and Ingalls and watch the world. Bought one of her beautiful Day-of-the-Dead Tee shirts. Met one of her friends, Beth Menczer, artist and rural settler, who works with Diana on the public mural projects in Silver and other nearby communities. Beth said she had seen Montezuma Quail near her place in Glenwood, and I was still trying to get the hundred dollar look at that species, so I got directions and ended up staying in the truck at her place. Was able to sneak in some Glenwood Fish Hatchery birding too. We shared some pizza for dinner and told stories after she showed me her place quickly (better the next morning). No quail though, nor Cowbirds, strangely hard to find in NM.


Saturday, April 17, 2010


Instead of birds I'd found a small paradise. She had a dog, noisy but easily mollified, several cats, numerous chickens, some caged and some freely ranging, an African Gray Parrot, a little fish pond, several Arabian horses, a whole house full of excellent art, her own and things traded for and otherwise acquired, beautiful landscaping, good bird habitat and big trees, and land that ran down to the creek flowing out of the Catwalk Canyon. The house was a hand-built, worked over several times, partly very nicely finished, and some "projects" around the edges. Funky and classy. I was entranced. We sat at the big table that dominated the kitchen, each fiddling with our computers, sharing links and talking 'bout this and that. Did I mention I was entranced? It was a space that bore witness to a long and detailed love affair, and a serious commitment to being emplaced fully and honestly.

I thought I recognized all that as it was a lot like what I've done on my land in Arkansas. Unfortunately, I haven't taken the plunge into animals or pets, since I simply love to travel too much, and responsible house-sitters are really hard to find. I don't think I've been as successful since my home momentum gets broken up too often by the travel itch. The best birding is the same time as the best gardening, and my garden is a mess.

Tuesday, April 20

After coffee, light food and light talk, I birded around her place and along the creek, then up the valley to the Catwalk parking area. I was watching for the quail, but none poked their weird heads out for my anticipated delight. Headed out from there for a drive along the Arizona/New Mexico border, crossing sorta randomly as the highway offered opportunity.

Arizona, first pass

I turned west and into Arizona through Mule Creek, then south through York and Shelden. The route was beautiful, but the birding ops were few. I cut east back into New Mexico and had a very good stop at the Virden Bridge. You had to stay on the pavement, but the view was from up high and the area was very birdy. Got a nice look at a Lucy's Warbler, they always catch me by surprise by being so un-warbler-yellowish. Best bird was a sitting Northern Goshawk showing the fine barring in the tail. Also hummers and quail, but not Harlequins.

From there I passed through Lordsburg, grabbed lunch, and went on to the Lordsburg Playa. That was really good for shorebirds, got several NM tics, especially happy since I added a Bronzed Cowbird at the Interstate Rest Stop. Further west and south to follow the state line toward Portal. Hung out there around the store, got several AZ tics just being mellow and following the crowds, then headed out past the campgrounds along Cave Creek and uphill. Made several stops, a long one at the SW Research Station, another to hike some woods where Montezuma Quail were sometimes seen, and then I found a sweet unofficail campground along the creek and settled in for the night.

Wednesday, April 21

Back down early through Portal after parking and walking the South Fork road to the end before sunrise. Pretty much all the well known and juicy birding spots in SE Arizona have been regulated and signed and fee-ed to extract the maximum pelf from the birders and anyone else with the bad taste or luck to be near them. It's made just stopping the truck to get out and walk around a rigmarole of envelopes and stickers, or not and paranoia. This is partly a result of lots of use, though it doesn't seem more than the first times I went there maybe eighteen years ago. Birders are conspicuous consumers, they want folks to see how expensive their optics are, and they want to brag about how much money they spend and how grateful the locals should be that they've driven their nice cars down and are fueling the local economy (translation: kiss my ass, said nicely). The locals, who can in fact detect arrogance and condescension, are happy to gouge the birders for every possible penny. Locals includes the Forest Service management. I really don't care for the company of most birders, but do occasionally meet some great folks, usually at remote non-hotspots. See the Idaho portion. Most to be avoided are pricey tour groups.

Anyway, back to the state line, keeping track of which side of the road the critters are seen on, many notes to self on the mini-cassette recorder. I was particularly looking for Bendire's Thrasher on the NM side, but could only get definite Curve-bills. Finally found one on a nest in some Cholla, their type habitat. After that it was a long drive through Douglas and Bisbee, very cool mine scenery, glorious geological palette, scary winding roads. Finally got to Sierra Vista so I could check out the legendary Huachuca Mountain canyons. I'd never done that before, always got stuck at Portal or Patagonia, pinned down by great birding.

First stop was Miller Canyon. I wanted to see another Spotted Owl, and it was there in its habitual spot sitting over the trail. I ended up sitting on a rock thirty feet short of it for awhile until some folks came along that knew the drill. All the birding from the ranch on up the trail into the wilderness to the owl was superb. Lots of mountain specialties, most I'd seen in the Chiricahuas, but the best bird was a Hermit Warbler. From there it was further south to the Ash Canyon B&B, Mary Jo Ballator, prop . My timing was good, since it had gotten late in the afternoon. There were no other birders, so she started putzing with arrangements, then sat with me and gave me about an hour lesson on ID details, behavioral quirks, and a little biography. Great way to sit around with at least thirty feeders. Well worth the $5 donation. I went back to the foot of Miller where there's some unofficial parking, finished my evening book on Evo-Devo, and sacked out wondering if I would be visited my Border Patrol or illegals or both. It was neither, went to sleep with the wind whipping about like it had been doing all day.

Thursday, April 22

The night had been chilly and windy. It didn't look auspicious for birding, and after a stop at the Ramsey Canyon TNC preserve which was closed until some ungodly advance hour like maybe 9am (don't they understand the dawn chorus?), I decided to skip other canyons. I'm just reluctant to go on the military base, always have visions of the truck being unpacked and pawed-over, which would take forever. So it was loop north around the mountains and head for Patagonia. Fortunately, I'd picked up a rumor on the listserv regarding Las Cienegas Preserve, BLM, and I wandered around in there managing to find the sweet spot by watching the stream-side vegetation. It really wasn't too far nor too obscure, sorta basic follow-your-nose. It was a wonderful place, running water and a gallery forest of immense cottonwoods. Very good birding, Hermit Thrushes, Hepatic Tanagers, mixed warblers, and several woodpecker species.

Into Patagonia and a stop at the Paton's yard. The hummers weren't as good a show as I've seen there, but the other birds on the ground and in the abutting yards were better than usual. From there I went on down to the TNC preserve. They had better hummers there, including a Blue-throat. There was a young Quebecois woman minding the shop, and I had one of my infatuations. They can light up a day. Walked a lot of the trails and found good birds, some on brief stops of passage, so the timing was good. Further south I made a stop at Patagonia Lake State Park to check for waterfowl, but couldn't linger without paying the full day fee. They should have a one hour price for rambling birders. On south and the turn back north at Nogales and I got to Madera Canyon in early afternoon. Paid for two days camping, then walked a trail over to Madera Kubo B&B and out-waited the Flame-colored Tanager. That made the fifth lifer for the trip. Back to the campground as the day turned wet and cold, then snowy.

Friday, April 23

Madera Canyon with Snow

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

There was more than an inch of snow at dawn, more on the higher elevation hillsides, and the world was enchanted. Note that it was the end of April, fifty miles from Mexico and only moderate elevation. The whole trip from here on was filled with reports from the locals that winter had lasted longer than usual, and the weather was staying colder along with the normal southwestern windiness in spring. I drove down to Continental on the Interstate for food and coffee and wifi at McDonald's. Then back to Florida Wash to look for reported Black-capped Gnatcatcher and a Rufous-capped Warbler. Missed both, and found I'd been up the wrong branch of the wash later. Spent three hors there and did find some good birds as well as getting better acquainted with the place. Finding solace by brute force.

I went back to the campsite to rest and warm up, it had been chilly in the shade in the canyon. Then I went back to the wash after revising my understanding of the topography. Found the right rock dam and other landmarks, but still no target birds. It was also less birdy than the "wrong" side. I had one bird that I never figured out an ID, a larger gray flycatcher, I'm guessing. When I got back to the campground my site had been stolen by a big family, they had removed my permit, and when I found the host he was useless. Did manage to get the last campsite, so called, a parking space with a number by the restroom. I cooled down, and it really didn't matter much since I slept in the truck.

Saturday, April 24

The good part was a calling Whiskered Screech-Owl before dawn. Still in a bad mood, headed north, didn't try the wash again, and ignored California Gulch, as well as skipping a visit with friends in Tucson. I did go up Mt Lemmon, but the birding was rushed because of another punitive fee setup. At least a few pullouts were free, and I snuck twenty minutes in one of the campgrounds. The views and geology were great, and convinced me to get the roadside geology books for each of the western states.

Long drive up to Phoenix, then east past the Superstition Mtns. One spot, an arboretum that had looked promising, was packed full because of an art show, skipped on by, went around Roosevelt Lake which only had a few Western Grebes, and sorta wandered north until I ended up in a unofficial place, maybe a horse camp, in Coconino NF south of Flagstaff. It was very nice, one of those lucky finds, mixed Ponderosa and meadows, fairly birdy, and good variety, The first bird I saw was a Peregrine Falcon perched atop a dead Ponderosa snag.

Sunday, April 25

Colorado River from Navajo Bridge

Good night's sleep, quiet and no lights, chilly morning. There were two lakes between the campsite and Flag, Mormon and Lake Mary. Both ended up being excellent. At first Mormon was too dried up, and distant from the roadway, but as I headed north it got both wetter and closer. And much birdier, ducks and grebes, then blackbirds, including Yellow-headed, and sparrows. At Lake Mary I had a Saw-whet Owl calling from the far side, un-naturally loud across the water. The shoreline trees yielded warblers and finches and sparrows. I added eight AZ tics in two morning hours. Flagstaff was frustrating, gas prices were fixed and inflated, I needed an oil change, and couldn't find a cheap place, I was worried about my brakes, and the roads didn't make sense even with GPS, so I ended up wasting some miles and gallons by leaving on the wrong road north. Finally got straightened out and in a couple of hours made it to Navajo Bridge and the Vermilion Cliffs.

The point of that was to maybe see a California Condor. Once I was on the bridge I started scanning the cliff line on the other side, and finally found a bird that fit. Way off, but unmistakable, and so far that I couldn't see the numbers they all wear, which made it feel more pristine. I was jazzed, and went up to the Navajo jewelry tent and had to tell somebody. The woman says, "O yeah, we had three or four at the base of the bridge a little while ago, they're here every day" Thoroughly jaded. But I felt really good about it since nobody had told me where to look, nobody had seen it first, it was flying, not sitting, and no number. Didn't feel artificial at all, but the bird is still not ABA countable. But it sure is a lifer as far as I'm concerned, sixth for the trip.

Vermilion Cliffs

From there I went west across the Arizona strip, was gonna try some birding and maybe stay in the NF along the road to the North Rim, but all was closed by snow. Started driving north into Utah, brief stop in Cedar City after crossing the ridge by Cedar Breaks Nat Mon (a great place but really high and cold even in summer), and no roads into the back-country were open. Then just blew north and east on the Interstates and ended up sleeping in a rest area maybe sixty miles west of Green River.

Quick Utah and Quick Colorado

Monday, April 26, 2010

Drove on into Green River, checked the sewage ponds, then east and south to Moab. I got there around 9:30, put my clothes in the laundry, and drove up the street the the TNC Matheson Preserve . When I lived in Moab it hadn't been officially established, but I had birded the area there many mornings before going to work. It's where I cut my teeth on western birds, site of my first Sora, Cinnamon Teal, and White-faced Ibises, among others. They had had a fire the year before, but most of the facility damage was repaired, and the habitat had greened up. I mostly birded around the trail at the official parking area, found Lazuli Bunting and heard a puzzling vireo which turned out to be Cassin's. They sure do sound like Yellow-throateds.

Back to laundry to stick stuff in the dryer, then over to the Colorado River and a short drive to Moonflower Canyon. The day had worn on and I didn't get the pristine dawn action at all, which is too bad, it still being migration. Back at the laundry the dryer had failed, but the prop was around so we got it straightened out. More time chewed up. I went by my friend Serena Supplee's, famous canyonlands artist, but she was off somewhere painting. Ran into the house-sitter and he said it'd still be okay to crash there like I often do. By then too hot for much birding, so I went downtown to cruise the bookstores. Moab has great bookstores, my favorite being Back-of-Beyond. Bought a few, but managed to not spend the bankroll. Someday... Geeked at library, sucking down those listserv emails.

When it was cooler I went back to Matheson, the official end and the unofficial area past the old hospital and Water Treatment Plant. Nothing special, but that had been the classroom area. Went to Serena's, got coffee at Dave's across the street, hung out and did a lot of reading before crashing.

Tuesday, April 27

My birthday, had some Facebook greetings. Went by Matheson again, and then up the River Road past Castle Valley where I'd lived for over a year, and on to Cisco and the Interstate to Grand Junction, Colorado.





In Junction, I finally got the long needed oil change and then went to Midas, where I ended up getting almost all the brakes replaced, including a new rotor and two new calipers. About $700+ of happy birthday to me. The guy who did the work was great, very practiced and competent, answered questions placidly, and didn't waste a move, every step in order, tools always right where they were needed, parts likewise. A joy to watch.

So, after about $800 vehicle costs I was headed north through Rangely and into Dinosaur National Monument. Headed out to the east end, a campground called Deer Park, where the boats launch onto the Yampa to head down to the Green River. It was early in the season, and only a few groups had gone, but one was gathering and organizing while I was there. Nice to have someone to talk to that wasn't in a store. The birding there was pretty good, widely scattered big cottonwoods in a meadow of golden grass from the previous year. Pretty obviously an elk wintering ground, judging from scats and skeletons. Good place for hawks and woodpeckers. Also some great Mountain Bluebirds hung out around the truck. There were even a few shorebirds if I scanned the banks carefully and repeatedly. Another good dark and quiet night for sleeping





Wednesday, April 28

Out of Deer Flat, fuel dearly and wisely bought in Maybelle, and then back west on Rt 318 to the Headquarters for Brown's Park NWR. A nice young man there was quite helpful, and generous with the sort of posters and literature they always have stashed in those places. They're usually pretty generous when they only have a visitor every three or four days. I guess they don't go through a lot of guest books. It was a cold gray windy day, with great color and spitting snow, I set off on the tour loop, lots of river views and slowly pieced together a list of ducks and sparrows and what-not.

What I was really interested in, though I took my time to bird as well as the wind would allow, was getting back to the east end and back into Dinosaur to get to the campground at the Gates of Lodore. I'd heard about them reading the John Wesley Powell stories, and they had just jammed in my imagination as something I had to see. I would never have imagined what a striking and magnificent setting. It should have been in the Lord of the Rings. The campground was deserted but for a grader working the road, which left after a couple of hours. The birding was very good in the thickets and trees along the river, this being the Green up-stream from the Yampa junction. I walked the trail to an overlook and got some decent pics.


Upstream from Gates of Lodore


The Gates of Lodore

Back to the campground, more birding, Best finds were a Black-throated Gray Warbler and a Say's Phoebe. However I was getting worried as the snow had become quite steady and was starting to lay down. I knew that the nearest place where there might be another person was at least six or eight miles, and maybe all the way back to the refuge. I studied the map, and decided to make a run for the Highway north into Rock Springs, Wyoming. As soon as I hit the Utah line the road turned to dirt and gravel, with a little paving on the worst grades. It was snowing harder and I was climbing out of the river valley. Kinda surprised at how high I got before long, over 7000ft on snow covered dirt, and not any traffic at all. Not one vehicle in the forty miles to the highway.

When I finally reached it, I was ready for relief, but the road atlas didn't show the two semi-passes at over 8000ft. The pavement was covered well enough that no paint lines showed, and it was getting dark now as well. Fortunately, there was a little traffic, so the tracks of previous trucks showed the way. I was doing 35 or 40 in 4WD, and every now and then, maybe a half dozen times in sixty miles, one of the locals would come booming by in a big diesel pickup and cut a fresh track. It was way past dark when I got to Rock Springs, but I was relieved to find a truck-stop right at the junction. Sleazeball operation. The restaurant was closed, the gas was priced at gouge grade (which I found out the next time I stopped), I stayed there in the snow, which stopped in the night. Didn't get a good spot, so had to listen to trucks with reefers cycling all night. But I wasn't snowed in at the Gates of Lodore.

That was the last of Colorado for the trip. I managed to add 20 tics for the state, was within 20 tics of making the ABA list, and had found 4 lifers.

More Utah, across Nevada, into California

Thursday, April 29, 2010

I drove from Rock Springs into Utah with little thought of birding, did note a few critters, parking lot gulls and such, but mostly I was intent on reaching Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. I spent over three hours there, after the harrowing drive in and later out over the roadwork that seems to have become a permanent part of the place. It didn't seem to have changed from when I was there a couple of years earlier. It's a thumping and nasty ride. My timing was perfect, lots of new UT tics added to the ones in Moab. Shorbies, ducks and waders mostly. Very little passerine habitat there except for the micro-wetland around the visitor center.

I was detained by an effort to contact a friend in Park City, but about 6pm I gave up and headed west. My original plan had going north into Idaho, a target state, after Utah, but the worsening wintry conditions I'd been encountering finally convinced me that going north, and especially into higher elevations, was folly. That's when I figured I'd set out for Nevada. It's a long and severe drive across the Great Salt Lake Desert, and not a lot of birding on the salt flats. I fetched up in Wendover after dark, and this time got a good position in a truck stop, fairly quiet and fairly dark once I'd set up my towel and clamp curtains.

Friday, April 30

West on I-80 to Elko, and then south. Made one run into a small town and drove around. Every bird was a new tic. One of the most fortunate happenings on the trip was the un-planned run from Utah since it put me close to a place I'd noted years ago, but had then figured would be really unlikely, even though I had downloaded mapping imagery for the area. Ruby Lake NWR is the most remote refuge in the lower forty-eight states. The folks there said it was a minimum 2 hour drive to the nearest store, that's with good weather and dry roads. I was coming in from the north and had to cross over the Ruby Mountains. I guess I'd though of Nevada as pretty desolate, from previous crossings, but it was lush along the creek drainages that were funneling snow-melt off the mountains. I made one random stop in a place where the mapping software showed some braided streams, and it was incredible, thick with birds, ducks and waders, Sandhill Cranes, blackbirds, swallows etc. Since I started Nevada with not a single tic, I felt like I was doing really good.

The road south was paved, then not, then it headed over the mountains and got snowy and slushy where the drifts persisted. I found out that it had just become passable two days earlier, that I'd lucked into the first real warm spell. Over the crest I soon got the first look at the wetland valley.


Ruby Valley from the Pass

What a glorious place, and after turning south on the main (dirt) road it just got better. The valley is maybe two or three miles wide, an most of it is wetland. The refuge had developed a lot of it into various size and depth lagoons for the waterfowl, which was abundant and diverse. Incredible numbers of Canvasbacks, turn out to be the highest concentration of them breeding in the country. Almost every ordinary species of western duck was represented, plus waders, blackbirds etc. There is a little stream-side thicket at the refuge headquarters, good for some warblers, and other passerines. The trail there leads up to a big spring pouring out of the side of the mountains. The whole day I was there a snowstorm hung on the ridge, occasionally dropping into the valley, then retreating. The pass was probably closed by day's end but I didn't leave by that route.



When I first stopped at the HQ nobody was around, but while driving the tour loop roads I found a FWS service pickup, and the acting manager. He said to meet him back at the office in half an hour, so I could get a brochure and checklist. We got to talking then and I discovered that he, Rod Wittenberg, was new PhD from Arkansas, knew several of my friends from there, UofA, and had just started at the refuge as Asst. Manager. His boss was away. His wife had also just graduated from UofA, but she couldn't have a job at the refuge as other than a volunteer because of anti-nepotism rules. Unfortunately, the nearest possible job is at least two hours away also, unless you want to work in one of the several small mines in the area.

And so she volunteered to drive me around birding later and we found even more new species. One stop was at a National Fish Hatchery on the refuge where about a month later she found a White Wagtail. Amazing Alaskan vagrant. Ended with all five swallows, several hawks, lots of wetland critters and grassland fence-line types. What we couldn't do was use the scope, almost literal gale force winds all day, and often heavy snow flurries off the mountains. After we split up I just kept driving around and even found a shorebird that wasn't on the refuge list, Semipalmated Plover. At Dusk I settled into a gravel pile site where Sara said there was a chance of seeing Greater Sage-Grouse. That didn't pan out. Ended up sleeping in a Forest Service Campground on the south end of the refuge. I had picked up 72 tics for NV, and had seen one of the neatest places I've ever encountered. This is worth going way out of your way, at least in breeding season.

Saturday, May 1

In the morning I made another mop-up run around the tour loop, found a Long-billed Curlew and a Say's Phoebe. Then it was off down the two hours of dirt road to US Highway 50, "the loneliest road in America". It's lonely all right, but not the loneliest. I actually got some fine birds both on the dirt and on 50, mostly raptors, like Prairie Falcon.[***LINK***] took at least three hours to get to Fallon, where the world greened up some. It's the Carson Sink area, and I tried a bunch of sites I'd tagged out of two Nevada bird-finding books. Some were quite good. I ended up sleeping in a parking lot just inside Stillwater NWR . The proof it was migration time was Saw-whet Owl calling in the night.

Sunday, May 2

I poked around in the refuge in the morning, but it wasn't very birdy so I headed on over to the Carson City area. Again, I had lots of potential places tagged. And some were good. Some however had the worst washboard roads I've ever encountered. I missed one place I should have driven into, a ranch park on the south end of CC, but it didn't look very good at the entry. Later posts on the listserv made me feel really dumb. Anyway. I did drive up to Lake Tahoe from the south (after a mellow interlude in the states oldest settlement and its park), and poked around in the ski village at the summit. Good high elevation birds, but it was hard to get relaxed with the parking situation. Back down to the Lake shore, there was a sweet little city park, but again it was hard to scope the lake because of wind and parking hassles. There really didn't seem to be much out there, but I was hoping to find a loon.



I had found 112 species in NV in 60 hrs, first of three target states knocked out. Drove into Reno, did a little shopping, and then into California and along the west side of Lake Tahoe. There was still a lot of snow over there, houses still buried to the roof-lines. The road was twisty and poorly maintained once I was past the world famous resort area, Squaw Valley I think, and once I reached the south end again, full loop, there was an area of very cool older resorts from the early twentieth century. I headed west from there after eating, and ended up sleeping in a pullout along the highway when the campgrounds turned out to still be closed.

California, with Pelagic

California, with Pelagic

Monday, May 3, 2010

First order of the day was to find my friend Mariah's house near Sonora. She lived on Jackass Hill, overlooking a reservoir, and a little further along her road was an impressionistic "restoration" of the cabin the Mark Twain had supposedly lived in while writing the "Jumping Frog", or something like that. Neither the history nor archaeology were up to museum standards. I didn't know which house was hers, she wasn't home, so I birded around the cabin and along the road. Finally went back and deciphered mailboxes until I got the right one, and she arrived back from shopping before too long, driving a big 4WD pickup.

It was a pretty kicked back recovery day, went into town to mail off bill payments, made a reservation for a pelagic (offshore ocean) birding trip out of Monterrey, bought a few supplies, then went back to share stories and get the lowdown on her new property. She had just moved there after twenty plus years in Topanga Canyon north of LA. The old place was a unique PITA, a dome which needed lots of repairs which were never easy. The new place was more ordinary and rational, decent size house with a guest house, several acres with a garden and new fruit trees she had planted, older trees around the edge and in the yard, fair amount of bird action (I got several new California tics in her yard and on the lanes between there and the Twain place), great view, quiet and un-self-conscious neighborhood. She fixed a great supper that we ate on the deck overlooking the valley that had been dammed to make the lake. Later I fiddled with trying to get her wifi to work. We had a signal in the desktop computer, wired LAN, but nothing airborne. At least I could get my mail and schmooze on Facebook. Got a good night's sleep in a bed, true luxury.

Tuesday, May 4

I let the truck have a day off, and we took Mariah's truck to town for bunches of errands. Groceries, tile store, health food, nurseries, Wally for trail mixes, etc. I birded around her house and got three CA tics. Got up close and personal with an Emu that one of the neighbors had. I tried to get the wiring for her range to make sense, ie, first in the wall somewhere near the right place, but finally decided it was beyond the toolkit I had with me. She made a great steak dinner that we ate by candlelight as the evening darkened. More rest and recovery. I had escaped from mountains, dessert, and the edge of winter into the Blue Oak foothill country east of the Sierra.

Wednesday, May 5

I was set to get away early, but there was a refrigerator to move, plumbing to diddle with and after one thing and another we went to favorite restaurant of hers for a late grease-ball breakfast. Worth the wait. Then I had to cross the San Joaquin Valley through Modesto, then poke through the coast range on unpredictable roads until I came out south of Santa Cruz and headed for Aptos to find my friend Flo and her new husband Dave. She's a naturalist type too, focused on mushrooms, but also a former owner of parrots, and Dave had an African Gray. They have side-by-side RVs in a park that's walking distance down an immense set of stairs to an oceanside State Park.



I got there around three, quick contact and orientation, then drive south to Elkhorn Slough NERR, and some good birding at Moss Landing. Great wads of Sea Otters. Back to Aptos. I'm always nervous about parking the truck with all its gear, optics, and electronics in civilization, so called, especially if I'm not sleeping right next to it. The RV park seemed pretty safe though, lots of folks keeping an eye out. Had wifi too. I let it go and relaxed to a couple of good night's sleeps in her trailer.

Thursday May 6

My journal says, "a varied and successful day". First order was scoping out Monterrey, which was full of folks, some kind of festival or protest, very similar in California. Anyway, the traffic was bad downtown, so I went to Pt Pinos to spend an hour scoping seabirds, then drove back around the south way to avoid town and back to Moss Landing. It was excellent birding, found a couple of Pacific Golden-Plovers, several other good shorebirds, got good pics of a close-up Surf Scoter, and poked around on the beach looking for Snowy Plovers. Then went to Elkhorn, which was open, and walked their long loop trail, several good birds including the huge barn with a Great Horned Owl in a box at one end and a Barn Owl in a box at the other. You could stand in the middle and see them both from one spot. This is a great place, I had been there once before ten years earlier, but hadn't walked the loop. Also a good visitor center with a bookstore.



I was saving my book money for Santa Cruz, which was the next stop. First poked around the cliffs and beaches on the north end of town after dodging an serious puzzle of road repair. There was a small wooded park on the inland side of the cliff drive, and I poked around in there for a worthwhile hour. Then back to downtown and lucked into parking right in back of the target bookstore. Escaped with only about forty dollars worth of damage. The ticking meter was a great aid to discipline. Found the next to last missing volume of the Dover edition of Bent's Life Histories. It's taken literally years to find them all, and I carry a ragged little card with each noted as I found it so I wouldn't re-buy the same volumes. Happened anyway once or twice, but they make good presents. Back to Flo's for some visiting and getting to know Dave, whose EMT schedule is irregular, at least to me.

Friday, May 7



I headed back into Santa Cruz to check out a place called Terrace Park, home of the UCSC marine science labs. Good birding there, but didn't find the critter I'd read about on the listserv. Back to Flo's and we spent the rest of the day driving around, having lunch at the fish market restaurant, me showing her the birds at Moss Landing, scoping the inlets along the slough, her taking me to a hidden antique rose nursery hidden under a Redwood canopy. It was a wonderful way to visit and catch up.



Saturday, May 7 The Great Pelagic

Up really early and down to Monterrey. I was one of the first folks in the parking lot, and got to hang around on the wharves before the birding boat office opened. The boat was one of the smallest I'd been on with very little inside space. The shorter hull made it more lively on the water, which to me was pretty rough, but the crew called it fairly smooth. There were about thirty birders, maybe four crew, and about six spotters, experienced sea birders who could find and identify things that always start out looking like blurs to me. The ability to "get" the image improves pretty quickly, but it never has carried over from one trip to another. They're usually more than a year apart.

Out of the harbor with the usual seals and gulls, then after a few miles we start getting Sooty Shearwaters and Red-necked Phalaropes. The Red-necks are joined by a few Red Phalaropes, but I couldn't pick them out at first. The trick is finding the bigger ones, rounder. Very few of them had well developed color and it wasn't until near the end that I got the $100 look at a really red breeding plumage female. They was lifer number one. A little further out and we started getting dolphins, four species by day's end and some gull variety. We also started to get Black-footed Albatrosses, and later four Laysans, which the spotters considered a big deal, and lifer number two for me.

We tried to get out twenty miles, almost made it, the sea was pretty dramatic, and I was worried about my tendency to sea-sickness, but this time the double dose of Dramamine and an almost empty stomach did the trick and I was mostly comfortable. I also stood up most of the time which put some disconnect between stomach movement and boat movement. When we had made it out about as far as we went that day we came into great flocks of Red Phalaropes, thousands at a time. We also found, the spotters that is found, a Sabine's Gull. That was nemesis bird for me for years. I had probably made ten trips over a couple of hundred miles or more looking for reported individuals, without success. This one was way out there, and though I could see the silhouette, it wasn't really an image. Lifer number three sort of, but not very satisfying.

Somewhere around ten miles out we started seeing occasional Humpback Whales, and they were around from there on occasionally. As we were returning from our furthest excursion we came into something that both the crew and the spotters said they had never seen the likes of in their lives. The largest "bait-ball" ever. A bait-ball is a concentration of small fish and such that draw a concentration of larger critters looking to eat. It seemed to emerge from thin air, not like "look over there", and motor over, but more like waking up and being in the middle of it. It stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions, and attracted thousands of gulls and Shearwaters, hundreds of Albatrosses, thousands of dolphins of four kinds, white-sided, dorsal finless, about forty whales, one of which I actually saw jump clear of the water, turn over, and land on its back with it's flippers extended in the air. Saw it live, not a magazine picture. There was so much activity that it was almost impossible to focus on individuals, the water was frothy white with all the surface and below surface action, and the action started at the edge of the boat and just extended out. The event lasted about fifteen minutes, then faded as smoothly as it had emerged, and we all just gaped at one another slack-jawed grinning.

It was an image from the beginning of the world, before the oceans had been mined for two or three hundred years.

Further on the way back in was when I got the great look at the Red Phalarope, and as I sat in a daze one of the spotters said, "look at that Sabine's". Me - where? He points, less than fifty yard out, all markings distinct and ten seconds to take it in. Mad me feel a whole lot better about that tic. I had forgotten that I was looking for it, even though I'd noted it as a possibility while prepping for the trip. That happens a lot, finally finding something when hope is not just abandoned, but forgotten.

It always seems to take a long time to get back to port, debark, tip the crew, find the truck, start driving. When I got to Flo's I was whooped and jazzed, started working up the narrative of the bait-ball. It seems to take a few re-tellings to get the image beaten into shape for a good story. Sure did sleep well that night.

Sunday, May 9

Flo and Dave treated me to a French toast breakfast, nice change from fast food or just nothing. Then I was off for Oregon, target state number two of the hundred species project. I skirted around San Francisco, which has terrible traffic no matter what, and there was rain spitting all day. Got into the valley and headed north for Sacramento and beyond. There are several refuges north of there, but I only stopped at Sacramento NWR, and that only for about an hour. It was dried out mostly and only a few passerines could be found in the trees along the muddy irrigation canals.

Headed on up the valley, then veered north-east from Redding into the Pit River valley. Very attractive area, I'd never seen it before, and birdy too, had more of an eastern prairie feel, Red-wings and Meadowlarks on the wires, Sandhills in the wet pastures. I drove on into Alturas looking for Modoc NWR, but was running out of daylight. Back-tracked and took Rte 138 up into Modoc NF, some snow cover and drizzly, found a side road and just parked on the shoulder and went to sleep. Not a single vehicle went by the whole night.

Monday, May 10

Woke to snow, a couple of inches on the truck but wet and melting fast. Back on the highway and further north turned off for Clear Lake NWR. It's one of those western lakes in the middle of a shallow depression, and since it had been dry there was no water anywhere near the loop road, so I headed on to the Klamath Lakes refuges, tule country, historically a great wetland, now mostly drained for agriculture, but a small part protected for migratory waterfowl along the CA/OR border. I drove down the highway that runs on the border and started racking up Oregon tics on one side and California on the other.

Oregon, Ocean to Desert

Monday, May 10, 2010 continued

The days were getting longer as as the solstice approached, and as I worked north. After birding the border, see the previous post, headed straight north from Klamath Falls to the east side of Crater Lake. There's a Refuge there, Klamath Marsh, part of the complex. Birding has been good there before and was today also. Too bad I was feeling hurried. Enjoyed talking with the guys in the office, and when I left I took a different route to bring me back to the highway near where the main road went to the coast. Made a couple of stops, one very good one since a Williamson's Sapsucker revealed the secret of it's drumming. which is very distinctive. Just random stops proved productive.

When I got to Rte 138 I followed it on to Roseburg. I had been down this way before after camping at Crater Lake. I set up in one of the Forest Service Campgrounds, and birded up the creek there. I had found a couple of American Dippers, which I'd forgotten about. It was before rabid record keeping. A quick story: When I got the hundred species notion I had been thinking back through early birding trips, and I knew that I'd seen quite a lot in Oregon, but had no records. So once digging through some saved checklists, the one for Malheur NWR showed up. There were lots of tics, and it brought my state total to 99. Not 100. So Oregon was a target state. When I checked the computer, I'd not marked the Dipper, so I actually had 100, just barely. Too late now, I was already in OR, so I just decided to make a good job of it. Ended up adding 80 species.

I had tagged a place called Bandon Marsh NWR, and it was the next goal. It's not very remarkable, a small protected area along a tidal inlet. Found a couple of new birds, also poked into a state park there, but the surf was big and grey and it was doing a heavy drizzle. Scanned for sea ducks, no luck. I drove further up the coast and took the highway headed back to Eugene. The campground I'd picked to be in position for the next day was closed, so I just parked at the gate, being pretty tired, I'd started in the dark snow 16 hours earlier. Very pleased to have a singing Varied Thrush celebrate the dusk. Also amused to have a couple of young men, maybe teens, on bicycles, one with a little trailer of gear. They needed a place to crash too. So I gave them permission to camp there, just told them to keep out of sight and not light a fire. And they did, while I guarded the gate.

Tuesday, May 11

Stopped along the way into Eugene at a little store that catered to the truckers hauling supplies to the coast. First birding stop was Finley NWR, one of several refuges in the Willamette Valley. Nice short talk with a woman jogging who pointed out trails to the lake visible from a gazebo. I get people hunger on these trips, yearn for a little conversation beyond counter-talk. Finley was good, I'd been there before, but the Visitor Center was new, and unfortunately not open very early. But there was a pond there that had some good birds including Wood Duck. A little further north after a brief bit of Interstate and I was at Ankeney NWR. This place was great. I stopped at the first parking lot from the thruway, which accessed a gallery woodland along a small waterway. It was the birdiest place I'd seen on the whole trip, trees literally filled with birds, a migrant trap I guess.

Several other stops had marsh and pond views, raptors including Eagles and Ospreys, lots of ducks and waders. Passerines were good also in the patches of woods. I ended up spending three or four hours there, making sure I checked out everything I could find using the refuge map. My notes say twenty plus new tics between the two morning refuges. Further north I caught a road leading back to the coast which passed Basket Slough NWR, not much habitat variety, one big open wetland with a well sited overlook. Serious scope territory.

Following the coast highway north I stopped at Nestucca Bay NWR, a place I'd not tried an the previous trip. Small but surprisingly good, due in no small part to another birder, Mark the carpenter who was looking for a reported Northern Pygmy Owl. We played tapes all up and down a couple of hundred yards of road, no luck on thee owl, but kept finding other good birds. I finally broke out the Screech Owl tape and pulled in several more critters, new warblers and flycatchers, he knew his empids. A real blessing since he was up to date on area sightings and provided several heads-up. It took too long to get out to Cape Mears, and I was feeling hurried since I was out of phone range and needed to arrange a meeting the next day, so had to get back to the mainland. I did bother to take the back way to see some new road and coast. It looked like a whole day wouldn't be too much for that area if one worked the wooded ridges and the beaches both.

I got ahold of my friend Emily, who didn't have room for a couch crash. Her style is restricted by the two young daughters and their meal and sleep schedules, but we arranged for lunch the next day. I took Rte 6 back toward Portland and lucked into a sort of undeveloped campground in a State Forest, nobody else there, and stopped early enough to get in some evening chorus birding. A really nice spot. A really great day too.

Wednesday, May 12

Dawn lived up to its promise, and several stops on the way to Portland were good as well, except that I couldn't scare up a Bittern in a big wetland along the highway where they were supposedly reliable. I hit morning rush hour in Portland, escaped the freeway, then climbed the high ground overlooking the city on the west side. That's where the Portland Audubon Sanctuary was located. Very nice place, had to wait for the bookstore to open to see the feeders, poked around on the trails until then. Ended up buying books and seeing great birds from inside, charmed by a 60 yr old docent, foxy and bright, good birder too. Yearning. Spent a couple of hours there, then down into city center to Powell's Books. Everything in Portland is named Powell, possibly even the restrooms. The bookstore was heaven, but I managed to keep it around fifty bucks. Found the third and last missing volume of the Bent's Life's Histories, a ten year project completed.

Made contact with Emily, met her at a Mexican restaurant in her neighborhood. Loved Portland, then I heard they had 200 days of rain a year. Still want to go back and hang out for a decent visit. Lunch was good and cheap, her four year old daughter Georgia was shy at first, (Olivia slept through lunch in the car outside) but she soon was charming and bright. Emily was beautiful and vibrant, the conversation sparkled. Left reluctantly to head into the interior of Oregon. Took forever to get through the eastern burbs, and then drove through Mount Hood NF, no stops, still snow covered and campgrounds not open yet. Ended up sleeping in a snow-mobile parking area in Ochoco NF after birding some of the side roads in there looking for a campground.

Thursday, May 13

The first problem was finding some gasoline; I'd fetched up in thinly settled semi-arid country. I was finally near John Day Fossil Beds NM, which I knew nothing about except that it was one of the very last Park Service natural sites that I'd never visited. Ended up seeing two units, Painted Hills, which was deserted and beautiful rolling bare layers of colored clays. Actually got good birds there including Ash-throated Flycatcher, and some unexpected ducks on a small pond on private land but scope-able. Further east I found the main unit, called Sheep Rock, of the fossil beds, with a big visitor center and a really knowledgeable and talkative ranger. The orientation movie was really well done too. Learned a lot of local geology quickly, and re-kindled my interest in that subject, good for slow birding days and highway driving understanding. Started buying the roadside geology books soon after.


Sheep Rock

A little way north of the VC was the Blue Canyon trail, which had some great "in situ" fossils, partially excavated but left in the original matrix and then protected from the weather.


Fossil Turtle


Fossil Saber-toothed Carnivore

It had gotten hot and brilliantly desert sunny. I was glad to head off on a side road into some mountains in Malheur NF. Found a nice campground where I probably should have stayed with good birding including Crossbills. There was still a lot of daylight left so I drove on down to Malheur NWR, which I'd loved before, and the checklist from which had saved my OR list. Arrived there mid-afternoon, found the headquarters area which has some sweet habitat managed to pull in passerines, and a decent small pond. Got several good hummers, other unexpecteds. Conversation with another birder led me to a small lake on a side road that was simply covered with waterfowl, waders, shorebirds, gulls including one Bonaparte's. and probably got me a half dozen tics standing in one spot. I ended up crashing at Kubo Reservoir, not really supposed to do that, but it was deserted. Had one of those obnoxious parking lots that slopes in all directions, and nothing level. Makes sleeping a little less comfy. The new moon made great stars and solid darkness.

Friday, May 14

Decided to finish up with some thorough exploring. First went south to French Glen and birded around the hotel after some roadside scoping efforts. One netted Black-crowned Night-Herons, which I was told were seldom seen in spite of being fairly common. I wanted to go up on Steens Mountain, but the loop road was closed just past the campground, so instead I drove up the dirt patrol road that paralleled the highway. Mostly I was working on sparrows. Got Brewer's with not too much trouble, but was eluded by Sage in spite of what looked like lots of habitat. Made a stop at the research station, and then another couple of hours at HQ. Always good birding there, serious effort at Sage Thrasher, also no luck even though folks said they had seen it. Made up for it with the drive back north into Burns, One stop had a Burrowing Owl, and there were several grass-piper species in the flooded pastures.

Filled up with gas for the drive into Idaho. I was crossing the Alvord Desert, one of those places with signs saying, "No Gas next 105 miles". I had the front escarpment of Steens on the right the whole way, with its own weather. It was not very birdy, not even raptors after I got away from a little greenery along some drainages. Took most of three hours to get to the ID border. I ended Oregon with 179 species, which meant adding 80 in five days of a wide variety of habitats.