Bird Traveling

Notice to users

2015-01-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

This blog is intended to be a resource for folks planning birding trips. If you see something that makes you want more info, leave a comment. I get the notices immediately. I can provide more detailed information including directions, GPS co-ords, sightings lists by date or site or both, and answers sometimes to more specific questions. Good birding!

Using this Blog

2015-01-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

In order to read the trip reports, refer to the below. I've put the reports in the archives, listed on the right side of this page, in their natural order, rather than blog order (last post first) That means ignore the posted dates, and refer to the dates in the posts themselves.

WARNING: If you're not a fanatic bird lister, some of this will seem real boring.

This project is not completed, so some disorder is to be expected.

Ten day Gulf Coast trip is archived in February 2007
Platte River Crane viewing is archived in March 2007
Mississippi River lower valley is archived in April 2007
Ten day Kansas etc trip archived in May 2007
New England trip is archived in June 2007
The Northern Prairie trip is archived in June 2008
A fall trip to the Four Corners is in November 2008
A trip truncated by hiccups is in May 2009
New England trip with lifers is posted in September 2009
The Gulf Coast CBC tripis nin Dec 2009
The Spring 2010 western loop trip is in May and June 2010
The Fall 2010 Southwest mop-up trip is in September 2010
The New England mop-up and project finish is in October 2010

Logistics and techniques

2015-01-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

Goals

I got into birding in the early 90s, and it gradually became one of the great sources of joy and satisfaction in my life. At first, I focused on seeing as many different species as possible, called working on a life-list. I told myself that when I'd seen 200, I could start feeling competent, but that only took a few months since I started from something over 100 seen and identified with just ordinary curiosity. So I said 300, but that only took a year or so. 400 was more of a challenge and by then I was starting to have some skill, but was also becoming aware of how many more species could be found with moderate effort. I was hooked.

When I joined the American Birding Association, it was clear that their minimum goal was 500 species to get your name published, and half the species seen in a state to be named for that area. So I knocked off my home state and several adjacent ones in easy reach. By then I was somewhere near 600, and it was getting harder to find new species. In 05 I added 11, in 06 it was 2, and one year it was a single species. I got the thrill recharged by being a conscious total ticker, someone who keeps a list in every state, and works on adding tics. Somewhere in there I got the notion that I wanted to see at least 100 species in all 48 lower US states, and that's the current project. The end is in sight. It's a nice goal; state by state it's not hard usually, I generally have some sightings already recorded when I focus on a target, and it makes me really travel and look at the whole country, and in the process get a good understanding of distributions and seasonal patterns.

Planning the trips requires carefully working out a route that maximizes potential species and minimizes distances and gas costs. I tend to be drawn to borders and places where several states meet like the boot-heel of Missouri, or New England. I get a perspective over several years as well, since different seasons present a variety of opportunities, eg, there's spring New England trip, a fall migration one and someday a deep winter foray. Since I'm independently poor, that is, not cursed with a lot of income, but also free of a lot of expenses, I make the whole production as low cost as possible, meaning eat and sleep as cheap as I can and spend the travel funds almost all on fuel. That will account for some of the details of the items that follow.

The truck

I travel in my 2000 Ford Ranger, 4WD, king cab, which replaces two earlier small pickups. It has a camper-shell, aluminum, with side opening windows and a rear lid. The inside has had various shelves and nooks built in that are where I usually keep the tools of my trade, which is a hodge-podge of building skills used to maintain, modify, add-on-to, and generally care for a number of old buildings in the town where I live, as well as make displays for the various shops there. The buildings range from Victorians on the National Register to more modern things up to the mid twentieth century.

When I'm on a birding quest, the trip always starts with piling tools from the truck into the shop, though I usually leave a few just in case of friends in need along the road. Then I load it with sleeping and other fittings to stay tolerably comfortable for several weeks. I always forget something, which is why I have doubles of lots of things, the originals that got left behind, and its replacement bought along the road. I've bought towels, several pillows, various underwear, tarps and ropes and minor camping gear like mosquito coils.

The stuff in back

A mind working at the beginning will remember: blankets, sleeping bag or two depending on anticipated weather (Minnesota in winter is two zero degree bags), pillows, towels, dirty clothes bag, detergent, a container of personal maintenance items, some kind of pack with clothes and another for backpacking if I'm feeling ambitious. Usually several pairs of footwear; sandals, rubber boots, extra hikers. There's usually some kind of bag of books for reading and lots of bird-finding reference stuff. Then the spotting scope and tripod, water bottles, a small lantern and flashlight and a headlamp, the pee bottle, some rags and then impulsive last minute items or junk and bother acquired along the way.

The sleeping setup is a four inch thick foam pad that is cut to fit the floor of the shell, a heavy cheap sleeping bag to cover it, and sometimes a sheet, even though they get tangled and dirty easily. It's more comfortable than the bag lining in warm weather. Depends on my aggravation tolerance. Always two pillows, makes it easier to set up a comfortable reading position. My primary sleeping bag is an almost forty year old North Face "Ultralight". When I took it into the factory one time people gathered around to admire it, it was one of their first products, then they put four ounces of new down in it, and voila, better then new. Zipper and Velcro still work, and I've slept under it at least a thousand times.

I sometimes take along a large water cooler jug in a five gallon plastic bucket. It makes a convenient campsite washing-up arrangement. Sometimes there's an ice chest too, especially when encountering hot weather. Cold drinks can be the key to revival at the end of a day. Keeping food cold is secondary, since there are usually plenty of opportunities to replenish at C stores or groceries at least every other day, and not buying much at once lowers the chances of spoilage.

The stuff in front

The truck has a king cab, meaning extra storage behind the seat, and there's a lot of leeway there for just stuff. At least a propane camp stove, tarps, blankets, water bottles, fuel bottles, binocs, cameras and other gadgets, state road atlases, spare jackets and sweat-shirts, backup laptop computer, and so forth. The passenger seat has a little wooden office contraption that holds the laptop used for GPS, and space for bird guides and magazines. There is a charger for batteries, the cel-phone, the iPod, and an inverter to run the laptop. I usually have one good road atlas handy on the floor for marking routes traveled and planning. The GPS doesn't have a very good format for large overviews, and the atlas I favor has lots of public campgrounds marked, especially ones in National Forests, which is great for figuring out where to end each day.

The GPS is so central to my trips that it deserves more comment. I use DeLorme Street Atlas on a seven year old laptop, which works great. All trips start in deep winter wishing for getaway. So once I've visualized a rough and over-extravagant route on the wall map of the whole US, I'll get some bird-finding information, including books, pamphlets, web sites, downloaded pdfs, places mentioned on birding listservs, and word-of-mouth recommends from friends and folks met along the road. The next step is plotting and labeling the various sites that look interesting in draw files in the software. This is useful and sometimes aggravating as hell.

The descriptions of how to get to places are often incomplete, and so working out the actual locations can take some time. Road names often change or are given in forms that don't show in the software. Distances may be confusing. Landmarks may not be indicated. Fortunately, water features usually are and that can give vital clues. But if the effort is made during dark winter nights, a lot of time is saved when the quest is actually on. Sometimes alternate routes manifest. though caution is advised since the software maps have roads shown that are private, closed, gated, impassably rough or muddy, and just plain non-existent. This isn't so much a failing of the software as of the old county level maps they use to produce their maps. Just as frustrating is whole cohorts of roads not indicated at all, which has been worst in National Forests. A lot of times if it looks like I'll be spending time in those, it's best to get the official forest maps. These are usually big and unwieldy, and have gotten more expensive than the good old days of $4 a pop. A lot of times if you go to the ranger stations there are less detailed versions available that just show roads and campgrounds. That's ideal usually.

General approach

A typical day starts before first light, either by spontaneous awakening, generally prostate motivated, or by alarm clock. If the weather is mild and the bugs not bad, and if the setting doesn't require a lot of privacy, then the back lid of the shell is open just in case some owl starts calling in the dark or at dawn. If possible I try to park in places where owls are a possibility. Usually I try for sites in parks that are on the edges of the campgrounds near woods. The alternative is a a site with the sound of running water, just because it's hypnotic, and I like to think engenders good dreams. Surprisingly, this really works, and every third or fourth night I'll get to hear some kind of owl, or dream well.

After dressing, which can be thrilling if it's really cold, I'll drink some coffee saved from the day before and eat fruit or whatever. If I've managed to stay in some good habitat, especially if it's a target birding site, then I'll spend from an hour to all morning birding. Sometimes on colder mornings the truck has to warm up, and on really cold mornings it has to run until the computer is warm enough to boot up. I may have a planned route for the day, or maybe impulse rules, but in any case most of the day will be spent birding. Lunch is C store or fast-food, so called, often neither fast nor even food. Sometimes I get something big enough to serve as lunch and dinner so that I don't need to be near a town at the end of day. I'll fill up the coffee cup and thermos at the last possibility and then manage it so there's some left for morning and get whatever will work for breakfast. The one thing I'm trying to avoid is breaking up the morning birding when it's generally at its best.

Days usually end with getting to a camping site; National Forests, Wildlife Management Areas, and State Parks preferred. The latter are good for showers and sometimes even laundry. I generally avoid private KOA type camping, they're good for amenities, but a little pricey and usually have very little attractive habitat. State Parks are usually reasonable away from the ocean coasts. If possible I hope for free and uninhabited by other folks. The WMAs are good that way since there are often primitive campsites and no-one about when it's not hunting season. Experience has shown that it's best to plan ahead and be nowhere near civilization, so-called, on holiday weekends in mild weather. The campgrounds are often full or noisy until late at night, and the traffic is a waste of time and gumption.

About email: There are a lot of places to get on-line for free. The best are public libraries, and many of these keep their wifi on at night so you only have to park outside. Motels are good too, but sometimes require passwords. The likelihood of that is inversely proportional to the distance from an Ocean coast or a major city, ie, closer equals more likely. Paranoia factor. There are Internet cafes too, and I like Panera Bread joints since they have good reasonable sandwiches and baguettes. Whatever you do though, do not sign up for their newsletter. It never stops. The link for removing your name from the list is bogus. Usually Holiday Inn Express is a good choice, Super 8 is terrible, they try to install spy-ware when you connect and it usually takes a re-boot to get control of the computer back even if you have spy-ware blocking working.

Before sleep and after dark is the time for record keeping. I mark the days route in the big road atlas, save the GPS log for the day, enter the day's sightings in AviSys, the national standard list keeping program, and calculate my statistics for the day, nothing complex, just the new tic totals and percentages. Maybe I'll look over the site info for the next day. It's the time for showers and laundry if possible and if I'm not just whooped I'll read something non-birding, novels or history or ...

Cautionary tales

Mud: Several times I've encountered impassably muddy roads. The first and worst was just over a blind rise, and I was stuck before I knew it. Required the proverbial walk to the farm-house and beg the tractor. The folks were very kind. Another time I was aware of the hazard, but tried anyhow. When I came to my senses it was difficult to steer the truck backwards in 4WD for a couple of hundred yards until I could get turned around safely. Other times I didn't even try.

Gas: There are areas of western rural America where it can be fifty miles or more to a station. And they're usually one person operations with a tendency to close around five or six. You can park there all night waiting for the dawn opening, which fortunately is usually quite early. Client driven operations. Best to never get under a half tank out there without starting to look for a fill-up opportunity.

Lousy food, old coffee: Speaks for itself. Generally a good idea to taste the coffee before driving off. Sometimes at the end of the day they won't make more, but then at least you can dump in more sugar.

Insects: I've been held prisoner in a tent by ten thousand mosquitoes. This is why you need a pee bottle. Seed tick encounters can be handled with duct-tape wrapped sticky side out around your gathered fingers. Adult ticks I just pull off, contempt born from years in Arkansas where they are the state invertebrate.

Bad guys and girls: Usually surly overworked counter-folks. This is your mantra; "I'm not in a hurry, I'm not in a hurry" Strike up some conversation, be kind. Yield and leave if necessary. These folks are also sources of very good and very bad directions. They often know of local camping places not on any map. Unfortunately the proof of quality is in the pudding.

Mechanics: Most, especially in small towns, are honest if not widely experienced (you're in luck if you bird from an 8WD diesel tractor). Otherwise, they don't survive where word-of-mouth operates. The rip-off situation is larger places, 10,000 plus population where your out-of state license is a red-flag. Best to ask some locals, more than one, before committing. I got an excellent mechanic in Rawlins, Wyoming that way.

Really bad guys: This happened several years ago. I tell this to show a worst case scenario. You could live a hundred lifetimes without anything like it happening; the world, at least the US, is a surprisingly safe place and people are generally kind. No general culture of lethal revenge, no religious warfare. But one time I parked at the locked gate of a refuge in a drenching rain and settled in as night fell. It was about 100 feet from a two lane paved county road. Perfect site for owl listening if the rain let up. It was really dark except for some distant yard lights and I couldn't hear much because of the drumming on the thin aluminum roof. I had finished reading, turned out the lights and was half asleep when I heard a couple of car doors slam. I figured it was a cop or two checking on me, which happens now and then, and they're generally just concerned and helpful. Never been told I had to move. In fact been told it was OK to stay even though it was not so officially. Birders exude goofy harmlessness.

Anyway, I looked out the back lid and there was the outline of a large SUV with a couple of figures coming around to the back. What was curious was that even though the headlights were on there were no lights on the back, and no interior light even when they had opened their back lid. Certainly no license plate light. In other words, it was really dark and rainy and noisy, and I couldn't see anything but vague silhouettes. From each side they leaned over and seemed to pick up something large and heavy, and then together carried it to the brush along the edge of the dirt lane we were on. Remember I'm watching this from less than fifty feet away parked right in the open. They returned to the front of the SUV, got in, again no dome light, and drove off, no brake lights like the pedal was depressed to get in gear, no backup white lights like most vehicles do when shifting into gear, just the full headlights pointing away from me into the pouring rain. They drove away. I never heard any speech since the shell was closed and the rain thundering on the roof.

At that point I panicked. Quickly got dressed and got the truck started. I figured I'd seen a drug drop, and had no desire to be around when the next vehicle came for the pickup, even though I had a brief vision of a suitcase full of cash. So I'm backing out carefully onto the highway, it was hard to see, and I needed to make sure I was in the firm part of the lane since a mud event was a really bad idea. It was pouring, standing water already on the lane and in the side ditches. As I got to the paved road and backed out the headlights swept across a large undefined lump of some white and a lot of blood red. Like a body wrapped in a sheet oozing blood. I was freaked out. I got out of there quickly, afraid every minute that I would encounter another car-load of bad guys and they would somehow know that I was a witness. I didn't stop driving until halfway across the next state, in pouring rain the whole way.

I made one call to a friend with an FBI connection, but the contact had faded and I let it go for the time being. Even though I'd gotten away from the scene and was presumably safe, the sense of threat and horror wasn't going away. As I drove it was becoming clearer how much danger I'd been in. I had no doubt that if those folks had realized I was watching they would have killed me also. I was not hidden, I was not far off, quite the opposite. I have to assume that they were night-blind from driving with headlights, that they were in a hurry both from their fear and that they were being drenched, probably that they were well practiced also. That was no ordinary vehicle, the lack of lights indicated a careful electrical kill switch set-up. Good for me, life-saving in fact. If they'd had a single light I would probably have been seen, and that would be the end of my life-list.

I don't know that there's a lesson here or not. I have still kept sleeping in the truck, but not like that for a few days afterwards since there were campgrounds and truck-stops to use. It was a PTSD setup, as I know from my work as a psychologist for the VA. Exposure to an unpredictable, uncontrollable, life-threatening event. I remember having some vivid and scary dreams in the weeks following. But I haven't avoided similar situations, since it was such a unique event. I sent an anonymous report to the authorities through my lawyer, for some reason still wishing to be unknown personally as a witness (the professionalism of the perps still scares me), but nothing has come of it and I have no further information.

Mad trip to New England, finish the project

2010-10-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

Eastbound October 11-13, 2010

When I started I really didn't plan that in ten days it would be over four thousand miles driving for about five days of birding, and a lot of driving on those. The vision was a lot mellower and more thorough. In four target states I'd see almost nothing to count save roadside drive-bys, so you have the makings of a grand waste of time and gas. What clicked the pace up was a couple of potential lifers that made me hurry to avoid near-misses. There was great birding along the way in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. In Rhode Island I found the more than a hundred species in the forty-eighth state to reach the goal I had set several years back.

Now I have the new question of what's next? Maybe try for 50% in all the states I've lived in. Maybe try for one third of the species in 48 states, Probably some combo of those until one or the other seems within reach, then focus on that. Worse is the question of why the hell am I even doing this. As if this modern, so called, world had even one sensible alternative priority better than trying to see some of the wonder of creation before it's bulldozed and poisoned into a planet sized grave-yard. I can't even do that without adding my heap of gasoline ashes to the shit piled on the graves of a half million species, plodding along on the verge of tears.

Eastbound - This was the shakedown trip for using the Roo to sleep in, so I loaded quite a bit less gear than was my habit, Just stuff on one side in the back, and space for pads and sleeping bag and pillows on the other. I managed to forget a couple of small conveniences, and some clothing for the colder weather I'd encounter, but knew I'd be in Freeport, Maine, home of several good gear outlets. I took the direct route east, north out of Arkansas to the Interstate in Springfield, MO, then up I-44, through, actually around the south side of Saint Louis. Then blow east on I-70 across the boredom of the craton, but it was dark until I crashed in a truck-stop just past the Ohio border. The next day was more steady driving, northeast from Columbus to Erie, PA, where I wandered around a little but still pressed on to Allegheny State Park in New York, nice place and probably worth a day or two when I'm in less hurry and more focused on New York State.

Continued along the southern edge of the state, and finally slept in a rest area between Binghamton and Albany. That's where I made the mistake of getting off the thruways to save money. Wasted a lot of time and endured slow and snarly rush-hour traffic. Strangely enough, the east side was not so densely populated and suddenly the driving was a lot easier. Continued on into Massachusetts, near Pittsfield, then north but I missed the entry to the Mount Greylock road so just sorta drifted into Vermont without doing any western Mass birding. In VT I poked around in a couple of places, but for some reason, probably the Curlew Sandpiper in Eastern Mass on Plum Island, I just kept going. Fortunately once in New Hampshire I ran across Miller State Park, which contains Pack Monadnock and overlooks Wapack NWR. Literally did a U-turn to get in there and asked the gatekeeper if there was a hawk-watch. Yes she says, so I gave up the $5 bill and drove up the mountain. Very worthwhile stop, even though I missed the Golden and Bald Eagles. What I did get was several hawks, and two great views of Northern Goshawks, one flying straight at me until it filled the binocs field. Loved that.

From there it was a dead run for Parker River NWR, Plum Island, but a couple of wrong choices at interchanges wasted just enough time that I wasn't able to walk down the beach at the south end to look for the Curlew Sandpiper before the gates closed. Somewhere along there I had another Goshawk fly over the Interstate, a real good tic for MA. But I was in position to get the CUSA in the morning, drove back through Newburyport, then south a little ways on the Interstate to an abandoned Weigh-station where I'd stayed before, and where I got a decent night's sleep.

New England Coast

2010-10-19T05:16:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, Oct 14

Plum Island area - I was up way early and on Plum Island when the sun came up. First goal was drive all the way to the south end where Sandy Point Reserve is located. It's just outside the Parker River NWR, but is open to the public. Parked at the lot there, walked east to the beach along a small inlet, then more south following the wrack line which was where the bird had been found according to the one detailed report I found on-line. Walked most of a half mile to the sandy tip, and scanned everything I passed, and at the end it was there, a long billed, a little droopy, slightly larger than peep shorebird with a distinctive white rump patch. Relaxation, since it was the goal that had flogged me along in the three day driving effort. I talked to another birder when I got back to the lot and was steered to a wooded area where there were a couple of Summer Tanagers, an uncommon find in Mass. Actually got several other good state tics, including Bonaparte's Gulls in the actual Parker River inlet. The one that really surprised me was a Yellow-rumped Warbler, which I paid no attention to until I was entering stuff in the computer. I took it for granted that I'd seen it everywhere.

New Hampshire shoreline - I was poking around looking at some sites I'd tagged on the GPS, when I turned a corner in a state park and saw a few obvious birders, binocs and scopes, so I stopped to get the news. One turned out to be Lauren Kras, a young NH super-birder. She had the highest year list for the state when she was like 22(?) years old. So I was asking her about sites, and finally asked her if I could just ride along with her for awhile, and she said yes! Great good luck. We stopped at about a half dozen places in the next ninety minutes, and she pulled out two Scoters, Gannets, a Short-billed Dowitcher and a couple of other shorebirds at a little inlet behind a marina, plus giving me hints on ID-ing several other species, and showing me some sites that didn't pay right then. Invaluable in the next few days. Also sold me the current version of the NH Coast bird-finding booklet, $5, a bargain considering the instruction that it came packaged with.

Maine, rained out - I headed further north but the weather was closing in and I needed to get to Freeport to fill in the gap in my wardrobe where the warm jacket or vest should have been. Tried Northface first but then ended up at LL Bean. I put it off cause it's pricey, and it was, but after poking around I went upstairs to the hunting and fishing section, a different world from the yuppie downstairs, and there was the perfect vest, goose down, waxed canvas, good pockets and hardware, $90. Mine. Back out in the weather to a local state park, but I decided against it when I realized how lousy it was getting to be. I had hoped to get some good fall seabirds along the coast, similar to the NH finds, had in fact stopped at Rachel Carson NWR but felt too squeezed for time. Ended up getting nothing in Maine but the vest. Drove back south to the weigh station as the rain set in hard. For some idiot reason didn't close the driver's window quite all the way, open just a crack.

Thursday, Oct 15

Plum Island reprise - So it was a pretty classic Northeaster, heavy rain and high winds all night. Guess which side the cracked window was on? Front seat soaked, but no particular damage except a cold butt most of the day. Got to McD in the rain for Wifi, then out to Plum Island again as it was getting light. The rain was just a mist but the wind was still relentless. The new vest was magnificent, actually comfortable in 30mph wind right off the ocean at the north end of the island. I walked out with the scope wrapped in a plastic bag and was ablle to get two Scoters and a Gannet there as well, plus a Common Loon. Took some doing since they kept disappearing in the swell, which was about five feet even in the sheltered area by the river jetty. I had one more place to try, a small reservoir where some diving ducks had been reported, and was able to find Lesser Scaup and Ruddy Ducks in more sideways rain. There were others along the far edge staying out of the wind, but viewing conditions were truly lousy, I was using the scope in the car, hand held looking through a slightly lowered window for as long as I could stand to have the rain blow in.

Rhode Island - Enough of that, got back on the Interstate and drove without stopping all the way around Boston and into Rhode Island. The rain let up during that time, but not the wind. My first stop was Sachuest Point NWR near Newport. It's a barren point right out in the ocean and the wind was pretty awful for the whole 1.5 mile loop walk along the sea-cliffs. I hoped for Scoters, but the only sea-ducks were plentiful Common Eiders hiding in the lea of the rock piles. The truly amazing thing though was a pair of Great Shearwaters being blown south, and I figured out the flying Red-Throated Loon with the lowered head and neck, and then finally a perfect and close in Male Black Scoter with a beak so orange it looked like it had a light in it. The two females beside him seemed impressed. Back in the Visitor's Center I was told of a private reserve very close by, The Norman Bird Sanctuary, so I drove over there. Still was way too windy to bird in the woods, but they had an excellent sightings list from the ABA conventioneers the previous weekend. Need to go back there in the fall but with decent weather. Same for Block Island which I once again missed. Did have some luck on a couple of little inlets along the road to Norman.

I had hoped to make a jaunt to Block Island on this trip, and then had also hoped to go birding with Dan Finizia and his partner Susan Talbot who I'd met in NH three years earlier. He's the top lister in RI, but I'd just had an email saying they couldn't make it until Wednesday, several days off. They had just spent a week on Block Island, and had to do some catch-up. The wind made a trip offshore senseless, especially without a good guide, and I was feeling time-pressed as well. So I crossed Narragansett Bay to the south shore on the west side, Trustom Pond NWR. That was where a nice selection of puddle ducks and some fall sparrows made 16 RI tics for the day, and 106 for the state total, and the end of the hundred-species-per-state project. That's a whoopee, but I was beat from the cold wind all day and didn't really have much of a response except to drive on into Connecticut and stay at Hammonasset State Park where I had arrived late, but thought I'd try some birding in the morning.

Friday, Oct 16

Connecticut to New Jersey - Didn't work out that way, up way too early to wait around, and there was a Barnacle Goose north of New Haven that was calling me insistently. It was located about fifteen miles northeast, or at least the reservoir was, but the only geese were Canada. It was small enough that I could see all of it, including the ripped up northern end where they were deepening it. After driving around it once I went back to my original sweet viewpoint, and there met a local guy, whose name I didn't retain, but may he be blessed. He told me where the geese went to graze after leaving the lake, and we drove about a mile uphill to harvested Corn fields. Must have looked over a couple of thousand geese, but couldn't find the one with a white head. Did get a Red-tailed Hawk for CT. Back at the viewpoint we found a Greater White-fronted Goose, which was new for my guide, so one of us got a lifer. The Barnacle was re-found the next day, and so on for at least a week. Tough luck.

I went into New haven and checked out a site my buddy had told me about behind a power station on the inlet, and it did have some shorebirds and gulls. From there it was on to Milford Point Audubon Center, an almost always great place. The marsh behind the center was good, but the tide was coming in and covering the mud-flats, and when I tried the beach, the wind was still a problem. I crossed the river there and headed south where it was possible to get an ocean view, and patiently waited for my Connecticut Northern Gannet, which I'd learned, again, from Lauren in NH. Once I was clear of Milford I got on the Interstate again, and just blew through New York and on into New Jersey, and after a while ended at Cape May. Gas was 30 cents cheaper there than it had been in New England, and there was always a person to pump it for you.

Cape May for two days, then home

2010-10-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

Sunday, Oct 17, 2010 - I made a brief stop at the Hawk-watch by the lighthouse when I got into town and fished for some news. Eurasian Wigeon on one of the ponds was the best, and then got a hoagie at the Wawa on the way north to Belleplain State Forest, where I arrived well after dark, Tried setting up in the same area on the woodland edge that I'd used before in hopes of owls. No luck. In the morning another Wawa stop for coffee, and then over to the morning flight area, where I decided on the top of the dike instead of the tower. That was really good, there are some amazing, often Brit, birders up there, and we were getting close to the big fall weekend so it was an excellent time to be there. Started adding tics pretty quickly, learning some flight calls. Some flying birds I got decent looks at, some I found later in the brush-rows at Higbee up the hill, a few actually landed and posed briefly.

I made all the scenes, hawk-watch for awhile, walking Higbee, working the woods at the lighthouse and scoping the ponds (got the wigeon), drove up to the sea-watch in Avalon and got some seabirds, but not all the likely suspects, came back to the TNC meadow at dusk to watch for owls coming out of the trees in the setting sun. Ended up parking in the lot at Higbee and walking the brush lanes in the dark playing a Screech-owl tape. On a raised platform that got me nearly mowed down by a Great Horned Owl looking for dinner, came within ten feet as it rounded a tree making a stealth approach. Slept good there too, and no forty miles of driving or $20 fee like the park required. I ended up adding eight-teen NJ tics. Great day interrupted by a brief episode of terror when I couldn't find my wallet. It had slid off the computer and hid by the door I never open.

Monday, Oct 18 - Another morning flight on the dike, with the great spotter picking up an incoming shrike, they fly in deep long bouncing swoops, like a really exaggerated woodpecker. It flew by us and disappeared over the end above the ferry channel, but then reappeared an sat beautifully perched fairly close across the dirt road at the bottom of the dike. That allowed determining that it was Northern Shrike, a really good bird for the state. I knew it was about time to start back home, but made another stop at the sea-watch, good thing too. I had missed Red-throated Loon the day before, but it was almost the first bird as I got the scope set up. It was one of the ID trick that Lauren had showed me in New Hampshire. Hang out with just the one official spotter who was there, we saw gazillions of birds some flocks so big and far they looked like great bands of smoke on the horizon. I had some really interesting conversation with that guy, but again didn't get a name which I regret. And just as I was about to leave the missing Surf Scoter made a flyby. More or less perfect ending.

Then it was time for the long boogie home, not quite as far as the trip out since I'd been making progress west and south as I traveled down the coast. In a couple of hours I was on the Pennsy Turnpike, and cleared New Stanton around ten and found the first truck-stop to crash.

Tuesday, Oct 19 - It had been raining since I got off the turnpike, and all night, and into the dawn, fog and rain and a fishbowl dawn. Managed to drive out of it beyond Columbus, but in Indiana I realized I was fried from high speed and boring driving, so opted to check out a place called Goose Pond which was supposed to be one of the few decent shorebird places in the state. Not that it was shorebird time, but it was an interesting place, mined land and so lots of small narrow ponds scattered over the landscape. I even managed a couple of tics for Indiana while just sitting and reading and un-rattling, or walking around just letting the tension of the last few windy cold days of pressure fade.

Wednesday, Oct 19 - after breakfast crossed into Illinois and headed fro Cape Girardeau. I still wasn't entirely together, missed a turn and crossed a river back into Indiana, then when I got back managed to miss the school zone warning and found myself talking to a young cop. Another $100 ticket, depressing since the trip was a low budget squeeze from the get-go. He comes back after awhile with his clip-board and says he's giving me a warning since I was clearly rattled, lost, a stranger, and he liked my "I brake for Tailgaters" bumper stickers. May he and his progeny be blessed. In Cape Giradeau I got a way overdue oil change and then headed south and west into Arkansas on US 412. It's the longest road across the widest part of the state, two lane mostly, little towns, hills, curvy, and really tiring. Got home around sundown, all's well. I had added 83 tics total, not as good as I'd hoped, but it had done the job of testing the Roo and finishing Rhode Island's hundred.

Shake-down trip for used Subaru wagon

2010-09-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

Since my Ford Ranger had died completely I needed another vehicle, and was determined to get something that was more fuel efficient and also usable for birding trips. I found a 2003 Subaru Outback locally, which I got for an OK price. Turns out it immediately needed some work, timing belt and water-pump, brakes while on this trip, and some other fixes that became obvious with use. I studied the maps and my listing goals and decided to make a trip through Colorado and New Mexico primarily, but rounded it out by adding a corner of Nebraska, a corner of Wyoming, and a one day trip into Arizona.

The first puzzle was how to shrink the accumulation of gear in the truck, in nooks and crannies in the camper-shell, and an archaeological dig behind the seat of the cab. Way more than I really needed, multiple copies of stuff, five sweatshirts, three first aid kits, three cook-sets, four stoves of various sizes and designs, gloves and hats and pencils and bird checklists, on and on. What I was envisioning was a gear set that would allow camping in comfort but still be small enough to make space to sleep in the back if that proved necessary. First goal met, second not tried on this trip. I still ended up with way too much, and cursed the bulky stuff like the ice-chest, though not really big, and the water jug and bucket. It'll shrink again as I get more realistic about my needs and how involved in camping I want to be on a given trip.

Anyway, I piled it all in, and it only came to one layer behind the seat, so good enough to start the gear calibration. The sleeping space already looked unlikely.

Sunday, Sept 12, 2010

Got away after some final ditzing around with the load, the usual trying to remember all the little items that usually are part of house life that need to go on trip, like phone and log-book. Headed west to cheap gas, filled up and started logging numbers for gas mileage determination. Drove through the NW corner of OK, and onto the southern-most highways of Kansas. The start was late enough that it was mid-afternoon and hot by the time I got to Quivera. Really wasn't very focused, still in a pissy and depressed mood from dealing with an endless parade of small harassments. Still managed to get a couple of tics, Black-necked Stilt, one among a couple of thousand Avocets. The really good bird was a perfect American Golden-Plover in a borrow ditch, maybe the best and closest view I've ever had.

I had wanted to stay a night, even two at Lake Scott State Park, but there was no way to make it before deep dark, so instead I headed northwest and drove way too late until crashing in a rest area, sleeping in the front seat. So much for the resolve to not push and spend relaxed campsite time along the way.

Monday, May 13

The primary component of the parade of aggravations was the task of getting AC power in the front of the wagon, hereafter called Roo, so that the laptops, phone charger, some battery chargers, and whatnot could run as if I was in the twentieth century. I had purchased a nice inverter, checked it with a drill, it passed, then hard wired it to the battery so it wouldn't switch off with the key. Then it wouldn't work. So I tried another inverter, which blew a fuse. After dawn I tried a parts store in Goodland, but we couldn't find the fuse, and I couldn't find the owner's manual, which was surely in there someplace. Truly amazing that an object that can fill your hand can be totally lost in a volume 6 feet by 3 feet by 10 feet, mostly empty space.

To make up for that I found the Goodland Water Treatment Facility, as recommended by Pete Janzen who I'd called as early as seemed un-intrusive. It was very nice, a long wetland of small pools surrounded by natural vegetation stretching over a quarter mile down from the main settling ponds. Had waterfowl, and passerines in the edges. Farther north and east along Beaver Creek before Atwood was some nice riparian habitat which belonged to a ranch welcoming birders. Unfortunately there was no sign, so I didn't know which lane to try so I just birded along the road. Very quiet, one Nuthatch.

In Atwood there is public camping that looked a good potential overnight someday, but I headed on into Nebraska. I was hoping to add some tics by swinging through the southwest corner along the Platte before going into Wyoming. Stopped at the VC for Lake McConaughy Rec area for info and bird list, but it seemed sorta pricey, day fee and camp fee, and more for water etc. Besides that I wasn't seeing a single bird, not sparrows or Redwings or Meadowlarks, really nothing. And it stayed that way all through nearly three hundred miles after leaving Goodland. There weren't even good roadside places, bridge crossings, farm ponds, really strange. I ended driving right on into Wyoming with hardly a stop, and not one tic.

Wyoming, Southeast Corner

2010-09-19T07:31:00.002-07:00

Monday, September 13, 2010

Wyoming was a fine change from Nebraska. I already had a place picked out for camping that I'd discovered reading the bird-finder and studying the maps. Vedauwoo turned out to be a high (8000'plus) piece of geology beloved of rock climbers. I knew I was in the right place when, after driving around to pick a campsite, got out and the first bird was a calling Clark's Nutcracker.

And I finally got down to camping, or at least setting up the new REI tent. Actually went up pretty easy for a first run, since they had used some hardware treatments that I knew from other of their tents that I've used a lot. Roomy inside with two doors. I put out some hopeful kitchen gear too, but never managed to cook anything. I get too swept up in the birding part. But I slept well.

Tuesday, Sep 14

Up in the dark and drive back to Cheyenne, with a stop first at McDonald's for battery recharge on the laptop. I was nursing it along for GPS use since the inverter problem still wasn't solved. The first place I wanted to try was the Wyoming Hereford Ranch. I wasn't sure exactly what it was, but check the link. There had been reports of shorebirds on its reservoir, which I finally managed to reach from the wrong direction, the GPS saved me, and when I climbed the embankment along the road was actually able to find a few species. There were passerines in the trees along the road, and it turned out to be a good stop. I was really about ten days too late the whole trip for shorebirds, having waited to start until after a hike I'd agreed to lead for an adult education group from the University of Arkansas. That delay would cost me the whole trip.

Next stop was was lion's Park, and especially Sloan's Lake on the north side of Cheyenne. Very good birding, a small lake surrounded by lawns and patches of woodland, completely surrounded by a paved trail, and then another that seemed to be the birding and fishing trail. Several good migrants including MacGillivray's Warbler, and many Wilson's Warblers. Even White-throated Sparrows and a Wood Duck. Walked all the way around, and then made some other stops in the park, none as good, but the Mississippi Kite fly-over made the time not wasted.

Another place I'd noted was some grasslands north of town, apparently a research ranch for the University of Wyoming. Poked around on the roads but never really did find the heart of the place, at least not a place where I could ask anyone questions. It was a great area for raptors though.

The day was still young enough that I decided to try a drive out Happy Jack Road, WY Rte 210, after buying some ice. That store was where I learned how to say Vedauwoo. Veda, as in Hindu sacred books, voo, as in French "you", vous. So: veda-voo. That was a beautiful drive. parallel to the Interstate and up over the ridge that made the highest point on I80. Just before that point in Curt Gowdy State Park, I met a young man from New England who was crossing the country for the first time, on a bicycle. We talked routes and weather. I advised him that crossing the northern part of Nevada riding on the shoulder of the interstate wasn't such a good idea, and suggested a more southern and scenic route through Southeast Utah. Incidentally the same general route, Happy Jack and Interstate, was the line of the original coast-to-coast railway, the Union Pacific from Utah eastward. Happy Jack joined the Interstate about five miles east of Laramie, and when I got there Hutton Lake NWR lay to the south. So I drove south and wasted twenty miles because that's not the way to get there. Back through Laramie to another two lane blacktop heading southwest, then ten miles of dirt.

This was a great place, partly because there were a few good birds, but mostly for being simply open and quiet and well watered with healthy native vegetation. I felt terribly centered. relaxed, and mellow. Looking back I'd say a real high point for the trip.

Wednesday, Sep 15

Up before sunrise, full dark, took down the tent in a fairly good wind, and it was easy, very smooth, no struggle. I was so proud of myself. Not so much when I found the two dead ground squirrels in the water bucket, which they couldn't escape since I hadn't leaned a rough surface stick in there, something I always do at home with my buckets and tanks. I felt really dumb. Did the only logical thing, split and drove to Laramie. I'd made a note that there was possible good birding on a dirt road along the Laramie River north of town. First stop on a bridge over the river got three shorebird tics, and the road was generally birdy for fifteen miles until it rejoined the highway. Many sparrows, including flocks of Chestnut-collared Longspurs, but the best birds were White Pelicans and an immense and very secure pale hawk that just stared as I approached in twenty foot idling coasts. I could not figure it out, but it was beautiful, very fully feathered in what looked like a new molt, just some chest speckling, not a band, and a smallish two colored beak. It finally flushed and showed the big white upper-wing spots of a Rough-legged Hawk. A very light morph, which I'd never seen.

When I got back to the highway, after once more failing to find even decent looking habitat for Mountain Plovers, which there was a note about, headed south with a parts store stop for a fuse, which fixed the lighter and mirrors. Still no working inverter, but closer. Then a hundred mile drive south into Colorado, coming into Fort Collins from the northwest.

Colorado, thwarted by urbanity and bad luck

2010-09-18T05:10:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

I drove SE into Colorado directly to the REI in Fort Collins. I was looking for one of those little cowboy coffee grinders, but they had nothing like that. Everything seemed expensive, which explains why I pretty much only buy from their sale catalogues. I did get a dozen Powerbars. From there I worked my way over to Timnath Reservoir, finally found the public park area, which put me close to lot of mudflats as the res was pulled way down. There had been lots of good shorebird reports from there, but I was about a week too late. Got a couple of tics, Baird's Sandpiper, which seemed to be the reliable late moving species. Stayed at Crow Valley on the Pawnee NG, just hanging and desultory birding. Did find a Townsend's Warbler. Didn't feel like setting up the tent, slept in the wagon, actually fairly comfortable.

Thursday, Sep 16

Woke up around 4:30 and headed to a recent grass fire site which might have been good for Mountain Plovers (I still had hopes), sat and read for awhile until the edge of dawn, then drove north to Norma's Grove, a little migrant trap of cottonwoods and willows where a small stream crossed a dead end county road. The birding was good once the sun had thrown a little heat into the area, but nothing new except a Cooper's Hawk which seemed to upset the tree-top Starlings pretty thoroughly. Went back to the burn, and spent thirty minutes scanning from three or four stops, it was quite an area when the light showed the extent, but no luck.

I drove back into Fort Collins and ended up sitting for half an hour waiting for Best Buy to open, but didn't get an inverter there, seemed overpriced at more than $70 when they were in truckstops for thirty. Put it off again. I then went non-birding sight-seeing through Estes Park and down through Ward, where I'd lived for a winter many years ago, sent a bill payment from there, hand stamped in the one room Post Office. Then down the windy narrow two-lane to the highway into Boulder. I wanted to check out some sites there, but got frustrated by traffic, entry fees for places that I just wanted to glance at, no outlets in Micky's to charge the battery, then realizing that the prime reservoir for some interesting Gulls was a State Park, and not worth it. When I studied the map and found a road straight out of Boulder that would completely skip Denver and set me on the Interstate headed west, I went for it. I'd had enough urban challenge.

I wanted to stay for a couple of nights in Guanella Pass, and had visions of cool high altitude laid back practice camping. But in Georgetown I discovered that the road up the pass had been closed by a landslide, and then going west there was at least an hour's delay for tunnel construction. I was getting fried. Finally got going south, and was able to re-find an undeveloped campsite south of Salida where I'd stayed several years ago. Got there at sundown and just threw a couple of pads on the ground and crawled into the bag. But when I woke in the night the stars were glorious, Jupiter was blazing, closest approach in fifty years, and suddenly it seemed Okay.

Friday, Sep 17

I was up at first light and gone before sunrise, headed south for Monte Vista and Alamosa NWRs. Monte Vista was good, with four new tics including Black Duck and a bird that I first, after some guide study, took for a Little Gull. There had been one or more reported on the big lakes further north, and no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't get the bird to show the dark patch behind the eye that would have made it a simple Bonaparte's. But the bill didn't seem as small as the guides showed, although that is a variable feature in its reality, its verbal description, and its illustration. So I first recorded it as LIGU. Then I got cold feet and changed it to BOGU, much more likely. But I may change my mind again if I look at some more pictures. Either way it was a good tic. Alamosa was dried up just as it had been in the spring, and I didn't linger. Headed on south into New Mexico.

New Mexico, mechanics and zooties

2010-09-17T06:33:00.000-07:00

Friday, Sep 17, 2010

The first important thing was a squealing in the front brakes that had become sorta persistent. My mechanic in Arkansas just before I left had mentioned that the squealers would go off when the brakes got thin, and I considered that a providential "heads-up", after going through the piece of grit and dusty roads stages of denial. And I quickly recalled that my friend Beth in Glenwood had mentioned that she had a good shade tree mechanic there, so I set my course for her place. First I had to stop in Taos to meet up with another friend, but I got a message at the library there that they were not well, so I got the battery charged again and kept driving.

I took a scenic back road, labeled the "high road to Taos", which was really nice until I hit the fifteen miles of construction. The next time it'll be faster if I ever get back that way. This time it was twenty mph torn up dirt. Finally got back on pavement but it led through Santa Fe for miles of traffic and boring monochromatic pseudo-Spanish architecture, so called. The Interstate into Albuquerque was faster, but when I tried to get to the Rio Grande Valley Nature Center, the last intersection that the GPS showed as the final turn for the approach was actually an underpass and then a parkway for several miles with no way off. It wasn't even easy to get turned around, and I ended up skipping the Nature Center since I still had to get to Socorro and up to Water Canyon.

Finally made it there, around sundown. Another beautiful sleep on the ground night, with the bonus of a Western Screech-Owl. Perfect ending to a pretty good day. I wanted to be there for the chance of a Flammulated Owl, but just didn't have the gumption to do more than walk the road by the campground for a ways, nothing dramatic like a drive up the mountain. Wanted to be there for an early start to see the Very Large Array (VLA) on the Plains of San Augustin.

Saturday, Sep 18

Good sleep and good start, Got to the VLA before the VC opened, but walked around the tour path and took pictures. The VC had some very informative exhibits, I watched the film, talked to the nice woman in charge, bought a notebook, and just grooved on really amazing technology that's not for war or profit.

I got to Beth's in Glenwood around noon, set the computer charging, found her at her station at the roadside market along the highway, and generally everything was copacetic. I birded around the fish hatchery, got some NM tics, took a nap. When Beth got back, I met CJ the mechanic, who pulled the front brakes and found them paper thin, but no gouged rotors. Fixable with simple pad replace. I had been told to replace all four wheels since it's an AWD vehicle, but opted for the economy move with the proviso to service all wheels and replace some rotors when the rear started squealing. It was Yom Kippur, so Beth let me break her fast with her at sundown. A very good healthy meal was appropriate, got us talking about regrets and learning from mistakes.

Once it got dark we got a great sky show, Venus was ultra bright to go with Jupiter, and I'd found an illustration that showed how to find Uranus right next to Jupiter, so that was the first time I found it on my own, and not seeing it through a scope pointed by someone else. Then she broke out this amazing device called a tent-cot, which at first I thought would be some incompetent hybrid, but it was great. A little heavy, but well made, roomy, and comfortable. Slept great.

Sunday, Sep 19

I went over to the hatchery early, then came back to the house to wait for the brake pads being brought from Silver City by another friend, Diana. She arrived around noon, since she and Beth were conducting a tile mosaic project by local kids at the Community Center. CJ went to work on the wagon, and I went over to watch the art work. The kids had already laid out the outlines of various horse images culled from magazines and what-not, each figure was 8-10 feet long and maybe six high. Then they went through the boxes of tiles that they'd made and decided on what pieces and colors went to each figure. All the work and all the decisions belonged to the kids, all that Beth and Diana did was keep the work flow going in a sensible order, no actual decisions from them. The whole business was fascinating.

I had a sit-down lunch at a diner along the way walking home, then went to work updating the Windows install on the Dell computer. They always take longer than I think they will, what with restarts and such. CJ got the brakes done, $90 parts and labor and it stopped well and straight. Very pleased. By the time I'd driven to Silver it was past dark, I hung with Diana and Bob for awhile, then slept in their guest house.

Arizona interlude in the post below

Wednesday, Sep 22

It rained all day. I visited with old buddy Pat Mulligan in the morning, a great dose of polished curmudgeonry, refreshing like a good purge. Then I went to hang out at Diana and Bob's art supply store, and took another nap. Sorta worn out from the little trip in the Tucson heat. Had dinner at Jalisco's after Diana showed me her new work in the studio, and some projects under construction. Stayed at Laura's good bed with aura of woman after a hot sit down soaking bath. Great treat in a life of showers, does wonders for the traveling knots.

Thursday, Sep 23

The rain cleared off so I went to the Little Walnut Picnic Area and the Gomez Trails. The start was slow, but then I found a Swainson's Thrush, a Townsend's Warbler and a Mexican Jay. That was a sweet three tics. From there I went to Lake Roberts thinking I might find a White Pelican, they had been moving south earlier in the trip, but apparently hadn't made it this far south yet. Instead, a totally unexpected Sora flew out of the reeds at the parking area. I backtracked slightly to the hummingbird house of Joan Day-Martin, and found that two species had shown up that would be new for the state. The Blue-throated wasn't too hard, showed up fairly soon and was well marked. The Calliope was more of a challenge, but after about a half hour wait a significantly smaller bird arrived with wing extensions wail beyond the tail, nothing dramatic in the marking since it was a female, but it was good enough for me.

On the way back to Silver I stopped at McMillan Campground and walked up the trail behind it, I guess hoping to maybe hear a Greater Pewee. What I got instead was a Veery, a Wood Thrush and then another thrush-sized bird flew up off the ground and settled on a branch just above head height less than thirty feet away. There was a bit of foliage in front of it being used for cover while it studied me and I it. I could see the head and tail well, the head was dark with a dark thrush bill and weirdly marked, black with white speckles, like a juvenile Robin, but much darker. The tail had a white band and seemed pale along the edges, but that may have been some trick of the light. I had no idea what I was looking at except that I was certain it was a thrush. When I got back to the car I started studying the book and hit juvenile Aztec Thrush, "very rare fall vagrant in SE Arizona", that is, just on the other side of the state line. Serious Zootie.

In the meantime I was worried about the cat I had been sitting for Laura, which had disappeared. I needed to call the backup cat sitter so I could go back and try to get a picture of the bird. I thought I might rally some help if I called a guy in Silver who was a kind of authority, so I got his number from Diana, and when I called him he immediately started talking drivel. How big was it? I said, thrush size, 10 or 11 inches, although the tree it was in had leaves rather than rulers. He says they're way bigger than that, Robin sized. When I checked the field guides, Aztec was 10.25, and Robin was 11. I'm pretty sure that was the last call I'll ever make to any so-called expert. O he says, you have to see the white spot on the wing, vital to ID. Turns out the juveniles haven't developed it yet. Jerk. I finally yelled at him, said "if you want to try to make a fool of me, that's not hard to do, but what I'm trying to tell you is exactly what I saw, and if you have a different guess that fits what I saw, I want to hear it." Silence. I hung up. I went back with a camera, but the bird was gone, along with the other thrushes. Still, a very good day, now at 48% New Mexico species.

I've had about a half dozen similar conversations with pompous idiots that seem to do all their ID work with dead birds in hand and guides by their sides. They never talk like they actually go into the wild world and look at wild birds under wild weather and wild light using less than perfect eyes and optics, and their lack of any contact with wild they take as a credential rather than the crippling liability that it is, especially coupled with their inflated and unjustified egos. See the essay on official birders.

I stayed at Laura'a again, the missing cat jumped up on the bed about 4am. Shut the door and pile fresh food with cat candy on its dish.

Arizona for an Owl on Mount Lemmon

2010-09-16T05:57:00.000-07:00

Monday Sep 20, 2010

I got up early enough to be waiting at the door for McDonald's to open, then drove to Lordsburg where I finally solved the computer power supply problem with a simple unit for $30. That was a real increase in freedom since I could keep things charged and running. For the first time in years on this trip I didn't have a detailed record of the roads taken since I couldn't run the GPS software continuously. Guess it really doesn't matter, but it had become traditional, and could be useful someday for re-finding particularly sweet spots.

I made a stop at the Lordsburg Playa, which had a few birds, but nothing notable. The Wilcox Playa was great. There were about thirty Long-billed Curlews as well as a good variety of ducks and other shorbies. At the Benson Sewage ponds I found a Greater White-fronted Goose, which had been notable on the Arizona listserv, though I only found that out later when I got my revitalized computer on-line for mail. From there I drove on into Tucson to find Sweetwater Wetlands. This was really hard, even with a pretty good idea where it was. First I poked around in a city park until I figured out that the sewage plant that fed the wetlands was on the other side of the river. I finally found one human, a gardener, in the 104F heat who was able to tell me how to find the access to the road that led there. Even then I took a couple of wrong turns until I tried asking in a little building on a dead-end parking lot. They sent me back to the obscure lot that was parking for the wetlands. I couldn't even bear to get out of the car, but at least I knew exactly where it was and the exact, and only(!) route to get there. The trick is getting on the access road along the interstate, which can only be done from the north end since it's one-way. About a mile down there's a road back to the treatment plant, and the wetlands parking is about a quarter mile down that road on the south side. Make a note of that.

I wanted to get up Mount Lemmon, as much for birds as to get above some of the heat. My goal was the General Hitchcock Campground in the Bear Canyon area. There had been repeated reports of Flammulated Owl from there when I was out earlier in the year, but a long evening there and in several other picnic areas nearby, playing tapes, and going from one to the other walking in the woods by headlamp had failed completely. Fortunately, I'm a model of idiot persistence. I settled into the campground well before dark, the temp had dropped 20+ degrees, I met a guy named Justin, who had a Harley but seemed un-biker-ish. He had been camping for almost two weeks and had seen and heard owls, but wasn't a birder.

He shared cold water and talk, then I set out up the trail above the campground, the typical parallel along a creek-bed. There were good birds, and great butterflies including a Fritillary that simply blew me away. I also found a lot of bear sign, scats in the trail, normal, a stump seriously torn apart fairly recently, and then a scrape showing four clear claws where he/she had dragged her paw in the middle of the trail. The distance across the claws was four or five inches, and the scape was nearly two feet long. That made me think, especially when I got back to my chosen site and found more fresh scat there. There were bear-proof food storage lockers but I didn't see any way to sleep in them. So I ended up sleeping on the picnic table, which is an approach I've used a lot, no tent, just pad and bag with a water bottle and light at hand.

As it was getting dusk I started hearing some owl-like sounds, but not the Flam's double hoot, so I was reading up on the local owls. Apparently there were three small varieties and one I was able to make out as the southern Rocky mountain version of the Northern Saw-whet, which has different sounding call, the individual notes aren't toots as normal, but more like "cuck"s as in the prep notes for Yellow-billed Cuckoo's call. It's at least a sub-species, called Mountain Pygmy Owl, and there's some talk of full species status though I read somewhere that the DNA doesn't support a wide split between the types. More disheartening was the info that the Flam's only call on the breeding grounds, and that was way past. I pretty much gave up and was just sitting there in the new dark when I heard something coming down the canyon from up the trail that resolved into double hoots. I jumped up and walked over to Justin's site as the bird flew by, tree to tree, calling irregularly as it passed down the canyon. Not all the calls were doubled, maybe a little more than half, but it was distinctive. I didn't hear it again after it passed. It was my last sought owl species and I'd been looking for it for several years. Two people I talked to the next day said I'd been very lucky to hear it in the fall.

I slept pretty well, only a little of the normal scurrying noises, and no bears in the night.

Tuesday, Sep 21

Got into Tucson at first light and went directly to Sweetwater with some C-store grub in hand. It was great, the flowing water in the ditch by the parking was really attractive to passerines, and I found new warblers for the AZ list. Back further in there were nice ponds surrounded by vegetation and all the way to the back were large open settling pools with a lot of duck and shorebird activity and at least one Peregrine Falcon. I spent a couple of hours walking and re-walking the trails, it's not very extensive, and added a half dozen AZ tics, including neat little surprises like a Common Moorhen.

I had noted on the maps a BLM National Monument not too far north called Ironwood Forest, and since it involved driving by the Red Rock cattle yards, a possible location for Ruddy Ground-Dove, it was the next goal. The road makes a loop around some dessert hills, or maybe small mountains, but as I got further down the road it got worse quickly, and I didn't want to bang up the low riding Roo going the full distance, so I drove back and this time really studied the yards and wires and fences, but nothing dove-like showed.

Back In the city I tracked down the Tucson Audubon Society (TAS) bookstore. It was well hidden by the fact that the house numbering and the Avenue numbering run in opposite directions. The staff didn't seem to realize how confusing that could be to someone who was only familiar with every other city in the US. The book selection was good, pricey, and the staff aloof. They seemed troubled that someone had actually walked in, so I didn't stay long, but was disappointed since such places are usually hotbeds of late breaking news and insider tips. Not this one, not for me, I guess I should have been wearing expensive binocs.

I could have stayed in Tucson some relatives, but had become grossed out by the aggravation of street numbers and the rising heat. They wouldn't be home for hours and I could be back in Silver City if I just made a run for it. Which I did, back by dusk, met up with my friend Laura and agreed to house-sit her cat while she went off to visit her daughter for a few days. Got to sleep in her woman smelling bed, take a hot bath, and do laundry, but not 'til the next day.

Trip Home through Eastern NM

2010-09-15T05:24:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 24, 2010

Time to head back, packed and gone by nine, driving over the Black Range with a stop at Emory Pass, high enough, 8000+ ft, there was a chance for a Clark's Nutcracker, which I'd made a couple of tries at on the higher parts of the Gila, especially Signal Peak. It';s a bird in serious decline since it's primary food source, referred to as Rock Pines, trees with nuts in the cones rather than the usual light-weight seeds, are in decline due to a disease. Got to the parking lot, there was Forest Service guy working on the restroom, and a scan didn't find many birds. But I walked around the edge, then down a little side-trail a short ways, and when I came back out in the open, a Nutcracker landed close and beautiful in a snag about fifty feet from the lot. Good omen there for the trip home.

Drove pretty directly to Bosque del Apache NWR, it's not very interesting low desert this time of year, and the refuge wasn't very birdy either, though I did find two new NM birds there. But not the Aplomado Falcon that had been reported. Needed to be there earlier when the thermals are just starting.

The main goal for the day was to get in position to bird the Melrose Trap the next morning. Drove on up the Interstate from the Bosque, then east on US60. Made a few stops along the way, one in an area of dried up saline lakes hoping to find shorebirds, but got only a couple of Killdeer. Another stop was at the Headquarters of the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. The two folks in the office were knowledgeable and very helpful, the older gentleman looked up some god detailed info on the Trap, inviting me into the office to study the computer screen, then printing out the best pages. The woman was promoting The IMBD activities and gave me a spreadsheet of the past several years' results. Sold me a nice baseball hat of the old design for the old price. Great folks. I had visited the actual missions many years earlier when first getting into birding, and one held my lifer Blue Grosbeak. One of my favorite species, and now they sometimes nest on my land.

Anyway, I drove on into the town of Ft Sumter, gas and snacks, then up to the State Park on a lake. The book said it was good birding, but I was late and tired and fell out soon after dark, on the picnic table again. There were some really strange noises in the night, presumably birds, but nothing I was familiar with, and later an immense lightening bloated thunderstorm formed to the west. It first seemed to be approaching, so I went to sleep in the front of the car, but an hour later decided it was more comfy back on the table. It never arrived and not a drop fell on me.

Saturday, Sep 25

Slept a little later than usual and wasn't driving until there was light in the sky, so that when I got to the trap there were already six or eight cars there. Those folks must have left really early from the distant cities, or stayed in the area. It looks like it would be a good place to just stay for the night, and a lot of owls have been reported from there. It was a great place, the tree area was less than twenty acres but filled with action. And good birders so I was able to get some tics that would have escaped my limited familiarity with the western birds, like immature both Painted and Lazuli Buntings. What the day showed me, there and later, was that eastern New Mexico has clumps of vegetation that concentrate what are actually very low numbers of more eastern individuals on the edge, actually even beyond the edge, of the central flyway. Ended up adding eight tics there, and a couple more later.

One was a Blue Jay at Bosque Redondo Lake. Bosque Redondo was where the Navajos from Canyon de Chelly were forced after being driven out with scorched earth zeal by idiots in blue uniforms. They hated it, it wasn't quite desert, at least the day I was there, but was nothing like the wild Red Rock beauty that had been their home. Sad chapter. From there I cur back through Albuquerque, but that was a waste of time. I followed the Interstate on through Santa Fe to Las Vegas, which I'd never driven around in, and which seemed like a neat small city with several colleges it turned out. My goal was a National Forest campground about twenty miles up in the forest near El Povenir. But the CG was closed and I ended up sleeping in the car, not well either, as it was a cold night.

Sunday, Sep 26

I was up early for some breakfast and hot coffee, and a wifi check-in at Micky D's, and then about an hour at Las Vegas NWR. It was about the fourth time I'd been there, and was once again worth the stop, netting Red Phalaropes and a Chestnut-collared Longspur on a fenceline. From there I took a semi-direct route to Oklahoma.

A second eastern stray was an Eastern Phoebe I found at Conchas Lake in the trees across the highway from the office building. Twelve species in two days was enough to make the list for New Mexico with a little slack. From Conchas I ended up at Black Mesa State Park just inside Oklahoma at the west end of the panhandle. I left there early the next morning and was home before dark on the 27th.

Back South through Utah and Nevada

2010-06-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

It was still early enough to have time for a quick loop around Bear River NWR, but nothing really notable presented itself. I ended up sleeping in a WalMart parking lot, which some allow, but I've noticed that more are forbidding this simple hospitality, even when the stores are open all night. And I always go in and spend some money.

Wednesday, May 19

Since it was still winter in the Uintas, and I still couldn't hook up with my friend in Park City, I just decided to head directly back into Nevada and hit some of the eastern and southern sites that had been skipped on the first pass. Quick means five or six hours of driving on secondary highways, which aren't really direct routes. Goal was Great Basin National Park, and I started at the south end along Snake Creek Road. Added quite a few tics, I show 71 species (not all new) for the 19th and 20th. Excellent birding there and more when I got to the campground.

The upper reaches were still snow-bound, but the lower campground was open. When I'd finished with Snake Creek, I went to the Visitor's Center, passing a property with a yurt and a distinct UFO theme, the space-suited guy on skis was a clue. Grabbed a map and paid for camping, only $6, since the water wasn't working yet. Met John B Free and his wife Melissa, serious birders and owners of the yurt. They invited me to sit with them, I did, and added another 5 tics including Pinyon Jays. Great folks. I stayed at the park, walked around the woods and roads, it was a beautiful place, filled with snow-melt rushing streams and gorgeous weather.

Thursday, May 20

Got up early and lucked into open restroom at the VC, so I could service my head, that is, shave and brush teeth with running water. I stopped at the Moore Sanctuary just down the hill from the park, spent almost two hours, kinda foothills scrub habitat, not a lot of birds but good variety and seriously worth poking around in. By then it was late enough for a little restaurant in Baker to be open. I little pricey for me, but good fresh food and I was the only customer so the waitress/cook was willing to talk. That's a rare luxury for my travels. Found a couple of copies of Granta that interested me for sale used as well.

I drove into Ely, got cellular service and made a couple of calls to renew registration and insurance while getting a load of laundry done. Then took off on a long drive south, introduced by a "no gas for 130 miles" sign. Not a good sign. It was pretty desolate and few birds, mostly ravens. Got to Pahrangat NWR, which was un-birdy as well, I guess the winter waterfowl had already moved out. Strange place, obviously run by someone obsessed with organization, lots of signs about what's allowed and not, how many vehicles in a space, etc. Well, at least they're staying busy.

I took a side route toward Moapa, since there was a refuge along there, but I couldn't find it and figured out finally that it was a protected space for Desert Tortoises. Maybe keep a few ORV off their backs. Then it was dismal Las Vegas traffic and vibe until I had looped around to the Mountains to the Northwest of the city and was close to the Corn Creek Field Station in Desert NWR. Slept in a National Forest off the side of a side road.

Friday, May 21

Once again, up way too early. I ended up driving about thirty miles past the Corn Creek entrance before finding a truck stop with coffee, then back to a very satisfying morning of birding. The Field Station has trails running through a good variety of habitats, and it's managed for maximum oasis attractiveness to things flying by. I picked up around 10 new tics, and saw several times that. Two of my favorite obscure southwestern species were there, Verdin and Lucy's Warbler. I lucked into a local birder, no name, who pointed out several critters that had escaped my attention, which helped.

There had been reports of some more desirable species at Ash Meadows NWR, which didn't look too far, but when a state as big as Nevada takes up but one page in the atlas, I always get in trouble. It was a long drive up there, a large refuge, and it turned out the birds were in places where I would have to spend a lot of time to reach, if I could even figure out how to get to them. A situation where I should have arranged with the reporting birder to meet up and get some guidance, after dedicating the whole morning and getting started early from a nearby overnight. I messed up on every count, only found two new tics when it could have been a half dozen.

And then it was a long way back to Las Vegas, which was necessary since Arizona was on the other side, and the route was two-lanes through small towns. It was after noon when I got to Sunset Park, and way too hot. Problem with Nevada that time of year is each good site should be first. By then it was close to a hundred degrees. Sunset Park could have been very good if anything was out playing in the mid-day sun. Not. So I went to WalMart for an overdue oil change, and then tried to find the birdy wetland the city keeps by a water treatment plant, but I arrived too late or the wrong day. It was closed.

Fall-back was to try Lake Mead which seemed really low, I guessed maybe 40 feet down. Tried several places recommended in the ABA Metro bird-finder, and got one tic, a Bonaparte's Gull at the marina, which had retreated about a half mile from the laid out parking areas. When I stopped at the Visitor's Center for a bird list and AC relief, the desk ranger said the lake was down 125 feet, and I got the impression that it would probably never return to full. Victim of Global Warming and Population Growth. By then I was fed up with urban Nevada and crossed Hoover Dam, armed and paranoid, into Arizona. Drove as far as Kingman before dark where I was rewarded with a Popeye's in a truck stop, beans and rice, and a decent parking place for a decent night's sleep.

Arizona again, with success

2010-06-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 22, 2010

After running the truck's AC in Las Vegas, it had developed a ragged idle, but I didn't pay a lot of attention to it. Mostly I just wanted to get to Tucson and see my ex brother-in-law David and his wife Romenia, There were birds possible in Tucson as well, and up Mount Lemmon also.

Out of Kingman and drive pretty directly to Tucson, just stopping for food. Once there it was gonna be a while before the folks got home so I went by the Broadway-Shannon Dessert to look for Rufous-winged Sparrow. But the place had been covered with condos. Very little undisturbed habitat, so no luck. I found David's house and took a big nap, a hot soaker bath, a fine meal by Romenia with lots of fresh salad, and wifi. It was terribly like civilization. David is a lawyer for the Salt River Reservation and Romenia has worked for the airlines for years and loves her work. The house was a new acquisition, and fairly new, nice stucco with good space in a subdivision on the west edge of town. Had a great backyard, with plantings from the previous owner to attract hummers and other critters. After I got home I sent them a nice Hummer ID book. I took it easy and indulged for a day.

Sunday, May 23

Great breakfast omelet, and sitting on the back ramada watching birds in the plantings and on the roofs of the surrounding houses. I took a ride all the way up Mount Lemmon to Summerhaven, making some of the free stops, and furtively poking into a couple of campgrounds, which cost $8 just to park and walk around. Scouted out the Flammulated Owl area in Bear Canyon, a campground and three picnic areas all close together. Went back into town for supper and good talk, and then as dusk approached went back up the mountain to work the area I'd scouted earlier. I tried walking the area as it got dark driving the short hops from one to the next, and then when it was full dark tried the tapes, but it was a big and disappointing dip (that's brit for a miss). So back down in the dark and south on the Interstate to Madera Canyon, actually the parking area at Florida Wash, which is right at the trailhead and blessedly free, also dark and quiet. It was pretty late when I got to sleep

Monday, May 24

I was up the wash before the sun and hiked up to the burn area where The Rufous-capped Warbler had been seen. The bottom of the wash is narrow with short sight-lines, so I climbed up the east side so I'd have a good view of the opposite side as the sun got into the valley. No trail, not even a cattle track, bad footing and pots of hazardous rocks. And I have just a tiny bit of dizziness sometimes after real effort, so when I finally found a flat surface sitting spot it was relief. It took over an hour after sunrise before the bright light actually got to the bottom of the wash, but what a mellow morning, just sitting and looking around, watching sky and occasional critters, until the target bird showed up. Good thing I'd taken up a good viewpoint since it only called briefly once or twice. If I'd been down in there it's unlikely I would have found it, but from up high I got a few decent albeit not close looks. I drove up into Madera Canyon proper to the Kubo B&B, where there had been a Berylline Hummer, but after an hour I gave up.

I drove down the Interstate to the turnoff for California Gulch, some chance of the Owl, but mainly to find a Five-striped Sparrow. The road is decent but narrow and winding as far back as Arivaca. Made a short stop at the cienega, then continued on a rapidly worsening dirt county road for miles and miles until the turnoff onto a Forest Road to the gulch. It was three or four times worse, extremely rough, deep waterlogged spots, and I was getting worried that if the engine, which had noticeable problems, should give out, it might be a day or two before somebody found me, and God Knows how we could tow it out. I chickened, and was genuinely relieved to get back to the Interstate.

Drove south to Nogales, then back north up to Sierra Vista, and from there south again to Miller Canyon. Met both of the Toms at Beatty's and, after some small talk, the elder invited me up to the guest-house hummer viewing place, very nice small open building with good seats and lots of feeders. Got a great look at a Berylline Hummer, and also a White-eared, which I'd seen before in Texas, but still a damned good bird. At that point I had two lifers for the day, and sleeping easy at the little parking area at bottom of the entrance road was easy, after the obligatory paranoia about being surrounded by drug smugglers. They and the ordinary refugees from Mexico are a regular occurrence there, and Tom Beatty told me of the troubles they caused, mostly disconnecting the irrigation to take baths. There are regular rescue missions by the Federales too, to save thirst or accident damaged folks.

Tuesday, May 25

In the morning I drove up to Benson and found the Sewage Ponds, which had some new tics, and it was even better when I headed further east to the Willcox Playa. Had the good fortune to meet a couple of local women birders who turned me on to some details in the surrounding country club, and I was having such a good time that I drove off leaving my spotting scope set up in the middle of the road. Fortunately they caught up with me as I came off a side road and sent me back to where it stood unmolested. Wilcox Playa is a "don't miss" any time of year since it's such an obvious wetland in otherwise hard dessert.

The next stage was amazing. I had intended to go to Glenwood and back to Beth's again, and took an innocuous looking road, on the map, that headed north from Clifton and Morenci through Apache National Forest to Alpine. I had mentioned my intent to go that way to the folks at Wilcox, and they had sorta rolled their eyes and cautioned me about it taking a while. I found out that road was the old US 666, called the Devil's Backbone. It started out in Clifton looking sorta southwestern mining habitat, great multi-colored cliffs and lots of machinery, and then morphed in Morenci into the most amazing industrial landscape I've ever seen. And I have lived in Silver City and that area, which some locals call Mordor. The road went on for miles and miles as the ten mph highway twisted and climbed through and under and over tracks and great pipes and haul roads along the edge of immense pits, until I passed the last almost dried-up reservoir and broke into th forest at about 8000 feet. Made several of stops in there, playing my "crack-for-birds owl tape", getting great results, but never could get any Grey Jays or Clark's Nutcrackers, which should have been find-able at that altitude and habitat. As I was finally on the last run into Alpine, a Clark's flew across the road ahead of me. I want to spend a couple of days camping and birding along that whole area. Got to Glenwood later than I'd expected, but still light, found Beth's house, and stayed there in the truck.

I was done with Arizona for this trip, starting at 148 tics and adding 65 more made 213 at the end of the trip. On a later trip in September I added another 17 and made it to 42%.

New Mexico, then on to Texas

2010-06-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

I hung around at Beth's in the morning, trying to be helpful while she figured out a sculpture for a show in Silver, then went in there with some stuff she wanted delivered to the gallery. Drove into Gila National Forest, north of Pinos Altos to check out some sites and camp. I made a stop at Lake Roberts, then stopped by the Hummer Lady's house to see what was new. Drove up Signal Peak to the locked gate, then walked a trail and made a few stops on the way down trying to call up a Clark's Nutcracker. No luck. Finally ended up staying the night at Cherry Creek Campground, where I continued my losing streak with the Flammulated Owl. Still it wasn't an awful day birding, just 30 species, but mellow after a late start.

Thursday, May 27

The only birding I did was at the Little Walnut Picnic Area, and a little walk on the Gomez Trails. Otherwise it was all gallery hanging, two lunches, napping and a good shower. Did get in a good visit with old buddy Pat Mulligan, master curmudgeon.

Friday, May 28

More gallery stuff, help set up a show. Mat Eric Renner, who I'll give a separate post to below. The opening of the doll art show went well. Drove up to Pinos Altos to the remodeled Buckhorn, one of the oldest bars in the state, great music by a one man band, name lost, and hang out with friend Laura and her friend Deb, an environmental ed teacher, good talk and a little dancing. Then up to McMillan Campground, with lots of stops to listen for and play owl calls. Flammulated losing streak continues.

Saturday, May 29

Back to town, gather up stuff and laundry, hang out with friend Diana who, with her husband Bob, owns the gallery. Drove on east to Bosque del Apache, got there late on a hot afternoon. Lucky to get a few new tics. Then up Water Canyon again, before dark and no rain. Owl prowling but still no Flammulated. This is starting to feel like defeat, at least for this trip.

Sunday, May 30

Back to BdA in the morning, then into El Paso. Made a couple of stops on the outskirts for exploration, still in NM, and got a Cave Swallow colony under a bridge over an irrigation canal. Very few of them in NM, CASW that is. Good bird anytime. Then it was a long hot drive on the interstate and up to Fort Davis, TX.

Fort Davis, Louisiana birding, Mississippi

2010-06-14T06:58:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 30, 2010

When I got to Ft Davis State Park in the rain, it was full up. Fortunately, I knew of a picnic area about twenty miles further north, past McDonald Observatory, which abuts a Nature Conservancy holding that's been good birding every time I go there. One problem was that I was getting an intermittent battery warning light, and that kind of stuff always upsets me. There were a lot of RV-ers there at the roadside park, but they were leaving in the morning. Got a good nights sleep and the weather cleared off.

Monday, May 31

Great dawn chorus. Looked at the engine but nothing obvious showed, so I took a hike. Back into the TNC area (which is redundantly called Madera Canyon) as far as a small pond. Then drove back into town and found a coffee wifi place that even had used books for sale. Had lunch there too, then up to the State Park, which had cleared out from the Memorial Day weekend crowd. There was a sweet woman at the office who knew some birding, and she checked me into a site that was very good for that purpose, right across from the area where they feed the Montezuma Quail.

The Montezuma Quail feeding area

Now I'd seen one or two before, but they were flying away in a blur, so not very satisfying. Supposedly this park was one of the most reliable places in the Southwest to see them, so I was highly motivated. But the evening stakeout failed although I did get some pictures of other birds. Met a very nice woman at the feeder from San Francisco also, who was wandering around in an RV, Sharon B, some good conversation waiting on the birds. I managed to get photos off the cameras onto the computer, caught up the journal, and ended up feeling mellow after being sort of depressed in the morning, worn from heat and vehicle worries.

Tuesday, June 1

Dung beetles in action near the quail viewing ramada

Sharon was back in the morning for another try at MOQU, but again they failed to show. Maybe we were making too much noise talking, who they were spooked by some camera sound effects. Whatever. I set out for the long drive across Texas, all the way in one day. The truck was shifting a little strangely too, which was bad for my paranoia, but there wasn't much choice but to carry on. I made it into Louisiana after dark and crashed at Peveto Woods, where there had been a report on the Louisiana listserv of a Yellow-green Vireo.

Wednesday, June 2

I birded that place really thoroughly for over two hours for two acres, but no YGVI. Did get several new LA tics, so it was worth the stop for sure. I could have stopped at Grande Isle on the way to New Orleans, but it was under sever oil attack thanks to BP. Beaches were closed and it was just plain depressing to think about. The day was gray, rain threatening all day, and it was a relief to get to my friend Lindy's in Mandeville for some civilization. That meant good wifi, great food (she's a pro cook), shower and real bed, we watched TV, she played me the first episode of "Treme", a New Orleans post Katrina apocalypse series. Full of realistic characters in the unrealistic NOLA style. I'll see more someday.

Thursday, June 3

Birded on the north shore at Big Branch Marsh NWR, then down through Slidell to Bayou Sauvage NWR for more poking around, mostly on Recovery Road. Got some good tics, but got caught in the rain. Met up with my friend Christine Horne for lunch a little after noon. We went to this very cool and funky place out on the east side of the Ninth Ward, and the I got her computer working so she could get on-line. Back to Mandeville.

Friday, June 4

My notes are weak here, think I went to the Northshore nature trails, must have got a replacement alternator, maybe some shopping. Lindy had gone over to the Gulf Coast in MS, but I stayed there. Sorta blurred.

Saturday, June 5

Changed the alternator and got my refund. God bless the O'Reilly lifetime guarantee, that was the third exchange over the years. Big Branch Marsh again, then a stop at the unused interchange on I-10 that I'd been introduced to by Dan Purrington on the New Orleans CBC back in December. Got a Painted Bunting for the LA list. then a little more Bayou Sauvage and a run into Mississippi by the back way over the Rigolets. Crossing the Pearl River there was lot of oil spill action at the bridge, boats and equipment staging, sheen on the water, smell of oil. When I got to Barbara's on the Gulf Coast in Pass Christian, the day was hot, the mood was normal, crazed, and Sean had made some great BBQ. I ended up sleeping on the upstairs porch, but not well, too hot and humid.

Sunday, June 6

No birding at all, just talk and geek and figure out the hot-tub wiring.

Monday, June 7

Got the wiring done, PITA job crawling in the sand under the porch. Advising Sean and his son Justin on their work projects. Got away around noon, and drove northwest through St Francisville. Stopped at the John James Audubon State Park, another TNC sanctuary near there, where I found my 50% bird for LA, a Louisiana Waterthrush of all things. It was another hot fried day, I couldn't get wifi nor phone service, but did get nailed in a speed trap for an $80 ticket. Swore to never pass through that part of the state again, which will be easy since there's not one good reason to go there. I was only there this time so I could crash in Tensas River NWR. Got in there right around dark, found a place to park off the road, and came under severe bug attack, which fortunately lightened up later in the night so I could open up the shell and get a little breeze.

Tuesday, June 7

Birded in the refuge in the morning, got a few more tics, and was feeling pretty secure on my count, but at the end of the year when the ABA list report form showed up they had added about ten species for the state that weren't in Avisys. So I dropped back just below the threshold by one species. Anyway. Another reason I'd come that way was to make a stop at Poverty Point, which I'd visited once before many years ago. But I'd read a book about it in the meantime, and was curious to see it again with more informed eyes. Really enjoyed it, since I lucked into a solo tour with a young ranger named Eric who I was able to quiz relentlessly. Crossed back into MS at Greenville and drove on up to Memphis to hang with the amazing Feraldi women, Mother Nancy, daughters Shiloh and Holly, and little Lydia, maybe the world's smartest kid. Got there about 4pm, spent the evening talking and geeking, with a break for great catfish compliments of Nancy. Crashed n Holly's room while she spent an all-nighter making an amazing dress (Facebook link).

Wednesday, June 8

Mellow morning with the women and back on the road about eleven. Home in Madison County around six, neighbor had mowed the driveway just enough, house wasn't too cobwebby, opened the windows and stuck pins in the wall map.

Eric Renner and the Chalk Dolls

2010-06-13T07:43:00.000-07:00

I met Eric Renner at the doll art show in Silver City. I had already been attracted to his object collage pieces, some of the objects being old obscure things from the twenties and thirties, maybe earlier. Cute little porcelain seven deadly sins and such. There was one of the female popes, several small dolls each with a bottle of two marbles, very much like gonads. He also had a fascinating book on display of chalk dolls and such, the sorts of things folks would win as prizes at carnivals, broken down into sections on various iconic figures, some folk-lorish, some cinematic, some cartoonish, or patriotic, even domestic. He had other books of pin-hole photographs, which I think can be found on Amazon, but not the chalk doll book, which I think you have to get from him directly.

Somewhere in the prep for the show Eric needed to service one of the popess's ball bottles and somehow managed to drop a marble down the sink, where it fortunately hung up on the drain stopper mechanism. Getting it back out was a challenge, but after a few tries with makeshift tools I managed to save his ball. He was grateful, we had gotten a bit acquainted over the struggle with gravity and geometry, and he offered me a copy of the big book. It's very well produced, mostly color images on almost every page, hard-cover, good paper, and a very limited edition. Worth the fifty buck price, which I couldn't spare at the time. I was thrilled, since getting it required stopping at his house where the collection of dolls lived, the actual dolls, far more than were shown in the book. It wasn't far off my route out of town, but it was way out in the dessert.

So on the way out of Silver for yet another pass at Bosque del Apache, I turned south near Mimbres and spent a few hours yakking and having lunch and being blown away by the collection.

Eric and the museum

Classics including Chaplin and Ghandi

On left are original carvings used to make the molds, and finished dolls on the right

Contact information

Overview of spring 2010 birding trip

2010-05-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

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 festiva l 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

2010-05-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

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.

Idaho, mission accomplished, really

2010-05-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 14, 2010

Idaho was the third target state for the hundred species project. When I had first started I had none, but one winter I'd poked into the SW corner for an afternoon and the next morning around Bear Lake NWR, and had started with 35 tics. Anyway, I'd not focused on it at all, even though I'd been there several times not keeping detailed records, only looking for lifers in my early birding. Dipped on Sage Grouse, hit on Williamson's Sapsucker, those on a trip north from City of Rocks NM.

Entering Idaho the first challenge was guessing whether the first bird would be a Raven or a Robin. Saw the Raven first, but passed a Robin as I approached it. That was an empty and boring piece of driving. I went a little out of the way to try Deer Flat NWR, but it was over-full and had nothing but Western and Clark's Grebes. Drove all around the lake, but mostly only saw industrial agriculture in poison spraying mode. Rather than get to the Boise sites late I tried a WMA right on the Snake River at the border. Not a bad place, still had waterfowl though hard to see for the vegetation around the pools. Finally got up on the tailgate with the scope as a monopod. The river itself had some action too but I was sleepy from a good meal at a small town burger drive-in, outfitted with a standard beautiful stuck-up waitress, and fell out early. Then about 3am a fisherman decided he just couldn't make it through the night without rock&roll, loud. Pillow over the head loud.

Saturday, May 15

Into Boise. The first reservoir I tried was dried up, another was just a puddle of its former self. Went by a place that I'd tagged on the GPS mapping as a possible Gray Partridge place. My nemesis emerged intact, there had been a lot of recent development in the area, may have scared them off. I'm always trying to make up reasons for when things don't work out. I skipped the Raptor refuge, had been there before on a previous trip, it was quite a drive out and back and off the main route east. I went a fair way up a mountain road into the National Forest north of town, the road was a wash-board torture, and I wasn't seeing much. If I gone further, I found out later, there was a bird observatory which might have been good. I found a good two lane blacktop running northeast into the mountains, Rte 21, and ended up stopping early in a primitive campground beyond Lowman. Very mellow place, a few birds, but mostly just a nice open forest on a flat above a river with a little village nearby, vacation houses and a fire station. Fell out early and got a good night's sleep to make up for the previous one.

Sunday, May 16

A great day, though the start was a little foggy brain-wise, requiring an eighty mile drive to the first place with coffee. It was open early for the molybdenum miners. Drove through Stanley and on into Challis. Paydirt. I had gone north of town to another tagged place on the map and met a local birder, Falma ?, who was scoping a small wetland full of critters. She offered to show me more of the area, and led me into a WMA where they were working on an Important Bird Area designation. Good thing she was there; turns out that it had a "sportsman's access", which meant you could drive through chained gates across private land to get to it. I'd have never tried it since I didn't know the rules. Great birds, Sandhill Crane nesting, a Western Screech Owl in it's hole, good passerines, finches, flycatchers, some warblers. Winter had only broken a few days earlier, and the first wave of migrants was setting up shop, lots of motion and singing to make birding easy.

While we were trying to find the owl tree another local birder came up, Dave Faike, who led me to his house for Mountain Bluebirds, which didn't co-operate, and Lark Sparrows that nearly ran us down responding to a tape. Peregrine Falcon on a telephone pole, Dave had named his road when required Peregrine Lane. Then he led me to Falma's place where she had her first hummer. Between Dave and Falma I added about eighty tics! including his directions for a stop on the way to Camus NWR netting a Sage Sparrow. Turns out his wife is the top lister in Idaho. Talk about some inside info. Camus was good but I'd already seen a lot of the species around Challis. I also tried a neat place called Market Lake WMA, which was rich, but more than an hour of intense scoping didn't turn up the Red-necked Phalarope that had been there earlier.

And since it was still light I crossed over the border into Montana so I could spend a night at my favorite campground at Red Rocks Lakes NWR. Too bad the road had just been torn up by a grader 'cause it's twenty miles to the camp, and another twenty going east to hit another paved road. It's at the east end of the Centennial Valley. Winter had either ended the day before, or would a couple of days later. The willow osiers were slightly red, there was some new green coming up, but it was a cold night.

Moose and Magpies

Monday, May 17

Woke to cold foggy drumming by a Ruffed Grouse. Walked and birded the road away from the campsite past a pond where I'd seen my first Trumpeter Swan many years earlier when they were still rare. Most of the birds re-introduced around the west had been captured at Red Rocks, which had one of the few remaining viable populations. I guess I was too early for them, none seen, and the duck variety hadn't built to its breeding peak yet. But there were a few pushing-the-envelope passerine arrivals riding the edge of the season. I braced myself for the drive east, the grader hadn't come that far, but the road sucked from not being graded, and from being a mountain dirt road over the divide at the end of winter. Strangely enough I picked up twelve tics for MT, some sparrows, and this and that.

Eventually I was back in Idaho, and pavement, and the long watched for Mountain Bluebird. Also found Red-necked Grebes in exactly the spot the old Idaho bird-finder book had promised, great looks, but they were gone minutes later like magic. And a Cooper's Hawk in somebody's yard sitting on a mailbox. I wanted to try a couple of places near West Yellowstone, but was driven out by tourist grossness. There had been some shorebird reports from the area, and I managed to get in touch with the guy who reported them, who gave me directions. I followed them until it was clear I was getting way the hell back into nowhere, and still had to walk a mile of swamp to reach a small inlet where there might be a few birds. Talked myself out of it and started back, and got a Dusky Grouse.

I had been hoping to visit with a friend in Jackson Hole and drove down the east side of ID though Driggs and Victor, the bedroom suburbs of Jackson where the folks who serve the food and mind the shops have to live since its marginally affordable. Requires going over Teton Pass twice a day, and it's a long steep puppy. Brake grinder. When I got to Mary's place on the ranch her dad owned it turned out she and her husband were split, he somehow had the house on the ranch that had always seemed to be hers, she was gone and nobody there would confess to knowing where, dad was gone away for the day. The whole situation had a distinct whiff of lawyers. I was appalled. I drove on into Jackson, found one book in a used bookstore, missed another friend at the bookstore where she worked, and was mostly grossed out by the stink of money. Drove south and west back into Idaho and slept in a little empty campground by the highway in the National Forest.

Tuesday, May 18

Went past Gray's Lake NWR, but there is almost no public access to it. Saw a few birds from the highway. My goal was Mink Creek just east of Pocatello, a place I had tagged as "don't miss". It was great. Met a birder first thing named Bob Davis who quickly sent me up a great trail, the first to the left after entering the natural area, maybe eight new tics in a half mile walk, and then met up with him again to work over some more developed trails higher up the road. I blew him away with the owl tape, and later sent him a copy. "Crack for Birds" he called it. I followed him sorta to American Falls where we found more good stuff including a Common Loon and some more species at the fish hatchery. He had also recommended Curlew National Grasslands, and that was the last stop before leaving Idaho. Got lucky and found some running irrigation which had attracted gulls and Caspian Terns. Last bird for ID was a Sage Thrasher just before leaving and heading over the border back into Utah. Bob's guidance got me about 25 more tics, and I ended up adding 110 for the days I spent in Idaho, totaling 145, and getting more than 30% of the state's species. Mission accomplished, really.

To see the last few posts from this trip, go to the top of the page and click "Bird Traveling". That will put you at the intro section of the blog. Then go down the archive list and click June 2010.

Texas Lifer Trip, March 1-12 2010

2010-03-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

Part 1 - Moving stuff to Mississippi

Monday, March 1, 2010 - What motivated the trip was knowing there were three lifers in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas and a job moving a truck-load of furniture to the Mississippi coast. Once I was there it seemed I would be halfway to south Texas, so why not? I spent Monday, March 1, 2010 loading the big U-Haul, helped by friends Rob and Ouizel, and then loading plants into my pickup. The U-Haul went back to the rental place for overnight parking, I went home and in the morning drove into town , loaded my truck on a car-carrier trailer, hooked that to the U-Haul, and headed south. I stayed on Interstates as far as possible since I'm lousy at backing up trailers and wanted minimum excitement. Eureka to Fayetteville to Fort Smith to Memphis to Jackson. Decided I deserved a decent night's sleep, so pulled into a motel with a spacious lot. The desk-clerk gave me a free upgrade to a room that turned out to be used for storage or something, a real mess. It would have been OK if the wifi had worked, but that was mess too. So then a rigmarole getting a refund. The next motel wanted over a hundred bucks for one person on a week-night. The next few motels were in Jackson, and the access was of the parallel business road, and where to get off to get to anyplace was obscure. I ended up sleeping on the hard shiny cold front seat of the U-Haul after pulling my sleeping bag out of the pickup in back. So much for comfort.

The next day the sun was out and it was warming up. Got to the house in Pass Christian, unloaded the trucks with help from Sean and Justin, returned the U-Haul and trailer, and had finished the first objective. The temporary library had wifi, and there was a report of a rarity right in Pass C. Walking distance. I got to see the first state record Hooded Oriole and met two couples of good local birders. They sent me to try some other places and I ended up adding two MS tics. There were also reports of good birds in New Orleans to try for the next day. Slept in the truck at Sean's in Pass after a Popeye's dinner. I love Popeye's.

Cold night and frosty morning. Started working on furniture assembly, but ran into snags mating reality with the owner's vision. Chasing hummers and Long-billed Curlews, but no luck yet. Did drive over to a levee behind a subdivision in Plaquemines Parish, met 2 good local birders who knew what to look for and where, and ended up with three nice flycatcher tics, Vermilion, Scissor-tail, and a western type. Went back to Pass and found a Mississippi Kite in one of the local birder's back-yard. More Popeye's.

Put more furniture together, and found my target hummer and Curlew, actually three of them on a sandy bight in Gulfport. Other shoreline sites got a couple of other ordinary tics. Got in contact with the master hummer bander in NOLA, and we decided to meet the next day, Saturday, at her house where she has four species on her feeders. The truck had a misfire episode, something I thought had been fixed, but I had lingering doubts in spite of the reassurance of the reputedly good garage that had done the work, that the antifreeze I thought I smelled was something else.

The next day was a slow start but I managed to find Nancy Newfield's house. She was really neat and very helpful, first showing off her yard birds, then driving me to a friend's house to see a Black-headed Grosbeak, all the time filing me in on local birding culture and critters. Somewhere in there I worked on the truck too, after buying a better socket wrench and using a good dose of black pepper for stop-leak, an old Arkansas remedy. After hummers I went by to visit my friend Christine, we had lunch and I attempted to remember enough algebra to help her with her class. That done I drove straight for Lacassine NWR, and slept on the corner of the pool right at the gate. Great stars.

Part 2 - Birding into Texas

Sunday, March 7 - Morning was foggy, and I woke to a Brown Thrasher calling near the truck. I drove the Lacassine Pool loop, but it seemed deserted compared to the numbers that had been there on the CBC. The whole island of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks was gone. Apparently the farthest south wintering waterfowl had already started north by the first week of March. The loop at Cameron Prairie NWR was the same story, and I was sorta lackadaisical, just stopping when I felt like it, not being methodical or driven, actually it was rather nice, just birdwatching, not listing. My main efforts that way were at sites that Nancy had suggested, and I did find two new LA species, though not the ones I was seeking. Probably the neatest thing I saw was a Caracara gently land on the back of his mate, and copulate after he had been hanging out and sharing a morsel. Then it was hit the road hard and drive to Choke Canyon State Park northwest of Corpus, a place that gets more than its share of rarities. I had seen my lifer Cave Swallow there many years ago. When I arrived it was well after dark, I had no idea where to go, but a ranger came by and told me the general area to camp.

Next morning was a steady drizzle, but I set up the scope under a fish-cleaning shelter and proceeded to study the facing pool methodically from the right side. No luck and it was big enough that I had visions of needing to walk all around it in the rain with the scope to find my bird. Just as I was finishing up the scan down the return of the levee that led back to the parking area it was there. The bright yellow flash of the under-wings caught my eye, more like stabbed it. It was less than fifty yards off and truly amazing and beautiful. Northern Jacana. It stayed in the same area for well over an hour, I was able to put a couple of birders from Maine right on it. Maybe I should have let them search it out themselves, but it was like a jewel I had to show off.

Next stop was an Amish Farm about thirty miles toward Corpus, where there had been a Northern Wheatear available to all the birders in Texas for over a month. One of the young men who was farming there said they had over maybe 400 visitors in the previous weeks. It's normally an Alaska bird, and would have been an amazing zootie, but I had seen my first in Connecticut the year before. I was jaded, but since it wasn't being real cooperative in the rain, (the farm was a mud-pie,I felt sorry for the horses) it was a good thing I had some familiarity since I was only getting glimpses, not lingering views.

Then it was a longer drive than you'd expect to Falcon State Park, distances in Texas are deceptive in the road atlas. I had no sooner paid my fee, an very comfortable $10 per night, and started driving to the campground when a small hawk flew in front of the truck and landed about forty feet off the road about half-way up a tree. Made the almost very first bird in the park the Roadside Hawk that was the main target. Vertical chest stripes over horizontal belly stripes, Cooper's size. Good thing too since it didn't show at any of its regular perches the rest of the time I was there. It had cleared off to be tee-shirt weather, and I hiked the long circular nature trail, then had a great long hot shower.

Woke up way too early, had to wait for a bodega to open for coffee, then drove the sixty miles into the urban Valley, Mission and so forth. Had to wait for the World Birding Center, so-called, at Bentson to open. It was disappointing. Previous trips had found a skilled and knowledgeable staff who were passionate about birds. It had been taken over by the state, and the new staff was young and clocking time in their secure state job. Things were better at Santa Ana NWR, but the timing in terms of the season was off, and it was not nearly as exciting as it had been some times. I tried another place, Quinta Mazatlan, for a Crimson Collared Grosbeak, but again the staff was uninvolved. Hadn't filled any of the many feeders, and there were few birds other than pigeons and woodpeckers. No Grosbeak. The net showed some sightings off and on in the few weeks after that, but the bird clearly wasn't settled in, probably hanging at other feeders in the neighborhood. One gets found in the valley every two or three years so I'll get another chance most likely. I was sorta depressed by poor birding, and also a bad head cold that had been running all week. Finally headed back up-river to Salineno, where there were good birds and good birders. Had two Gray Hawks fly over plus most of the regular specialties. Went back to Falcon, bought another night, and took a long afternoon nap.

Finally got a decent nights sleep, maybe the cold was wearing out, and spent the first part of the morning birding the heavy camping loop, the place where folks put out feeders. It was sorta like the Bentson of the old days, with he same kind of good "snowbird" RV birders. Then I hooked up with he morning bird walk with a Brit docent named Wendy. She was great, very good birder and botanist, knew the usual hangouts for some good species. Funny too. When that was over I started the return trip, through Corpus, made stops at Hazel Bazemore County Park, a first time for that place. Will never skip it again. Great habitat variety with a nice river. Also drove into the city to make a stop at Hans Suter City Park, the best hundred square feet of birding in the United States. Did not let me down, incredible numbers and variety of waterfowl, waders, Spoonbills, gulls including an immature Glaucous, all stretched across the bay as far as you could see. Then drove up Mustang Island to the Ferry in Port Aransas, a big mistake at rush hour. Took over an hour to get across the pass, they were short boats and facilities, still suffering from Hurricane Rita. Got into Goose Island State Park in the dark, deciphered, I thought, the signs and camped there.

Birding was real good in the morning along the Gulf-shore, not great numbers, but a very satisfying variety. When I went by the office to show proof that I'd paid the night before they gave me a hard time about paying too much. I thought I was gonna be arrested for telling them to keep the change. From there it was a slog of driving. Couldn't get into Brazoria NWR for some reason, and then the Galveston Ferry took forever, same story, Rita damaged facilities. High Island was foggy and depressing, more damage to the great woods that made it such good birding in migration. Ended up camping in a remote place in Kissamee National Forest that took forever to find. Finished listening to two books on tape that had been my salvation while plodding along.

Some cops woke me up in the night looking for a fugitive, always a thrill, lots of flashlights and voices, me groggy, but remembering to say loudly "I'm gonna open the lid" before springing the camper-shell window in their faces. That was 4:30am, and I didn't get back to sleep. Drove on north to Shreveport and was able to find a couple of very nice spots and one jerk of a PhD who was in charge of some facility. Could not get him to take me seriously when I had questions, talked to me like a child. Probably graduate school induced brain/soul damage. I was really glad to get home around ten, worn out by the mountain roads in the dark with another idiot tailgating with ultra bright LED headlights on their BMW. Birds are wonderful, birding is exhausting.

The wet and wearing December 09 Gulf Coast CBC trip

2009-12-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

Overview

One of the best ways to fill out a state list in the off seasons is to participate in Christmas Bird Counts. This is mostly cause you can team up with very strong local birders and visit obscure or inaccessible places. A killer combination for finding uncommon or very localized species. I was close to the ABA threshold in both Mississippi and Louisiana, and not too far out in Florida. Along the Gulf coast these are tightly packed and one can visit all four in a single day if necessary. I figured if I got down there before the focal CBC season, it would be possible to cover some other areas, and would give the lists a real boost.

It pretty much worked out that way. I was able to list MS on this trip, and LA in a couple of days on a trip later in the new year. Pushed Florida into a very enticing 44% also, so that one more good trip there in prime time would do the trick. Alabama just goes along for the ride on each Gulf trip, but it's starting to add up. The problem there is I tend to bird the same small area along the coast over and over which doesn't build a list as fast as poking into places all over the state. There was a problem with rain. Dec 09 was the wettest month in Louisiana history including months that had hurricanes. In New Orleans it was something over 25 inches, and it was wet all along there, on over to the Florida Panhandle.

Most of this is written almost a year later, so it's weak on details, and doesn't have the "shine" of a fresh report.

First week, Dec 1-6, 2009

Tuesday - Went by friend Barbara's and loaded doors and plants with help from Ouizel, wrapping it all in tarps, to transport to house in Mississippi. Packed full but stable. Then drove non-stop to Memphis and hang at Outlands Internet Cafe until friend Shiloh got home. Good visiting starts.
Wednesday - Rained all day, but the load seemed to stay dry. Had a grease-ball breakfast with Nancy Feraldi, Shiloh's mom, former neighbor in the old hippie days in Tick Holler. S had a problem with low water pressure in the tub, and I wanted a hot bath for the pleasure of it. Took the faucets apart, but finally discovered a whole house filter that hadn't been serviced. That was a quick fix with instant gratification in a hot soak. Shiloh even gave me a haircut, and later we all went for BBQ around the corner. Bad news was a trojan infection on the Gateway laptop, my main unit, the antivirus picked it up after a bunch of (it turns out) less used and non-essential programs got some malicious code added. Still had another laptop so not screwed completely.
Thursday - Rain stopped, drove on down to Pass Christian, where Sean was also staying upstairs in the house that survived Katrina. I stayed downstairs, got the computer repaired somewhat, pulled out all the infected programs to quarantine, and transferred the most important data to the Netbook. Birding records were OK. We unloaded the plants and whatnot, I grabbed some Popeye's and bought pillows from Wally. Pretty chilly.
Friday - Very successful day birding in MS, 16 new species for the state. Birded the Gulfport piers, Seaman Road landfill, where they let me in, then chased me down and told me to leave, and MS Sandhill Crane NWR. Actually found some of the special cranes way up on the north edge. I made contact with my friend Angela as well, but she's encumbered by a visitor for now. 46% MS.
Saturday - Up early, the days are short, and there was a bitter cold wind, the gulf coast can be bone chilling with the humidity driven through any number of layers. Found Loons and Horned Grebes. Then I went over to Waveland and circled around southern Hancock County. The road along the pass was still bad from Katrina, but I found some good places by poking around, and added 8 more MS tics. Kept on west into Louisiana, stopped at Bayou Sauvage NWR, which was really hammered by Katrina, the whole woods that surrounded the boardwalk was gone, no more owl tree. really sad. On into the city where I contacted friends, and ended up staying on a couch at Angela's where I would make my base camp for the month. She's a fine exemplar of southern hospitality at it's best. Really enjoyed seeing all the beautiful work she's done on her house, including raising it above the next flood. The waters had reached the top entry step.
Sunday - A little warmer, and some better weather predicted. Around noon I got away to Grand Isle for scouting. Found some shorebirds in one spot where runoff from construction had created a shallow flowing wetland, and a Palm Warbler, but it really didn't seem worth staying since the state park was expensive. I had another state park lined up, but the reality of the roads finally stopped me on the side by a farm with fishermen rattling by in the night. I was about 15 miles north of Franklin.

Exploring east to Florida

2009-12-29T06:23:00.000-08:00

Week 2, December 7-13, 2009

Monday - There hadn't been any rain predicted, but it started in the night and got pretty intense before dawn, but it stopped as the day lit up. It actually got fairly warm, and I got down to a tee shirt before noon, the only time that happened on this trip. I was headed for the Cameron area, one of the best in Louisiana, and took the most southerly paved road along the coast, a "scenic and natural by-way". It passed the Rockefeller WMA, which is huge and mostly inaccessible except by water, and then only during certain seasons. But the large lakes right along the highway were great, and one short side-road yielded all three Merganser species see-able from one spot.

From there I drove to Cameron Prairie NWR and Sabine NWR, drove the tour loop in the former and walked the Marshland trail in the latter, both highly recommended. The fun was cut short by more un-predicted rain that ran into the evening. I took advantage of the forced car time to find Peveto Woods, a small sanctuary that regularly produces a variety of rarities, owned by the Baton Rouge Audubon Society (BRAS). It's the most prominent copse of trees along a coastline that's mostly salt-marsh, and truly a refuge for some lost and exhausted woodland critters. I headed on west to the bridge over the Sabine River hoping for a glimpse of Cave Swallows but they seemed to have been driven away, hopefully temporarily, by the construction of a new high-rise version of the old water level wooden structure with its endless small enclosed spaces. Their fate will depend a lot on how much of the old structure is allowed to remain.

Somehow, I'd crossed the bridge and was in Texas, and it didn't look too hard to loop around back into LA, but it ended up being a black hole of refineries and roads that made little sense to my tired senses, even with the GPS. And it was raining to drain gumption and when I found a truck-stop near Lafayette, I crashed there.

Tuesday - Intense rain in the night, enough to find a couple of pinhole leaks, lots of noise on the thin camper-shell roof, but it drowned and smoothed the truck idling roar of the 18 wheelers. I was up before dawn and drove back into New Orleans, checking out some site in and near the Bonnet Carre spillway. I found some new LA tics even in the rain lulls, but mostly was grooving on the great flocks of Ibises, both Whites and probably mostly Glossies (the transistion zone between Glossy and White-faced is actually not far west), that were in all the shallow rain puddled yards and any other flat areas. It had been a lot of rain.

I got into NOLA about ten, went to Angela's house, hung with her brother and my friend Gates the great musician, took a nap to compensate for the poor sleep the night before. She came home along with her boyfriend Tedd, both on the faculty at ???? He's an artist and together they have made the house a work of art. It has lots of careful but inexpensive detailing filled in with very neat doors and cabinets, interesting ceiling lines, and comfortable porches ideal for the New Orleans evenings. We stayed up late talking and starting a major jigsaw puzzle of Shakespearian characters. Angela had played Hamlet in a production a few years earlier, but I haven't seen the tape of it yet. It had some very good reviews.

Wednesday - I slept fairly well since I'd been promoted from the couch to the guest room, actually her son's who was away at college. Start was a little late, but then headed east back into MS where I checked out a couple more sites, but the real goal was Dauphin Island in Alabama, a famous birding place, but unfortunately wrecked by Katrina which had taken down the majority of the larger trees in the Audubon Sanctuary. I didn't stay there too long as I wanted to get the ferry across Mobile Bay to Ft Morgan. But did manage to find two very good birds, one a Bonaparte's Gull, and an even more surprising Western Kingbird from the parking lot on the south side of the Dauphin Is fort. I had good luck with the ferry timing, and so didn't linger on the western shore. I was the only paying vehicle on the ferry. The crew was the Captain, his mate, and a young woman deckhand who operated all the gates and such, the other car was hers, used to drive up the approach roads to open them on the eastern end.

I had some good luck in Bon Secour NWR, getting farther back into it than I'd been on previous stops, into an area of scrubby small dunes with occasional pools, but surprisingly birdy. And a pleasant mellow unwinding kind of place. I ended up staying at Gulf State Park, $23 and a senior discount, and a Great Horned Owl calling. Ended getting ten new AL tics without any great effort, probably could have found more if I'd been able to access more shoreline, or had known of some freshwater wetland site nearby. I learned later that the CBC there, Gulf Shores, is consistently one of the highest counts in the country, but couldn't wait it out since it's after the first of the year, making it one of the latest in the area.

Thursday - It turned cold in the night with a stiff north wind. I birded around the park, back to Bon Secour, tried some sites around Gulf Shores, and then drifted into Florida. Once I got there it was mostly driving, and I ended up finding a large empty parking lot in a sanctuary zone on the St Joseph Peninsula. There was a State Park I wanted to be in position for in the morning. The stars were crystalline that night.

Friday - But dawn was cloudy and cold, and the park didn't open for another two hours. I tried to access the shore and the bay, but most of the land was private. I did find one Gulf side access, and one Bay-side behind a gas station. The good spot turned out to be a county park along the short east-west road that led back to the mainland. Spent most of two hours in there walking an intricate system of trails, with some higher viewpoints. Found good birds that had piled up when the land ran out going south. In Apalachicola the NERR office was open. Great place and very friendly and helpful folks. They gave me info, posters, booklets, lists and whatnot. Also lots of advice on local spots and current birds-of-interest. Met Alan Knothe, the CBC coordinator who made me yearn to try that one some year, but as it turned out it was too distant to work in with the others I had book-marked.

I drove on up to St Mark's NWR, and ended up sleeping under the fire-tower across the highway from Outses Two, the little roadhouse where I've had several good meals and a couple of floods. I had picked up ten new tics, and was well over 40%, making FL a focus for some near-future efforts.

Saturday - I woke up around 1am, couldn't get back to sleep, and finally decided to try to catch dawn at Wakulla Point beach. Sat in the dark working on the official checklist, catching up the written record. It started raining, and by dawn it was a steady rain and cold wind, but still a few shorebirds emerged out of the gray fog. Headed back to St Mark's HQ after grabbing some food (Subway breakfast units are quite good) and lucked into a tour group that was gonna ride around in an open wagon affair behind a pick-up. I guess quite a few folks had failed to show, it was raining like hell, and I had little trouble cadging an abandoned spot on the ride.

What a ride, possibly one of the most uncomfortable birding experiences of a lifetime. To start with the wagon was open sided, which wasn't true of the pick-up pulling it, at 35 mph, in driving rain that just came through horizontally mixed with the road spray. By the time he stopped and we could mention the need for slow, we and the optics were already seriously wet. I had on a good Gore-tex jacket, but not pants, and managed to cover the eye piece of the scope with a plastic bag. Our route took us back into closed areas of the refuge, and the birding was great. The roof of the wagon was flat, or maybe even slightly concave. At each stop and start and each turn a sheet of water would pour off some random edge of the roof to be driven half the time through the inside by the wind. Sitting was hopeless, standing was treacherous and the birding was great. Bitterns, all kinds of ducks and waders, some shorebirds, a Long-tailed Duck, and after unloading at the Visitor's Center and restoring some dry to person and gear, I drove back down to the beach at the lighthouse, and with some other fanatics was able to find a Neotropic Cormorant on the offshore pilings. Even more tics, but I'd had enough and headed back toward New Orleans.

I stopped at St George Island State Park to check out camping, $26, too much, maybe one night some day at the peak of spring migration. But there were some places before the park gate that were productive. I ended up driving into Tate's Hell, a weird gnarly woodland and State Forest, and ended up sleeping literally on the side of the road. Not much traffic out there.

Sunday - Intermittent rain in the night. And most of the day as well. I was by a great prairie that the bird-finder said was great for winter sparrows, but it would have been another drenching slog and I hadn't the heart for it. Instead I went to the Tall Timbers Research Station which was excellent, it even had an enclosed viewing room over looking a wetland, and I found three tics there as well as another driving through Tallahassee. Then I just drove west for five hours and ended at the boat landing at Grand Bay NERR on the eastern edge of Mississippi. There were supposedly a few Brewer's Blackbirds there, mixed with the gazillion Red-wings, and I'd also been told that Yellow Rail was possible by walking the power-line that ran by the lab building, but it turned out to be a definite high boots or waders situation. The mosquitoes at the landing drove me back to a parking space in front of the lab where I spent the night,

Beginnings of CBCs

2009-12-28T05:33:00.000-08:00

Week 3, December 14-20, 2009

Monday - In the morning at the NERR, I went back to the boat landing, pretty foggy conditions, but as the sun broke through I was able to find one yellow-eyed Blackbird, a Brewer's, amongst the Red-wings. Then a short drive north to the Pascagoula River Audubon Center was worth the trouble since the guy there was able to direct me to some likely spots, and in particular, the nest of a Bald Eagle. I tried several others hoping for White Ibis, but they have eluded me in MS. I did finally find a flock of dark Ibis while crossing a bridge in that area. I headed back to Pass Christian for some library geeking in the trailer that served for a library while the new replacement for the Katrina wreck was finished. Also laundry and a bath, thorough immersion in civilization. Hung out in the evening with Sean and Justin, and slept in the truck for another long night of rain

Tuesday - I hit some MS sites with my wish list and eventually found three more species. My timing was bad for Seaman Rd, and I missed the Hancock County CBC since I never heard back from the coordinator. Probably my fault as I'd waited until the last minute to contact them having been away from wifi for a few days. I headed back into New Orleans in the rain, and stayed at Angela's again, where I got caught up in the ongoing jigsaw puzzle. It kept me up late, but that didn't seem to matter as more big rain was predicted.

Wednesday - The rain didn't materialize, so it was a social day started by a visit with my friend Christine, then a Chinese lunch with my friend Teona who filled me with tales of marriage, children, house buying, traffic tickets and so on. Back to Angela's. She was an angel to put up with me during this quest, and I regret that we didn't get to actually spend more time talking. She was caught up in the end-of-term business, and the rapidly accelerating Christmas social whirl.

Christine at her house in Marigny

Thursday - There's a day missing here.

Friday - Woke up in a truck stop in Louisiana, then headed down to Cameron Parish area with a scouting stop at Lacassine NWR. Also made stops at Cameron Prairie, Holly Beach, Peveto Woods, and Sabine. Slept at the inter-coastal Canal Park north of Sabine, a nice little free place.

Bare honeycombs near Lacassine town

Saturday - Sabine CBC - I was up very early to meet Theresa Cross, the birder I shared our assigned count area with. We mostly did Sabine Refuge, including the headquarters, marsh trails, roadsides, and then along the highway into Holly Beach, where we walked something like three miles of beaches. We birded, she kept the paperwork organized, I carried the scope a lot, and were generally successful through a tiring day. lots of walking, a lot on sand. Big deal was the Burrowing Owl that had been found previously in Holly, but it wasn't in the culvert where it had been, probably driven out by flooding. We looked around and another pair of birders found it, I made run for it, Christine chose to finish some notes, and when she arrived it had disappeared again. But we got it for the count on count day. We also had a Caracara, and a great look at a Virginia Rail, right in front of the scopes, bigger than full field. Ended the day with another Marsh Loop walk and my legs were killing me. Christine invited me to dinner, but I was way too whooped to deal with anything but sleeping again at the park.

Sunday - Lacassine CBC - I was up well before dawn to drive to Jennings and the Lacassine CBC organization meet-up, but it had taken way longer than I'd planned, so I missed getting assigned to a group. Still, they let me do the Lacassine Pool. Since I was alone I made a stop at the office area, which had some good birds, but not the hoped for Eagle. At the pool I never did catch up with the official group, but did find 5 more LA tics, and found a Caracara there too, which I been especially warned to note carefully as far as flight direction and such. I emailed my stuff the next day. On the way back to Grand Isle I tried to stop and sleep at Indian Creek. A deputy roused me, he said it was alright with him for me to crash, but it was against the real rules. Since his shift ended at midnight, and I'd have to talk to another guy, I decided to keep going. It's a fair drive from the Interstate on a lousy road, and wasn't fun to drive back in the dark. Still. Ended up driving to another truck stop in Plaquemines south of Baton Rouge.

Two more CBCs

2009-12-27T07:20:00.000-08:00

Week 4, Dec 21-27, 2009

Monday - I must have been tired since I slept well, or at least soundly, in spite of lots of floodlights and a bunch of trains going by. Once again up early and drive to Houma in the fog. Found Mandalay NWR, a really nice small refuge, with some very good birds including Wilson's Warbler and a Sora heard. Then I drove a side trip exploration down the peninsula to Cocodrie. No particular birds, but I wasn't taking full advantage of opportunities since I still needed to get to Grande Isle and in place for the count the next day. Found three more shorebird tics, including Ruddy Turnstone, a late in the season good find. The manager Leo at the grocery where the group was to meet in the morning said it would be OK to sleep in his lot. That was a real convenience since I'd found the State Park too expensive to use just to sleep. Didn't even mind the guy with the whining blower cleaning the lot before dawn.

Tuesday - Grande Isle CBC - Great good luck got me assigned to a group birding Elmer's Island, a place that had been out of circulation for awhile until the state bought it and opened it up for a Management Area. We were the first CBC team in several years to get to go in there. More luck was that the golden opportunity meant that several of the best birders in the state were on the team including David Muth, Martin Guidry, and Dan Purrington. There was another whose name I didn't get down, but of the same caliber. I was way outclassed. We worked hard in the salt marshes on the way out to get Nelson's Sparrows, which were abundant, also many Clapper Rails [***LINK***]. Further out on the beaches, which were quite drivable to the very end of the bar, we found great waders, including Reddish Egret, lots of mixed sandpipers and plovers including Wilson's, but my incessant scanning of the shrubbery never got an Ani. We were there all morning. Wonderful birding. Later back on the main drag I birded the TNC plot of woods, partly with Chris Brantly, who found a very unusual Western Tanager, but I never got to see the Painted Bunting that eluded me, but not him, in a tree. I ended up adding eight LA tics without staying to the very end, and was back at Angela's in NOLA at sundown. We visited for a little and went to a small soiree at a neighbor's house where one couple told a story of parental responsibility that I found inspiring for it's sense and tactics. But I fell out really tired, no wonder.

Wednesday - Up about five and out to Bayou Sauvage where the birding must have been good, I've noted 2 new tics in the journal, but don't recall what they were. Met a guy named Mike who was just getting started at birding, and we went around together some. I drove around the City Park Lakeshore, and then into the park around the museum to take up some time before heading down to Frenchman St to meet my friend Kerry Leigh where she tended bar in a very hip little joint called the Spotted Cat. I hung out there and watched the Charleston dance lessons, and for some music after that, then back to Angela's.

Thursday - After some small morning talk and holiday hugs I headed off for the North Shore to bird around Big Branch Marsh NWR, but I was being frustrated by Christmas Eve traffic, closed roads and offices, and more rain. So I went over to Pass Christian after shopping for a nice bird feeder set-up for Angela, and getting some stuff for the truck and the kit. I wanted it to be a sincere thank-you present for having a civilized place to recuperate in from time to time. In the Pass, I stayed at the Scott's and slept a long time in more rain.

Friday - Christmas - Rainy and windy all night, but clearing at dawn. Lots of troubling dreams, maybe just the unsettled weather. Got a load of laundry done in the little hurricane battered laundromat, and then birded my way back into New Orleans. Stopped at the New Orleans East IHOP where the folks were to meet the next day, treated myself to a greaseball breakfast for dinner, and slept in back of the restaurant in an abandoned hurricane battered parking lot. Convenient location, gas and food nearby, not much lighting and quiet.

Saturday - New Orleans CBC, mostly NOLA East - My team was Dan Purrington as leader and driver, and a couple named Dan and Lisa. We had pretty good luck, lots of birds and a fair variety. Really good count of Common Loons Dan told me later. Mostly we drove around on muddy levees inside Bayou Sauvage, closed areas that I'd never see but for the count, with some other stops for good places that he knew. One was an abandoned Interstate interchange which had a lot of grown up scrubby habitat, and some good birds including my best find, an immature Indigo Bunting. I didn't realize it was significant until David Muth asked for a sighting card at the compilation dinner. A year later almost and he had even made a note of it in the national CBC summary publication. We were at Mona's just down the street from The Spotted Cat, and I hung out with Kerry Leigh until her shift started at nine. Some folks from Arkansas came by and we visited, then I headed back to the IHOP since Angela's was filled with friends and family.

Sunday - Dan had told me where I might find a Screech-Owl in City Park, so I was over there before first light playing a tape. It was pretty light and I'd walked around for more than an hour before I finally got a really nice response. I was back at a place on a path I'd tried earlier in the dark, and the bird came out of the trees flying by me and landed about twenty feet away on a low branch about twelve feet off the ground. It was making the quiet whinny call and staring at me, the source of the suspect stranger in its territory. So I tried my imitation of a whinny, but it wasn't very good, and it stood up straight, shook it's head as if to say, "hey, you're a fake", and flew off. This is a much better story when I imitate the bird. Still, a really good look. Drove out to Bayou Sauvage again, Recovery Road, to find an Ash-throated Flycatcher with a Least Bittern thrown in for lagniappe. Then I drove over to the North Shore to explore some sites around Mandeville, ended up taking a long nap sitting in the truck in view of a neat little Light House. Also checked out the Ramsey Preserve, walked a ways in the tall grass hoping to scare up a Henslow's Sparrow, but no luck. Ended up in the evening at my friend Lindy's house in Mandeville. She's a professional cook and made a great simple meat and potatoes dinner that was perfect for a wandering Taurus birder. Her house has this incredible secret pond behind it, nestled down in a small hollow, and simply alive with critters. I slept really well in the sun-room that overlooks it.

Last CBC, and home

2009-12-26T05:36:00.000-08:00

Dec 28, '09 - Jan 1, '10

Monday - Pretty laid back day. Birded the Northshore Nature Center right outside Mandeville across from Fountainbleau State Park. I've birded the park before too, and it's really good. When I was there it was right after Katrina, there were big piles of downed trees, but the thing that sticks in my memory was the man at the gatehouse who said that the thing he lost in the storm that he regretted more than anything was his life list of bird sightings. A lesson there, and why I multiply back up my records on three kinds of media. I did some shopping, and got a nice feeder setup for Angela, with a big good quality feeder, a metal hanging hook, some feed, and a water dish to set up a dripper. Back at Lindy's we watched TV, which of course I don't remember, and told each other stories.
Tuesday - Northshore/Slidell CBC - Great good luck got me assigned to Bill Wayman, a fine birder and someone intimate with the area we had to cover. Basically it was both sides of the Rigolets, the inlet between the Gulf and Lake Pontchartrain, one of the main routes of the storm surge into the lake where it broke out into the city. The rest is history, sadly. We had pretty good luck, and in fact had the highest species count for any team, 88, including one new for the count, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck. Bill knew tiny little spots that paid off, a little almost hidden mud patch for shorebirds, abandoned subdivisions, little views through the vegetation onto duck filled ponds, the spot on the old fort wall that was reliable for Spotted Sandpiper. He was a great person to spend a day with, and gave me the combination to his gated community house the next day to find a Rufous Hummer. We attended the compilation somewhere out there, I could never find it again since he was driving. Back to Lindy's.
Wednesday - Went by for the hummer, worked on getting Lindy's cable and wifi working, don't know that I actually accomplished anything, Then drove into New Orleans to deliver the feeder to Angela. Strangely enough, it was raining. I had pretty much done what I came for, and looking at the rain, just decided to go home. Drove all the way to Memphis in the rain, and arrived at Shiloh's around 8:30.
Thursday - New Year's Eve - Spent the day getting email set up on my backup Netbook computer, helped with prep for a small party, bought a couple of Pizzas, played games, talked to friends and strangers, and said goodbye to 2009.

Morning helping with some cleanup and talk with Shiloh, then home where everything was fine even though I'd run out the whole tank of gas that I left turned on for bare-bones heat. It must have been cooler than usual, but no frozen pipes or plants.

Even though it was the rainiest month in history in Louisiana, including months with hurricanes, every CBC day was dry and even nice, no terribly windy days either. Five CBCs in LA had put me in great shape for making the 50% threshold for the ABA list, but I was still short a few tics.

An account of a trip to New England etc in fall 2009

2009-09-18T07:42:00.000-07:00

Getting to the East Coast

August 26, Wednesday

Various delays had forced a late start and haste getting to the east coast where I hoped to catch the southbound shorebird migration. First I headed north into Missouri, and a place called Eagle Bluffs CA, south of Columbia, where the local birders had established it as hotspot. I hadn't been there before. It was deceptively hard to get into since there was a single route, and none too direct. Once there, it had great promise, but not on the particular day I arrived. I spent an hour there, and lost another from the detour. I was attracted by the promise of shorebirds there as well as at my next stop, Otter Slough CA, which I had been to and which was very attractive, as well as the area roundabouts. Once more I came up short on shorebirds, but did manage a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. I found several of those on the trip, and though generally just a flitting form in the canopy, the distinctive call was a theme for the trip. Per-weee. A lot like a Peewee but without the tonal dip in the middle, and never followed by a second installment of we-ooo. It's surprising that they call so much in the fall.

From there I crossed into Tennessee, and made a stop at the north end of Reelfoot NWR. It wasn't very birdy, but there was one critter on a fence-line that reminded me of something I'd seen in a field guide, but never could find it. Just another mystery. From there it was north into Kentucky where I camped at a Land-between-the-Lakes campground. Reasonable and fully equipped, and a short drive to the morning target. I drove 500 miles in fourteen hours, so there really wasn't much birding.

August 27, Thursday

In the morning I birded around the campground briefly, then north back out of the park and over to the Clark's River NWR office as they opened. It's the only NWR in Kentucky. It's new enough that it's not very consolidated or developed, so the map is a patchwork, stretched out in pieces along the river. I picked a couple of spots that didn't require a long drive and birded those. I managed to hit 30% in KY, but the rest of the day was mostly driving. I cut into Indiana for Big Oaks NWR, but found that access was limited in time and space, it's an old military proving ground, complete with UXOs (Unexploded Ordinance), orientation sessions, and signed waivers. Good thing I got there too late to actually get to an accessible area. But there's a state park SW of Madison, Clifty Falls, that looked really promising, river access on the Ohio, geology, and access to the historic part of town. Some other time.

Back across the river to Big Bone Lick SP, site of early paleontological finds that put the early US on that science's map and caught Thomas Jefferson's attention. Too bad that the genuine sites have been swallowed by the meandering river, and camping seemed too dear as well. I kept driving. I was following the river, passing lots of big industry, some active, some moth-balled by the current bad economy or the march of far eastern technology. Still very impressive. I drove well into dark along the northern bank, 620 miles for the day. Finally found camping north of Ironton at Vesuvius Lake. I was in good position for West Virginia the next day.

August 28, Friday

The morning was drizzly and I was up before dawn hoping for owls. Found parking at a boat launch on the lake, and played tapes to no avail. As it got lighter a trail appeared at the end of the lot, handicapped accessible, and excellent habitat. It went through an area that was an early American iron works, and ended at a neat overhanging bluff that the Indians must have loved. Good birding. Added a couple of tics for OH in an hour. Then back across the river into WV, and a stop at Green Bottom on the Ohio R, again hoping for shorbs. There aren't many places in WV that hold a lot of promise that way. My notes say the birding was good there, but I only added 1 tic. A long drive across the state to the northern edge and Cranesville Swamp. I've never had good luck there, not in line with how interesting the habitat looks. It's a relict alpine pothole, vegetation from much further north, and significantly colder than the surrounding countryside, which may account for the paucity of birds. I managed to feed myself a nice supper at "Melanie's" across from Cathedral Grove SP before going to the swamp, and afterwards crossed into Maryland, Garrett County, targeted for it's high altitude Appalachian birds. Stayed in Garrett State Forest sleeping long in the rain.

August 29, Saturday

A drippy morning and a slow start, but after looking around where I'd parked and slept. I started back for the highway and made a stop by a small wetland. Hit the jackpot. Several warbler species new for MD, some other passerines, and for a finale, an Evening Grosbeak. I made a couple of other stops in Garrett County, including another park and a different section of Garrett State Forest. Managed to find one of those non-roads in the GPS database, and its consequent long backtrack, but in all picked up ten new species for Maryland. After that I was happy to get into Pennsylvania and simply drive to my brother's house near State College, with just one stop at Black Moshannon State Park. I need to stay there overnight sometime in the spring, it's great and unique habitat, an extensive boggy wetland and shallow lake with upland Allegheny woods all around. At Chris's it was visit and wifi and steak dinner on the barbie with his son, my nephew John, and a couple of his classmates at Penn State.

August 30, Sunday

In the morning I hiked up the road that runs in front of Chris's cottage. The area is called Fisherman's Paradise and it is. There's a beautiful 50 foot wide bubbling trout stream right down the middle of the narrow little valley, and at the upper end, a State Fish Hatchery. I poked around in there, watching fish and looking for birds. Mostly they were scarce except for Ospreys, about twenty of those, I'd never seen so many so close and close together, and even a Bald Eagle for an accent. Got back to the house and hung out until we took a drive later in the day. I had found a description of a nature center nearby, and we poked around in the PA byways until we found it. Walked around in there about an hour, Chris had never been there and really liked it. On the way back we stopped at a nice restaurant for sports food and baseball games on TV, then he showed me some more back-ways including the road that runs above the Paradise valley on the side I had never approached from. Whiled away the evening with more Internet surfing and Little League championships on the tube.

Into New York, western Mass, and Vermont Spruce Grouse

2009-09-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

August 31, Monday

I had called ahead on Sunday to Ithaca, NY where my friend Laura Erickson is the editor of Birdscope, the non-technical publication of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. We arranged for lunch and maybe some birding at Sapsucker Woods, the lab's woodland habitat setting. I got out of Fisherman's Paradise before sunrise and arrived at the lab, which was easy to find since I'd tagged it into the GPS. Got there a little earlier than we'd planned to meet, so I walked around some, especially the loop trail around their small lake, then checked in with Laura. We walked around more extensively, since she naturally knew her way through the woods. She's published several books, and was thrilled when Cornell hired her, which was smart of them since she's eminently qualified. She's a way better birder than I am, but I was happy to catch and point out a calling Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. She says, so that's "per-weee". We went to a local quality sandwich place, really good, what you'd expect in a major University town. A great visit and a chance to see the insides of the premier academic ornithology center for the US, and possibly the world.

From there I headed into Adirondack State Park and stayed at one of the campgrounds on the south end. Arrived too late to do much birding, the place was mostly empty, no staff around. Same in the morning and a quick scan of the lake there revealed very little. Too early for waterfowl and I couldn't find any shorebird habitat.

September 1, Tuesday

It took a couple of hours to get to the approach road for Mount Greylock in Massachusetts, but it was immediately wonderful. I'd been there once before, but had found the road closed for a major rebuild, and had to retreat to a nearby SP in the rain. This time it was a beautiful late summer day. I'd stop every couple of miles at a pull-off, walk into the woods a hundred yards, play the owl tape, and harvest tics. At the top there's some kind of memorial, WWI I think, but I was more interested in birding around the mountain-top. The road down the other side was through more open woods with some meadows, hence different critters. Made a final stop at the Visitor Center at the south entrance, there's camping and some good mature woods there as well as the usual brochure and info grazing opportunity. In all about 3 hours on the mountain and six new tics for MA. Headed back north into Vermont, several stops including a good wifi spot in a library, but no particular luck finding shorebirds, not many promising spots, and what few there were failed their promise. I ended up just heading all the way north, and camped out at Wenlock WMA east of Island Pond. A pretty good day, but still mostly driving.

September 2, Wednesday

The reason I was at Wenlock was to try again for a Spruce Grouse. It was almost a nemesis bird, and I and two excellent birders from Rhode Island had failed to find one in the same place two years previous. I had studied the bird-finder book very thoroughly and decided that I had to be willing to walk to the very end of the trail, way beyond where we had turned back. I also had the advantage this time of an earlier start, and the quiet of a one person approach. I got hiking before sunrise with heavy dew on the trail, took my time, stayed quiet, didn't play the tape on the way in, and wasn't having any luck until it was there. I froze, expecting a flurry of feathers and a brief glimpse, since I was only about 30 feet away, maybe less. It had obviously seen me, and was watching. Then it stood up, slowly. It looked me over out of one eye, then the other. Very slowly it started turning around, ready to fly. But it kept turning, two full rotations, and by then we had both calmed down. I had the glasses on him, a beautiful male, speckled black with a greenish sheen on the chest, red around the eye, mostly above. The gold rim of the spread tail feathers was striking. He was displaying to me. After at least a minute of birder heaven he flew, but only went to a limb in a nearby tree. Stayed there for another minute, and finally dropped back into the woods. Everyone asks if I got a picture. No, but i got a camera that fits in a pocket and don't go without it now.

As far as I was concerned the trip was a success already. Walked back out to the road, like always amazed at how far I'd walked into the woods not really paying attention to distance. The sun was well up and I walked down to a bog near the trailhead where the road crossed it. The tape did its wonders there, and another birder came by and talked about finding Black-backed Woodpeckers, which I'd seen once in California. She drove on down the road that loops the WMA, and I played the woodpecker call. And one flew in, then the female as well. I hung around knowing she would have to come back by since the road is dead-end. Maybe twenty or thirty minutes later she came back, and I said she should stop and get out and I played the call again. Back they came, and then crossed the road over our heads and landed in a tree about twenty feet away. She got her picture, I didn't. Now that is a morning of birding at its very finest. Ended up with seven new tics for Vermont.

It was only about noon, and I drove on into New Hampshire and north to the Connecticut Lakes area. I had just missed a Spruce Grouse there also, when I arrived for a meeting with another excellent birder who had seen one just a minute or so before I arrived. I was greedy, and figured I could use another look in another state. Didn't happen. Drove around the area, making small stops which were productive, including a Cape May Warbler. I slept in the truck after birding around as the sun set, in a good spot for owls and already in place for the dawn action. Had four new tics for NH without much trouble. Finally had a day with more birding than driving, and slept well.

Coasting through Labor Day

2009-09-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

September 3, Thursday

Headed into Maine in the morning with a good stop at Dix Notch State Park. A parking area along the highway let me poke into a little watershed. Made it to the coast at Freeport, the great gear emporium. Managed to resist any unnecessary purchase, hardest was a nice Northface two piece parka, but it was too small. I had to admit it was too small. One piece of good fortune to go with my small stature is that the last items left of any clothing or footwear design are often my size so shopping the remainders can be very good. Stopped by DeLorme to have them look at my PN40 GPS, which was behaving weirdly. Left it for them to check out. From there south to Scarborough Marsh which has often been really good, and it has knowledgeable folks at the Audubon Center for current news and tips. I ended up staying at Bradbury Mountain State Park, couldn't get the owls that the host told about, and the folks in the next site had noisy kids, but they eventually went to sleep.

September 4, Friday

Back to DeLorme to get the GPS, they said it was fixed, but it messed up as I was driving off, so I took it back again, and this time they said it had a cracked motherboard and gave me a new one. While they were fiddling with it I had a great day birding from Freeport to Biddeford, finding twelve new Maine tics. I ended up going back to the same state park since I couldn't find a better place in the area in spite of my habit of always trying new spots on the chance for new birds.

September 5, Saturday

And the beginning of Labor Day weekend. That ended up messing up several things, way too many people on the coast, beaches over-run, campgrounds full. And now, the tale of the skunk:

While working my way back down the coast to Scarborough I was poking through some suburban half commercial neighborhood trying to correct taking a wrong exit. There was a skunk in the road with its head stuck in one of those fast food cups with a lid with a hole large enough for a small skunk's head. I got out to study the situation since it was blinded and staggering around in the street. Followed it into a service drive and figured that I could yank it off quickly and retreat fast. That worked, but the retreat was really awkward since I was backpedaling like hell, and I fell down hard. Spots were sore for a couple of weeks. All was well though and I was almost to Scarborough and scoping the marsh from a spot on the west side along the highway. For some reason I wanted to refer to the iPod, and when I reached for it, it wasn't there. Figured out that it must have escaped when I fell down. So I had to drive back which would have been impossible in the warren of little streets I'd been on, except that I had the computer running a GPS track. As Always when recording a trip. So I found the place where I assumed someone had either found the Pod or run over it. Neither. It was laying in the driveway, with a new scratch or two, but working.

Back to finish up at Scarborough, then drive south out of Maine, with a stop at Rachel Carson NWR. I added 19 tics in Maine, making 30%. Way too much traffic. I had been hoping to stay at a great looking state park, Pawtuckaway, but it was literally over-run with folks. Snuck a shave in their men's room and worked my way further down the coast. It wasn't far to Parker River NWR in Massachusetts, and I spent some time there. Met a guy, Keith ?, taking photos from his truck, turned out badly crippled but very game. Truck had complex assistance gadgets. We talked and birded, and he mentioned an abandoned weigh station further south on the Interstate. I found it and it was perfect, though a little spooky. Got over to the back side and had a good quiet night's sleep with no lights.

September 6, Sunday

Up really early and into Salem to see the Old Seaport National Historic Site. Nothing was open, so I walked to the end of the wharf and back. Some folks were starting to clean the bathrooms. Studied the signs and checked out the construction details, tried to imagine the place full of sailing ships and commerce. O well. Hung around long enough to see the sunrise over the harbor. I drove on into and through Boston to a place called the Blue Hills, a forest preserve on some medium size uplands. I had read about them in a book called "Landscape with Reptile", the herp being a rattler. Made several birding stops, but it wasn't very birdy.

I followed the coast into Rhode Island, checked out the Block Island Ferry. No way I would go today, very busy and very long waits, and probably over-run on the Island. From there it was all the coastal National Wildlife Refuges, got some birds, mostly warblers, and then on down to the east end of the RI coast, but a place that might have been shorebird habitat was over-run also. Bad traffic and no parking. I retreated toward Providence, re-found a Panera where I had wifi and some food, then up to the northwest corner, less inhabited, and crashed at Black Hart WMA.

September 7, Monday

I was up around 3:30, beat the traffic to Cape Cod. Stopped at the Wellfleet Audubon Center, and out on the beach of the bight I found a bird that didn't ring a bell, yellow legs, but not a Yellowlegs, Lots of red on the body, two distinct white areas on the head above and below the bill. Detail was murky because of distance, but I stuck with it until it disappeared, and had a pretty good description by the end. When I got back to the Visitor Center I found the best shorebird person on duty, and she and I went over the markings. She finally agreed with me that the best fit was a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. That's a really good bird. Maybe six state records, mostly fall, and not ruled out by anything. She promised to spread the heads-up, but I never hear of anyone else re-finding it. I headed back toward the mainland, to Standish State Forest, my usual camping spot in that area. Geeked a couple of hours at a Panera, followed the directions of a desk girl to a great ice cream place (pistachio), called my friend Zinc to see about a visit the next day, which he said was OK, and birded and crashed at my campsite.

Visiting Zinc

2009-09-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

I started to go back out to Cape Cod, but changed my mind and called Zinc. Found his house with only a slight mis-step stop at a neighbor's. We drove around most of the day, getting the local tour and down to the south coast of the Cape, with a view of Martha's Vinyard. He has a small boat, summer use only, and has an intimate knowledge of the coast and waters. The general area is the original Plymouth colony, and since I had just read the King Philip's War book, a lot of the place names and persons he mentioned were fresh. Also got a sense of the commerce and geology.

I had lost Zinc for thirty years or more, and then he found my email associated with some web site about Ivory-bills. The mail he sent me caught up with me in Silver City, NM the previous summer. We called etc and I made up my mind to visit as soon as I was in his area. He had been my best friend in college during the absolute heart of the sixties revolution, as well as a major influence on the course of my life. He dropped out in his senior year to work as a designer in a furniture factory, where he got to indulge his passion for tools and making stuff. And I bailed from grad school three years later when I was fed up with too much talk, and work that just produced paper that was instantly ignored. Being free of the draft helped too. Not to mention having my fill of exploitive academics. I suppose some substance experimentation made a difference too. I had already started buying tools. Eventually I made a sort of career as a craftsman-builder. Thanks Zinc.

September 8, Tuesday

And we birded, he had some favorite places we checked out, as well as beach walking and shorebirds. Cute scene of Least Sandpipers huddling in the sea wrack, instant nests, and they seemed very easy with us. I also bought a small digital camera to use for emergency digiscoping, since of course I hadn't had one for the Sharp-tailed. Nice little lacy sandwich place for lunch, pizza for dinner at home with his wife Eileen who's been a professor at Boston area schools since she graduated from Harvard. Zinc is a Master Union Carpenter, and an instructor for the new guys. Quite proud of the many big projects he's worked on, and also a collector of antique hand saws. They weren't as entrancing for me as for him, but I liked the passion they stirred in him. I finished the evening with reading the last of the "Return of the King", which had been my bedtime book for most of the trip.

The visit wasn't all I'd hoped for even though it was more than I expected. Nearly forty years out of contact is a lot of time for personal evolution, not parallel, and we had grown some apart even before losing contact. He had moved to Boston, had a business, married, Eileen was still in grad school. I had fallen deep into the counter-culture during and after my grad school. He was not well the day I was there, but had marched along doing his duty as a host. I missed his old fire and humor and irreverence. I'd certainly lost some of those too, age had sapped some energy, reality had made all the humor very dark, but irreverence had grown colossal, minus a little more consideration for the difficulties of good-willed individuals. He was practice for that. I couldn't imagine getting up every day and heading off to hard dangerous physical work in all weather. He was some worn. And married all those years, which I had no way of understanding, mister lifetime non-gay bachelor here.

We sent a couple of desultory emails after I got home, but I've let it lapse. I want to try again, hope he's feeling better, hope we can talk closer to the bone, hope that some time to mull over the first visit will pay off. I've lost a lot of close male friends, mentors, dear relatives (including my mom) over the last few years, and the ones who are left are potential treasures and allies on this slog to the finish line.

Cape Cod to Cape May

2009-09-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

September 9, Wednesday

Back to Cape Cod, drive to Provincetown. While I was waiting for the Whale watch, I walked the jetty from the very northern parking lot that crosses the bight to the outer beaches. It was really windy, and that was in a "protected" place. I played around with the new camera to try digiscoping. It'll take some practice, zoom has to be partly out to escape vignette-ing, the scope needs to have the focus adjusted to get the camera image in focus too. All this adjusting time has to not allow the bird out of the field of view. Like I said, some practice needed.

I went to the Whale Watch early enough for ticket etc, and heard rumors that the water was really rough, trips might be called off, but ours was on for the time being. I'd taken a Dramamine the night before, and another that morning, and another was offered when we boarded. I thought I'd be Okay, but I should have taken the third. The outbound trip was OK, had asked the naturalist to point out a Greater Shearwater if one showed, which he did, getting me another lifer. There weren't a lot of them, and none got close enough for really good looks. Still... There were whales, Humpbacks, mostly distant, but one came close enough that I got a pic of the flukes out of the water.

Once we cleared the north end of the Cape, the two days of strong east winds had their way with us. Big swell, big waves, the eighty foot boat was bouncing like a dory, and my stomach was in serious distress. Enough that I was finally sick, which gave some relief. Didn't really get in much observing, mostly lost in my guts, that weird turned inward vision while waiting to get far enough back to port to get some protection in the lea of the Cape. Anyway, paid mu money, got my lifer. There was a chance for Manx Shearwater too, but no luck. That was enough of that, headed back to Rhode Island, geeked again after checking out a small Audubon Sanctuary, then stayed at Buck Hill WMA.

September 10, Thursday

Couldn't call up any owls so headed on out of RI into Connecticut. Kinda poked around checking out places I'd marked in the GPS database, some were new, some places I'd been before. I had stopped at Hammonasset State Park once but had been turned back by the parking fee on a summer weekend, even though all I wanted to do was go to the Nature Center. This time it wasn't a problem, an off-season weekday. The Nature Center was good, but I had better luck along the shore. One piece was a guy with a scope looking at a White-winged Scoter. Then he told me where to find a King Eider, and I did. But my main goal was the Milford Point Audubon Center. This has been a consistent winner, and this time after finding good shorebirds I was standing on the marsh overlook platform when a woman started showing me pictures of a Northern Wheatear. From an hour ago ten miles away. Guess you could say I jumped. Found the place and with some work by several folks we finally found the bird hanging on a huge dirt-pile from some construction. Then it flew down and posed for half an hour on the cyclone fence. Yep, got some pix, but not expensive camera quality. Fourth lifer for the trip, very much a lucky gift.

Not much later rain started, with lots of wind, and the places that looked like okay camping didn't pan out. Ended up driving on across CT, then NY fifty miles north of the city, and crashed in a rest area on a ridge overlooking Port Jarvis right sat the Northwest corner of New Jersey. I ended up adding 20 tics in CT, made it over 30%.

September 11, Friday

Had to re-calibrate my driving time estimator when I entered New Jersey. By western standards, Cape May was three hours max. By NJ reality more like five, with rain and wind and traffic and tortuous roads. The Turnpike when I got to it was fast enough, but then it was south Jersey two lanes into Cape May. Went straight for the Hawk Watch which is bird gossip central, and was soon off to the Airport where the rain had shined up the great plots of short grass, now invaded by grass-pipers. Best were Buff-breasted Sandpipers, but also Black-bellied Plovers, Willets and others. There had been a report of a possible Ruff, but several folks looking never found it. Back to the Hawk Watch for whatever showed up. Also poked into the Beanery for a Sandhill Crane, and Higbee for brush pounding. As dusk approached, I ended up driving back north about 25 miles and stayed at Belleplaine State Park, which is also supposed to be good birding, but it was dark and I couldn't call up an owl.

September 12, Saturday

I was up at 3:30 and at the Hawk Watch while still almost dark. Birded around the Lighthouse Woods and along the backside of the beach dunes where there's a string of little pools with brushy edges. Bayberry bushes it turns out, should have plucked some seasoning. When the Watch opened and the spotters and counters had arrived, we had decent action for the early morning shuffle from roosts to browse. I left about ten and went over to the Beanery to find the Sandhill Crane that had been hanging there. Then Higbee to scare up passerines with the owl tape. Met Nancy, stalking with a camera, and got her some good pics with the tape. Tried the airport again, it was dead. The rainwater pools had soaked in, and there was word that the airport folks had driven off what birds remained. I birded the TNC meadow on the Point, then HW again

One of the fascinating things, actually folks, at the HW was a group of Finnish birders. One spoke English well, the others so-so. My Finnish sucks. They had an arrangement with their binocs on a short pole so they could support them with their hands at their waste. The explanation was that in Finland there are not so many birds and they are often way off. The pole allowed long time scanning with heavy high magnification binocs. These folks were amazing , able to ID raptors that I could only see as spots. So I hung around there, walked the woods trails again with a small pick-up group of very good birders, they were kind to me, and we found neat passerines. By the end of the day I'd added 19 tics, and made 41% for NJ.

September 13, Sunday

Came back down to the Cape to do the morning flight. Arrived well before sunrise. Though most of the south-bound migrants pile up on the Cape overnight, at dawn many fly back north looking for habitat to browse. The Morning Flight tower is right in the middle of a patch of brushy woods neat Higbee, and at least twenty people were there to hope for goodies. I got to know Jessica Donahue, the self labeled bird-nerd, who's a docent at the HW, employed by CMBO (Cape May Bird Observatory). She let me befriend her on Facebook, and has been an entertaining addition with her stories of venomous critters on the Texas military base where she got a job with endangered species.

I finally had to take up the burden of family, drove over to Media, PA and hooked up with my brother Mike, who I found at his job at the Catholic church rectory. But it was cheese-steak hoagie time, and that's always good. We went together for cheap Chinese, and I was able to leach a little wifi to get email at his apartment.

East Coast, then home

2009-09-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

September 14, 2009, Monday

My Brother Mike

Since I didn't sleep all that well, I was up way earlier than I'd wish. Went over to Tinicum NWR, officially John Heinz NWR, which turned out a good morning with three new PA tics. Back over to Mike's apartment and a long nap to make up for the previous. Later we walked up State Street, just grazing the stores. Mike's a shopper. We ended up going to visit my Mom's grave after dark. Mike knows his way around there, and knows a lot of folks buried there.

September 15, Tuesday

Got away fairly early, kept missing another brother, leaving messages. Drove south into Delaware to Bombay Hook NWR, a never miss place and source of more than half my DE tics. The big news when I got there was a Eurasian Golden-Plover found the previous day, which would have been another grand stroke of luck, but the forty or so folks along the highway couldn't re-find it. Back into the refuge proper, some good birds, but couldn't find any Buff-breasted Sandpipers no matter what. Still added one tic.

Further south to Assateague National Seashore. Now it used to be that it was also part of Chincoteague NWR, and I could get in with my duck stamp, but they had changed that, and wanted the price of a week's pass to enter. $25 for a couple of hours of birding was a ridiculous rip-off, so they got nothing. Funny that I still got a couple of good birds in the borrow pits along the road in. So there! I headed on down to Chincoteague NWR proper, and had a great time. Spent four hours driving the tour loops and working the beach and back-water, finding thirteen new VA tics. Hit the timing perfect as I'd finally caught up with the southbound shorbies. Stayed at the Bridge-Tunnel parking lot for about the fourth time.

September 16, Wednesday

Had a tiny sliver of the moon with Venus in the morning before poking around in the refuge next to the parking area, Eastern Shore of Virginia, then crossed into Norfolk. No stops in Virginia, just headed into North Carolina, wanted to get to Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Spent a couple of hours at Nag's Head Woods, then on down to Pea Island NWR. I did really good there, the tide was out, went looking for Piping Plovers by the inlet, and found Snowy and Wilson's also. Also some good birds on the landward side, including a small group of Roseate Spoonbills. Kinda unexpected, but heard later that they had shown up at Cape May as well.

Drove back up to Nag's head for library wifi, and then stayed at the Oregon Inlet campground. Added 12 tics for NC, thanks to shorebird timing luck. Getting closer to ABA threshold for there, it's one of the scattered eastern states I want to make the list on to have a good feel for that region.

September 17, Thursday

There was a little light when I got up, after a good night's sleep with the sound of the ocean. Back into Nag's Head for breakfast and more library wifi before morning birding in the Woods. Nothing special showed up, so headed on out to Pocosin Lakes NWR, last of the big refuges on that interior cape that I'd not checked out. Disappointing, very few birds, roads and signage were very poor too. Then headed west on the Interstate through the endless cities of NC, finally fetched up at Pilot Mountain State Park, which was a sweet place, neat piece of geography that I'd never heard of. A tidy little park with good habitat, misty twilight when I got there, with Wood Thrushes.

September 18, Friday

I had hoped to spend some time at Roan Mountain State Park in Tennessee, but the morning drizzle turned to steady rain as I drove west, and I just kept driving. Finally stayed at David Crockett SP near Lawrenceburg, which was funky and cheap.

September 19, Saturday

Again woke in drizzle that changed to rain. Just went home.

I ended up adding 164 total tics, many shorebirds which had been the hope, but not as many in New England as in the Mid-Atlantic area. Only saw 205 species for the whole trip, which sorta reflected the transitional time of the trip, weak on summer breeders, and weak on winter refugees.

Lake Leatherwood detailed directions

2009-08-18T07:51:00.001-07:00

For Lake Leatherwood City Park in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Lake Leatherwood City Park located about a mile west of Eureka proper at the foot of the Leatherwood Curves. Go to the second entrance, not the ballfields. There's 1600 acres of mixed habitats in the park, including the 160 acre lake itself. I've documented around 190 species over the course of ten plus years. That's about half the species ever seen, even just once, in Arkansas. The area around the bath-house and cabins, with widely spaced mature trees, is excellent for passerine residents and migrants. The lake shines in fall and winter as a duck attractor, and during the spring and summer can be very good for herons, and a few shorebirds. The rocky parts of the lakeshore are good for Spotted Sandpiper in spring migration, also the small sandy beach area.

Two side detours from the cabins can also be productive. One is a short loop from the boat launch ramp. Follow the shore until another path cuts back to the left returning shortly to the launch. The tangled thicket between the two paths has been very productive for warblers, sparrows, and kinglets. If you follow he shore further it's possible to see a lot more of the lake, including the deep water which has had an occasional loon, also mergansers, cormorants, and other divers. The second side trip is an old road to the side of the gate leading to the dam. It's an open path into a classic cedar glade, grown up some from fire suppression. The sandy soil has a great patch of pennyroyal in late spring, as well as wild orchids if you're lucky. It usually has several pairs of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and sometimes Prairie and Blue-winged Warblers.

Going from the cabin area down the gravel lane to the large meadow allows access to the bird blind. But first a productive side-trip is to go right to the far end of the meadow, staying left as you approach the gate, then edging around the maintenance yard to the outflow pipe of a good spring. Residents and migrants find this very attractive, especially in hotter dryer weather. Return through the meadow, (I follow the creek bed on the right listening for Louisiana Waterthrushes), and then cross the creek into the small meadow. Stop right at the crossing. If the little meadow has no folks camping, and you're early, you can often see a variety of ducks or waders before they flush as you cross the meadow. The bird blind is to the left, and the start of the Beacham Trail is to the right. Large trees along the lakeshore attract several pairs of Orchard Orioles, and Eastern Kingbirds. The area of the bird-blind is very good for seeing these, as well as some herons (it's a good place for Green Herons in summer) and Wood-Ducks. Approaching the blind quietly and slowly can pay off with some real close up views through the ports. Note that Woodies are very shy, arriving early and quietly is the key to good views. Luck helps. Worth the effort since they are one of the most beautiful critters in North America. Linger in the meadow, especially watching the brushy lake edge and the large sycamores and a dense cedar thicket.

At the inlet end of the lake where the Beacham Trail starts, is an area of mature bottomland hardwoods, which attracts migrant and breeding warblers and such. When the trail branches to the right, follow it for about two hundred yards. This is a reliable place for Blue-wing Warbler, Northern Parulas, Kentucky Warblers, Worm-eating Warblers, Chats, Acadian Flycatchers, several Vireos including Yellow-throated, and a general selection of woodland species. There are also numerous Cedar Thickets, which can be deserted or hosting foraging mixed flocks. The cedars are also a good place for sparrows, and White-eyed Vireos. Thrushes like them too, especially Hermit Thrushes in winter. Listen for their "chup" call note. Brown Thrashers make a very similar sound and are present but seldom seen. When you reach the creek, either return or wade, or walk the creekbed if it's dry. When you've studied the area thoroughly, return to the trail fork where you turned right initially, and turn right again so the you continue on the Beacham Trail.

The trail quickly climbs a wet north slope before starting it's return loop on the far side of the lake. It's usually not very birdy, but occasionally has half a dozen Golden-crowned Kinglets in late fall. The real attraction along here is in the spring when the wildflowers bloom. It's the spot for trout lilies very early in spring, then bloodroot and trillium, followed by Jack-in-the-pulpit. A very occasional bloomer along here is the False Hellebore. It's one of the few places in the state where it's found, it being a relict from populations that retreated north following the glaciers. When you descend to the small inlet, you're in another warbler zone. Look for Louisiana Waterthrush along the creekbed, also Black and Whites and Ovenbirds. Scarlet Tanager is a possibility here. On the far side of the inlet stop and listen for Prairie Warbler on the hillside above. Sometimes it's possible to find them by following their calls into the cedar thicket up there. If you've been birding intently, it's probably been around three hours since starting. You can continue on around the lake for another mile and a half, crossing the quarry for the historic stone dam and the dam itself. If lunch beckons it's quicker to retrace your way back to the cabin area where you probably parked.

To get a more detailed knowledge of the park, attend one of the several public hikes put on locally or by Northwest Arkansas Audubon.

The Hiccup trip of 2009 - Overview

2009-05-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

On May 6 2009 I set out on a proposed long western loop planning to finish my goal of 100 species per state in that direction. About the second or third day I had a meal that set off some hiccups, no big deal. The next day they continued sporadicly, and the next. They gradually got worse, but not enough to keep me from birding. Finally near Valentine NE I called my regular physician. Comedy of errors, but not funny. The next day I headed home hoping to access some prescription meds. Another screw-up. Kept driving home while the hiccups turned to esophageal spasms that made breathing impossible for 1-2 minute spells, happened several times. Finally got home, and the problem abated in about three days. Wasn't a very successful birding trip, but the account follows nevertheless.

Missouri Driving, May 6, Wednesday

The plan was to travel north with stops in Missouri, into Iowa, then along the upper Mississippi River on the Wisconsin side, Cross back southward into Minnesota hoping for eastern woodland species, clip South Dakota, cross Nebraska, and then Wyoming and Colorado. There was more, but it was moot as it developed. I started in the usual way, unloading tools and loading gear, always forgetting at least one useful thing. My start was late enough that I headed straight for Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, which gets a lot of coverage from the Columbia birders. It's a big chunk of habitat, but didn't have the shorebirds I had hoped for. I went into Jeff City to the Runge Nature Center, but didn't have enough time to stay long. I needed to get to Thomas Hill Res for camping. The primitive camp I'd stayed in before was closed so I slept in the primary campground near the bridge that crosses the north end of the lake. I wasn't able to find any new species in Missouri.

Into Iowa

2009-05-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

May 7, Thursday

Things started looking up in Iowa. My first stop was a spur of the moment turn around when I passed Pioneer Ridge County Nature Center. Really nice place for a county park, with a beautiful visitor's center, and a lot of good habitat with water features. I found several warblers as well as other woodland birds, some new tics. Stayed well over an hour and regretted it wasn't longer, but I needed to get to Neal Smith NWR. It was very good for sparrows, but a continuous drizzle made it less enjoyable than my hopes. I walked the whole prairie loop from the VC. Note that this is a place with an excellent bookstore for prairie information, especially detailed botanical publications. I had downloaded a pdf of sites, called "The Makoke Trail", around Des Moines, and started methodically checking them out with the Neal Smith stop. I was particularly interested in Saylorville Lake, which has consistently produced sightings of vagrant and desirable gulls, but also had shorebird and woodland habitat around the area. I wanted to get a feel for the area, and what kinds of camping was available.

I stopped at the Visitor's Center, grazed the information, then started up the east side stopping at most of the sites in the pdf. The shorebirds were absent, bad timing on my part, a south wind had swept everything further along an their migration, and no new birds had accumulated behind a wind shift. At the north end the trail blended easily into Ledges State Park, a very interesting piece of geology with several well preserved CCC structures. I got a campsite there, $11, good deal with showers, and made the first of three drives through the park and vicinity. When it got on toward evening, I headed into Ames assuming a college town would have some fast food joints and wifi hotspots. KFC was the wrong choice that day, even though it's usually a favorite. Something about the food set off some hiccups, which were still going the next day, but not really a problem. I got a shower, which I've noted was challenging, something about the plumbing or stall geography. No trouble stopping the hics when lying down by briefly holding my breath.

May 8, Friday

Made another loop of the park, took some pictures of the CCC buildings, poked my nose in brushy edges and played the owl tape inside some woods, then headed off to find some other sites. Harrier Marsh wasn't too birdy, but did have a Harrier. By Far the best site that day was Hendrickson Marsh, which had a fair selection of waterfowl and somee miscellenious woodland birds in cottonwoods along small drainages. I didn't check the urban parks, but probably will when I make another visit to the area when I get another chance to work on the Iowa list. From there I drove on to Belleview State Park with its great view of the Mississippi River and a lot of good warblers hanging in the trees on the bluff. It started raining around 6pm, and I ended up sleeping 12 hours while it continued. The hiccups continued as well. I picked up 15 Iowa tics by days end, very satisfying, even with few shorebirds.

Wisconsin and Minnesota

2009-05-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

May 9, Saturday

It had cleared off to partly cloudy and windy and cool, stayed in the fifties all day. I crossed the river and went just north into Wisconsin which is blessed with a big thick and pretty good bird-finder book. I basically stayed along the east bank of the river, and made a lot of stops from the book. There were a lot of good sites, and just stopping on the sides of two lane blacktops worked well. One site was a dirt road under the riverside railroad that extended most of a mile into the river, marshy with Cottonwoods along the road, several good birds including a Bittern.

The main reason I had taken that route was to check out Trempeleau NWR. Well worth the trip, spent three hours there, very good habitat variety with tall grass remnants, and riverside mature woodlands. I found some good sparrows including Grasshoppers that came flying low to the tape. In the one day I added 23 tics for Wisconsin and made it to 30% of the species on their list. I would stay more in WI, but their state parks are expensive, with a substantial penalty for those from out-of-state, and a yearly charge as well that makes the first night something like $30+, so I never spend the first night, just make forays from the more reasonable surrounding states.

I still had to get back across the river into SE Minnesota, crossed at Winona, and stayed at Beaver Creek Valley State Park. That was a great place, pretty isolated at the end of the highway, a narrow wooded valley with steep hillsides all around. It had some of the species I'd targeted for possible Eastern wood-landers, like Louisiana Waterthrush and other warblers, but not as many as I'd hoped since at that latitude it was still early spring. I had time to bird briefly in the evening before falling out. Hiccups persisted and were more troublesome. At first it had been just "hiccup", but now I was getting aftershocks, so "hiccup, hic" or even "hiccup, hic, hic, hic" Also harder to suppress with breath-holding, and with a new startup any time I awoke for urination. My ageing prostate makes that a common occurrence. Not a great night's sleep.

May 10, Sunday

Dawn was cool, about 45F, but the dawn chorus was whole hearted, since it was the front edge of breeding season. I hiked several of the park trails, climbed one of the ridges for a view of the valley, and found five new MN birds there. But... My notes say, "Pain and discomfort all day, allergies, hiccups, bloated." The hics were wearing me down, using up the gumption that usually gets used dealing with the hassles of travel. I drove over to the town of Albert Lea, probably on the chance of seeing a Gray Partridge, my super nemesis. Well, I missed it again, maybe the tenth time at least. From there back into Iowa for a stop at Union Slough NWR. The tour route was closed. Across the road there's one pool that can be scoped from the highway, and it had the most beautiful, perfect breeding plumage pair of Red-necked Grebes I've ever seen, photo or otherwise. Just stared and stared. Somewhere down the road I found a motel with wifi and posted a notice to the Iowa list-serv.

Farther west on the way to Sioux City I found a county park by a lake. Habitat was not good, way too manicured, but I poked around in brushy patches and scoped the lake. Went to bed early, beat and "moderately miserable".

Finish Iowa, into Nebraska

2009-05-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

May 11, Monday

I was awakened by Willets flying down the lake, and found some other birds as well, gulls and a late duck or two. The hiccups were gone until I ate something, then vengeance. I went to Picalt Nature Center on the northwest edge of Sioux City, nice place with good trails through good habitat even though the building was closed. It's in a state park, but I've not timed it yet to camp there and catch the dawn action. I ended up Iowa with 25 new species for the state, which put me at 36%. Pleased.

Into Nebraska, first stop at Ponca State Park. That is a must see for birding, on the Missouri River, good woods and grassland habitat beside the flyway action. The park has a conservation area attached, managed by the same guy who told me wondrous tales of shorebirds on the Migratory Bird Day count the weekend 2 days past. I went to the places he showed me on a photo map, but there was hardly any critter to be seen. The cold weather I'd been through had parked the migration for a couple of days, but the wind had shifted to the south so everybody had headed north. I headed further west to Niobrara. The hiccups had become relentless and it was about then that I figured out that the stirring of upper GI by poor bumpy jumpy two lane roads was a real problem. The hic,hic,hic was relentless.

I was trying to figure out some way of reducing the aggravation to the sensitive spot at the esophagus/stomach junction, called cardia, which seemed to be the trigger point. I tried anti-gas OTC antacid meds, to relieve pressure, and aspirin to reduce pain-receptor sensitivity as well as maybe getting blood pH more acid, which is what breath holding does. Nothing worked very much. I was also trying to find food that wasn't greasy and aggravating, but the ranching heartland is not a place for fruits and vegetables. Maybe if you're a cow and grass is considered a veggie. I ended up with a Buffalo burger, at least the meat is really lean and it didn't make it any worse. Niobrara State Park is just outside town so I retreated there after driving the road along the river as far as it went in both directions and the park roads.

May 12, Tuesday

Sleep was lousy with every pee setting the hics off again, and stopping them becoming a two minute breath hold until I thought I'd pass out. Trick was that when you started breathing again, it had to be very gently. A big gulping breath meant relapse, and then the whole drill again. The morning started beautifully, but turned gray and windy and decidedly cooler. I headed west on route 12, another roller-coaster, and made a stop at The Niobrara Valley Preserve, a Nature Conservancy place a long drive back a dirt road, but well worth it. Wish I'd felt better. I did get some sympathy fro the woman, wish I'd got her name to say a personal thanks, who was taking care of the little office and VC. She offered water and bananas, and books and stories. Some human contact and comfort. The birding was good but nothing new except Pine Siskins. They have a policy of no bird feeders, but still the open space around the office attracted sparrows and finches.

Next stop was Fort Niobrara NWR, with it's predictable Burrowing Owls. I forgot to look for Mountain Plovers; they were probably there. That's a measure of the disorientation I was getting into. I had exhausted my ideas for relief, so I called my doctor at home in Arkansas. His idea was Thorazine suppositories, which I was okay with, just a really deep sleep, but when he called the only pharmacy in Valentine NE, they didn't have it. His next idea was to rent a motel room, go to the hospital ER, and get a Thorazine shot and have a cab take me back to the motel. Somehow being the star of a fifties psycho thriller with the nurse hitting me with the needle and me dropping to the floor, well... Not to mention the truck with all the gear and optics unwatched, not to mention the ER charges, not to mention the trank hangover. I rejected my physicians advice and started driving toward bigger cities where I could get the meds as tablets. At that point driving south and east, I was having two hics per three breaths, with aftershocks, sometimes 8 or 10, until I wasn't sure when I'd get to just breath again. I'd end up shaking myself hard to get the spasms to stop, jumping in the truck seat at 50 mph.

I managed to make it to Nebraska National Forest, strange place, a CCC experiment in planting an evergreen forest in the Nebraska sand-hills. The trees survived, but the forest wouldn't spread naturally. The restrooms and showers were closed. It started raining. It rained all night, a great thunderous hailstorm with ice lumps that dented the camper-shell, which is like sleeping inside a drum being beaten randomly with a baseball bat. Did I mention the hundred car coal trains that run along the edge of the forest, complete with two mile horns at the crossing a hundred yards away. About every 20-30 minutes. I did get the hics to stop enough that they at least weren't a problem, but still there was little rest that night.

Retreat and home

2009-05-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

May 13, Wednesday

No hiccups in the morning for a while. It was drippy but clearing, and I begged the use of the restroom at the Forest Service office, so the day was started okay except for grogginess. My first try for meds was in Great Bend, but the biggest pharmacy in town, a WalMart, didn't have what I needed. At least they didn't laugh at me while I hicced my way through the explanation. When I got near enough to Lincoln to get a local phone-book, I was able by calling around to find a place with the right stuff, but it was too late to get ahold of my Doc. Golf day. So I went to an Audubon sanctuary, Spring Creek Prairie, and found some shorebirds on a little pond there, but I mistook Semipalmated Sandpipers for Westerns, since I didn't have my bill lengths calibrated. Figured it out later while killing time before sleep. I went into Pioneers Park on the west edge of Lincoln, and then back out of town to Conestoga Rec Area. I was very tired, and it was a quiet place, so I ended up getting some decent sleep, with only minor hiccing interruptions.

May 14, Thursday

I went back to Spring Creek Prairie at dawn, but didn't turn up anything new. I was gone before they opened the VC, so never got to fix the sighting report from Wednesday. Back to Pioneers Park, but first a stop for a big grease-ball breakfast, hoping to get some rebound from food. The place had wifi too, a truck-stop with an interesting collection of twenties gas station memorabilia and some atmosphere, but they were about to move and re-build, no doubt something soul-less. At Pioneers Park I was in cel-phone range and started making calls. The Doc was in surgery for the morning, but i gave the info to the nurse, who promised to call me as soon as he had talked to the pharmacy. So I birded around the park which was pretty good when I was able to get away from the school groups. They had a little Nature Center where I talked with the attendant and watched the hummer feeders hoping to see a Ruby-throat, which I needed for the NE list. It never showed. Spent a lot of time sitting on benches breath holding and then sitting very still and breathing slowly for relief.

When it got to be noon I went and sat in the truck with the phone by my side waiting for the nurse's call. Five hours later there hadn't been one. I figured I'd offended the Doc, who isn't noted for bedside manner, and I just gave up and started driving for home. I set my route to Pass Indian Cave State Park, and was able to find a Barred Owl and a hummer in a flowering bush that I stopped to look over on an impulse as I drove by. Hiccups were bad, the aftershocks were turning into real lock-up spasms of glottis and esophagus. Three times before sleep I thought I might never get another breath, pretty scary. especially driving. A rational person would have considered me a fool to persist, but I wasn't rational anymore, the only thought was to get home. I got the last meal at the McDonald's in Mound City after my first choice was closed, and spent the night in an Interstate rest area south of there. More thunderstorms and hail and trafic and other noise including pine cones falling off some trees in the wind. They make a good thump too.

May 15, Friday

Off driving early, about five hours to Eureka Springs. Jim Fain the Naturpathic Doc showed me a real simple trick to stop the hiccups. Lean your head back and pour a packet of dry sugar as far back in your throat as possible and then swallow without water. Bingo. I t would last twenty or thirty minutes, but was easy to repeat. Got a decent meal at the Oasis, favorite local good food place, went home and slept until the next morning, when I seemed way better. I figured at the end, thinking back over what had been the worst parts, that road food didn't help, and jostling a tummy full of it on bad highways was a real problem too. Simply not getting any decent sleep threw me into a bad feedback loop. Anyway, they never came back, throat was a little irritated for a day or two, but that stopped too. It wasn't a stellar birding trip, but I did add 69 tics and got past forty percent in Nebraska, so there were some minor achievements. I had a chance to ask the nurse why she hadn't called; she said she just assumed I'd go to the pharmacy.

Four Corners Trip Overview

2008-11-20T08:55:00.000-08:00

I made a trip west, mostly in New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado, in November 2008. I was sorta hoping to break 7000 total tics, and fell just two short. Normally it wouldn't be a good time for birding for new species on state lists except that several states had very few waterfowl and it was a good time to catch them going or arriving south. I was also just plain needing to get out of town, and gas had become suddenly affordable again.

The basic route was west through Oklahoma and across the Texas panhandle, then diagonally southwest across New Mexico. I spent several days in Silver City, where I had lived, to visit friends and strenghthen old relationships of various kinds. From there it was north farther than I'd planned into Colorado, clipping a corner going to Moab, Utah, and some more friendship boosting. A prime focus of the trip was Bear River Refuge in northern Utah, which lived up to my hopes, then a short excursion into Idaho, and a corner of Wyoming, back into Utah at Flaming Gorge, then eastward for three days in Colorado, and homeward across Kansas.

The weather on the outbound leg was clear and mild, the nights slightly chilly as I gained elevation. The altitude headache lasted four or five days, but was mixed with a standard cold and some allergies. On the way back I got to see the world freeze up before my eyes as a big cold front came down the west side of the Rockies.

Highlights were several bright nights around the full moon on the outbound leg, lots of Great Horned Owls, Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese in New Mexico, Snow Buntings on the south edge of their normal range, a herd of Bighorn Sheep at Red Canyon, two chasing in a circle around the truck, and four Tundra Swans in Kansas. I was more sucessful than I'd anticipated in finding new tics, even getting four in Texas. The whole trip took 16 days, and cost about $1600, including nice meals and some books and maps.

And I had some great visits with old friends, Bob and Diana Leyba, and Patrck Mulligan in Silver City, and a renewed crush on my old crush Laura Ramnarace. Managed to get in a good visit with Serena Supplee, the great Colorado Plateau artist, even with showing up un-announced.

Arkansas to Muleshoe NWR in Texas

2008-11-19T08:21:00.000-08:00

November 10 - 11, 2008

I left Arkansas via Ft Smith after a nice drive down the Pig Trail, Highway 23, and stopped for gas at one of the cheapest stations in the state. Very pleased to fill up at $1.82/g. I took a byway that paralleled the Interstate into OKC, looped south of there, more byways to avoid a Turnpike, and was eating in Lawton before heading into the Wichita Mtns NWR somewhat before sundown. It had rained the whole way from Arkansas, but the sun came out as I got onto the refuge. I stopped at a parking lot at one of the lakes there, just looking for ducks, but found an unfamiliar looking gull.

Dark gray back and wings, black wingtips, medium size judging from the pace of the wingbeats, bright white tail, and duller white head. That's looking through the windshield before stopping the engine. I jumped out hoping for a closer look, went out to the end of a dock there, but couldn't find it again. Field guide study came up with the closest fit as Lesser Black-backed. That's a remarkable bird for OK, so I knew it wouldn't be something folks would be inclined to believe. Figured I'd get somebody to check it out and see if they could refind it. I headed for the visitor's center, thinking there might be something in the sightings book, but arrived minutes after closing. I tried a call to Eric Beck, a top-notch local birder that I had a number for, but could only leave a message.

Anyway. I was hoping to maybe find either a Burrowing Owl or a Short-eared Owl. Drove by a couple of Prairie Dog Towns, but had no luck. At the second I did meet a couple of guys who were also looking for owls. One turned out to be the former Super of Malheur NWR in Oregon, a place I'd stayed years ago and found excellent. Ended up camping and falling in love with Steen's Mountain in the distance. They hadn't had any luck with the owls either, and the list showed both as occasional, ie, not easy to get. I later found that there were BUOW at another dog town on the refuge. The habitat seemed good for SEOW, tall grassy big fields with indicator Harriers about, it may have been too early in the season, we hadn't seen any real cold weather yet.

I stayed there until almost dark, then drove back slowly watching the fields for the big bat-winged birds. Stayed at Doris campground, no owls there either, and was back to the dogtown before first light. I love watching the sunrise on the prairie, and quite a few birds started showing up in and around the dogtown; the short grass and bare ground must be attractive in low light. Finally it got late enough for the visitor center to open, and I checked the sightings book. Nothing about LBBG. I wasn't about to commit anything to the book, I hate that stuff after experiencing the disbelief of people who weren't present. I don't know how those asswipes can say I have imagination when they imagine that they can do remote viewing. Possibly unfortunately, I ended up mentioning the sighting to one of the staff, and as I was leaving he stopped the truck and put me on his phone to a guy who was a local prof. So I went through the description as clearly as I could, without trying to sound sure. He said he'd alert some locals to look. Also got a call from Eric finally, and he said he'd look too. There never was anything about it on the list-serv. so I guess nobody found it.

From the Refuge to the Texas border isn't too far, and I was trying to decide whether to go to Palo Duro Canyon, or just head on straight to Muleshoe NWR. Decided on the latter, more direct, free camping, and probably better birding.

Muleshoe NWR, TX to Bosque del Apache NWR, NM

2008-11-18T06:29:00.000-08:00

November 11 - 13, 2008

When I got to Muleshoe it was fairly late afternoon, but before closing hours. Unless of course it's Veteran's Day. So I couldn't get a checklist or anybody to quiz about sightings. I wandered around, drove to each lake and playa, found some usual suspect ducks, and maybe thirty Sandhill Cranes at one place and about fifty at another, but nothing really exciting. Well, anyway, I could look at the campground which I remembered as a treeless barren place, but fortunately my memory was missing some stuff. There was a nice brushy dry creek bottom along one edge, there was a bit of bottomland Cottonwoods, big enough to support some territories. Beyond that was a trail along an arroyo that had a different feel from the campground creek. The three together ended up being some great birding. The whole zone was packed, lots of White-crowned Sparrows, others including Clay-colored and Fox, both good TX tics, Roadrunner, Great-horned Owl, two kinds of Thrashers, a flock of Eastern Bluebirds, and in the morning, my first TX Eurasian Collared Dove. Four new tics in a place where I'd hardly expected to see a bird.

The night was the first cold one of the trip, heavy frost in the morning, and saturation moonlight as it approached full, a high winter moon. Up early trying for any dawn chorus action. Tried the office again at 8, but nobody was there. I headed north and a little west to Grulla NWR. The TX/NM border is it's eastern fence. It's the biggest playa lake I've ever seen, but it was almost dry and any birds were well overa mile away, and me not inclined to walk down in. It's a geological puzzle, almost exactly round, with high sides in a mostly flat country. I later started wondering if it might be a meteor crater, or maybe a collapsed salt dome, but haven't had time to follow the question. Anyway, it wasn't a very birdy start on New Mexico.

From there it's about a hundred fast straight miles to Bitter Lake NWR outside Roswell. I ran the tour loop there, fairly good waterfowl variety, but no outstanding numbers. Did nail a Ross's Goose for NM. I needed gas, and was grossed out by the $2.47 in town, finally drove into a station and when I reached the pump it was $2.29. They had just changed it on their computer. That lifted my spirits some. From there it's about three hours driving to the Rio Grande valley and Bosque del Apache NWR, one of my focal goals. The drive is a lot of old bumpy two lane blacktop, but you do get to go through Lincoln County where Billy the Kid has become a local industry. They have a pageant dedicated to a psychopathic killer. Tourism at its best.

It was still a couple of hours to sundown when I got to BdA, and I was able to drive the tour loop. Good numbers of Cranes and Snow Geese, but nothing like my first visit years ago in February. The elevation drop had let things warm up nicely. I had hoped there might still be some shorebirds, but my departure from AR had been delayed enough to lose that possibility. As it got dark, I headed into town, Socorro, for overpriced fast food (a misnomer on two counts), and then went west up the mountains to Water Canyon, about twenty miles, and stayed there. I read through the New Mexico bird finder, and it turns out to be a very good place in spring and early summer, especially for night birds. Maybe I'll try next spring.

Back down in the dark next morning, after another cold bright night. I got to the refuge about sunup and got to see some of the big flights taking off. I was more interested in passerines, which were really weak on my NM list, so headed to the south end of the loop where there are a couple of trails through wetlands and dessert. Had an excellent morning. Several new Sparrows, a Marsh Wren, a Verdin which was only my second ever, and sharing it's bush with a Brewer's Sparrow, a late Ash-throated Flycatcher, and several other satisfying sightings, quails and hawks, thrashers and Western Grebes. The best section was a piece of dirt road below a small bluff along the south edge of the pool that the trail circled, which had a great combination of cover, perches, and water edge. Great morning. I was still intersted in getting on toward Silver City, and hit the road a little after noon.

Black Range and Silver City

2008-11-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

November 13-16, 2008

Thursday: The turn off from the Interstate into the Black Range is just south of Truth or Consequences, known as TrC to locals. At first it's just a long climb across typical NM dessert, but then it starts twisting and seriously climbing, passing through Hillsboro and Kingston. Coming into Hillsboro I saw a sign for "New Mexico Birding Trail", so stopped in the general store to ask if they knew anything about that. Met a birder easily enough, Patty Woodruff, who had advice, but after trying three places, we couldn't find a site map. She's interested in some enterprise organized around the hundredth birthday of Aldo Leoplold, a festival or business, not clear, but she was gonna email some questions, which never happened. Too bad. I eventually found a map in Silver City. More importantly, I got a great hambuger with Green Chiles, one of the five basic food groups. The others are salt, sugar, grease, and chocolate.

Patty and another bird-wise person recommended stopping at Emory Pass, where I'd had a great night once with astro-geeks and big telescopes. Beyond that was Irons Creek campground, and Gallinas Canyon, where I'd once eaten a formal Thankgiving dinner, complete with china and silverware, set up on folding tables out in the open, an inspiration of the unforgettable Bob Erman ("Wood works for me, I would work for thee"), and his wife Polly. I made stops at all those places, not very birdy late on a cool afternoon except for more Brown Creepers than I'd ever seen in one place or one day, maybe half a dozen.

On into Silver City by the back north way through Mimbres and Santa Rita, home of an immense copper mine, one of the world's biggest excavations. That's a whole 'nother story. My main focus in SC was visiting old friends and renewing our affections. First on the list was Patrick Mulligan, who had been my partner in carpentry in Philadelphia, and was the last remaining close male friend after five years of deaths among my cohort. Second was Bob and Diana Leyba, a couple also from Philly, who in fact had introduced me to Pat at a party at their Germantown house. My first stop in Silver was in front of their art supply store, called Leyba and Ingalls. There was a parking space waiting for me. After a couple of hours talking to Diana, who I'd met when she was in my home-room at an alternative high-school in Philly, It had become a lifelong friendship. I headed over to Pat's house and spent a couple of hours there hearing tales of mountain biking and retired desperation, told with the exquisite timing of a perfected political and social curmudgeon. It was great. Back at Diana's the three of us went to Jalisco's for good Mexican and then they gave me a tour of an array of buildings they've rehabbed and rented, Bob, a pro painter, was pleased to show off his handiwork. They had a guest house too, big bed, hot shower, and a lizard who crawled between the sheets for warm company while I slept. That was a thrill.

Since I'd lived in Silver, i had a lot of other acquaintances that I hoped to see. One was an old heart-throb named Laura Ramnarace, Irish-Indian who I'd corresponded with for awhile after leaving, but those things often fade. Even the contact with Pat and B&D had gotten thin. Diana encouraged me to give her a call, and I left a message. I was very pleased when Diana told me the next day that Laura had called back. We made arrangements to go hiking on Saturday.

Friday: I stopped by Pat's early, still chilly, drank coffee and told stories, then headed up Little Walnut Rd to the picnic area. Good birding, even got a couple of tics, Acorn and Hairy Woodpeckers. I had gotten my start birding while I lived in Silver, but hadn't hooked into the serious birder network and its resources of books and groups. So I was pleasantly surprised at how many birds I had missed through lack of skil and not knowing where and when to look. I found the local internet cafe and did some catching up, worked on reading the books I'd brought to get through long evenings, watched a movie at Diana's called "Mirror Mask", very Jungian, Slept well, but still had three headaches, one from a cold, one from allergies, and one from altitude. They all faded before the trip's end.

Silver City Part 2

2008-11-16T07:15:00.000-08:00

Nov 15, 16

Saturday: More reading and hanging at store and cafe until Laura showed up. She was in the middle of a project for work, and somewhat time squeezed since a co-worker was staying the weekend to work along with her. She knew of a place to go hiking at Bear Mountain Lodge, which I'd seen advertised in birding magazines. Nice place, lots of trails in typical habitat fro the area, no birds I'd not seen the day before at the picnic area. Which didn't matter much since we were mostly talking intensely about what had been happening in our lives. First she caught me up on news of her daughters, then aboout herself going back to college and getting not only a BA, but an MA from a more challenging school. Like somebody waking up to her true self, suddenly a setting where she could use her intelligence and drive, and the organizing skills from raising three kids mostly alone. Then we started talking about people dieing. She had spent something more than a year involved in her mom's decline and demise, with all the stresses and sadness. I told her about my mom as well, plus went down the roster of all the close men friends who I'd lost in the last five years, Not just friends, but my mentor, and my favorite Uncle. I was teary by the time we got done, and found a Buddha on a viewpoint. Folks had left coins and mementos, so I left the Buddha token that I'd been carrying in my pocket for over a year for comfort with impermanence. It seemed to belong, and I figured I could get another when I got home.

That was the most thorough telling of the accumulated losses that I'd done with anyone and twas a relief, as well as a sudden binding and recognition between us. I had said I would probably leave the next day, but she said it would be good to meet again after the project planning was done. That made sense to me when I figured out how much I'd needed that contact. She dropped me off back at the internet cafe, I met her friend, she said goodbye with hugs and kisses. And when I checked my mail, there was an email from my best friend in college who'd I'd lost track of for around forty years. He found my address on some Ivory-bill site, I don't even know which one, but it was like a gap closing that I'd forgotten was there. The rest of the evening was back with Bob and Diana, watching videos of her grandchild, then noshing at a store opening, and general goofing. It felt like a day when something important had changed.

Sunday: I got up early and had a biscuit at McDonald's, then hung around with Pat until 9 when we met up with Diana and Bob for a nice breakfast at a little place up from the store. More green chiles. I guess about 11 I set out up the Pinos Altos road to check out birding sites in the Gila NF. I wasn't expecting a lot from the campgrounds along the road, but had some hopes for higher elevation species on Signal Mountain at the firetower. According to the GPS I was within just over a mile of steep road when I turned back, since the road was slick icey packed snow on the north side of the mountain. Just have to try again in the spring. I'd already decided for certain to make it back on my projected spring trip to pick up some more NM tics, try some backup sites for Flamulated Owl, and mostly check back in with Laura.

I still had hopes for waterfowl at Lake Roberts, and that did work out. Once I'd figured out the good spot for the scope and was working over the birds one by one, a woman ranger from the Fish and Game agency stopped and got out her big binocs and we searched for goodies. Hooded Merganser was good. Also Gadwall and Western Grebe. There were decent numbers and fair variety. Worth the trip. It was getting late and cooling down and I headed back to Silver to meet Laura for dinner, then we went to her house to watch a movie and cocoon on the couch. More good talk, and she showed me a lot of her soap-making operation, which has been a big success. They were multi-colored and -shaped and -fragranced with essential oils, made with good oils and Shea butter. She gave me samples and knew I'd be showing them off when I got home. When I did that there were rave reviews.

Back into Colorado, then Moab etc

2008-11-14T07:18:00.000-08:00

November 17 - 19, 2008

Monday: It turned out to be a frustrating day. I got all my stuff from Diana's guest house and she had done a load of laundry for me. What a great friend! Somewhere along the road I discovered that I hadn't brought my extremely useful Lands End jacket, given by my mom years ago. Diana later checked the palces where I might have left it, and it was gone, gone. Anyway, I headed northwest out of Silver and made several short stops at NM birding trail sites, but no new birds. Took minor roads along the western edge of the state, and up thorough El Malpais. Got some good birds there, a Golden Eagle close and on the ground, and a Merlin flying along a cliff face. Stopped at their eastern Info Center, the BLM version, and got their bird list. Have to say it's the finest production I've seen from a public agency, great work.

I had been reading the New Mexico birdfinder book, and decided that Bluewater Lake a little west of Grants looked like a good place to bird and spend the night. Grants seemed to have changed since the last time I was there in the early nineties. I remembered it as a dirty, gritty, poor and desperate place. It looked a lot better, and felt friendlier. But I just grabbed a bite, so can't say for sure. Got to Bluewater Lake, nice place, big and empty of folks, no staff it seemed either. Not many ducks, but there was an arm that I couldn't see up. A little map studyshowed I had to go back to the Interstate, then take another local highway to get back there. It was about three pm, and somewhere along there I figured out how far it was and how long it would take, and started looking for an alternative. The road atlas showed another state park a little further along, with an easy exit. Guess what? No exit by that number, no signs of any kind for a park.

It was getting dark, and I headed north on the highway up the eastern edge of the Navaho Res. All the way to Shiprock in the dark, and no camping. By then I'd decided to just get into Colorado, and the atlas showed two campgrounds near Dolores. When I got ther I couldn't find them, the atlas didn't have enough detail, nor did the GPS software. I drove around here, then back then ther then back farther until I just got frustrated and headed into the National Forest to look for a roadside parking place. Found a good one, slept well. Getting colder.

Tuesday: I woke up and figured out I was a little south of the Home Creek Rec area on McPhee Reservoir. That was one of the elusive campgrounds from the night before. I just hadn't gone far enough, a mismatch in my scaling from the atlas to the GPS. It turned out to be a pretty good spot, with lots of Common Mergansers, and lots of Bald Eagles, at least twenty. Before I left I also found one Hooded Merganser, and a durable Great Blue Heron. There were four lakes around Dolores and Cortez, and I got sort of systematic. The inlet end near Dolores for McPhee had holding pools that suppressed dust blowing into town, and a Bufflehead. I stopped at Narguinnep Res, which the Colorado birdfinder hadn't spoken well of, but it had a lot of birds with good variety. Also a couple, local birders, who sent me to other good sites.

One was the dam for McPhee, which had a Western Grebe, and the dirt road beyond it proved good for sparrows. Then as recommended I went back through Dolores and south around the east side of Totten Res. which had lots of waterfowl, mostly Coots, but a few others. The last stop was Danny Park on the east end of Cortez, a pond really, but with a Red-breasted Merganser. Trifecta on mergs. I ended up with 7 new tics by around noon.

From there I decided it was time to get on to Moab, I could make it before dark, and I was anxious to see Serena Supplee, good friend and great artist. There was one more stop the couple had recommended, just into Utah, wher Gunnison Sage-Grouse had been seen. I bit, even though I live under a curse to never see certain galliforms. Scanned the area four times with a scope, curse was effective. On to Moab, where I'd lived for a year in the early nineties. The drive up was beautiful, as always, renewing my acquaintance with red-rock hoodoo country. The town was kinda overrun with tourists then, but had now reached the truly disgusting stage. Endless motels, "attractions", condos, and what not. Still the scenery is magnificent, too steep and rough to settle buildings on, and thus self-protected mostly.

Serena was home, working in her yard with a young assistant, and pleased to see me. She had had a very sucessful show at the Grand Canyon during the summer, and had gotten down in the canyon to paint numerous times. She glowed. We agrred to meet up later for dinner, and I went off to drive around and try my luck at bookstores. Moab now has three, all owned by the same concern. I found a good book in the used division, and was attracted to a couple of new ones at "Back of Beyond", which had been my center of operations when I lived there. But my friend the amazing coyote Jose Knighton had moved away, rumor said Portland OR. I went to the library to check email and send Laura a note, and then Serena and I had a great pizza and a long talk before we went back to her house for the private art show and works-in-progress. I slept in the truck in her driveway, a place I'd used a score of times.

Wednesday: It was good to have the guest-house for morning hygiene, crisp fresh start. I wanted to check out a couple of sites on the Eastern Utah birding map. Matheson Preserve, a TNC site, had been one of my earliest birding places, where I'd stop almost every morning before goinfg to work. First Ibises and Soras and half a dozen other species made it dear to me. But they had a bad fire in the invasive Tamarisks, and the fire control efforts had wrecked a lot of other habitat. Lots of dozing and brush-hogging through the vegetation, presumably for fire lines, had really torn up some of the area . Not to mention the burn. It was officially closed, but I poked my nose in, enough to be grossed out. Just a little further down the road was Moonflower Canyon, a sweet short bluff ended creek bottom with big cottonwoods. It was cold and not very birdy, but looked to be an excellent prospect for a contemplated spring stop next year.

After another bookstore stop to show the staff the Utah birding maps as a suggestion, and another short but good visit with Serena, I headed north to Salt Lake and Bear River. The stop at the Green River sewage ponds was good, almost any open water in Utah would get new tics, but some of the other stops I'd targeted didn't pan out. Either the season was wrong, or the roads were snow bound, or they ended up being too far off my best route. Once I got into the metro area it was just plain 'ol thruway driving. The directions on the northern Utah map were not ground-truthed, and made no sense. By the time I figured out what I should have done from driving in circles way out of my way, and studying the GPS, it was getting late enough to look for a place to sleep. More problems: the state parks were closed, it being normally winter by this time of year, even though the season was running late.

I finally spied a place in the atlas just east of Bear River, and was able to find it. It was closed too, but the road through it was open, and I finally just parked in a pull-off, already dark, read my books a little and crashed.

Bear River Refuge, Idaho and Wyoming briefly

2008-11-13T07:20:00.000-08:00

November 20-22, 2008

Thursday: Sometime deep in the night I woke up with the inside of the campershell all lit up. I stuck my head up and there were headlights a few feet away, and a voice asking if I was alright. It was a young cop, and he actually seemed to care if I was alright. I said no problem, told him the campground had been closed. He'd apparently already checked the license for stolen, but did sheepishly ask to see my driver's license. I told him the plan to get into the refuge early, and got a recommendation for a breakfast place. No problem. Asked if I have a phone, wished me well, and went away.

I was up way before dawn and found the diner he'd mentioned. Standard Utah, with standard Utah early risers, ranchers and construction, very white but a couple of ethnics showed up before I left, fueled up on eggs and pig meat. I was driving in at first light just starting to be able to make out ducks on the wetlands along the entry road. It was a great morning. A few swans flew over, but there were thousands about a mile off the road. The expected good variety of ducks, a few Pied -bill Grebes, but no diver species. There were also surprisingly late small batches of Long-billed Curlews, Long-billed Dowitchers, and American Pipits too. I was in there until nearly noon, me and the hunters. On the way out I stopped at the Visitor's Center, deserted but for one woman minding the store. Found a Marsh Wren in the reeds outside along the walkway bridge.

Escape from urbanity was almost within reach, I was on the far northern edge of the City. It was about twenty miles to Golden Spike National Monument, and that was one of the few Park Service palces I'd not been. I'd recently read a book about the building od the western railway and had a mental picture of the immense undertaking that had finished there. It was a wide and drear land of rolling topography. There were a few traces of the parallel roadbeds, and some obviously major cut and fill operations, but the modern railway was relocated a few miles to the north. There's a big Thikol plant near there, with rocket testing facilities hidden over some taller hills.

I had spotted some likely looking sites along a route into Idaho, but they were duckless, totally, hunter swept clean. Between wrong roads and dead ends I managed to waste a couple of hours before getting to the state line. Once in I could start adding tics since Idaho was one of the places where I'd not kept records from earlier trips. I added 19 tics of roadside birds in about three hours. Finally got to Bear Lake (not river, different) NWR by a really roundabout northern approach that put me on the wrong side of a washed out bridge, so another twenty miles of dirt roads had to go by before I could get to the refuge proper. The best part was a lady in a fried chicken place who looked me over (I get to looking pretty well used) and said the pieces were running small so she'd give me three breasts for the two I ordered. They were the biggest I'd ever seen. Blessings on her. It was getting late, gray and windy, and just before I parked I spotted a small flock in the failing light that showed clearly white patches on the upper wing. I puzzled them out in the field guide as Snow Buntings, the first I'd seen in years. I slept by an outhouse on the tour loop after not seeing a soul or a vehicle for a couple of hours.

Friday: I got out early and was into Wyoming around sunrise. This was another just nip the state's corner opportunity with Seedskadee NWR along the way. The bad news was that somewher in the night or morning I'd gotten just far enough north or just enough higher that the refuge was mostly frozen, and the world pretty much stayed that way until I was back in Kansas on the way home. Saw a few small flocks of ducks on the river but they flushed at a distance, hunter shy I guess, and I was only able to actually ID 3 new tics in WY. Ended up going through Green River and into Flaming Gorge. I tried afew likely overlooks and boat launches there but no luck, very few waterfowl. Just before crossing back into Utah I had stopped at a wetland overlook, and spotted some sewage ponds along a county road. Turned out to be the border road, and the ponds were in Utah, and bermed up and fenced so that I could just barely see in by standing on the tailgate, tippy-toe, with the scope legs folded to make a monopod. There were good birds, including some divers that had been missing at Bear River. Ring-necks and Ruddys.

I had stopped at the Visitor Center in Green River and the woman there had explained where I could camp free on the south side of the highway in Utah. I drove along that stretch, noting little roads back into the forest and finally came to the Red Canyon area. That VC was closed, the view was stupendous, but the ranger that came by made me nervous since I hadn't purchases a daily use permit. As I was driving back to the highwayhe was parked in the middle of the road taking pictures out his window of a dozen Big Horn Sheep. There were three rams, and two of them were pushing and chasing. I parked and eventually the pair ran all around my truck as I watched, passing within ten feet. When I finally drove on past I talked to the ranger who said they were almost in rut, and the serious head-banging was a few weeks off.

Just on a whim I drove down to the restaurant that I presumed was closed, but the sign said they would be open at five, it being Friday. And ther was a catch-and-release pond out front with waterfowl. In fact with Common Loons, Goldeneyes, and Mergansers. I also found Clark's Nutcrackers. When five arrived I got coffee, and told the waitresses I was birding, they offered me the Flaming Gorge list, and then mentioned it had been compiled by the owner who happened to live in back. Great luck, huh? His name was Mark Wilson and he invited me in when I knocked and introduced myself. And I got two more tics on his birdfeeders outside the window, Steller's Jay and Hairy Woodpecker. Strangely he didn't know about the sewage ponds I'd found, and I was pleased to turn him on to something new in his own patch. Duty finally called him to the job, and I went back and parked back in the forest. Tried some owl calls but nothing called back.

Utah briefly and East across Colorado

2008-11-12T08:13:00.000-08:00

November 22-24, 2008

Saturday: The next morning the truck started OK, it had been a little balky, but the computer wouldn't boot at twenty degrees and 7500 ft. Once I was going and warmed up, it was down the long slope into Vernal for breakfast and gas. Another Utah rancher place. The computer lit up when the cab had warmed up.

The first goal was to take the highway west from Vernal and then a minor road south to Pelican Lake and also Ouray NWR. Pelican had been a great find when I lived out that way. There's some free primitive camping. I saw my first Common Loon there, and my first Bobolink. I guess my first Phalaropes twirling up a meal too. And there had been a Peregrine Falcon on a fence post eating a duck. This time it was very good also, lots of birds and good variety, the water was mostly open, just a small fringe of ice where it was shaded by the bank-side vegetation.

Ouray was disappointing, the smaller water features there were mostly frozen, but there was a small flock of Sandhill Cranes, my first for Utah. I drove the tour loop, but it was pretty birdless. Back to Pelican and get back in the reeds with a scope for an hour. That was satisfying. But I had some hopes for northern Colorado so it was back through Vernal and east. It was a long cold and generally birdless drive, and was already dark by the time I got to Granby. The most interesting thing was a sky phenomenon just before sunset, called anti-crepuscular rays. It's the complementary phenomena to the rays one sometime sees coming through clouds that look like the glories in religious paintings. It's a trick of perspective that they seem to diverge, since they're actually parallel. If they come from a sun nearly set (or just risen) they reconverge on the opposite side of the sky. I had never been conscious of them before, but they had shown up in a picture on an astronomy site I check daily, and when I saw them I knew what it was.

I had sort of targeted the pass south of Georgetown to camp, and then look for Rosy-finches in town in the morning, but when I got there in the dark and realized from studying the GPS how much of a climb it would be, and how cold in the morning, it seemed wiser to head down to the plains beyond Denver. There was also the lack of snow up high, which is what drives the Rosies down. They hadn't been mentioned on the listserv. I'd already come over the Berthoud Pass, 11,000' plus but snowless, so it was a long downhill coast. It had gotten late enough that the city traffic wasn't bad, and the GPS got me through the freeway labyrinth without a hitch, and headed north toward Ft Collins. There were some sites there too, mostly big lakes with a tendency to get vagrant winter gulls, that had aroused my lifer hopes while following the bird listserv for Colorado. But first I needed to sleep. Found a truck-stop with a restaurant for breakfast, and got tucked in between two semis. When I woke the next morning two more had tucked in even closer, and lulled me to sleep with their rattling and rumbling in the night (not).

Sunday: Up around first light and fed and coffeed up, and only twenty miles or so to Fossil Creek Reservoir. The water was open, but it was a chilly windy day. There were lots of Canada Geese on the opposite shore, but I couldn't make out any others. The lake itself had some waterfowl, including Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, and Western Grebe. Farther north at the Visitor Center for Ft Collins, I found out there were a whole bunch of public access areas called the Prospect Ponds along the Cache le Poudre River. They had a lot of useful literature and maps, in fact it was one of the best welcome centers I'd seen. They filled my coffee cup too.

Headed down to the first parking lot, and had the great good fortune to meet a couple of young birders, Rollie and Mike, who were familiar with the site. I asked if I could follow them around, and they assented. Turned out they were sorta new to birding, but were really interested. They didn't know about the listservs, and I hope they found them, since I never got an email that would let me send a bunch of useful links. I got several Colorado tics with them, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Belted Kingfisher, and Cinnamon Teal. Later we found Snow Geese and Cacling Geese too, in a place I'd have never found on my own since it required climbing down a twisted rebar ladder, crossing a small dam, and then climbing back up. One of the geese had really strange markings, we hoped for something rare, but it was a bizarre Snow. I ended up spending a couple of hours with them in a cold wind, but it was obviously well worth it.

I made some shopping stops too, at REI where I got a new headlamp, brighter than the one I'd been using for reading. Next door was Barnes and Noble, and I couldn't resist some Moleskin notebooks. Also got the cheapest gas of the trip so far. Then it went back up until I got to Missouri a couple of days later.

It's not too far from Ft Collins to Pawnee National Grasslands where I'd stayed a couple of times before. This was the most wintry visit, I didn't have much hope for good birds, but dutifully walked the trails in the little stream-side woodland at the campground. Lots of White-crowned Sparrows, not much else. But an Eastern Screech-Owl in the night gave me 201 species for Colorado.

Monday: It was 16 degrees in the morning, and the truck was balky starting. That was starting to be a background concern all the time. This was just a driving-all-day day, my homing instincts had kicked in, and it was straight to Great Bend, Kansas and stay at Cheyenne Bottoms. The motel that had always had good wifi was dismally slow and sketchy, but I did manage to get an email on the Kansas listserv regarding Trumpeter and Tundra Swans maybe (they had been way off) at Quivera and another about a Black Scoter at a Wichita site. There was nobody at the campground at CB, no hunters, so It was a good sleep.

Home through Kansas, 2 stops

2008-11-11T08:15:00.000-08:00

November 25, Tuesday

Given the reports of good birds, new species for Kansas which were geting harder to find, I didn't even bother to drive around Cheyenne Bottoms, but just headed for Quivera as soon as I'd had some breakfast. I got in there just as the sun was rising, and the air was filled with geese on the water and in the air as far as I could see, remoter and higher skeins stacked behind one another each time I looked for smaller specks. About two thirds around the tour loop I found the swans, first one pair, then another, the second being an adult and a cygnet. Approaching gradually, driving fifty feet and stopping, then again and again, until I was even and at the closest possible approach, it was easy to see the yellow bill mark on one of the adult pair, making it Tundra. The second pair was a little further, but the pairs converged as time wore on. That gave me a chance to compare head shapes. Trumpeters make a sort of straight line bill to crown, and Tundras are more rounded, at least in the Geographic Guide. Sorta like the difference between Lesser and Greater Scaup. I looked for thirty minutes against different backgrounds as they drifted, and finaly decided they all looked the same, so all Tundras.

Glad I didn't post it, even though I did call Pete Janzen who had the original sighting. A couple of days later another birder got a much better look, with them near the road rather than across the pool, and his conclusion was two of each, the original Janzen call. I wish getting out of there was as easy as getting in. One problem with the GPS mapping is that it sometimes shows roads that have locked gates. I was trying the most direct route out and ran into that situation. The complication was the leg shot deer in the road. It was staggering around, could put some weight on the bad leg, but it was seriously hurt. I went real slow, trying to think harmless and compassionate thoughts, and it got off to the side and let me go by. Then I got to the dead end gate and had to turn around. This time it panicked, running and slipping and falling in the mud, bouncing off barb-wire fencing, and breaking my heart. I hated being there and hated whoever hadn't followed their wounded deer, and hated the whole business. It finally manged to get across the fence, and I got back to the highway to Wichita.

It was fairly easy to find the Scoter site, but it was big water only viewable through a fence at one end. Old sand pits, and the area still very industrial. There must have been at least 500 ducks and coots and what-not out there, and I must have looked at each one at least four times, but none turned into a scoter. I found one other viewpoint but it had intimidating signage and big trucks being loaded by big machines, so I just turned around after a brief look. I was ready to get home, and a few hours later I did.

I considered the trip fairly sucessful, I had added plenty of waterfowl to several state lists, and some other unexpected species, not to mention good visits with friends and some renewed affection with Laura. When I totalled up the total tics at trips end I had 6999. Gadzooks, what a frustration. A few days later at home I had an inspiration to look through some old checklists to see if I'd written anything down in the pre lister software days. For closure, years ago I'd visited Malheur in Oregon, the place of the manager I'd met the first day out, and I'd checked off quite a few species, 56 that I'd never enterd in AviSys. So the count at year's end was 7055 total tics.

North into a cold wet Spring

2008-06-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

In my typical way, with time on my hands as the winter passed, I had studied maps and checklists and cash reserves figuring what kind of trip would net the most new state ticks, the most lifer possibilities, and the most new landscapes. Subject to time and money constraints. It used to be just time, but gas prices were changing everything in terms of any kind of distance birding. Which was true for a lot of folks, attested by numerous mentions on the listservs, and a growing interest in "green birding", fuel free and muscle intensive.

I was drawn to another Gulf Coast trip, with the possibility of making the 50% in Louisiana, Mississippi (I was really close), and critically building on Tennessee and Alabama. But I missed the prime time window for those when the migrants were coming ashore on the April/May cusp. So the alternative northern loop through several prairie states started looking best. It had a lot more lifer hopes too, all chickens, my nemesis the Gray Partridge, both Sage Grouses (Grice?), and Spruce Grouse if I went into Minnesota Boreal habitat. I was also drawn to a trip to Isle Royale National Park, almost the only lower 48 one that I hadn't seen, the least visited NP, but one of the top ten for back country permits. Not a real birding goal, tho I could get some good MN ticks with a little luck, obscure woodpeckers, big water ducks and loons, that sort of thing. It also held the opportunity for breaking 100+ species in four more states, and adding to a bunch of others. Like a fool, I listed them out, with their goals, and figured around 300+ ticks possible would give the list a big boost. Plans jelled.

Getaway, start Nebraska and Iowa

Thursday, June 5 and Friday, June 6, 2008

I took my time getting away in the morning, first checking email and delivering some work, then back home to clean out the truck, vacuum everything and wipe it down, then load for travel. I always wonder what I'm gonna forget, any fool would make a checklist, but maybe the next time. I'll make a post of the stuff I take and other logistical considerations on these trips. I did manage to make a note of the mailing addresses and due dates and amounts for several credit cards. Then I mowed the last section of the lawn that was slightly tall, knowing that I'd face a jungle when I returned. We'd had an extremely wet spring, with flooding and over-filled lakes on the news, so plants were thriving. We'd already cut the hay, a month earlier than usual, I usually delay beyond the local custom to let ground nesters get their babies up, but his year I would have lost a lot of grass falling over from its own exuberant weight. Back through town headed north with a stop for the last decent meal I'd see until I got back, at the Oasis, favorite-of-locals semi-vegetarian mostly home-made tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant. When I'm in strange places with some counter-culture flotsam I always hope to find places like it, usually without luck.

First long drive of the trip is north-west across a corner of Missouri, opportunity for the cheapest gas in the nation, and up the Eastern edge of Kansas. I always stop at Schermerhorn Park south of Galena, still looking for Black Vultures and Bewick's Wrens for the KS list. After that it was just a grinding drive, I could have made several stops, but I wanted the feel of being gone from the familiar. Crossed back into MO at Kansas City, and Interstate to the Squaw Creek NWR exit south of Mound City, for another MO gas dose and dinner. The station there was associated with an Indian Reservation, cheap gas and a big cheap plate of food recommended by a trucker on the next stool, good too. Now all this time the weather had been fairly dramatic. I'd had a welcome tail wind going north. I drove along keeping pace with the cloud shadows, which were going fifty plus mph. Not very good birding anyhow. At the station the sky had darkened and it looked like rain, actually it looked worse than that. The waitress I'd fallen in love with (I always do) said there were tornado warnings for the area, and a few minutes later that there were tornadoes on the ground just west of there across the Missouri River in Kansas and Nebraska where I thought I was heading.

Then a few minutes later she announced that there were tornadoes around us, it looked scary outside, low gray fast moving clouds with shreds of green and yellow weather scraps moving like flying trucks. She invited everyone to head for the basement just as the power failed. Folks had a few flashlights, and we crowded into a decent size room with not enough seats. I was on the floor. The guy next to me had his dog. Truckers and staff and kids from the Res, travelers, a cop, made a good mix. We stayed for most of an hour until the spotters said that the worst danger was past. By then it was storming horizontally, with lots of fireworks. It was dark, I was tired, a splashed to the truck knowing that the rain would make the campershell into a drum head. Got the bright idea to park under the station canopy, let the rain fall on that, the lights and pumps were off. But in about an hour I got woke up when the lights came on. So I got up and moved the truck back to a dark spot in the truck parking area, still raining. Well, that was an interesting start.

Friday - I was up before the kitchen opened, so grabbed a muffin and headed to the refuge only a few miles away for premium early morning birding. I drove the tour loop hoping to see a Ring-necked Pheasant, and one finally crossed the road ahead of me. I'd missed them before. Also got a Spotted Towhee for MO. I'd entered Warbling Vireo range, but didn't recognize the song at first. Figured it out later, and it followed me for the first part of the trip, some places they were quite numerous, not having dispersed on territories yet. I added three ticks for MO, better than I'd hoped for. Crossed the river into Nebraska, and worked my way up to Indian Cave SP with one stop when I saw a sign for an arboretum in Fallsville. Indian Cave is great place and I'd been looking forward to catching shorebirds at a couple of places there, one a wetland and then along the river. Both were closed due to flooding. I did OK there, but was disappointed. The flood induced lack of mudflats was a theme of the journey after that.

I was working my way north along the Missouri River, I'd tagged several likely looking places in the mapping software on the laptop, GPS enabled, on the passenger seat. At Nebraska City I crossed into Iowa to check out Waubonsee SP. It wasn't a good birding place, so it wasn't a long stop. Back into Nebraska and up to the Lincoln area. I had been following the NE listserv, and had marked some sites around there. It was very good birding, especially when I found the Spring Creek Audubon Preserve a few miles southwest of town. The afternoon was already hot and muggy, but there was a new Visitor's Center, hereafter VC, with AC. Yesss. Good birding too, nice prairie remnant, and a very kind woman at the VC sent me up the hill for Henslow's Sparrows, which hid forever almost but eventually came out and rasped their little songs and calls. Good bird for the trip and year as well. Back into town for the Pioneer's Park Nature Center, but I was late and some trails were already closed. They'd had some vandalism problems. Looks like an excellent place to hit early in the day during spring migration. I needed to find some camping, the previous night hadn't been good rest, but had some awful luck for a while. I tried a WMA that was over-run with kids, Friday night, the good campsites were closed due to flooding, and the others were both expensive and ill-equipped. The next likely place was a SP where I'd been stormed on a previous trip, and I knew wasn't much for habitat. Kinda hot and frustrated. Ended up back across the river at Lewis and Clark SP, almost flooded, but with good showers. Tried evening birding and got driven back by rain. Logged sightings into the computer.

Siouxland area into South Dakota

2008-06-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday and Sunday, June 7&8, 2008

Birded around the state park in the morning, the rain had stopped. On the whole trip, even though I was rained on over and over, almost all of it was at night. I lost no actual birding time to the weather. A different kind of continuity to the trip was the Lewis and Clark story. Since I was following the Missouri River pretty tightly from Kansas City to the far end of Fort Peck Lake, I was following the trail of the Corps of Discovery. What brought that up was the full size replica of the L&C boat at the state park. I had seen models, but for some reason had never realized how big the main craft was. Reading the journals had made me wonder where they had put all that gear and supplies and trade goods and twenty some men. The full size operating craft would look big at most inland lake marinas, and was accompanied by batteaus as well. Worth seeing if you pass that way.

A couple of years ago I had ordered from ABA Sales a brochure called the Siouxland Birding Guide (or something like that). I broke it out now, and started checking out the sites it highlighted. There are quite a few, enough for several days of more focused birding, but I only spent a day at it. One of the best things about doing total ticking is that each state has to be explored more than superficially. The Siouxland brochure thrust me into places I'd have never expected. Iowa has a lot of flat boring ag fields, but it has a lot of other terrain as well. Anyway, I drove around northwest Iowa checking out maybe ten sites and anything that looked interesting on the map. Very little mudflat as noted, most rivers and ponds were over-full. There was some woodlands, grassy hills, ox-bow lakes, ag fields and what-not. By the end of the day I'd added 14 tics for IA, making 32% of their list. I ended up in Sioux City at Stone State Park on the northwest corner, there's a really nice nature center with well developed trails and some birders there got me on a Scarlet Tanager, always a great bird to find. It alone would be worth at least a half day during migration.

I had to take a break for lunch and Wally World, needed gas vitamins for the truck and allergy meds for me. Say what you will, they have almost everything you need, and the stores are laid out to a pattern so shopping is quick unless you have to walk from end to end for something. From there it was a small bridge over a small creek to put me in the very southeast tip of South Dakota. The attraction is the Adam's Homestead Preserve, and well worth it, got lots of woodpeckers and flycatchers, and some other fillers. Walked about three miles on good trails, but it was a hot and humid afternoon and I was whooped. From there I needed a place to camp, and Ponca SP back in NE along the river looked good. What a great place. Wonderful woodland habitat, and I had somehow gotten above the worst of the flooding so that the river shore was accessible. That meant Least Terns and Franklin's Gulls and Bank Swallows, and a Scarlet Tanager there as well. There are Piping Plovers as well, but I couldn't see them from where I was. I had gone to the Missouri National Scenic River VC, which is in the park, and there was a ranger guy who really was into the birds. He showed me where to look for various things, and also recommended a WMA that the park manages few miles west. I put that on the next day's morning plan. After some exploring and checking out an isolated campsite, I went back to the VC to pay up and find the ranger again. He was gone, turns out he was the park super, young and very casual and into birds. Hope I meet him again when I can go birding some morning. Back to the campsite on the edge of a meadow surrounded by woods and one corner overlooking the river and South Dakota. Just about dark the rain started and lasted all night.

Sunday - I was up early for a soaking world, headed into the little town on the highway looking for food. No luck on a Sunday morning. Went on to the WMA, a large flat bottom-land with some ag fields. And really muddy roads. Went down one until I was sliding some, remembered being stuck in similar circumstances (at least this was flat) and backed up a quarter mile slowly in four wheel until I could bail out. Further west there was a bridge into SD, into Vermilion for breakfast, then back to the north side of the river in a public recreation area and boat launch. I had the scope set up and was scanning for Plovers and Terns. A couple of locals pulled up, and we got to talking. Told them what I was doing, they puzzled over my maps, then recommended going about a mile up-river where they said a guy lived who had a good river view and was into birds. Went there, introduced myself, described my informers, was welcomed to check out the bars and channels. After a few minutes he came up and told stories of exploring the islands and bars in the river, and recalled various kinds of bureaucratic incompetence by state folks studying the wildlife. I did get my birds, and after some map study figured that I had the tics for both NE and SD. I ended up adding 12 species in Nebraska, less than my goal, but OK considering the flooding. Enough so I'm motivated to push that list for the ABA threshold. Now at 37%.

Now begins the continuation of the Tale of Nemesis. One target lifer was Gray Partridge. I have looked for this bird on a half dozen trips through its range. I had made a note from one web posting about the entrance road to a State Park just over the border east in Minnesota. I went there. I drove the target road back and forth twice. I stopped in the VC and quizzed a ranger. He laughed off my prospect of finding GRPA this time of year, seems they hide in the tall grass of the road verges, and only the greatest good luck, which I manifestly lacked for this bird, would get it to reveal itself. I birded their campground briefly since it was an open house day, but then headed on north toward Big Stone NWR. Couple of hours drive and a worthwhile stop. I'd been there before but had somehow not gotten deep into the refuge. This time I did with good results after spending several hours, ducks and waders and scattered shorebirds. Back into town for a little city park with camping, where I thought I'd stay for another morning pass at the Refuge. I caught up my records for the day, and realized that given my latitude and the long days around the solstice, that there were still hours of daylight. Started driving back into SD. Unremarkable except for the first road-killed Beaver I'd ever seen. Actually, I got some good birds in roadside ponds and pools, but the best was when I was at the turnoff for Waubay NWR. It was after sundown but still good light. I had gone ahead just a half mile or so to some possible camping by a decent size lake, and when I was returning to the turnoff the lake on my left had a smattering of ducks. Good ducks, and variety too, Redheads and Canvasbacks, Ring-necks and Ruddys. Between that lake and the one adjacent I managed to make my SD goal, 100 species, and I hadn't hit the refuges yet. It was deep twilight when I got to Waubay, the gates weren't closed, and no signs saying I couldn't so I parked the truck in the first decent pull-off and slept well, dark and no rain.

SD refuges to far Northeast Minnesota

2008-06-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

Mon-Wed, June 9-11, 2008

Waubay was a pretty good place to wake up, early enough that the world was songs and calls across the water, not enough light except for vaguely perceived motion. But in twenty minutes I could start making out gulls, and then more. I walked around the parking spot and up to a little viewpoint, but there wasn't much to see, a fair wind was blowing. Drove on across the causeway to the island where most of the refuge infrastructure is located, VC and sheds, fire tower, and lots of trails, not long, it's a small island, but with some habitat variety. Started on those with good luck on the lea side, not so much in the wind. Did see two fox dens with kits. There wasn't much on the water, and no mud except on the trail. Went slow enough that the staff finally arrived just before seven, they were friendly, I remember that from a previous visit and they invited me to coffee and donuts. One interesting thing was the biologist showing me pictures of the refuge from 20 plus years earlier when the island wasn't an island. She said the speculation was that a series of wet years, by raising the water level, had broken the fire continuity in the area and allowed a lot of woodland to survive and thrive, creating a woodland habitat island all around the lakes of the refuge which made it the western-most woods in the area. And a real trap for normally absent species.

By then I was seriously hungry and headed back to the main highway, hoping for more ducks where they had been in the evening, but the wind had cleared the lakes. I'd been lucky the night before. A little further west in Webster I found a wonderful small town eating place, lots of locals, lots of food without a crater in the wallet, and Wifi for an email scoop. That sent me off coffee jazzed and smiling for the hour drive to Sand Lake NWR. It's a big refuge north of the village of Columbia, a village with a sign on its two lane blacktop advising that I should take any of the next twelve or so exits. I took one at the PO and got some envelopes for Credit Card payments. I drove the refuge tour loop, lucked into quite a few more new state tics, and by the time I was driving into North Dakota I had exceeded expectations, making 30% well beyond my 100 species target. 55 new tics.

North Dakota was a much different problem. I'd been there before but hadn't recorded anything but new trip birds after already crossing a lot of similar habitat. So I had nine species on the list and a target of 100 at least. That was the steepest goal of the trip. It's pretty easy at the beginning, Mallards and House Sparrows, Barn Swallows and Pigeons. I routed my way through Tewaukon NWR but found it disappointing, not many ducks and small lakes surrounded by grass. Some sparrows of course, but it's probably better when migration is staging. Muddled my way on toward Fargo via Cheyenne National Grassland, but it too was virtually birdless. In Fargo I found a PO, actually in Minnesota, mailed off one bill catching the clerk just as she emptied the outside drop-box. Then into MN, heading for one of the pivots of the trip, Isle Royale National Park. Skirted Detroit Lakes with its miserable traffic, and cut north and east through Tamarac NWR. I'd had a great visit there on a previous trip, but the VC with its good bookstore was closed, it was drizzling, I'd been up and drive/birding for fourteen hours, and I just wasn't motivated to do anything but get further east and sleep. Ended up paying for a place in Chippewa National Forest by a little lake. Just stayed in the truck in the rain, logged in sightings and crashed.

Tuesday - My notes say "mosquito driven morning". Thankfully I bet, there's no recall of what that means exactly. It did rain a lot, so sleep wasn't good, and I was troubled by curious engine noises which meant checking under-hood stuff in the gray buzzing drizzle. Then off to Duluth, where I'd recalled someone who wished I could see again, but had no way of finding other than her family name. I found a bakery/bistro/Internet cafe that I'd hung in before on the owl invasion trip, harvested email, sipped coffee, studied a phone book, but finally couldn't get myself to make some cold calls. That didn't add much to dismal exhaustion. Got on the north shore highway and headed for Isle Royale. The weather forecast was a week of rain with highs in the fifties and lows in the thirties, a little chilly for a week from the solstice even by MN standards. The highway had a lot of water damage, lanes closed, edges undermined, one bridge just barely functional. They'd had gully washer rains two days earlier, the creeks were still high, and my spirits were battered. It's quite a ways from Duluth, scenic as hell, three hours driving with the road damage.

One of the main motivations and hopes around there was a possibility of finding Spruce Grouse. I was in serious Boreal habitat and the Kim Eckert MN birdfinder book had said they were present, but scarce. Can't win if you don't play. The IRNP checklist didn't have them, so the best hope was on the mainland around Grand Portage and its National Monument. I spent some time at the VC there, quizzed the desk woman, a youngish Ojibway, about the boats to the Isle, the weather forecast (daunting), and the grouse. Turns out she went hunting with her grandfather in those woods and knew them in detail, grouse hunting. So we ran our fingers over the local maps, she wrote names and reminders on some paper, and I resigned the boat trip for some woods exploring. While I was at the monument I checked out the displays and reconstructions and re-enactments. It's really informative, the interpreters were top notch, able to follow any line of questions and full of telling details. I won't say much about those, except it's really worth spending half a day getting to know. I had lunch at a local's favorite place near the border, then headed back to wander around in the woods.

One road was the old federal highway. Don't go there; it's one of those things with pavement damaged by years of winter and neglect, endless potholes, bumps, grinds, occasional fifty yard stretches of decent surface, then screech and crawl. Twas a relief to get back to the real highway. South a little way to Arrowhead Trail, which turned to good dirt pretty soon. I found the most recommended of her roads, which wasn't in the GPS mapping, but was a good road anyhow. Followed it most of twenty miles north, almost to Canada, and found a gated side road that looked like I could park, bird and camp. Not much traffic out there, less than half a dozen vehicles in the next twelve hours. The birding was magnificent, numerous Boreal warblers, woodpeckers, flycatchers, grouse, Ruffed, booming, Snipe winnowing, and scattered spells of drizzle. I was in heaven, especially with two Connecticut Warblers. It helped the mood a lot, but still a nagging sense of time running out. It had kept me driven for days, choosing to keep moving when I could have kicked back and spent more time working over good spots.

Wednesday - I spent three hours back down my prime road and then headed back to the highway. Mostly I was hanging around on the chance a Spruce Grouse would materialize, not much chance of that. What the focus was in the meantime was scaring up a Mourning Warbler, which shouldn't have been too hard. I walked into maybe four overgrown old clearcuts, soaking dewy boggy brush-fields, patiently playing the calls on the tape, and with no luck. Something else to make me go back. Then an hour plus driving south to the turnoff for Ely, gas in Finland, cheapest in MN that day, and on to Ely with lots of stops for MOWA, still no luck. At Ely I had a good yuppie sandwich served by summer co-eds at Piragis outfitters, where I scoured the store for useful and non-yuppie items for my canoe. From there on I was goal oriented and drove pretty much straight to Agassiz NWR.

Trip to Agassiz NWR, then North Dakota

2008-06-21T08:43:00.000-07:00

Wed to Friday, June 11-13, 2008

Wednesday continued - I had spent a day at Agassiz on a previous trip, and loved the place. I wanted one of their baseball hats but they were sold out. It was blowing about thirty mph, but I was still able to get some good duck tics when I could find clusters hiding near cover. South of the official NWR is a WMA, and I had some info that I should check that. On the way down a storm was piling up, and bay the time I headed north the rain had started. There was a parking area with a modern outhouse, so I got that between me and the wind and hunkered down for an outrageous storm through the night, severe wind and continuous flashing and thundering until almost dawn.

Thursday - What I discovered then was that the lot I was in was at the beginning of a trail along a levee with woodland, long but narrow, on one side and some open boggy habitat on the other side. The trees had some fresh wind broken limbs, but the path was open. I spent about an hour there before heading back to the VC about 7 when they opened. Actually I was enough early that I had time to hike the short woodland trail by the HQ as well, which was pretty productive. Some Tundra Swans had shown up in a pool across the road, with a fledgling. In an hour there were three pairs and two young visible, and they said inside that this was their first day in public. I did my normal quizzing of the desk folk, mostly trying to find locations for Hooded Mergansers and Pintails, about the only ducks still missing on the MN list. I'd been lucky with the cool wet spring running late and had found Greater Scaup and others that should have been gone. They also gave locations for a missing Tern and an uncommon gull, but I dipped on those. They were very pleased at the report of Western Grebe's and, no, I couldn't make any into a Clark's. Got a heads-up on Garbled Modwits at a road crossing, which had been driven off for the morning by a working read crew, and was sent back to the WMA for my ducks-of-desire. I drove that levee to the bitter control burn end, no luck, but did get a Red-shouldered Hawk, not on the refuge list and well out of its range. A good look, enough that I saw that the window marks on the upper wing are actually crescent shaped. A nice detail for a god to hide in.

I ended up seeing 114 species in MN in less than three days and two nights, Brought the overall total to 174, 40% of the list, and made lots of motivation to go back. Especially when I realized that I had very few common eastern woodland birds since I'd spent no time in the southeastern corner where it's most like, say, Arkansas or Pennsylvania.

It's about an hour drive to North Dakota from Agassiz, not long even studying puddles for d-o-d. About the first bird in ND, seen at the first crossroad stop sign, was a prairie Falcon lifting off. It took a little while to puzzle out the ID, and I wasn't fully certain until I saw another the next day. My first main goal was Sully's Hill NWR, and was really pleased when I got there to find they were having a birding festival the next day and through the weekend. As mentioned before, ND was the worst challenge for the trip, needing 91 species to break 100. The thought of going around some good habitat with local birders was a breath of luck. Sully's is kind of like Waubay further south with extensive woodlands and wetlands in a mostly grassland area, and probably as far west as they can be found in any amount in ND. So I signed up for two trips/hikes, birded around the grounds near the VC, not so good, late afternoon and warm, then back into town which was Devil's Lake (a bastard English translation of the native name "Spirit Lake") for some food and Wifi in a WalMart parking lot. Then west to Graham Island SP, where the birding was OK, new tics, but not much variety, the campground was too groomed, and the wind didn't help. Did I mention that it had stayed relentlessly windy all day. Good showers and good sleep.

Friday - Up really early and back through town, grab a muffin, and make the early festival bird walk. It was everything I'd hoped for, many tics, some I would have never figured out without local help, like Northern Waterthrush (who knew?) a roosting Common Nighthawk, learned how to tell it and the two Wills apart while they hunkered, Limited Warbler variety, but good sparrows. Some ducks. Lots of good birds on the feeders at the VC, including House Finches, Clay-colored Sparrows, and Pine Siskins. Then I had to decide whether to stick around for the bus trip the next day, or try to find the wetlands it targeted on my own. I managed to find a local expert and quizzed him hard just before he had to give a talk, which might explain why the map he drew me had part of it with north and south reversed. That cost most of an hour before I finally found the right roads, such things used to be trivial aggravations, but the new world petroleum order made them expensive aggravations. Anyway I got some very good birds on small mudflats, Willets and Phalaropes, a couple of herons, the beginning of gazillions of Eared Grebes, and a LeConte's Sparrow. Made it worth it after all.

Then about three hours driving into a much more thinly inhabited biome, serious Short Grass Prairie, high and flat and still windy. There are four big refuges spread north of Minot ND, and the first I hit from the east was Salyer NWR. I spent three hors on their tour route, filled in lots of ducks and other wetland critters, got lots of practice on Marsh and Sedge wrens. Salyer is on the west side of the east/west Marsh Wren divide, unofficial, but eventually it'll turn into a countable split. From there it was west through Minot, supper, skip Upper Souris, I'd been there before, and on to Kenmare in blinding but localized rain. Just as I was coming out of the rain edge, I had a Raven over the truck chased by blackbirds, they seemed tiny. In Kenmare I stopped for gas, was invited to park behind the station when I asked about camping, it was a 24/7 truck stop, but not too noisy or floodlit, so pretty comfortable. Did an exploratory drive through town to the DesLacs NWR headquarters, got brochures, checked out a road along the eastern edge of the southern wetland, found it way muddy from the recent rain, so headed back to the station. I sat on the tailgate and watched the sunset at almost 10pm, a wonder of the northern latitude and the west edge of the time zone.

Finish North Dakota, into Montana

2008-06-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday June 14, 2008

It was slow and mellow waking up, used the truck-stop facilities for head maintenance, you know, teeth and shaving, drank coffee, ate a muffin, then went off hoping the roads had drained enough to be passable. I got down there about 6am, on a route I'd scouted out the evening before, and the rods, though muddy, weren't the kind of sloppy slippery I'd learned to associate with hazard. The birding was fairly good, I managed some new species, including a small group of Cacling Geese hanging near some Canadians. I have trouble making the distinction at a distance if there's no comparison. There were also a few shoebirds, not ad many as I'd hoped since mud was scarce, and the seasonal timing was bad, only the latest stragglers would be around, or birds that had chosen to not go north at all. One piece of good fortune was meeting a top-notch local birder, who's name I can only guess now since like an idiot I didn't write it out fully in my notes. I need to start being more careful about the memory compromises that I'm getting as I reluctantly age. I rthink it was Riles, but it's not in the ABA directory. Maybe I can find it online. Anyway, we talked for most of half an hour about weather patterns (it had been a wet late spring there) the state of the lakes, they were much fuller than they'd been for several years, and my nemesis. I told him I thought that Gray Partridges really didn't exist, feeling defeated and cynical/ironic. He said he sometimes saw several in a morning. I guess that was encouraging. He did add one clue to my search profile, that they often hung out in tree-lines along roads near old farmsteads which in that country usually had windbreaks planted around. I guess I could have hired him for the next morning, but I'm stubborn about finding birds for myself, partially thrift, and partially knowing that it's the way to really "earn" the tic.

I got all the way to the south end of the south lake, then headed back into town, crossed to the west side, and followed the tour road along the north lake. It was surprisingly good for passerines in the low woods and brush which grew up in the shelter between the bordering hills and the lakeshore. The end of the road connected via dirt with a two-lane heading for Lostwood NWR, which only took about a half hour to get to. I love Lostwood, no sooner had I stopped for a scan of the pond behind the HQ building than a Prairie Falcon landed about twenty feet from the truck, apparently intent on some priarie dogs. Great look, finally saw the fine subtle banding on the upper-side of the tail. Not much fartehr and a Baird's Sparrow sat still for almost two minutes while I checked off every distinctive field mark. I needed that since it didn't sing. I'd been listening to the tape for a day or more, embedding the song in my mind, along with what seemed the similar Savannah Sparrow song, so I'd be pretty sure when I heard one, and there were lots of SASP.

Towards the end of the tour road, which doesn't loop, theres a lake with sand spits that have a very few Piping Plovers. It seemed like there were far fewer than I'd seen several years earlier, and I could only find two nest protection pens, one with a tiny but visible bird. In the same area there was the only Upland Sandpiper of the trip, another species that I would have expected in greater numbers. Best thrill was while I was walking around with the scope trying to get the right angle on the PIPL and suddenly a pretty fair sized bird was circling around screaming its head off. Marbled Godwit doing its in-you-face territory protection routine, maybe chicks were close by. Several times farteher west during the trip I got this personal attention, always very Marlin Perkins. Then off to Montana, just an hour or so to Medicine Lake NWR.

North Dakota ended up being a great success for the trip, not only got 100+ tics, but made 30%. I saw 118 species in two days, 112 were new to the list, since I hadn't kept detailed records on the previous trip.

Medicine Lake was so-so, again hampered by overfilled water features and no mud. I did start adding some ducks and sparrows. I had 45 tics from previous trips, but they were mostly from the western part of the state, especially Red Rock Lakes NWR, surrounded by the Madison and Centenniel Mtns, where I'd camped a couple of time while in the Yellowstone area. This was totally different habitat, lower, flatter and dryer. I had a brochure of Northwestern Montana birding sites, which is available online also, and I'd tagged most of those in the GPS software. Several of those places were excellent. From there to Ft Peck Dam is quite a ways. MT is one of those states that doesn't seem so big in the road atlas until you see the scale is 25 miles to the inch spread across two big pages. I never got off the right page. Ft Peck Lake is huge, 100 plus miles of the Missouri River backed up in high semi-desert. I stayed at the campground at the dam site, in view of the Museum dedicated mostly to Lewis and Clark, but had arrived too late to check it out. The campground below the dam is an oasis, lots of trees, gazillions of Yellow Warblers, a pretty fair selection of other passerines, and it has a long nature trail that loops around the wooded area, then around a nice piece of grassland also. Spent a couple of hours checking it out as the day ended.

Slept well, woken by Least Flycatchers and YEWA