We had dinner – 2 minute noodles supplanted with a tin of beans for protein - then we did notes, photos and crashed.
Trip List -171 Lifers -136
Day 7 - 24.4.18
In which we see the Salton Sea and stay at crazy Slab City
A comfortable nights sleep despite some traffic noise from the nearby road. The temperature was warm without being hot and the thick grass under the floor made for a softer surface.
Up at 5.30, broke camp, ate and were away by 6.30. I discovered (luckily) that my binocular strap was worn to a single thread on one side and had to make an emergency sewing repair. Luckily or I would have dropped them for sure. Need to speak to Leica when I get home…..
We drove to the Sonny Bono Visitor Centre again stopping off at Finney Lakeon the way.
We had 3 Clarke’s Grebes, a Pied-bill Grebe, two Green Herons and a few American White Pelicans. On the road from there to the visitor centre we had several American Kestrels and a Greater Roadrunner doing what it does best – i.e. run on the road….Cool bird!
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| Clarke's Grebe |
At the centre we set off immediately on the Rock Hill Trail, about a half an hours walk out along a berm that provides an overview of the marshes and ponds. It ends at Rock Hill which is a low mound sticking up in the middle of nowhere – some volcanic thing.
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| Mr H on the Rock Hill Trail |
On the way we had
Western Tanager, Western Kingbird, Kildeer, Northern Mockingbird, Abert’s Towhee, Gambel’s Quail, Western Meadowlark, Vaux’s Swift, Tree, Rough-winged and Cliff Swallows, Snowy Egret and, a trip tick, Gull-billed Terns.
At the end of the path on the right a pond provided further delights:
American Avocet, Northern Shoveler, Short-billed Dowitchers, Californian and 1 Ring-billed Gull, Cinnamon Teal, Ruddy Duck, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Black-necked Stilt, Caspian Terns, Black-necked Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant and, best of all..........
..........a bird I have wanted to see for ‘evah’ – Black Skimmers. A bit distant for camera work - but brilliant in the scope.
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| American Avocet |
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| Orange Sulphur |
Walking along the edge of the pond Mr H declared a Marsh Wren singing – a bit of playback and up he sat to declare his territory – brilliant! After our lack of success yesterday, brief though our efforts were, I was worried we wouldn’t see this, our fourth wren species.
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| Marsh Wren |
We walked a little further once satiated and set up overlooking the beach.
Immediately we had Snowy Plovers, a bird we hadn’t really expected. There were hundreds of Western Sandpipers, Semi-palmated Plovers, White-faced Ibis flew in, and a Northern Harrier glided over.
Suddenly a pair of (Western) Coyotes appeared lopping north through the low bush.
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| (Western) Coyotes |
We went up the Rock Hill, but, apart from the overview and scenery, didn’t see anything else.
Walking back to the centre we added Song Sparrows, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Orioles and Ash-throated Flycatcher.
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| Views of Salton Sea from Rock Hill |
When we camped last night the ranger had told us to keep our receipt and, if we chose, we could visit another campsite near the visitor’s centre and use the showers there. So we drove around to the dilapidated, dusty campsite and without seeing anyone, got ourselves a surprisingly good hot, strong shower, my first in 4 days. Nice!
Back into the same clothes, back into the hot sun and we headed for some other side roads that led down towards the Sea. Exploring different pools and channels we found
Spotted Sandpipers, Least Terns, Northern Pintail, Blue-winged Teal, Long-billed Dowitchers and, finally, Wilson’s Phalaropes.
By now it was 95F – about 35C – and we were in need of both a Park pass and food. We headed for El Centro and found the Land Department for the former ($US80) and, on advice from the chick in the office, fish tacos across the road in Marlyn. $US14 saw us with two tacos and a soft drink each and very nice they were too. We found our way to a Walmart and bought a second gas cylinder ($US9), teaspoons and I bought a $US6 pillow.
We headed back to the area and this time went to Ramer Lake. We saw nothing new here, but I got the phone call I had been waiting on and found out I was grandfather to Patrick Thomas, born last night, Australian time, (24th) at 4.5 kgs or 10 lbs. Good news – both mother and baby doing well.
We birded a little bit more for nothing new and then headed for Slab City and our AirBnB accommodation for the next two nights.
If you haven’t heard of Slab City – Google it.
It’s an amazing (?), definitely weird, alternative, off the grid, anarchic, creative, artistic place populated by people who want to avoid convention, can’t afford a normal lifestyle or just want something alternative. Scattered tents, RVs, caravans and shacks across an area of desert that was an army base many years ago. No mains electricity, no running water, no garbage collection, no sewage management –
Oh Dermot, what have you got me in for now?
What he got me into was an experience I won't forget in a hurry.
We were staying in a trailer - no air con, one small electrical outlet everything was hanging off.
The temps are in the 90Fs = 30C+s.
The people who live here - and whom we were staying with - were hippie type escapists who have created a life here in the desert out of very little. It's hard to describe the living situation without sounding condescending or downright critical, but I guess, at my age, its not for me. OK for a night or two, but even though I like to consider myself 'not one of the pack' - I am not this far outside the mainstream.
They all seem happy enough, are friendly, welcoming and open. Some of that might have something to do with those strange cigarettes everyone appears to be smoking.
Anyway, we washed some clothes in a hand basin, using minimal water, and then relaxed with a beer or two. I don't remember much more of the evening, except I crashed around 23.00. I remember fire and music and feeling so spaced out I couldn't move for a couple of hours, but I did survive......I think....in one piece, much the same as I was yesterday.
I think.
Trip List – 183 Lifer – 142
Day 8 - 25.4.18
Slab City living
or
In which we recover and do bugger all birding
Woke up at 6.30. Feeling much refreshed, but a little de-motivated and with a heavy head. Mr H wasn’t much better, but we pulled ourselves together, more or less, had some breakfast, then drove to Unit 1 of the Salton Sea refuge area.
We had read a report from a few days ago on E-bird of a guy finding a Pectoral Sandpiper ‘among the 60 or so Stilt Sands’.
We weren’t much interested in the Pec, but that number – in fact, ANY number - of Stilt Sands was of great interest!
We got to site, seeing Burrowing Owls and American Kestrels along the way – and another Greater Roadrunner – and found the flat shallow pools behind the berm full of waders.
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| American Kestrel |
The Sea shore itself was miles away, but these pools obviously held plenty of interest to masses of Western Sandpipers, Black-necked Stilts, Long-billed Dowitchers and about 30 Stilt Sandpipers. Unfortunately they were all belly-deep in the water so I didn’t get a chance to see the length of their legs, but they were distinctly marked. We didn’t see the Pec, but then again weren’t really looking for it.
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| Silt Sandpiper (and Dowitcher for comparison) |
We headed back to Slab City as by now, mid morning, it had got very hot again. We stopped off at Walmart to buy a washing-up bowl (all of 78 cents) and some food. We also filled up with fuel ($30) – although the pump ran out at $30 without completely filling the tank – and dropped into Mackers for a coffee.
We stopped off to admire Salvation Mountain, near the entrance to Slab City, a big attraction here for tourists. It, apparently, was made from straw bales, paper, paint and someone’s off-the-wall imagination. Again, not my scene, but, hey, whatever turns you on!
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| Myself at Salvation Mountain, Slab City |
Back home we only wanted to relax and snooze (in Mr H’s case) and update my blog, in mine.
That done, it may be a while before I get anymore updated as we’re camping again for the next 7 nights and I don’t know what the wi-fi situation will be like. Amazingly it’s one thing that does work well here in Slab City. (Seriously check it out via Google!)
Trip List – 184 Lifers - 143
Day 9 - 26.4.18
In which we have, possibly, our best day’s birding evah
Up at 5 and away before 6. We were glad to shake the dust of Slab City off our feet. The smells had become over-powering and the heat unnecessarily debilitating.
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| Rodney 'Spyder''s compound - we stayed in the trailer with his face on it |
I started the morning’s drive and at 9.00 we stopped for fuel and coffee at Grand Bend and Mr H took over. Most of the day was through desert with the classic cowboy-style cacti scattered across the prairie. The Sonoran Desert included.
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| Salton Sea to Madera Canyon |
We reached Madera Canyon south of Tucson around 12.30 and drove around looking for an empty campsite in Bog Springs. It was on a first-come first-served basis – i.e. we couldn’t book ahead - and we were nervously hoping for a vacancy. We were in luck – Campsite no 9 (of 13) was ours for the next 5 nights – with our ‘senior’ discount it cost $US25 in total!
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| Campsite - Madera Canyon including the bear box |
We set up camp quickly and relaxed for a while in the shade of our tarp, while a pair of Scott’s Orioles continued to build a nest in a Yuca palm a few meters away, while Mexican Jays flew by every now and again and a Plumbeous Vireo sang from a nearby tree.
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| Scott's Oriole |
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| Mexican Jay |
Eventually we headed out to walk a nearby trail that appeared fairly easy. It left the site and curved up and around a hillside. Along the way the birds were fairly thin on the ground, but the quality was excellent.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet was the first to fall, followed by Bridled Titmouse– a bird I had doubts we would see. Just up the track an Arizona Woodpecker put in a confiding appearance. When we’d been in camp I’d mentioned the Trogon of these parts and played the call so Mr H would recognize it, now, as we walked, we started to hear the strong, barking call. With the help of my phone app we confirmed the call and hurried eagerly on.
Descending to the bitumen road, that actually passed the campsite and went to the head of the canyon, we tracked the noise down and, luckily, saw the Elegant Trogon on an electrical wire at about 30 meters range! Brilliant!
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| Elegant Trogon |
Overhead a raptor circled and, after some discussion, we agreed it was a Zone-tailed Hawk. Just after that a couple came down the road – obviously birders – looking for the Trogon. We explained what we had seen and then walked back up the road to a car park where, reportedly, Northern Pygmy Owls had been roosting. We searched the trees without success.
While doing that a group of 4 other birders (2 women and 2 men) arrived and again we described the Trogon and where we had last seen it and they headed off to look for it.
We followed 15 minutes later, giving up on the owls, and saw the ET again, though not anywhere near as well.
As we parted with the group of 4, one of the women said she could hear a Pygmy Owl. After some eye searching of the surrounding brush, Mr H picked out a juvenile Northern Pygmy Owl and, shortly afterwards he found one of the adults! Congratulations all round.
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| Northern Pygmy Owl - juvenile |
We did finally part and we headed down the road towards the campsite entrance. We stopped off at Santa Rita gift shop where we watched Broad-billed and Black-chinned Hummingbirds at the feeders. Other stuff included – Arizona Woodpecker, Lesser Goldfinch, Pine Siskin,Rufous-crowned Sparrows, White-winged & Mourning Doves, Black-headed Grosbeaks and Mexican Jays and a few Gray Squirrels.
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| Rufous-crowned Sparrow |
Arriving back at the campsite after a rather strenuous walk up the hill, we quickly had some dinner (boil in the bag rice, topped with half a jar of tomato-based sauce and a tin of beans) and drove back down to the car park at the picnic ground.
We met two other birders there from Onatario, Canada who helped us identify an Elf Owlwhich we had heard calling and then saw briefly as a silhouette.
Two owls in one day! Far Out!
We drove up the canyon stopping at likely places to listen in the pitch darkness. We could hear Whip Poor-wills and a Whiskered Screech Owl – all very distant though.
However, we reached the top carpark and parking up stepped out of the car – to be greeted by a Whip Poor-will calling loudly from a tree a few meters away! We searched and searched the tree while the bird continued to call and eventually picked up eye-shine and got views of the bird perched about 15 meters away .
Two Owls and a nightjar!
A Whiskered Screech Owl had been calling from some distance away and I had played a little feedback – unaware it was frowned upon in the canyon.
Suddenly a shape materialized and perched up on a dead branch stump above us – torches on and a Whiskered Screech Owl joined the list!
We returned to camp very happy with the day’s haul – 13 lifers for me with three Owls, a Nightjar and a Trogon. Pretty happy with that!
Trip list – 197 Lifers - 156
Day 10 – 27.4.18
In which we do Madera Canyon - badly
We were up at 5, after a restless night’s sleep for me again, and headed up the canyon to the Old Baldy Trailhead. We started the morning with a tick – Yellow-eyed Junco in the carpark, then we started up the trail, but veered off after a couple of hundred meters to the right, to what we thought might be a quieter walk.
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| Old Baldy Trail |
Within a few meters we wandered off track as we heard and saw a Painted Redstart male singing high in a tree.
We returned to the track and carried on up the canyon, but after a while having seen very little we decided to return to the lower reaches and so headed back to the car. We had American Robin and our second Hermit Thrush on the way back down.
Back at Santa Rita Hummingbird Heavento check out basically the same species as yesterday and, as the gift shop was now open, to purchase our very own hummingbird feeder and sugar mix. Total cost $US20 – we felt it was worth it to bring ‘Hummers’ into our campsite. Mr H also bought “Where to find birds in Southeast Arizona’– which proved to have a wealth of useful information.
We drove down past the campsite and parked in a carpark near Proctor Road turnoff. We walked the trail between two carparks picking up Bell’s Vireo(the Arizona form, as opposed to the ‘Least’ form in California), Cordelleran Flycatcher, Wilson’s and Townsend’s Warblers,Western Tanagerand, while walking back up the road, a pair of Phainopeplas– and a handful of White-tailed Deer.
Then it was back to the campsite to install our feeder and sit out the heat in the middle of the day. Before I had even hung the feeder up, a male
Black-chinned Hummingbird was flying around my head!
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| Black-chinned Hummingbird |
We set up the scopes and watched while we relaxed. We had Broad-billed, Black-chinned and a new one – Magnificent Hummingbird– just brilliant in the scope at 30 meters.
After a decent rest, we headed back down to the canyon floor, parked up and started a trail over the hill, heading away from the road. This got pretty tedious pretty fast and with nothing happening, we sat and reviewed our situation.
We decided to try the trail along the riverbed, where we had seen the Trogon and Pygmy Owls.
Although a few other non-birders were also walking this trail we had some success – Summer Tanager, brilliantly red male & a female, seen really well, another Painted Restart, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Yellow-eyed Juncos, Hutton’s & Plumbeous Vireo, White-faced Nuthatch, Townsend’s Warblers and Black-headed Grosbeak.
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| male Summer Tanager |
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| Yellow-eyed Junco |
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| White-breasted Nuthatch |
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| The riverbed trail |
There weren’t large numbers of birds but as every bird was ‘almost new’ it was still an exciting walk.
Once again we stopped off at Santa Rita and were rewarded by having a single Lincoln’s Sparrow pointed out to us. Never do like to have that happen, but sometimes you just have to take what you can get!
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| Lincoln's Sparrow - Hey Linc this one is for you! |
Back at camp the hummingbirds were still doing their thing on our feeder and while we sat, another Arizona Woodpecker came by, and a Purple Finch put in a brief stop-over.
Again, after we had rested a while, we decided we’d try for higher elevation and walked the trail to the Bog Spring itself. This took us from the 5,100 feet level we were camping at to 5,900 feet over an hour’s slog of approx 2 miles.
Bird-wise it wasn’t really worth it. View-wise? Maybe? But probably not. I had visions of a clear sparkling pool, cool refreshing water, maybe a swim? Nope – this is what we found….
We did see several Black-throated Gray Warblers, Brown-crested Flycatchers, Bridled Tit and the ubiquitous Mexican Jays. I also found a Horned Toad asleep in the sun - he needed prodding with a stick to ensure he was still alive – and a Western Gray Squirrel who posed very cutely.
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| Horned Toad |
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| Arizona Gray Squirrel |
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| Bog spring |
We were pretty knackered by the time we got back to camp and so – rested again, had dinner and, at 18.45, went to our appointment with the Elf Owls in a tree hollow opposite Santa Rita. There were about 20 other people waiting for the show and, sure enough, just after 19.00 a head appeared. A second bird also had a look before pushing the first one out and away.
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| Elf Owl |
Show over, we headed down the road away from the campsite to Proctor Road where we drove in on the unsealed road hoping to see Common Nighthawk. We didn’t have any success – the area was actually in use as a basic campsite, no facilities and probably free. We didn’t hang around long, but on our way out a low, grey, animal ran across the track ahead of us and we concluded it was a Gray Fox.
We tried again at the entrance to the old missile testing site (!), but nothing showed and we headed home to bed.
Trip list – 207 Lifers – 167
Day 11 - 28.4.18
In which we do a Moses - and go to the mountain.
The bunch in the closest campsite to us sat up talking, loudly, until 2.00am. They weren’t really loud, it was just so quiet we could follow their conversation which seemed to have a lot to do with shooting things and the qualities of different firearms. Anyway we rose at 5 and generally banged around taking no particular care to be quiet as we had on previous mornings.
Off to Mt Lemmon. You can drive to the top of the mountain, to 9,000 feet, and thus get, hopefully, some higher elevation species. It took us an hour to get to the base of the mountain, then a total of about 27 miles to the top.
We took our time, stopping off at likely spots, overviews, walking down side tracks etc, but it wasn’t until the third, or even fourth, stop that we got one of our target birds - Red-faced Warbler – stunner!
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| Red-faced Warbler |
Eventually we found the birdiest place on an unnamed trail beside the Ski slope, entered at the end of the metal barrier on the left side of the road opposite the Iron Door restaurant. It didn’t look like much at first, but we had some good birds – Virginia Warbler, Red-breasted & White-breasted Nuthatches, Brown Creeper, Pine Siskin, Steller’s Jays, Hermit Thrush, Black-throated Gray Warblers more Red-faced Warblers, (almost the commonest bird) and Hairy Woodpecker.
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| Black-throated Gray Warbler |
At the feeders in the restaurant a quick look saw Broad-billed and Magnificent (or Rivoli’s) Hummingbirds. We should have spent more time with these feeders as Broad-tailed HB was a possibility, but we didn’t cause we didn’t think of it at the time.
It had taken most of the day and between the higher elevation, walking up and down slopes and the warm weather we were both pretty whacked so headed back towards Tucson and a Mackers meal, devoured in seconds.
Then it was into Walmart and a big spend. More gas cylinders, a Styrofoam esky ($US2), ice to go with it, beer to go with the ice, food for several days, a small camping lantern ($US7), the wrong batteries, 2 mangoes at 50 cent each for which we were erroneously charged $11 – for 22 – and a few other bits and pieces.
We thought Sweetwater Wetlands sounded nice so we found our way there and wandered around in the late afternoon, dusty heat. It’s actually the water treatment plant for Tucson and probably has good potential – it was pretty quiet when we were there.
We headed back to camp, arriving just before dusk. Having had a ‘meal’ we sat and drank coffee and watched over the valley for Lesser Nighthawk– we saw 5 fly by. The chances of us ever seeing one perched were pretty slim so had to be content with the silhouettes although one did turn and twist and white wing flashes were evident.
Probably could have done better at Mt Lemmon, but being a Sunday it was pretty busy and we just didn’t seem to connect too well with those upper level birds we’d hoped for.
Trip List – 213 Lifers – 173
Day 12 – 29.4.18
In which we go to Patagonia – the town, NOT the country.
Away again before 6, it had been a windy night and the flapping tents had not helped sleep. We headed over the Box Canyon road which is entered a few kms down-road from Madera Canyon. It’s unsealed, but could be managed comfortably in a normal, non 4WD vehicle. It leads up and over the hills and cuts the long drive in half if you go via Nogales. It also gives you access to the narrow canyon as you approach the top and then open farmland and grassland for other species, before dropping down a little into the valley where Patagonia town is located.
We had our second only Loggerhead Shrike not too far in, but little else until we were approaching the top of the canyon. We decided to stop as it looked good for Canyon Wren– and proved to be so. One of the little devils came very close in response to a bit of playback and showed well along the edge of the road - there were at least half a dozen singing in the area.
We also had
Western Kingbirds, Purple Finch and
Wilson’s & Hermit Warblers along the way. Out on the farmland a herd of cattle in a pen had a flock of what, at first appeared to be, Starlings, but we realised they were
Brown-headed Cowbirds and stopped to have a look. While scoping part of the flock in a tree I noticed one with yellow on its face & chest and we then found at leat 4
Yellow-headed Blackbirds among the 40 or so Cowbirds. This was very pleasing as we’d looked hard for this species in the Salton Sea area without success. Great views.
As we were looking at these Mr H picked up a Say’s Phoebe in the background. A bit distant, but OK in the scope.
Moving right along we turned off at Las Cienegas – a reserve that is mainly grassland with clumps of bush here and there – especially around any water source. Our first hit here was American Kestrel followed by Eastern Meadowlark. While scoping the latter a car pulled up beside us with three young guys in it all dressed in camouflage gear. They were really friendly and we chatted for a while – they were out shooting Coyotes, but seemed reasonable enough despite the fact.
We continued on stopping here and there as something attracted our attention or a spot looked good – we had Horned Lark, Summer Tanager, Black-throated Sparrow, Lark Sparrowand, after a bit of work, a pair of Lucy’s Warblers. Just along the road, no particular spot.
We ended up at a riparian stretch of stagnant or overgrown pools alongside a shot stretch of road. There was a car already parked , so we did too and started to walk along the road. A woodpecker called and after some searching we found a pair of Gila Woodpeckers showing well. Two other, older, birders came along and after we exchanged pleasantries, as you do, they showed us a Great Horned Owl perched up in the opposite field and told us they had had a great morning’s birding along this stretch.
They went home and we continued. We didn’t see an awful lot in fact, but did have a flock of 6 Gould’s Turkeys, a race of Wild Turkey apparently, Yellow & Black-throated Gray Warblers and a Cordelerian Flycatcher.
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| Great Horned Owl |
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| Gould's Wild Turkey |
Back on the main road we continued to the junction where we met the road to Patagonia. We stopped fort coffee in the shop at the crossroads and tried to fix my reading glasses cause the right lens kept falling out.
Then it was on to world famous Paton’s Hummingbirds.
It’s a private house where the owner’s have allowed people to just walk in and sit and watch their feeders while the hummingbirds do their thing. It’s very popular and all they ask is you donate something to the ‘Sugar Fund’. Along with the hummers (yeah, I know, I know….its catching) there were heaps of other birds. It took us 15 minutes just to walk from the car to the back garden - there were Northern Cardinals, Summer Tanagers, Gila Woodpeckers, Inca Doves, Rufous-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows, Lesser Goldfinches, House Finches and stuff just going off around the feeders in the front yard. Eventually we reached the hummingbird stuff and sat down to watch.
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| Northern Cardinal |
Over a period of an hour and a half we had dozens of visits from Broad-billed, Anna’sand Black-chinned Hummingbirdsand a couple of visits from a Violet-crowned Hummingbird. Along with these the birds previously mentioned a flock of Brown-headed Cowbirdsand a couple of Ladder-backed Woodpeckers. It was pretty crazy.
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| Violet-crowned Hummingbird |
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| Gila Woodpecker |
We were starving by this time so pulled into The Wagon Wheel in main street Patagonia for chile hotdogs and beer. The ‘dogs took ages to come and tasted like hotdogs from home. The beer made us a bit sleepy and de-motivated but we headed fro Patagonia-Sonoita Reserve anyway. It was blowing a gale and hot and dusty, but while Mr H was checking for trail maps and I was having a smoke in the carpark a pair of Vermillion Flycatchers played around in the nearby trees – absolutely stunning in the sun.
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| Vermillion Flycatcher |
We walked in along the creek trail, but it was less than inspiring, even though we saw more Vermillion Flys and got our second target bird – a Gray Hawk. Only briefly, but a good side-on view as it flew low over the woodland. Shortly afterwards a Peregrine Falcon passed overhead and we saw a few Dusky-capped Flys, a Cordelerian, an Abert’s Towhee or two, Summer Tanagers and a Zone-tailed Hawk overhead.
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| Abert's Towhee |
Back to the car and we decided to check out the Patagonia Lake State campground with thoughts of transferring a day earlier than planned from Madera. It was a long drive over the mountains and we wanted to do some more Patagonian birding so we started to consider the move.
We drove into the campsite, chatted to the warden at the gate, he assured us there would be plenty of sites tomorrow, although ‘We’re all booked up through to June – every weekend.’
It looked OK so we decided to think some more and headed home via Nogales. Stopped there for a spare pair of reading glasses for me, then headed on up the highway to home.
Along the way we were stopped, as everyone else was, at the Border Patrol checkpoint and the heavily suited guy there checked our passports and asked a few questions before letting us go. We had, in fact, also seen a Border Patrol guy on a quad bike in Las Cienegas reserve and another checkpoint on that road too. Obviously they’re pretty keen to keep other people out.
Getting home we had coffee and a rest before heading up the Box Canyon road again to look for Quail in the evening crossing the road. We didn’t see any Quail but we did hear several Common Poor-Wills calling and, of course, used playback to see what would happen. What DID happen was a CP came flying up over the edge of the canyon, zoomed past my head and nearly took off Mr H’s. Unfortunately his back was turned and he didn’t actually see the bird. We couldn’t get any other responses despite trying several spots along the road. We did see a couple of Lesser Nighthawks, just briefly, here and there along the skyline.
We went home and crashed after making plans to move to Patagonia tomorrow.
Trip list – 225 Lifers – 185
Day 13 – 30.4.18
In which we twitch a true rarity and met The Guy from Flagstaff
Up as usual – early. Drove down road below campsite to carpark at canyon end of Proctor Rd and walked the track down and back.
It was hard work as the sun took a while to warm the area. We did have Cordellarian Flycatcher, Brown & Dusky capped Flycatchers, Black-chinned & Broad-billed Hummingbirds, heard Bell’s Vireoand had the usual warblers. Finally we got the hirsute-challenged tyrant from the north or as it is known to the common people – Northern Beardless Tyrant - very well. Not a very exciting looking bird in comparison to some, but a good 'tick' none the less.
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| Northern Beardless Tyrant |
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| Townsend's Warbler |
We decided to drop in on Santa Rita to see the hummingbirds again and have a cup of coffee. We had settled down in the chairs provided when a guy sat down beside us and we started chatting. Turned out he was from Flagstaff and had been a guide, researcher and traveller at different times in his life. Cutting a long story short – he offered to show us his favourite place in Flagstaff and even offered to put us up when he heard we were planning on camping - apparently it can snow in Flagstaff even into May. We swapped phone numbers and email addresses and promised to catch up. John Grahame seemed like a really nice genuine guy with similar views to camping, birding and travelling as us.
Back to the campsite and we broke camp quickly after a cup of coffee.
Heading down the road away from Madera Canyon a circling hawk brought us to a stop – Swainson’s Hawk – brilliant!
We drove down the highway towards Nogales and the Mexican border and turned off at Tumacacori to go to San Gertrudis Lane where we walked down from the car park. On the way a car of birders were coming out and we stopped them to ask directions to our target. They gave us something along the lines of ‘walk 200 yards, look for a defined path on the right, go up two levels and look above you – it’ll be in the mulberry tree’.
Sounded good so we walked on. Down to a shallow river. No sign of a defined path so we walked across the river and continued on up the road for about another 100 meters finding a flock of Cedar Waxwings, a couple of Summer & Western Tanagers, but no path. Back to the river again and back across to meet another group of birders who were as confused as we were. Lengthy discussion continued as we looked for a defined path. Back across the river again as Mr H translated the instructions as describing the levels in the road. Still no sign of a path so back across the river again.
This time I did a bit of exploring back towards the carpark and found a gate with a sign that indicated it was a trail of some sort. I called Mr H and we walked in along this trail for about 200 meters but still no path.
Back to and across the freaking river again. Still no path.
We were getting a little heated by now and our ideas of what the instructions actually meant were becoming more and more confused and exaggerated.
So I rang John from Flagstaff as he had suggested we try for this bird.
He confirmed the directions as going through the gate to the trail and walking down the trail until such and such a tree etc. So we did.
It was obvious THEN that the birders in the car had assumed we would walk this trail as their directions were approximately correct (it was 300 yards, not 200 as Mr H measured it out, but otherwise pretty close….)
Anyway we found the tree and almost immediately had our target bird – Rufous-backed Robin- and a Swainson’s Thrush and a Yellow-breasted Chat as bonus birds.
Back on the highway and we stopped off in Nogales to get ice, then headed out the road to Patagonia and a superb lunch in Gathering Ground– another suggestion/recommendation from John and highly recommended for good food, excellent coffee and friendly service.
Then it was in to Paton’s Hummingbird emporium again, but it was very quiet and we saw a lot less than yesterday and nothing new.
Down the road to the campsite at Patagonia State Park Lake and set up camp. ($US27 per night – electric camp site) A shower was desperately needed after 5 days without one - the water was unlimited and hot and it was a sheer pleasure! It was great, too, to charge the laptop and phone at the power point.
We went for a short walk along the lake late in the evening – Neotropic Cormorant fell to our list, but other than that, and the hundreds of Large-tailed Grackles, we didn’t see much else.
Trip list - 232 Lifers – 192
Day 14 – 1.5.18
In which we ‘do’ Sierra Vista on the way to a basic campsite in Portal
We didn’t get up too early, figuring we’d let the sun warm up before hitting the birding trail at the end of the lake.
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| Campsite - Patagonia Lake |
When we did it was very birdy. Along the way we counted 14 Neotropic Cormorantson the lake and a Green Heron flying over the reed beds. Once we hit the top of the lake we were birding in the flood zone – i.e. where the lake level rises during flooding. The track wound through piles of broken branches, trunks and general flood debris, chest high thick shrubs which had obviously sprung up since the last high water.
There were heaps of Summer Tanagers, Vermillion Flycatchers, Wilson’s, Yellow-rumped & Yellow Warblers,a few Black-throated Gray Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Pied-billed Grebe, American Coots, Great Blue Heron, Northern Cardinal, House Finch, White-crowned & Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Lazuli Bunting, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Cedar Waxwings, Brown-crested & Dusky-capped Flycatchers and Black-headed Grosbeak.
We also had one Swainson’s Thrush, and, in an open area overlooking the lake and a muddy foreshore, a rather distant Belted Kingfisher, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 2 White-faced Ibis and a single Kildeer.
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| Pied-billed Grebe |
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| White-faced Ibis |
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| Spotted Sandpiper |
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| Green Heron |
We looked hard for the reported ‘daily sightings’ of Curve-billed Thrasher, but saw no sign of any. We did have Yellow-breasted Chatsand much to our surprise a Black Vulture.
Other raptors included a very close fly by Cooper’s Hawk and overhead Zone-tailed and Red-tailed Hawks.
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| Zone-tailed Hawk |
We headed back to camp and packed up after a coffee. Then headed back through Patagonia and north to Sonoita where we fueled up ($US37) and on to San Pedro RCNA near Sierra Vista – in the next valley.
Unfortunately when we got there it was blowing a tornado and an absolute waste of time trying to see anything – which was a pity as this had been somewhere I had wanted to visit and this was our only opportunity.
We moved on to Miller Canyon where, at Beatty’s, for $US5 each we could sit and enjoy the Hummingbirds at the feeders.
We had Broad-billed, Rivoli’s (Magnificent re-named apparently) and Black-Chinned Hummingbirds.There were a few ‘older’ people around and as we walked out two of these were looking up a tree. When we stopped to pass the time of day we found they were looking at a Blue Grosbeak. They were also waiting for two other friends who had gone up the canyon about three-quarters of a mile to see a Spotted Owl.
Did we have time?
We decided we did and headed up the canyon after them.
It was a long slog at whatever height we were at – probably at least 5,000 feet – in the hot sun on the rough stony track. On the way we met a couple of birders coming down (not the owl people) and saw a Dusky Flycatcher.
Then a single guy and a Greater Wood Peewee.
Eventually we met the two ‘owl’ people - also coming down. They hadn’t seen the owl, but did give us the info that they had regarding its location.
We struggled on.
We found the spot by the markers given, and present – a cairn of stones, a flat ‘bench-like’ rock -and searched the surrounding trees for the owl/s. We never did see them.
After half an hour or so, we gave it away and stumbled back down the track to the car where we devoured cheese sandwiches and an orange.
Next stop was Ash Canyon B&B– another well-known feeder location. This time it was $US10 each to enter. Again no one around – and no birds on the feeders either. It was very windy and very quiet and we were, jokingly, discussing retrieving our twenty bucks from the jar I’d put it in.
Well, we were sort of joking……
Then Mr H heard a call and we got excellent views of 2 Cactus Wrens in a cactus (where else?) scolding something below. The ‘something’ turned into a Greater Roadrunner, which didn’t hang around long, but did a runner….ah ah aha ahaaaaaa.
We moved over to a different set of chairs that overlooked a couple of more sheltered feeders and, sure enough within a few minutes we had our quarry – a Lucifer Hummingbird. While we waited for its return a Towhee appeared. At first we thought it was a Canyon – in the bright sunlight it looked washed out – however, once we saw it properly we realized it was a Green-tailed Towhee– in fact a really attractive bird.
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| Lucifer Hummingbird |
It got even better because 5 minutes later a larger brown bird appeared on the ground in the back and as it raised its head it was obviously a Curve-billed Thrasher. We got clear but brief views of it at about 20 meters over the next half an hour as it came and went.
No more talk of retrieving the money now!
We also had heaps of House Finches, Pine Siskins, Lesser Goldfinches, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Gila& Acorn Woodpeckersand our second Lincoln’s Sparrow.
Once we finished there we had to move on. It was a longish drive to our next stop and we didn’t have a campsite booked in Portal, as again it was first-come-first served.
We headed south to arrive at Douglas, right on the Mexican border.
We had a look at the border itself, with a line of cars heading into Mexico –and none coming out - and the fences and the walls and the border patrol dudes, then we went to Walmart and stocked up on gas and food etc before heading east again.
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| Madera Canyon to Portal |
We arrived in Cave Creek Canyon at about 17.00 and drove the three campgrounds (each with about 10 camp sites) to find them all full.
What now?Says Mr H.
F…d if I know, says I. But – let’s drive up the canyon and see what we can find?
The road quickly became unsealed and we turned off at the Research Centre with some vague idea of basic campsites in mind.
We found one – the John Landis camp/picnic site.
No toilet, no piped water, no bear box, no table (all standard at every other campsite incidentally). Just a flatish spot under the trees beside the creek, all alone. Brilliant!
We had to tote the gear down a rough slope from the car, we had to drive back to the campgrounds to use a toilet and we had to get our water from there too. We also had to put all the food in the car at night, or when we were away from site, in case of bears - but other than that it was great.
No, really, it was. We both enjoy rough camping and it was very peaceful and a lovely spot altogether. In fact we found an empty campsite the next day in the campgrounds that we could have moved into – but decided to stay where we were.
And it was free.
By the time we had got the tents and tarp up and had something to eat we were knackered so settled down for the night.
Trip List - 241 Lifers – 201
Day 15 – 2.5.18
In which we investigate all aspects of Portal - and take hundreds of photographs
We got up fairly early and drove down to South Fork, a side shoot off the main Cave Creek Canyon. We parked at the front end and walked slowly up the road. It was very quiet and took a lot of work to see anything. It was cold, a little windy and very overcast.
After 40 minutes of this we met a lone female birder working her way down towards us. We fell into conversation and Leslie proved to be a total bonus in terms of local info and just genuinely nice.
She was from New Mexico and had travelled down to do a bit of birding. She showed us a Blue-throated Hummingbird on its nest in a semi-private location and gave us some great advice regarding the local hummingbird feeder locations and some other info which will come to light later in this ongoing saga.
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| South Fork, Cave Creek Canyon |
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| Blue-throated Hummingbird |
We walked back to her car, parked at the end of the canyon and found about 30 other birders arriving- all seeking a Trogon that had been reported recently. Leslie had, in fact, already seen it, but as we had already had one in Madera Canyon we didn’t bother looking too hard….
Leaving her we headed back down to our car picking up a very confiding male Hepatic Tanager on the way, along with Dusky Flycatcher, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Hairy Woodpecker and Plumbeous Vireo among the usual mix of warblers.
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| Hepatic Tanager |
We drove down to Portal itself - which consists of a basic shop/café, library and Post Office – that’s it, nothing else. We poked around the shop picking up a couple of things and had an excellent cup of coffee before heading out again.
This time we went to Dave Jasper’s house – a well-known feeder hang-out.
On the walk in we had a Curve-billed Thrasher perched up, a Canyon Towhee, Northern Cardinal, and Black-throated Sparrows. At the feeders we had Lazuli Buntings, Gambel’s Quail, Pine Siskins, Green-tailed Towhee, White & Rufous-crowned, Lark & more Black-throated Sparrows, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Black-headed Grosbeaks and best of all a couple of Pyrrhuloxias and a single Harris’s Sparrow.
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| Northern Cardinal |
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| Lazuli Buntings |
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| Pyrrhuloxia |
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| Harris's Sparrow |
It rained for a few minutes while we sat, but quickly cleared and we dried out in a few more minutes. There were only a couple of Hummingbird feeders here, the focus was on the other species and we only had a couple of Black-chinned Hummingbirds. At one point a hawk – presumably Cooper’s, flew in and everything vanished instantaneously.
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| After the Cooper's Hawk..... |
After we’d spent an hour or so we headed out (leaving the requested donation to the ‘Sugar Fund’) and drove back to Portal ‘city’. Parking up we walked up the road to the post office and library and just past them, as advised by Leslie, we found a private garden with feeders where, apparently, the owner is happy for birders to bird. We didn’t go in because everything was fairly easy to see from outside, and we had Blue-throated and Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Hooded Orioles and Inca Doves.
Back down the road – after I checked in the library, yes, they had free wifi and although the library shut at 14.00, the wifi was available outside until 19.00 – good to know!
Lunch in the Portal café was very good – and we had a Red Crossbill on their feeders and a flock of at least 5 Cassin’s Finches outside while we ate.
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| Cassin's Finch |
Next stop was Cave Creek Ranch, drive in, park up, sit in the shade and watch the hummers – and other stuff.
Colorado Chipmunk video:
Mainly Black-chinned here, but also Broad-billed, Rivoli’s, Broad-tailed and Blue-throated. Some of the species listed earlier at Dave Jasper’s and, after a while, a Green-tailed Towheeput in an appearance and a Curve-billed Thrasher came right out on the open ground under the feeders in front of us.
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| Female Blue-throated Hummingbird |
We were lowish on fuel and so had to drive about 20 miles across the border into New Mexico to Animas to fill up at an automatic service station, then drive back. I started my New Mexico list with 5 birds – Common Raven, Red-tailed Hawk, Swainson’s Hawk, Greater Roadrunner and Tree Swallow.
We drove the Stateline Road on the way back – an unsealed but graded road that runs along the state border. A covey of quail lifted in front of the car and we pulled in to check out the surrounds. A little playback and we had superb views of Scaled Quail giving us the good news. Of course, the camera was still in the car so THAT went unrecorded, but it was an absolute corker of a view.
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| Scaled Quail - we got a much better view minus the camera... |
We drove on seeing heaps more Scaled and dozens of Gambel’s running and flying back and forth across the road. Several Swainson’s Hawks drifted overhead and one perched up briefly, before flying low across in front of us.
We went to the small wetland up a side road, but there was very little there, apart from two uncommunicative birders, so we headed back. We did stop off and have a walk through the thorny growth at one point about half way back where there was no fence along the road. We had hopes for Crissal Thrasher, but it was late in the day, very dry, very dusty, quite hot and nothing whatsoever showed.
We headed back to camp, did the log and crashed. It was very cold and windy. I had managed to take 985 photos during the day – a record for me, which, once I’d sorted them, came down to 253…. Which says a lot about my skills as a photographer!
Trip List – 250 Lifers – 232
Equipment ‘failures’ – and successes.
I managed to ‘break’ my reading glasses – the left lens kept falling out and, eventually, refused to be screwed back in again, so we did a ‘repair’ with black electrican’s tape which sort of worked….however the dust had been playing havoc with my contacts and finally I had managed to ‘wash out’ the contact in my left (good) eye and lost it completely.
When I replaced it with the extra lens I had brought it still seemed ‘not quite right’. It turned out I had brought old lenses of a lower prescription and so did not have the correct lens to replace the lost one. I had to resort to wearing my other glasses, which have three different focal lengths……A real pain in the ass, as I’m not used to wearing glasses all the time and keep forgetting to put them back down after lifting them to use my bins. As a result Mr H has to keep pointing stuff out to me. Very frustrating for both of us.
My self-inflated air mat had developed a leak. It started off OK at night, blown up, but after a couple of hours I was just sleeping on the ground. I could handle it, but it wasn’t helping me sleep well and my hips were growing sores. Nowhere to get a new mat I just had to toughen it out for the time being.
On the positive side the little gas burner I had brought with me (Aldi bought) has proved of enormous value and kept us in hot coffee, tea and boiled eggs every morning and dinner some nights. It’s been brilliant.
Day 16 – 3.5.18
In which we go up the mountain and over the saddle
When we got up it was very cold – it had been a cold night and despite our down sleeping bags we had had a disturbed sleep. When we started the car it was still only 33 degrees Fahrenheit – i.e. one degree above freezing. We estimated it had been at least minus 3 Centigrade during the night. Washing naked in the creek was a sure-fire way to wake up…..
Breakfast over we headed off up the unsealed rock strewn track towards the top of the mountain and Onion Saddle. We were on a mission based on information provided by Leslie from New Mexico.
We stopped at likely places - our targets Grace’s and Olive Warblers and Mexican Chickadee. At our first stop we had a Red-naped Sapsucker– my first sapsucker.
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| Red-naped Sapsucker |
We also had Hutton’s Vireos, lazuli Buntings,heaps of Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Painted Redstart or two, Western Tanager, Scott’s Oriole, Blue-gray Gnatcatcherand Bridled Titmouse, but none of the target species.
Our birdiest stop off was at the corner with Turkey Creek Rdwhere we had most of the previous plus Hepatic Tanager and a Western Wood Peewee.
Eventually, after three hours of careful driving on the narrow, winding, rocky dusty road we went over the saddle at about 9,000 feet and down the far side. We were looking for a pull-in on the right. We found it a couple of ks down the hill and parked up.
Walking the road and looking on the left we sought our main quarry for the day. Mexican Spotted Owl. Leslie had described the location in detail but it seemed we were out of luck. We had separated to check the trees and met up again close to the pull-in, a bit despondent, a bit doubtful. Had her description been accurate enough? Did we need to go down the valley further?
I turned round and glanced up a tree on the right side of the road and there they were – two Mexican Spotted Owls sitting half concealed in a deciduous tree, not a conifer as described. Brilliant! This was a bird I had been sure we wouldn’t see. Good one Leslie! All is forgiven!
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| Mexican Spotted Owl - not the best photo, but I had to include it! |
We headed back up to the saddle again and turned off to Rustler Park camp ground – another 500 feet in height and a couple of miles up the road.
The place was, basically, deserted – no campers or picnickers. We wandered around looking for the three other target species but had no real luck. Mr H was sure he did hear an Olive Warbler and we spent 30 minutes or so looking at a pine tree it appeared to be calling from – but nothing showed. We gave it away and headed downhill. There were several American Robins and Steller's Jays which performed well...
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| American Robin |
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| Steller's Jay |
One thing we had forgotten from Leslie’s advice was a location for Lewis’s Woodpecker. We had visited Cave Creek Ranch yesterday, but had driven straight in to the feeders. She had described two power poles on the way in and the fact that the woodpecker was ‘always’ there flying from one to the other. After the Spotted Owls we were in total belief and so headed straight there.
We saw the poles – and immediately saw the woodpecker! Brilliant. It was easy to see, although the light was shit for decent photos but I made the best of it and was very happy to come away with good views and an acceptable photo or 100…..
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| Lewis's Woodpecker |
We went for a late lunch at the Portal café again – a burger for himself and enchiladas for me – and spent a couple of hours sitting out of the heat while I updated as much as I could using the café’s wifi.
Then it was back to the campsite and a walk back down the road to the research centre where we had heard there were active feeders - and the possibility of Sulphur-breasted Flycatcher.
We didn’t have much along the road apart from a moving-ahead-of-us flock of Chipping Sparrows, a few of the usual warblers and another Western Wood Peewee. Overhead the usual Turkey Vultures circled hoping for an expired birder....
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| Turkey Vulture |
At the feeders we had few hummers including Blue-throated, Rivoli’s and Black-chinned, but no luck with the S-b Fly
We walked back to camp and relaxed for a while before completing the log and crashing. It was a much warmer night and sleep was a bit better, despite the hard ground under the deflated mat.
Trip List - 250 Lifers - 232
In which we drive for a long, long time, walk in the desert and get invited to a party
Figuring we’d done all the damage we could do in Portal, we broke camp after breakfast and hit the road by 7.
It was a long drive to Flagstaff, our next destination, with a planned detour northwest of Phoenix to a non-descript spot in the desert reputedly excellent for Thrashers.
I drove and we reached the region near Buckeye (corner of Baseline Rd & Salome Highway) at, potentially the worst time of day – 13.30. However, we headed out into the desert mesquite, thorny, shrub in the 30C+ dry heat.
Video:
Within 100 meters we had a bird running from bush to bush, tail cocked, showing its buff under-tail coverts, curved billed head held erect. Le Conte’s Thrasher– one of the harder ones.
We had brief but fairly close views of two birds going different directions before we lost them and moved on.
Ten minutes later and a Lesser Nighthawk lifted off the ground right beside me. Brilliant views in flight as it lopped around in circles before disappearing behind some distant ground cover. I didn’t check for a possible nest – I should have because half an hour later it was flying around in circles again, which indicated to me it was keen to get back to where it came from.
We walked on. A few minutes later and Mr H had a Curve-billed Thrasher fly and perch up briefly.
It was a while before we found anything lese – and then it was a second pair of Le Conte’s which we didn’t see as well as the first pair.
By this time it was a long walk back to the car and we were happy to get back in the air con and head back towards the highway again.
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| Portal to Flagstaff |
Continuing north we stopped only for a burger at Burger King – spreading our largesse as it were – to reach Flagstaff at 18.00. Eleven hours on the road, at least 9 driving, I was pretty whacked but once I got out and started to put the tent up and the campsite together, I was OK again.
We contacted John (Grahame, the guy we met in Madera Canyon) and he immediately suggested we meet him in town for a meal, however, having just consumed huge burgers and fries we weren’t very hungry, but agreed to meet him at the restaurant. John is a 70 year old, this month, who looks younger than we do, has led an interesting life and is a confirmed bachelor with a penchant for young college girls – he’s in the right place here at Flagstaff!
It’s a college town and being the first Friday of the month, partying was in full swing. Restaurants, bars, galleries and shops all busy with, mainly, young people getting out and enjoying themselves. It was pleasantly cool, considering 2 inches of snow had fallen three days before, but there was no sign of that and the conditions were very comfortable.
We met up with John and his friend Erica, and, when Mr H mentioned I needed a new sleeping mat, headed straight away to a local sports store. We actually visited two before I settled for a Thermorest three-quarter length, 14 oz, mat for $US50.
Then it was on to a bar where a local band were playing Celtic tunes and John wanted to catch up with them. There we met Sue, a friend of John’s, who immediately offered us a bed in her place and, when we said we would stay with John tomorrow night, invited us to her place for a small party she were having.
We were pretty wrecked by now and so after one drink, said goodnight and headed back to our campsite – at KOA caravan and camping.
We had expected it to be cold – everyone we had met had expressed concern – but the temp stayed above zero and we both slept well.
Trip List – 255 Lifers - 213
In which we go birding and partying with John
Up at 6 and off to John’s place for a promised breakfast – a nice break from oats and boiled eggs, scrambled eggs on toast was very appreciated.
After breakfast we headed down to Oak Creek Canyon, John’s ‘patch’ and walked along the creek, through the camping sites, picking off some nice birds including Pygmy Nuthatch, Bullock’s Oriole and Grace’s Warbler, at last.
We also had Anna’s, Black-chinned & Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Northern Flicker, Black Phoebes, Warbling & Plumbeous Vireos, Brown Creeper, Yellow & Yellow-rumped Warbler, Painted Restart, Hooded Oriole, Black-headed Grosbeak, Spotted Towhee and Steller’s Jay.
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| male Broad-tailed Hummingbird |
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| Bullock's Oriole |
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| Hooded Oriole |
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| Northern Flicker |
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| Part of Oak Creek Canyon |
We drove down the canyon for lunch at the very busy Indian Gardens in Sedona where the food and coffee were excellent.
After lunch it was back up higher in the canyon and a bit of a scramble up a steep slope to get above the tree line. We didn’t see a heap of stuff here – but did add Red-faced & Virginia Warblers to our day list and saw a Black-chinned Hummingbird building a nest.
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| Camp site - KOA at Flagstaff |
We opted to return to our campsite to have a shower, break camp and meet John at Sue’s place at 17.30. We did that and turned up on time. A number of people arrived, all carrying plates of Mexican style food. We brought beer.
We stayed until about 20.30, eating and having a couple of drinks, then left and headed back to John’s. I sat up till almost midnight trying to get stuff updated before crashing on his couch. Mr H had the fold out bed in the spare room.
Trip List – 258 Lifers- 216
In which we go up another mountain and finish at a big hole in the ground
John made pancakes for breakfast. They looked like bear shit – brown and full of berries – but they tasted very good and we ate all he could cook.
Then it was off to meet an 81 year old local – Les – who, last night, had asked to join us this morning as we headed for the higher country.
We met him then we went to Kachina Village wetlands to look for a Burrowing Owl – an unusual bird for Flagstaff. We didn’t see it, but we did see several Yellow-headed Blackbirds with full yellow heads (as opposed to the ones we saw near Madera Canyon, which were only partially yellow). We also had 2 Ospreys, Pied-billed Grebes and a couple of scoped Vesper’s Sparrows.
Moving on we followed Les and John off the bitumen and up a rugged dirt road to park up at the end at Hart’s and start off across the open hillside, at about 8,500 feet.
Right away we had our first target species – Clarke’s Nutcracker. A real cracker of a bird (how many times has that hoary old one been pulled out?) and great views perched up on top of a pine.
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| Clarke's Nutcracker |
We also had a very confiding Hairy Woodpecker.
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| Hairy Woodpecker |
Walking up to Les’s cabin took a while what with the height, side tracks for birds and the necessary slow pace to accommodate Les’s age – well, our age too in reality. It’s bloody tiring being at that height day after day climbing slopes!
Along the way we had a pair of Mountain Bluebirds and Western Bluebirds for comparison, Red-tailed Hawk, Canyon Towhee, great views of another Vesper Sparrow and found a couple of Horned Toads.
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| Mountain Bluebird |
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| Horned Toad |
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| Vesper Sparrow |
We sat at his cabin fort a while hoping for Olive Warbler, but got only a Yellow-rumped. Then it was back down the trail and a Dusky Flycatcher the only bird of extra interest.
We left John and Les in the carpark and thanked them both very much for their generosity and friendliness – especially John.
Don’t give up what you’re doing, John, you’re never too old for an 18 year old!
Our destination today was not too far - only about an hour’s drive – the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
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| Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon |
I had seen the GC back in 1980 when driving across the states on my way to a new life in Australia. I remembered being impressed then and wondered would that feeling be repeated?
It’s all very organised – much more than I remember from 38 years ago. Bitumen roads, signposts, parking areas, huge campsites – all very well maintained and facilitated.
Normal people have to pay $US30 a day but with our Life time Senior Pass we got in for nowt and drove around to find our campsite. $US18 a night! It’s for nothing really, considering the situation and surrounds. As we put up our tent a couple of Elk wandered past and we would see numbers of them during our 24 hours on site crossing the road or just hanging out chewing grass and bushes – very cool!
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| See Elk in background - much closer than it looks |
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| Elk! |
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| Mr H and an Elk! |
We decided to walk down to the rim from the campsite. It turned out to be a bit further than we anticipated and with our mountain hike behind us I was pretty knackered by the time we reached the edge.
It was much as I remembered it – spectacular, huge, awesome, mind-boggling. Like photographs we take of it – I don’t think there is an easy way to describe the Grand Canyon in one sentence. It’s just f…….g amazing!
Video:
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| Tried a bit of creative in-camera work here..... |
We spent some time just looking and wandered along a short part of the rim – trying, in honesty, to get away from other visitors – an impossibility, unfortunately - but it’s still brilliant.
We had Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay at the edge and looked in vain for a Condor.
On the way back to camp we found a Juniper Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatches, Mountain Chickadees, Red Crossbill, Black-throated Gray Warbler and Dark-eyed Junco (the lighter version than that we had seen before).
We drove along the rim towards the Desert Lookout, but quit at Grandview Point – possibly the best advantage point, where I rang Kara in Australia to share the view on Facetime.
Back again at camp we sat for a while chatting, during which Mr H calmly told me he had an Evening Grosbeak on the ground a few meters away – stunning, stunning bird and my third Grosbeak this year.
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| Evening Grosbeak |
After we’d finished with it, we headed out of the park to a restaurant on the main road. The Yippe Hi Ho Steakhouse seemed a good option and we indulged in ribs for me, steak for him, a beer each and all the accompanying beans, corn, ‘biscuits’ (bread rolls) and corn bread we could eat for $US50.
Back at camp we did the log and crashed around 9.
Trip List – 264 Lifers – 222
Day 20 – 7.5.18
In which we cross a lot of desert, drive part of Route 66 and eat at an Indian Reservation
We had only planned the one day at the Grand Canyon and, unless you’re going to hike down to the bottom, a day is probably enough. There are only so many pictures and videos one can take, continually realizing that you just can’t capture the sheer bloody, grandeur of it all.
However, we went for an early morning drive, avoiding, initially, most of the crowds but that didn’t last very long. We checked out the visitor centre first – didn’t open until 9 - but the Colorado Chipmunks were cute to boot!
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| Colorado Chipmunk |
We actually had Mather Pt to ourselves – its right beside the visitor’s centre and probably the most popular lookout place – for about two minutes, before the hordes arrived. A Rock Squirrel also departed rapidly in the face of the masses.
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| Rock Squirrel |
We drove all the way to Desert Lookout and back without seeing any sign of a Condor – our primary target. Being early in the morning, however, it was not the best time as there were few thermals in the cool air to tempt one into flight, we assumed.
A few more pointless shots of the GC.
I never have been one for taking selfies, but what the hell - it's my blog....
On the way back, Pinon Jay was in our minds and we stopped at a couple of places to look for them. At one we walked off road into the bush – very easy to get lost, similar to mallee in Australia - no sign of any Jays, but we did find a single Gray Flycatcher. At another spot – a picnic area – we found a couple of Grace’s Warblers.
We broke camp and left at 11. Another big day’s drive. I started off for the first two hours, then Mr H took over and we drove part of the original Route 66 until we reached the Hualapai Indian Reservation near Peach Springs where we stopped for lunch. I had the stew, Mr H had the taco – pretty average stew, much like I’d make at home, but the fry bread was interesting.
Back on the road we stopped for fuel at Kingman ($US36) and then continued on towards Las Vegas.
It turned out that our destination at Pahrump was actually 50 miles past Vegas and so it was 18.00 before we reached our Air BnB address. We hadn’t realised how far away it was. This put a different perspective on our plans. We had a show in Vegas booked for the next night and wanted to spend some time looking at the ‘strip’ and the shops so would have to curtail our birding activities somewhat tomorrow morning.
However, we settled in to our seperate bedrooms, had some of the hosts’ delicious coffee and I spent most of the evening updating this getting to bed at 11.
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| Grand Canyon to Pahrump (Las Vegas) |
Trip List – 265 Lifers – 223
Day 21 – 8.5.18
In which we kick a lot of sand, see nothing new, visit a fireworks store and blow our minds in Vegas
We got up at 6 and headed out into the heat at 6.45. We hadn’t any serious destination in mind, but thoughts of Crissal Thrasher were predominant. We drove back up the road towards Vegas and down a side road that showed promise. We pulled in and wandered around the desert for a while, but there wasn’t much going on so continued on down that road to turn off at a small sign that pointed to Cathedral Canyon.
There really wasn’t a lot going on down there either, but we gave it our best shot and foundBlack-tailed Gnatcatcher, Horned Larks, Phainopeplas, Black-throated & Black-chinned Sparrows. A low flying accipter initiated some discussion, but we reluctantly accepted it as a probable Cooper’s Hawk.
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| Black-tailed Gnatcatcher |
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| Horned Lark |
There really didn’t seem much point in going further so, instead, we drove down the main road to Pahrump central – if there is a centre. It seemed to go on and on for ever, with huge billboards and open spaces between business buildings and shops.
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| 'Three Billboards in Pahrump Nevada'....... |
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| and, yes, this is a real billboard! |
One thing that stood out was the number of places selling fireworks! I suggested we have a look and so pulled into the next warehouse and went in to look at the stock, before, as I said to the girl, the place blows up. I’m sure she thought I was very funny…..
Apparently Nevada is one of the few states that allows the buying and selling of fireworks – all made in China.
That probably won’t last long with Mr T in charge.
Anyway, folk come from all over to buy the things here in Nevada and, presumably, smuggle them home to their own state. It’s strange really considering they go off with a loud noise and bright light. You’d think people would get busted really easily?
Then again I suppose the evidence is immediately destroyed.
This looks like it might be the first tick-less day of the trip! They are certainly getting harder to come by!
So we went to Las Vegas this afternoon. The car thermometer registered 100 degrees F as we entered the city.
We spent the daylight hours walking the strip, buying some take home stuff, watching the gamblers in the casinos, seeing the fountains outside the Bellagio, marveling at the sights and sounds.
Then we went to Ka – a Cirque de Soleil production - in the MGM Grand. It was absolutely amazing. Just incredible. We were spellbound for the 90 minutes. As always Cirque did not disappoint.
After we managed to find our way out and the car……we drove north down the strip, in heavy traffic.
The lights were incredible. The ads, the videos, the buildings, the signs – I’ve never experienced anything like it. The crowds, the cars, the trucks - just mind blowing.
I’ve run out of adjectives.
Then it was a fast 50 mile drive home across empty desert at 80+ miles per hour – stimulating!
Trip list – 265 Lifers - 223
Day 22 – 9.5.18
We left early and drove for an hour and 40 minutes to Corn Creek or the Desert National Wildlife Range. On the way we passed a military air force base and as we passed a full scale military Predator-type drone took off - pretty cool.
We reached the reserve and wandered around the tracks for about two hours as it got hotter and hotter.
A Black-necked or Eared Grebe on the small dam was a real winner and we had flocks of Tanagers and Orioles in the mulberry trees. The fruit is incredibly sweet, easy to pick and looks and tastes like small blackberries. The birds love them.
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| Black-necked or Eared Grebe |
We had Black Phoebe, House Finches, Lazuli Buntings, Phainopeplas (15), Western Tanagers (15), Bullock’s Orioles (20), Cassin’s Kingbirds (30), Cedar Waxwings (12), Yellow & Yellow-rumped Warblers, Pine Siskins, Lesser Goldfinch and, finally, three American Goldfinch.
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| American Goldfinch |
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| Cedar Waxwing |
Along the tracks we had a few bits and pieces, but most of the action was around the mulberries.Verdins, Gambel’s Quail, White-winged Dove and a Cooper’s Hawk. Several unidentified Lizards scuttled around or, in the case of one specimen, sat in a bush to get the sun.
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| Cooper's Hawk |
We stopped to have a look at a hut that was an aquarium to preserve most of the living remnants of the Pahrump Poolfish. Difficult to see in the thick algae-encrusted windows but, presumably, the fish we saw were the real deal.
We headed towards Las Vegas and Henderson Bird Viewing Reserve. Very organised, very informative.
We wandered around the pools, scoping this and that – and it just got hotter and hotter……
Among the more common stuff we had several Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Say’s Phoebe, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Common Gallinule, Western Grebe, Cinnamon Teal, lots of Black-necked /Eared Grebes, Gadwall, Wilson’s Phalaropes,a single female Canvasback(a lifer for me, but it only felt like half a tick as it was the female….) and great scope views of a Least Bittern.
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| Say's Phoebe |
And it got hotter and hotter………
We also had a Greater Roadrunner trotting ahead of us between patches of shade so at last I got some photos – nearly all the others we have seen have been from the car along the road. This one was sort of obliging, although I think the heat probably contained him more than anything else.
I was nearly fainting from the heat and, possibly, lack of food – I hadn’t eaten a big breakfast. We got back to the reception area and drank fresh bottles of water (we had been drinking water as we went, but it just didn’t keep up)
When we got in the car it was 103'F = 41'C. We drove back to the main drag and found a Mackers where we quickly stuffed up on the usual fare and, in my case, a large coffee.
Then it was the hour drive back ‘home’ to Pahrump – during which the thermometer in the car reached 107'F…..
We didn't do anything for the rest of the afternoon.
Trip List - 269 Lifers - 226
Day 23 - 10.5.18
In which we drive the Valley of Death and see no evil.
We spent some time looking for one of Mr H’s socks that appeared to have blown away or been pinched by the dogs during the night. They had been hand knitted by an old woman on Rathlin Island and one was pretty useless on its own, considering he still has two good feet.
We gave up, packed up and headed out – only to spot the missing sock on the driveway. Thank God for that – an old woman on Rathlin will be happy.
We headed west, towards, and ultimately into, Death Valley.
Mr H had made a specific request to visit the Valley of Death and it was impressive.
Stark rock, sand, more rock, more sand.
The road wound its way down into the valley proper, down to about 200 feet below sea level, then across a dried lake bed and up a series of switchbacks to cross a pass at the far side. It was relatively early in the day so the temperature only got to about 92’F (~33’C).
Once again its another site that just can’t be captured in one photo – or even a series of photos, certainly not in a passing-through visit, but here’s a few pictures anyway.
We stopped in an area with a lot of Joshua Trees – just for the photos.
As we ascended from the valley floor we pulled in at a bar/restaurant place for coffee and, while we were indulging, three or four military jets flew through the valley – pretty cool! China Lake testing ground was just over the hills – a secure military area facility for testing and training.
We went down the far side of the rim of the valley and were confronted by the ‘back’ of the Sierra range – some snow topped – a pretty impressive sight stretching north and south in front of us. Our road took us to the south, round the lower end of the range and into the Kern area - a narrow valley of some length between medium height rocky slopes. We found our camping ground – KOA again – and checked in, set up camp and sat for a couple of hours reading in the shade. It was pretty windy and quite hot.
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| Pahrump to Kern |
Later in the afternoon we went for a drive to check out potential birding sites for the next two days. We drove to Lake Isabella, 4 miles down the road and birded around the river flowing out of the main dam. We immediately had a lovely pair of Goosanders (trip tick) and searched in vain for American Dipper.
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| Goosander |
8 miles up the mountain beside the lake we stopped near the top and went for a stroll up a roughish track. The wind was still blowing hard in the tops of the tall pines and we didn’t hold out much hope, however, 50 meters in a Townsend’s Solitaire gave itself up to crippling views. Unexpected!
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| Townsend's Solitaire |
I had to go back and get the car, and my camera, to get only adequate photos as it had moved a little further away.
We moved on a little further and stopped again. As we checked out a Dark-eyed Junco beside the track a ringing call dragged our attention to a large dark bird over flying the track – Pileated Woodpecker! A totally unexpected bonus – we thought we were too far south to get this, so it was very rewarding. We didn’t see much of the bird and it didn’t respond to playback – hopefully in the next few days we’ll have a repeat encounter.
We drove back down the mountain and found another first – our first American diner - and with a cute waitress. I had another first – meatloaf, while Mr H settled for beef strips.
With an hour or so of daylight left we checked another couple of birding spots then gave it away for the night.
Trip List – 272 Lifers – 228
Day 24 – 11.5.18
In which we battle to bird in high winds and drive up a mountain
We were up at 5 after a restless night – flapping tents and disturbed mind.
We headed for the Migration Corner as its called and walked in to an area off the very busy, fast road to some ponds. The area was generally very dry, but a couple of overgrown ponds were still in existence, despite the on-going drought.
We had Rails in mind, but failed to find or hear any. We did, though, get frustrating views of Tri-coloured Blackbirds among the Red-winged flying into the reed beds, finally getting views of one individual male perched up. We also had Western Meadowlarks, Brewer’s Blackbird, a White-tailed Kite, Western Wood Peewee and, at last, great views of perched up Tree Swallows. (We’ve seen a lot of these, but none perched close, till now)
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| Tree Swallow |
Leaving there we headed 9 miles up the road to Kern Reserve. Driving in slowly, as directed, we had birds on the track in front of the car – Swainson’s Thrushes, American Robins, a Mule Deer, Dark-eyed Junco and, briefly, a female Lawrence’s Goldfinch. (The area is renowned for this bird and it was our number one target for the day – we now have the double = Lincoln’s Sparrow for my eldest grandson and Lawrence’s Goldfinch for Mr H’s!)
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| Lawrence's Goldfinch |
Walking the track we had American Goldfinch and Lazuli Bunting and, eventually, a family party of Lawrence’s Goldfinch, which were quite obliging.
While checking flycatchers we wandered a little off track and as we headed back a medium sized, dark, short-tailed cat stepped out in front of us about 20 meters away. For about 5 seconds it stood and stared - didn’t get either bins or camera onto it – but it was a great surprise – a Bobcat! Brilliant – I had never expected to get this lucky, but, as they say – unlucky in love…….
We continued on after it vanished and finally got prolonged views of Willow Flycatcher - our second target bird for the site. We also had Gold-crowned and Song Sparrow, Spotted Towhee and another Western Wood Peewee.
We moved on up the road and finally found our third destination for the morning – Cane Brake Reserve. It was about a mile west of the, apparently defunct, Cane Brake Café. We parked up and walked in. It was very dry and very dead. All we found here was a Kildeer’s nest near the stone hut, Oak Titmouse and a possible fly-away Cooper’s Hawk.
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| Kildeer |
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| Kildeer's nest |
By now the wind had picked up again and was blowing a gale so we decided to go back to last night’s diner for a late breakfast. I had poached eggs, bacon and the American form of hash browns. I also asked for ‘biscuits and gravy’ to see what exactly that was. It was a soft, cake like bread roll smothered in a white sauce - I didn’t eat much of it.
Leaving there we fueled up ($US40) and headed off to try for Bendire’s Thrasher at a location on Kelso Rd. We wandered around the desert – again – with no thrasher in sight.
We did have Black-throated Sparrows, Horned Larks, Cactus Wren, White-tailed Antelope Squirreland, what I believe, was a White-tailed Jackrabbit.
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| White-tailed Jackrabbit |
Back in the car, now close to midday, we decided to drive to the top of Puite Mountain in search of Pinon Jay.
It was a long winding drive up an unsealed, but recently graded, sandy track. The car handled it well, but it had its moments with no barrier and drops into the valley below that wouldn’t have made the car rental company happy if we’d gone over.
We failed on the jay front but Mr H managed to pull a Brewer’s Sparrow out of a bush and, with playback, we got a calling Mountain Quail to give itself up really well. The Quail here are stunning – they put Australian and European quail to shame.
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| Mountain Quail |
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| Rock Squirrel |
By the time we got back down it was mid afternoon and the wind was even worse. I retired to the bar attached to the campsite to update my photos and stuff while Mr H did some laundry.
At 17.00 we drove to the Migration Corner again and went for a walk along the track above the river. We didn’t see anything new, but more Lawrence’s Goldfinches and Western Wood Peewees were the highlight.
It was free ice cream night at the camp ground so we went.
Well, what can I say?
Anything for nothing!
Trip list – 276 Lifers - 232
Day 25 – 12.5.18
In which we head up the mountain after woodpeckers and go owling
The wind had dropped, but we’d had a very disturbed night with the other occupants of the camp ground behaving noisily into the early hours of the morning.
Up the mountain as soon as we could get going. Our targets today were White-headed Woodpecker and better views of Pileated and, hopefully, more Townsend’s Solitaires.
It was very cold, in relative terms, when we reached the top at 5,000 feet and we rugged up with jackets, beanie and gloves. We started at the top of the unsealed road leading off the junction to the right, beyond this point the forest was badly damaged by fire and only skeletal pines remained.
Mr H was puzzled by a singing bird he couldn’t find and we poked around for a while looking for it before droving back down to the junction and up to the ski area carpark. With a bit of effort we had a couple of Hairy Woodpeckers respond to playback for White-headed – the call is similar – and a distant Townsend’s Solitaire perched on top of a pine. Apart from that it was only Mountain Chickadees.
We went back to the top of the unsealed road and looked again for the mystery songster. Eventually we did find it – Fox Sparrow. A remarkably large sparrow with streaked breast, dark face and rufous wings – it was surprising we hadn’t been able to find it on our first visit.
I played Pygmy Owl and the reaction was enormous – Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Western Tanager, Wilson’s, Townsend’s & Yellow-rumped Warbler and Mountain Chickadees all appeared as if by magic. However, the Fox Sparrows remained in thick bush and I didn’t get any photos. A Hammond’s Flycatcher, however, sat up well.
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| Hammond's Flycatcher |
We decided to walk back along the track towards the road as Mr H felt we stood a chance of seeing more. Correct, of course, but it seemed like nothing was happening for several hundred meters. Then a loud tapping started right beside the track and a female Pileated Woodpecker was found half hidden behind a pine trunk. We had crippling views for quite some time, but photos were difficult due to intervening branches.
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| Female |
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| Female |
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| Female |
Walking on, leaving her to her business, a hundred meters further down the track I checked a hole in a dead pine and found the male sitting inside – he stuck his head out and looked around and eventually flew out to glide away through the trees to join his mate. We were at almost the most southerly point of their range so to find them breeding and see them well made the day worthwhile.
We decided to follow the road to Kernville to see if the forest was any better and reached the small well developed township around 11. Stopping at Cheryl’s Diner we sat at the counter and ordered a large stack of pancakes each. The waitress said that was a pretty big meal and were we sure? We accepted the challenge and got stuck in. Neither of us completely finished, but we made a good effort and staggered out stuffed with carbs and sugar. A walk around the town didn’t help a lot, but we set off up the road beside the river stopping at likely spots to check for Dipper.
The river was impressive, fueled by snow melt, it would have taken a strong Dipper to contend with the current. White water rafting and kayaking seemed to be the main business for the town and the river access points were pretty busy – especially being a Saturday. We drove for miles up the valley, but saw little of interest until we gave it away and turned back.
We took the back road round the lake and stopped off at one high point when Mr H spotted a gull. There were 7 Western Gulls loafing around the edge of the lake, about 15 Western and 2 Black- necked Grebes and a single Bonaparte’s Gull. Three Spotted Sandpipers fed along the shore and a Rock Wren popped up on the edge of the carpark to check us out.
We headed back to camp and had a microwave dinner nuked in the microwave in the camp kitchen area.
As darkness approached we headed the 24 miles back up the mountain to go owling.
The wind had picked up during the day and it was only about 7’C when we parked up back at the end of the unsealed road.
We started there once darkness fell and tried for Western Screech, Northern Saw-whet and Flammulated at several locations down to the first houses without any success. I don’t know if it was too cold, too windy, the wrong time of year or the woodland is too degraded by fire, but we came away disappointed.
Trip list – 277 Lifers – 233
Day 26 – 13.5.18
Another big day driving. We left Kern at 6.45 and headed west. It had been over two weeks since we’d seen the ocean and spent a lot of time in the desert in the meantime, so we were looking forward to seeing the ocean again.
The road from Kern to Bakersfield, incidentally, is very scenic. It runs along the side of the Kern River and is winding and narrow, full concentration and focus required – not recommended for larger campervans, but a delight to drive if you enjoy driving – I do.
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| Kern to Monterey Bay |
From Bakersfield up Hwy 101 it was pretty flat and boring, but we turned off after an hour or so and headed towards Colinya. The road after Colinya is again winding and narrow and, again, a sheer enjoyment to drive though this time through more open pasture/grassland. It was while I was negotiating a particularly nasty little set of three tight corners at about 90 k/hr, Pink Floyd blasting from the iPod, that Mr H half-shouted “MAGPIE, MAGPIE! IT’S A YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE!”
We got quite a good view, despite the timing and speed, of a bird landing on top of a solar panel on a pole. I had nowhere to pull up ‘and’, we said, ‘we’ll see plenty more I’m sure’.
Another half an hour and I saw one drop into a field, this time I managed to stop and we walked across to flush three birds from the field and I got very basic shots of one.
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| Yellow-billed Magpie |
After almost another 6 hours of me driving and Mr H praying to arrive in one piece (especially after the two narrow roads we had been on) we found our campground at 12.30. We got to our campsite half way up the hillside up a very steep unsealed road, set up camp, then headed down to the coast.
We reached the ocean a few miles south of our target area – Pt Pinos – and drove around for a while tied up in the Mother’s Day/Sunday afternoon crowds.
We eventually managed to find our way north to where we thought Pt Pinos was and found ourselves in a queue to drive the '17 Mile Drive' through private property. We THOUGHT this was Pt Pinos and so paid the required $US10.25 fee. It turned out NOT to be Pt Pinos but by then it was too late and we carried on.
It actually proved to be quite successful as we stopped at a lookout point and immediately had Sea Otters loafing in the floating kelp. This was a prime target for me – I have always wanted to see these guys and they were just as I had imagined. Cute to boot!
Bird-wise we had Pelagic and Brandt’s Cormorants, dozens of Diver sp fly bys, some definitely Pacific Divers, Brown Pelicans, Western and Californian Gulls and a couple of Black Oystercatchers put in an appearance.
Further along at a beach we had heaps of Sanderling, 1 Wandering Tattler and more Black Oystercatchers. We stopped at ‘Gull Island’ and viewed the nesting 100+ Brandt’s Cormorants,with their bright blue gular pouches, in the scopes. There were also about 100 California Sea Lions on the rocks and in the water. At another stop we had a handful of Harbour Seals on the rocks of the ‘Seal Pupping Beach’ and a Whimbrel.
Eventually we quit the pay-as-you-go peninsula and headed round to Pt Pinos itself. We had promised ourselves not to stop as we planned to come here again tomorrow anyway and we hadn’t eaten anything all day. It was approaching 17.00 and we were pretty famished, however, half way round the headland Mr H saw a dark bird with a whitish head sitting on a rock and we stopped to make sure it wasn’t a Heerman’s Gull. It wasn’t – it was a juvenile Cormorant, but we grabbed the scopes and checked out the area anyway. More Sea Otters, some quite close, and a single female Surf Scoter – yet another lifer for me, hopefully there’ll be some males around in the next day or two.
We did a drive by of Cannery Row and Fisherman’s Wharf, but didn’t stop or try to park among the hordes of tourists, but headed back towards our campsite. We stopped off at a local Safeways for some food, then asked about a place to eat? We ended up in the Trailway’s Café in the local village which suited us very well – heaps of coffee, fish and chips for me and a beer and fish tacos for Mr H then it was time to go home, shower, do the log and crash.
Trip list – 285 Lifers - 237
Day 27 – 14.5.18
In which we finally get to do a seawatch and start and finish the day with an owl
We woke to the sound of crows going off in the trees on the slope above our campsite. Soon afterwards the deep hoot of a Great Horned Owl sounded. We never saw the bird but it was pretty close until we started moving around then it moved off, still calling.
A seawatch off Pt Pino swas our first objective.
We were on site at 7, the sun had risen, but there was a slight mistiness about the morning. The sea was almost flat calm with just a lazy swell disturbing the surface. It was quite cold, less than 10’C – gloves, beanies & jacket time.
We set up and started watching – hundreds of Brandt’s Cormorants flew right, heading into the bay to feed. Hundreds, again, literally, of Divers sp, mostly Pacific, with a few Great Northern, heading the same way. Unidentifiable (for the most part) Auks in small numbers, mostly far out, hurtled past on a similar mission. Brown Pelicans, also in relatively small numbers, were scattered from here to the horizon, gliding and flapping slowly requiring constant verification – i.e. that they WERE just Pelicans. Sea Otters were continually in view lounging around on the weed mats floating on the sea surface. Harbour Seals called mournfully and frolicked around in the shallow waters between the rocks. Small numbers of Surf Scoter, mostly female, also flew past. Further out, almost on the horizon it seemed, small numbers of Sooty Shearwaters moved back and forth. Around our feet the cutest Rock Squirrels scampered looking for hand outs and of course, there were dozens of Western Gulls of all ages and moults to confuse and mislead….
It was all going on!
Harbour Seals video:
A trio of small Auks flew in closer and landed a few hundred meters off the rocks. We determined they were Cassin’s Auklets, probably the commonest Alcid in the area. Common Guillemots were the commonest auk on our seawatch, passing singly every now and again.
A large dark bird a long way off initiated discussion – it really was a long, long way away and in the haze….however, during the course of our three hour seawatch we saw a couple much closer, but never ‘close’ – Black-footed Albatross – Mr H’s first albert! It may have been the same bird moving back and forth, but we saw ‘five’.
Much later a large, paler brown, slower flapping, shearwater was spotted – we’re pretty sure it was a Flesh-footed Shearwater. Finally Mr H spotted a single small Alcid sitting on the surface some way to our right. We moved to get as close as possible and had reasonable scope views of a Marbled Murrelet.
Cetacean-wise we saw large numbers of huge curved triangular fins, the animal itself appeared grey and the few brief views we had of the head suggested Risso’s Dolphin – but we still have to confirm ID – hopefully on Wednesday when we go on our whale-watching pelagic.
Meanwhile the divers, cormorants, scoters, pelicans and other stuff continued. There was always something to watch – it was just extraordinary.
We sat for three hours as rugged up as possible as it was quite cold and there was hardly any wind – just a gentle sea breeze. The sea remained fairly calm, just the same swell and we were pretty low relative to the sea level, probably only a few meters above, so losing birds between the swells was annoying, but it was still a pretty exciting three hours! If only we’d had the strong wind of yesterday.
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| Pt Pinos |
We decided to try for Black Turnstone and Surfbirds along the rocks. An E-bird report had indicated somebody had had one BT on Alisomar beach nearby, yesterday. We searched every rock between Pt Pinos and the beach and most of them the other way too, but could not find a single bird of either species.
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| American Crow |
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| Black Oystercatcher |
Near The Cannery, as we checked a beach full of sleeping Harbour Seals, I collared a local birder as he tried to get away in his car and we interrogated him in relation to our target species.
He suggested a couple of sites 30 miles north at Moses Landing and we let him go once he had coughed up the information.
By this stage we were dying on our feet for food and coffee and repaired to First Awakenings in The Cannery for a superb breakfast.
Then it was on the road north for 30 minutes or so.
Have I mentioned how fast everyone drives here?
Of course, I love it – being the kind of driver who likes to be on the edge, so to speak. But it can be a bit hair-raising at times – everyone belts along 10 miles an hour over the posted speed limits – almost regardless of where they are. The only area where the traffic obeys the limits are in residential areas of 25 m/hr when they do no more than 30. It’s amazing having to drive at 130 kms/hr on single lane roads just to keep up ….Love it!
Anyway – we flew down Highway 1 to a wetland area. Our targets were the ever elusive Virginia and Sora Rails.
We tried. Oh did we try…..
…several locations based on the local birders suggestions, with no luck whatsoever.
He had also suggested a tidal estuary type place just north of Moses Landing itself for Black Turnstone at low tide. It seemed strange to us that a rock-type bird might go to mud flats at low tide – however, we followed his directions, and Ms Sweetknees on my iPad (I think I’m in love), to Jetty st and easily found the exposed mud banks as described.
No sign of any bloody Turnstones, but we did have Western Sandpipers, Long-billed Curlews, Marbled Godwits, Dunlin and a Grey Plover.
As we left and were passing Moses Landing itself Mr H spotted the harbour rock walls so we turned off to investigate those. We didn’t find any &%^$%^& Turnstones there either, but there were numbers of Brown Pelicans perched on the rocks and I got some great video and shots of a feeding Sea Otter. Offshore there was also a large flock of Surf Scoter some way out and dozens of Black-necked Grebes.
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| Brown Pelicans |
We headed back to Monterey and Pt Pinos and set ourselves up for an afternoon seawatch – it was now 17.00, dark at 20.00.
We sat for an hour or so. The local birder turned up again so we obviously hadn’t scared him off this morning. He was, in fact, a part of the Black Oystercatcher protection mob and had been out on the rocks setting up warning signs to keep people away from a BO’s nest with two eggs. We could see her sitting on them.
He and an older guy chatted for a while until we knew all there was to know about the BO protection scheme, the numbers of birds, the numbers of successful chicks last year and the size and shape of their territories. It was all very interesting. Meanwhile the local birder told us he had had a Black Turnstone on the rocks in front of us ‘thrity minutes’ ago.
After we had stove his head in with a tripod and fed his body to the ever-hungry Rock Squirrel who kept eyeing us off, we went down on the rocks and tried to find the dam bird – no luck again. Incidentally, while we were sitting we had (illegally) fed the dam Squirrel a few grapes. This encouraged it’s boldness and, as Mr H was not wearing his squirrel-repellent trousers, it ran up his leg, almost into his lap. It’s lucky it didn’t get kicked into the sea but it was just too fast….They really are far too cute though – who can resist?
We finally gave it away at 18.00. The only birds doing much moving around were hundreds if not a thousand or more, Sooty Shearwaters way, way out now heading south, presumably to roost. The ‘Risso’s Dolphins’ (and I use that term loosely, still not proven) were also in evidence again, their massive curved fins cutting across the ocean like sabers.
We thought we’d check out a park close to where we were staying for a potential owling visit after dark. So we rocked up at Garland Ranch Park and walked in across a lovely dipper-friendly-looking river. Almost immediately we had a number of Cedar Waxwings fussing around in some low scrub, then Mr H spotted one of our last potential target land birds – Chestnut-backed Chickadee. We moved around to the far side of the belt of trees and had excellent views.
Happy with that we drove on down the road to have dinner at the Trailside Café again. The owner welcomed us back and made sure the coffee was fresh. I made sure his time wasn’t wasted and drank three cups.
Then it was home to do the log and…….take a walk up the hill above our tent to try to locate the possible Flammulated Owl Mr H thought he had heard at 3am this morning when he had had to get up and out of his tent before he made a mess of himself.
We tried for all 3 species again but the only ‘response’ we got was a pair of Great Horned Owlshooting away out of sight above us. Whether they ‘rule the roost’ and other owls don’t venture in or whether there just weren’t any of the other species around tonight I don’t know, but we got no other response. However, its not every day one starts and finishes the day with a GHO.
We also found the slug to give all cabbage growers the willies…..
Trip List – 294 Lifers - 241
Day 28 – 15.5.18
In which we drive the Big Sur - and get a hoped for, but unexpected, tick
We were keen to do another seawatch – I mean who wouldn’t be? And hoped the wind had improved so headed down to Pt Pinos again after the usual morning rituals.
On the way I spotted a Grey Fox in a field beside the road and stopped to take photos.
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| Grey Fox |
At the Point the wind was non-existent – it was even calmer than yesterday. Oily calm. There was bugger all happening so far as passing birds were concerned – yes the ‘usual’ Brandt’s Cormorants, but only a few, mostly distant, Divers, Auks and very distant numbers of Sooty Shearwaters.
We gave it an hour and as Mr H had worn his Squirrel-repellent trousers we didn’t even have the excitement of one attempting to get at his nuts.
We decided to drive the Big Sur. Unfortunately due to mudslides the road was closed, so we knew we couldn’t drive the whole way to Morro Bay tomorrow instead we’ll have to use the inland road. Strangely enough there are no side roads accessing the coast road so you can drive to the closure, but then have to turn and drive back.
So we drove the 67 miles (~130 kms) to the end of the open road, had a coffee and drove back. We looked in vain for Condors but found only Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks.
It was interesting, but I wouldn’t say it was very exciting. The Great Ocean Rd in Victoria or the Atlantic Way in Ireland would give it a run for its money, but it is scenic and as we were doing it early we had the road almost to ourselves. The return journey was a bit different but the traffic then going out was endless, so if you’re ever doing the Big Sur, drive it early in the morning.
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| Part of the Big Sur |
Back at camp we had some lunch, then cleaned out all the stuff from the car except the bins and scopes – and went to a local carwash where for $US23 + $US5 tip, we had it cleaned to within an inch of its life.
Then we went down to do another seawatch at Pt Pinos as the wind seemed to have picked up.
It hadn’t really, and the ocean was still very quiet. It looked like our second tickless day had come around.
Then Mr H spotted two white-headed, dark gulls flying purposefully south. At last – and much to our pleasure – we had two adult Heermann’s Gulls. They winter about as far north as we are here at Monterey, then move south to breed in Mexico, so we had almost given up thinking we would get this one, but got it we did.
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| Heermann's Gull |
We sat on for a while then drove along the coast looking for the gulls. Luckily we found them not far away and I struggled manfully across the rocks to get some poor photos. (I say struggled, because wearing these bloody glasses makes my perspective unreliable and I keep missing my footing on rough ground, however, battling on…..)
We went to do some shopping, happy with our successful twitch, then headed home and put all our stuff back in our now spotless car then we just relaxed at camp, had dinner and a couple of beers.
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| Campsite at Monterey |
Trip list – 295 Lifers - 242
