Argh or not

Like Jason and the Argonauts, we seek the Golden Fleece.

A couple who are also doing a big year blogged about seeing a Baird's Sparrow along State Line Road near Portal. Saturday, October 8th, we drove slowly up and down the road, sifting through hundreds of sparrows. We saw Black-Throated, White-Crowned, Savannah, Vesper, Brewer's and Grasshopper. One Grasshopper Sparrow sat on the wire for a long time letting John take a bunch of pictures. Too bad it didn't have a necklace.

Argh!

We had messed up the location of the next spot we were going to check for the sparrow. It wasn't the La Cienega Grasslands, but the San Rafael Grasslands, which were well off our route. We didn't have enough time to go there that day.

Argh!

We decided to go to Florida Canyon to look for the Black-Capped Gnatcatcher. John remembered the spot described on NARBA, next to the gate to the research center, but I didn't believe him, so we spent most of the time along the creek. Didn't see a gnatcatcher until I turned around and scared it out of a bush. Birds like to sneak up behind you. The bird dashed across the trail and back again and disappeared, probably went back to hanging around the gate.

Argh!

The light was gone so we retreated to a hotel. Early Sunday morning, we went to Montosa Canyon where Melody Kehl had reported a BC Gnatcatcher on NARBA. As we drove in, we flushed a nightjar off the road, little argh. I saw the BC Gnatcatcher on our last visit to Montosa. I had a clear view of the graduated white tail. Unfortunately, John was about 10 feet away at the time. Gnatcatchers don't pose. We saw no gnatcatchers of any species this time.

Argh!

John was feeling the pull of home so we did not visit the San Rafael Grasslands. The sparrow spends the winter there. We might get it later. A Blue-Footed Booby had been seen at the Salton Sea, on the way home! Great! We drove up and down the dike near Obsidian Butte. There were hundreds of pelicans and cormorants. The booby could have been hiding amongst them. A young man with a good scope didn't find it either.

Argh!

The young man did show us a Barn Owl sleeping in a palm tree at the visitor center. He is doing a casual big year in the lower 48. His total is pretty good so we encouraged him to turn in his list at the end of the year. A couple of Burrowing Owls along the road bid us farewell. It is painful not to get any new birds, but if it was too easy, it wouldn't be such a thrill to finally succeed.