Had to blog on 10/11/12!
Birdseye has been terrific to use. It is an ap that you can purchase for your smartphone that uses Ebird data and Google maps. They do have a disclaimer when you ask for directions. Believe them! We have encountered locked gates, impassable roads, back yards, and my favorite, the 'hotspot' that is obviously the geographical center point of a day-long birding trip. John seems to think something magical will happen if only we arrive at that exact longitude and latitude.
Geography is not the only barrier. Sometimes, sheer numbers get in the way. One bird in a large park or in a large flock is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The Baird's Sparrow near Portal AZ and the Blue-Footed Booby at the Salton Sea are recent examples. Whether they were there or not, we didn't see them.
Then there is death. The Yellow-Legged Gull had shown up in Newfoundland for several years. Why it chose to spend winter there when it normally lived down by the Mediterranean is odd. It probably met with some harm somewhere, because it wasn't there this last January. -- We met the man who had reported an Eastern Screech Owl every day for months at a park in Austin, Texas. He speculated that the local Barred Owls had killed it because he hadn't seen it the last two days. Or that day, when we were there at the park with him. -- Those lost birds, like the Common Cuckoo in Watsonville CA, what happens to make them disappear? Do they find their way home? Not likely. Or do they succumb to unfamiliar predators? At least we saw the poor thing before it vanished.
Birdseye has been a great tool, NARBA is great too. It is hard to justify chasing a bird, though, when the likelihood of it still being there when you arrive is small. Rare birds are rare! If they are near John when they are reported, he might chase them. Most of the migrants are gone, though they still get seen here and there. John missed a lot of them last spring. We might look for some late migrants in Georgia.
John is still at 661. He is booked on two east coast and two west coast pelagics yet and will be in Louisiana with Wings and Dan Lane. There are other possible trips we can take before midnight, December 31st. He will get more new birds. The blogs may not be as frequent, but keep checking in. I'll be back!
Showing posts with label Birdseye. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birdseye. Show all posts
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
The long and winding road(s)
John had a few days before his San Diego pelagic and a few birds he could get in our local mountains. I was antsy to join him in adventure so we headed out Friday, August 10th.
Our first stop was Forest Falls along Highway 38. Its canyon was created by the San Andreas Fault and is the headwaters of the Santa Ana River. But where was Monkey Face Falls where the Black Swift was reported? We pulled into a parking area to check our maps. Two ladies with binoculars were parked next to us. John asked them how their birding was going. Big smiles of recognition, and one of the ladies said, "You are going for the Cook's Petrel, aren't you!" Turns out they were Pat and Marian from the boat trip to Attu. They were in the area to go on the pelagic too. But we all were in the canyon looking for the Black Swift, NOT the Cook's Petrel. We conferred and decided to head back to the mouth of the canyon. A narrow crack in the cliff turned out to be Monkey Face Falls. Looking up, we could see clouds of swifts like pepper against the sky. We clambered up a narrow wash and settled down to prise the Black Swifts from the more numerous White-Throated Swifts. Trying to share our sightings was like getting someone else to see a lighting strike. Eventually, John was satisfied that he had gotten a sufficient look at several Blacks. The birds would soon be migrating south so John really needed to see them. 613
Now we would be searching for the Red-Breasted Sapsucker, William's Sapsucker, White-Headed Woodpecker, Pinon Jay and Mountain Quail. There were two promising Birdseye location pins and both were way off the main roads. Here's where 'the long and winding roads' come in. About 3 PM we found where Wild Horse Meadow Road, 2N03, intersected the 38 and started up a really rocky, really rutted road. It was only about 7 miles to the pin but our average speed was probably 4 miles an hour. Wild Horse Meadow is a lovely spot even though none of our target birds showed up. About 7 PM, we spotted a bobcat stalking prey across the meadow. The click of John's camera got its attention and it continued to stare at us until we left. As we drove into Big Bear City for the night, a Lesser Nighthawk darted across the road. 614
The next morning, we searched in the neighborhoods of Big Bear City for the Mountain Quail, no dice. The other Birdseye pin was on Arrastre Creek where it crossed Burns Valley Road, 2N02. This road was worse than Wild Horse, especially right around the creek crossing and again, we saw none of the target birds. We sure have seen some remote, beautiful country really close to a huge metropolis. Somewhere along this road, we saw a Gray Fox. There were extensive stands of big, healthy Joshua Trees as we turned south on Round Valley Road, 2N01back to the 38. I am particularly proud of my Rav4. It is just a 4 cylinder with no 4 wheel drive and it managed the fierce conditions. It has now earned the license plate RUFRD it inherited from our old 4 by 4 Blazer.
But wait! It is not yet noon! Let's try Wild Horse Meadow again! This time we started from Big Bear City. The road up to the meadow from the north side was mostly in pretty good shape. We still didn't see any target birds so we skittered down the rough half of the road back to Highway 38 and home.
Our first stop was Forest Falls along Highway 38. Its canyon was created by the San Andreas Fault and is the headwaters of the Santa Ana River. But where was Monkey Face Falls where the Black Swift was reported? We pulled into a parking area to check our maps. Two ladies with binoculars were parked next to us. John asked them how their birding was going. Big smiles of recognition, and one of the ladies said, "You are going for the Cook's Petrel, aren't you!" Turns out they were Pat and Marian from the boat trip to Attu. They were in the area to go on the pelagic too. But we all were in the canyon looking for the Black Swift, NOT the Cook's Petrel. We conferred and decided to head back to the mouth of the canyon. A narrow crack in the cliff turned out to be Monkey Face Falls. Looking up, we could see clouds of swifts like pepper against the sky. We clambered up a narrow wash and settled down to prise the Black Swifts from the more numerous White-Throated Swifts. Trying to share our sightings was like getting someone else to see a lighting strike. Eventually, John was satisfied that he had gotten a sufficient look at several Blacks. The birds would soon be migrating south so John really needed to see them. 613
Now we would be searching for the Red-Breasted Sapsucker, William's Sapsucker, White-Headed Woodpecker, Pinon Jay and Mountain Quail. There were two promising Birdseye location pins and both were way off the main roads. Here's where 'the long and winding roads' come in. About 3 PM we found where Wild Horse Meadow Road, 2N03, intersected the 38 and started up a really rocky, really rutted road. It was only about 7 miles to the pin but our average speed was probably 4 miles an hour. Wild Horse Meadow is a lovely spot even though none of our target birds showed up. About 7 PM, we spotted a bobcat stalking prey across the meadow. The click of John's camera got its attention and it continued to stare at us until we left. As we drove into Big Bear City for the night, a Lesser Nighthawk darted across the road. 614
The next morning, we searched in the neighborhoods of Big Bear City for the Mountain Quail, no dice. The other Birdseye pin was on Arrastre Creek where it crossed Burns Valley Road, 2N02. This road was worse than Wild Horse, especially right around the creek crossing and again, we saw none of the target birds. We sure have seen some remote, beautiful country really close to a huge metropolis. Somewhere along this road, we saw a Gray Fox. There were extensive stands of big, healthy Joshua Trees as we turned south on Round Valley Road, 2N01back to the 38. I am particularly proud of my Rav4. It is just a 4 cylinder with no 4 wheel drive and it managed the fierce conditions. It has now earned the license plate RUFRD it inherited from our old 4 by 4 Blazer.
But wait! It is not yet noon! Let's try Wild Horse Meadow again! This time we started from Big Bear City. The road up to the meadow from the north side was mostly in pretty good shape. We still didn't see any target birds so we skittered down the rough half of the road back to Highway 38 and home.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
An Almost Perfect Day
Saturday, July 28th, John and I left our Springfield MO motel about 5 AM. The Henslow's Sparrow was our first target bird. Diamond Grove Prairie Conservation Area is in several parcels south of Joplin. We went to two of them and got LOTS of Dickcissals and Purple Martins. No sparrow.
John decided we should try for our other targets, the Swainson's Warbler and the Acadian Flycatcher. Both had been seen at Roaring River State Park, our favorite MO park. The Acadian had been seen up a road past the big spring and fish hatchery. After sorting through the Eastern Wood Pewees, John finally identified the Acadian feeding young. The two species are similar in size and the Acadian's yellow was probably a little worn off, but John got some clear pictures with color showing. One target ticked off.
There is a small conservation area within the state park that had a pin for the Swainson's Warbler, a notoriously difficult bird for us. We turned down hill to park near the stream, clambered upstream aways to a deserted spot and John got pictures of a Louisiana Waterthrush. I played its song and the Swainson's song. They are quite similar. In fact, we got a rise out of the waterthrush with the warbler's song. Then I spotted the Swainson's Warbler and John even saw it! A family of Red-Eyed Vireos came in to muddy the waters, but we managed to spot the warbler twice more. It's brownish cast was our best field mark to tell it from the vireos, with their gray caps and greenish backs. Number two target bird ticked off.
John decided to try for the Henslow's Sparrow one more time. Wha-sha-she Prairie is north of Joplin so we drove through a little of the tornado devastation. Lots of rebuilding but the tornado's path will be treeless for many years. This little patch of prairie was different from those south of I44. It had mostly knee high shrubby stuff, very little grass or taller bushes. There were no dickcissals to distract us. Then I read the text in Birdseye. The sparrow was difficult to see, liked to skulk, BUT if you flushed it up three or four times it would finally sit up on a perch. Off we trudged, through the field, about five feet apart. It reminded me of January first when we trudged around a field near Houston TX trying to flush longspurs. I thought I heard a chip. I signalled to John that we were changing angles in our trudge. We flushed up a little brown bird! Trudged to the spot it landed and we flushed it again, and again, and again. Just as advertised, it perched up! Poor little thing was panting in the afternoon heat. We got great views and some pictures. We were three for three on our targets.
John is now at 605.
Heading back to Springfield on I44 we saw a plume of black smoke. Turns out it was a semi on fire and the freeway was closed just before we were going to pass. We were about 20 vehicles back from the fire and several miles past the last offramp with a freeway barrier boxing us in. It was interesting to watch the many fire trucks arrive and battle the flames that were spreading into the woods next to the freeway. I used John's big camera to take pictures and watched the activity with my binoculars. Two hours later, we were told we could turn around and go on the verge back past all the semis that would not be able to turn around, go across the 'official vehicles only' gap in the center median and drive west on the freeway to the exit behind us. I don't know when they finally got the freeway open for those poor truck drivers, but we were free! Our daughter guided us through the farm roads back to her house by phone. Thus ended our almost perfect day.
John decided we should try for our other targets, the Swainson's Warbler and the Acadian Flycatcher. Both had been seen at Roaring River State Park, our favorite MO park. The Acadian had been seen up a road past the big spring and fish hatchery. After sorting through the Eastern Wood Pewees, John finally identified the Acadian feeding young. The two species are similar in size and the Acadian's yellow was probably a little worn off, but John got some clear pictures with color showing. One target ticked off.
There is a small conservation area within the state park that had a pin for the Swainson's Warbler, a notoriously difficult bird for us. We turned down hill to park near the stream, clambered upstream aways to a deserted spot and John got pictures of a Louisiana Waterthrush. I played its song and the Swainson's song. They are quite similar. In fact, we got a rise out of the waterthrush with the warbler's song. Then I spotted the Swainson's Warbler and John even saw it! A family of Red-Eyed Vireos came in to muddy the waters, but we managed to spot the warbler twice more. It's brownish cast was our best field mark to tell it from the vireos, with their gray caps and greenish backs. Number two target bird ticked off.
John decided to try for the Henslow's Sparrow one more time. Wha-sha-she Prairie is north of Joplin so we drove through a little of the tornado devastation. Lots of rebuilding but the tornado's path will be treeless for many years. This little patch of prairie was different from those south of I44. It had mostly knee high shrubby stuff, very little grass or taller bushes. There were no dickcissals to distract us. Then I read the text in Birdseye. The sparrow was difficult to see, liked to skulk, BUT if you flushed it up three or four times it would finally sit up on a perch. Off we trudged, through the field, about five feet apart. It reminded me of January first when we trudged around a field near Houston TX trying to flush longspurs. I thought I heard a chip. I signalled to John that we were changing angles in our trudge. We flushed up a little brown bird! Trudged to the spot it landed and we flushed it again, and again, and again. Just as advertised, it perched up! Poor little thing was panting in the afternoon heat. We got great views and some pictures. We were three for three on our targets.
John is now at 605.
Heading back to Springfield on I44 we saw a plume of black smoke. Turns out it was a semi on fire and the freeway was closed just before we were going to pass. We were about 20 vehicles back from the fire and several miles past the last offramp with a freeway barrier boxing us in. It was interesting to watch the many fire trucks arrive and battle the flames that were spreading into the woods next to the freeway. I used John's big camera to take pictures and watched the activity with my binoculars. Two hours later, we were told we could turn around and go on the verge back past all the semis that would not be able to turn around, go across the 'official vehicles only' gap in the center median and drive west on the freeway to the exit behind us. I don't know when they finally got the freeway open for those poor truck drivers, but we were free! Our daughter guided us through the farm roads back to her house by phone. Thus ended our almost perfect day.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
tick, tick, tickity tick
John spent the last two days in Wisconsin. Thursday night, June 21st, he counted 9 ticks. Friday night, June 22nd, he had counted 24 by the time I had called him. He always tucks his pants into his socks so he hasn't gotten bitten....yet. Many others are probably crawling around inside the rental car. EWWW! Here I sit, tickless, in Southern California, while John struggles to find birds on his own.
Thursday, notable were pics of Chestnut-Sided Warbler and Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. He definitely heard a Connecticut Warbler too. He also discovered that when he uses my IPhone to review bird songs and returns it to his pocket, sometimes the program spontaneously plays a fragment of a song, fooling him into thinking he has heard the bird. But he can tell. The song is too perfect, not repeated, and not complete. Brief, false hope.
The other tool John uses a lot is Birdseye. The phone app mines EBird and maps the sightings of a target bird near to John's location. Doesn't mean he will see it, but gets him closer. Thanks, everyone who contributes to EBird.
Friday, he saw about 24 Trumpeter Swans, another conservation success story. He is staying overnight in Duluth, then, Saturday, he will head to Sax-Zim, where we attended a festival in February.
On his own, John has spent two days in Wisconsin, and will spend two days each in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Colorado. He will join Melody Kehl in Arizona for a trip into California Gulch June 29th, spend a few more days there and head home to Southern California. We will have been apart two months.
Thursday, notable were pics of Chestnut-Sided Warbler and Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. He definitely heard a Connecticut Warbler too. He also discovered that when he uses my IPhone to review bird songs and returns it to his pocket, sometimes the program spontaneously plays a fragment of a song, fooling him into thinking he has heard the bird. But he can tell. The song is too perfect, not repeated, and not complete. Brief, false hope.
The other tool John uses a lot is Birdseye. The phone app mines EBird and maps the sightings of a target bird near to John's location. Doesn't mean he will see it, but gets him closer. Thanks, everyone who contributes to EBird.
Friday, he saw about 24 Trumpeter Swans, another conservation success story. He is staying overnight in Duluth, then, Saturday, he will head to Sax-Zim, where we attended a festival in February.
On his own, John has spent two days in Wisconsin, and will spend two days each in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Colorado. He will join Melody Kehl in Arizona for a trip into California Gulch June 29th, spend a few more days there and head home to Southern California. We will have been apart two months.
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