Yesterday, John got the Dusky Flycatcher and the McCown's Longspur in the Pawnee National Grasslands. He returned there today, July 24th, and saw the longspur again, the Grasshopper Sparrow, and probably, Cassin's Sparrow. He has pics to study later. He has lots of pics to study later!
Following a lead for Dusky Grouse, John returned to Rocky Mountain National Park and hiked around Cub Lake. Besides a re-sighting of Green-Tailed Towhee and White-Throated Swift, he saw elk, marmot, chipmunk and cotton tails. No grouse.
Now John will meander toward Missouri, hitting a few more grasslands on the way. His big target is Henslow's Sparrow. I hope he gets it so that I don't have to help him find it around Springfield. Ebird has lots of sightings of it and other target birds between CO and MO. Grasslands preservation isn't as glamorous as pristine mountain wilderness, but just as essential.
I am not taking my computer on the flight to MO. I probably won't blog until I return to California next Sunday. All the grandchildren will be in Springfield at once, so I will be happily busy.
After MO, John will drop down to South Texas to try again for the Groove-Billed Ani and other scarcities. We might even get in a week of birding in California before his San Diego pelagic, August 13th. Keep posting on EBird! It really helps John.
Showing posts with label EBird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EBird. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
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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