Arizona: August 18-22, 2010

August 18, 2010, I took a 6:00 AM flight to Tucson. After arriving I drove around lost for an hour in 102 heat looking for the grocery store. In Target getting some propane I ran into a lawyer I know whose office is one floor below mine. Finally with everything I needed I headed south on I-19 to Madera Canyon. It was hot and muggy and a few drops fell but there were few birds, just a few Cassin's Kingbirds and Lesser Goldfinches. I hiked a couple of miles up the Old Baldy Trail but didn't feel that great after getting up at 3:45 AM. I set up a camp site in the canyon at Bog Springs Campground and then walked around Proctor Road for a bit until the sun got too low. Saw Blue Grosbeak with a worm in its mouth. The sunset was spectacular. Back at my campsite a racoon came and wouldn't leave but as night fell the Mexican Whip-poor-wills began to sing along with an Elf Owl, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Northern Pygmy Owl, and Common Poorwill.

August 19, I woke up late and only left the canyon at 6:00 AM. It took me one hour to drive south to Ruby Road to Pena Blanca Lake. There was not a single person in any of the campgrounds. I saw a Thick-billed Kingbird at the lake. There were a lot of birds on the road including White-winged Dove, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Varied Bunting, more Cassin's Kingbirds but not the bird I was looking for, a Montezuma Quail. I drove to Sycamore Canyon and parked. The place was overrun with mosquitoes and I had no repellent. There were three guys taking down their tent. They looked like very inexperienced hikers. I hiked the canyon for about a mile or so before turning around. The water was very high and there were few birds. However, there was many butterflies including many Pipevine Swallowtails, Orange Sulphur, Southern Dogface, Sleepy Orange, Dainty Sulphur, Painted Crescent, Gulf Fritillaries, and Two-tailed Swallowtail. While driving back on Ruby Road I saw a Zone-tailed Hawk circling overhead plus Hooded Oriole and Bronzed Cowbird. I drove around in a big circle because Highway 89 to Patagonia was closed. So I had to drive back north on I-19 to Madera Canyon and then across on the dirt road, Greaterville Road. I stopped along the way and saw dozens of American Snouts on an acacia tree. While looking at them many insects bit the back of my knees. There were Cassin's and Botteri's Sparrows singing in the field. I drove past the tiny town of Sonoita south on Highway 82 to Roadside Rest, a famous birding spot. There was a Thick-billed Kingbird, Yellow-breasted Chat, and Gila Woodpecker. From there I drove back north to Las Cienegas Conservation Area where there were lots of Cassin's and Botteri's Sparrows, Eastern Meadowlark, and Lucy's Warbler. There were rolling hills of grasslands to explore but I didn't like that it was a working ranch full of cows, which I dislike intensely. So I decided to drive to the Chiracahuas. It was a long drive with too much time to think. I saw some Red-tailed Hawks and Turkey Vultures along the way. My intent was to camp at Pinery Campground. But as I crested the canyon at 7000 feet and arrived there a man was already set up with his chair and such so I continued up the canyon. I stopped long enough to bathe and then continued all the way to Rustler Park. I set up the tent, put my food in the bear box, and was very content with my book until I read in Birding Southeast Arizona that marauding bears were a serious problem at Rustler Park. I was the only person there ! Forget that. I took down my tent, threw it in the car, and continued to Cave Creek where I found a lovely site at Sunnyside Flat CG where only one other person was camping. I could hear a faint Whiskered Screech-Owl calling during the night . It was hard to hear because the creek was so full of rushing water.

August 20, I woke up early; it was a cool 62 degrees. A Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher was in the campground. The sun was just coming up and illuminating the red canyon walls; it was very beautiful. I drove to the Cave Creek trailhead intending to take this famous Arizona hike but the creek was so high I had a hard time finding a safe place to cross. I finally found a somewhat low point and almost made it across when my right foot went in. I made it across and tried to re-find the trail. While crossing over a log my foot went through some rotten areas and it tore the flesh away from my left leg. It bled and was painful. There were zero birds. So I gave up and went back to the car. I next went to the Southwest Research Station. There were a couple of Say's Phoebes and one lone Blue-throated Hummingbird and that was about it so I left there. Next I went into the tiny town of Portal. Some man was mowing his lawn on Main Street and there were no birds there either. I intended to get gas and head back over Pinery Canyon to Chiracahua National Monument to hike around but there is no gas station in Portal. I had only half a tank so I proceeded slowly up Pinery Pass conserving as much as possible. I drove right past George Walker House and the Paradise Cemetery where Ken later told me Montezuma Quails can be found. Urgh. Melody Kehl, bird guide, who was too busy to help me find a Montezuma Quail, drove right past me when I was down to 1/4 tank and not even to Pinery Summit. I could have gone up to Barfoot Park for the Short-tailed Hawk but couldn't chance wasting precious gas so I drove slowly to the summit and then coasted all the way to the National Monument. Near the entrance I found a Common Poorwill in the road. Someone had run over the poor thing's head and crushed it. I couldn't even drive to the rock formations for which the park is famous for fear of running out of gas so I pulled into the picnic area instead, had lunch, and took a short walk to an old homestead called Faraway Cabin. It was very hot. I drove slowly to the tiny town of Sunizona where I finally found a gas station and filled up. Then I drove the back roads to Tombstone, Arizona where I stopped briefly to film downtown and the courthouse. I was too embarrassed to be filming such a hokey thing and soon left. I found Charleston Road with my iphone's help and drove a dirt road all the way from Tombstone to the Charleston Bridge. I got out and walked along the San Pedro River. There were many birds, Blue Grosbeaks, Summer Tanagers, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Northern Beardless Tyranulet. I couldn't walk very far because the river was so high so I left and drove from there to Ramsey Canyon, one of the most famous birding locations in the US. On the road to the canyon a Roadrunner ran across the road. You can sometimes find up to 14 species of hummingbirds in Ramsey Canyon during migration. On the day of my visit I saw just two or three Black-chinned Hummingbirds, one brief look at a Violet-crowned Hummingbird, and one brief look at a Magnificent Hummingbird. I drove to the next canyon over, Miller Canyon and pulled up to Beatty's Guest Ranch. I was looking around for the upper hummingbird watching station and Tom, Jr. came out. He was so hostile. He said I had to pass through the gate but that I had to pay $5. He stood over me making sure I put the $5 in the basket before entering through the gate. Then the obnoxious guy followed me up to the viewing station with his obnoxious dogs and breathed down my neck for 20 minutes. I had to stay despite the harrassment though because he had hundreds of hummers. Within five minutes a Berryline Hummingbird, a rare vagrant from Central America flew within five feet of me. I got my camera on it but when I got home found the footage blurry. I was so disappointned. There was also one White-eared Hummingbird, many Anna's Hummingbirds, Black-chinned, Rufous, Broad-billed, and Broad-tailed. At 6:00 PM I had to go. I drove all the way around to Sonoita and then from there to Parker Canyon Lake to the Lakeview Campground. During the drive a Common Nighthawk nearly flew into the car. There was only one space left at the CG right across from some man who was pouring lighter fluid on his fire to make it bigger. Someone was playing very loud music. I was concerned but it was too late to drive anywhere else. Also according to my bird finding guide Montezuma Quails can be found here around the lake. I stayed at campsite #2. There were tall weeds growing right next to the picnic table. Around midnight some rednecks arrived in a truck. Actually everyone there was in a truck. They rolled down their windows and began to blare music at about 25 decibels for nearly an hour while they put up their tents. I thought it would never end. I am a very light sleeper but there is no way anybody could sleep through that. Finally they finished and turned off the music when the people in campsite 3 let their stupid ass dog scamper over to my campsite and begin to sniff around my tent. I had just fallen back asleep but had to keep yelling at the dog to get away. What assholes would let their dog loose in a campground late at night? I really don't like Arizona. Why do all the most wretched states have all the good birds? I was furious. The only redeeming thing about that noisy campground was it only cost me $5.00 and during the night I heard a Great horned Owl and Common Poorwill.

August 21 at 5:30 AM the people who poured lighter fluid on their fire got up to go fishing in the lake; they turned on their truck and left it idling loudly for about 30 minutes. I got up dejected. I just wasn't up to walking the five mile trail around the lake with all those rednecks there so I left. On the way out of Parker Canyon I saw a Band-tailed Pigeon and a Cooper's Hawk. I drove the back roads all the way from Canelo Hills to Patagonia but saw zero Montezuma Quails. This was prime quail habitat too. I stopped at Canelo Hills pass at 4500 feet before dropping down into the grasslands and past Vaca Ranch. I stopped again in San Rafael Valley where I heard Grasshopper Sparrows and Eastern Meadowlarks. I went through Hershaw Canyon one of the top quail habitats but no quails. So I returned to Patagonia and went to Patagonia Sonoita Creek Preserve. There was a sign at the sign-in kiosk announcing, "we have chiggers." The guided walk at 9:00 AM was about to start. Two guys were there and one leader. The leader took my $3.00 and asked me if I wanted to join the walk. I said no. So he said "we have chiggers; do you know what those are?" I said yes I already had a couple I must have gotten at Sycamore Canyon. He gave me some insect repellent which I sprayed on my bare legs and headed out. There were more birds than I had seen the whole trip and dozens of species of butterflies I had never seen before. But I could see that the chiggers were going to be a problem as the grass was very high in places. Yellow-breasted Chats were singing all over and Phainopeplas were in droves. I also saw Summer Tanager, Gila Woodpecker, Yellow Warbler, MacGillivray's Warbler, Western Wood peewee, Lazuli Bunting, Black-headed Grosbeak, Blue Grosbeak and heard a couple of Yellow-billed Cuckoos. The butterflies I was able to identify were Arizona Skipper, Golden-headed Scallopwing, and Tiny Checkerspot. I left around 11:00 AM and went back to Roadside Rest to put away my tent and pack some of my stuff. The Thick-billed Kingbird was acting like it was tired of being looked at but I got some nice video of the Gila Woodpecker. I looked at my iphone and saw an email from the listserv for Arizona. There was a report of two Black-capped Gnatcatchers at Montosa Canyon. Where in the hell was Montosa Canyon? It was not in my bird finding book or anywhere else. I drove to the tiny town of Patagonia where internet service is pretty good and downloaded the Tucson Audubon Society's web page and found directions to it there. I could either drive south to Nogales on 82 or take Greaterville Road across Madera Canyon to I-19. I decided on Greaterville Road. While driving a little bit too fast on that dirt road I crossed a streambed and bottomed out. I heard a loud clank and hoped I had not punctured the oil pan but continued to drive on to I-19 and then south to Elephant Head Road and then toward the National Geographic Observatory to a concrete lined wash that marked the spot. I walked up and down the canyon. I saw dozens of Phainopeplas, Summer Tanager, Varied Bunting, Canyon Wrens calling, one large brown bird with white spots on its tail that I flushed, and one lone Painted Redstart but no gnatcatchers at all. I was willing to spend the rest of the afternoon if necessary but dark clouds were moving closer and closer and it was incredibly muggy. Soon drops began to fall and worse lightning began to pop too close for comfort. I got in my car and watched it cover up the observatory high on a hill of the Santa Rita Mountains. I was willing to sit it out but realized I was in a flood area so I drove to higher ground. I saw a picnic area and pulled in to wait out the storm. I had the door open waiting and watching the ligthning and the clouds moving toward Madera Canyon. The border patrol drove past on the dirt road that leads up to the observatory and then made a u-turn and pulled up beside me. The passenger took one look at me and realized it was a waste of time. They both looked like teenagers. The driver said "how's it going?" I said, "great. how are you?" But he wouldn't answer like it was his first day on the job and he didn't know what to say or do. He finally said, "what are you doing? Waiting to pick somebody up?" I said I'm waiting for the storm to pass, what are you doing?" He said, "I'm patrolling!" I said well good luck! What a dumb job. Finally the storm passed and I drove back to Montosa Canyon. I walked up and down some more and finally after 30 more minutes two Black-capped Gnatcatchers flew into an acacia tree very nearby. I got a very good look which is good because they were both females or immature-- hard to differentiate from Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. They called which was helpful. I got zero video because it was still raining and I had no cover for my camera! Shoot. Best bird of the trip and no video. All in all it took two hours to get that bird but it was worth it because my trip was essentially over. It was dark quickly due to the rain and clouds. I stopped briefly in Madera just to have a picnic dinner before heading back to Tucson to my hotel. I checked in, took off my socks, and examined my feet. They were covered in chigger bites, hundreds of them. I also had them all over my waist line, buttocks, arm pits, abductors, ankles, and behind my knees. I showered but it was too late. I drank a lot and went to bed. I am still itching as I write this.

Anchorage, Barrow, & Kenai Fjords, AK: June 12-20, 2010

On June 12, 2010, I flew into Anchorage and spent the day looking around there first visiting Kincaid Park. It was windy with more people than birds. I saw only Savannah Sparrow, Common Redpoll, Orange-crowned Warbler, and American Robin. Next I went to Hillside Park but it was devoid of birds entirely. Then I tried Potter Marsh where I saw a Tundra Swan very close to the road, a Muskrat in the marsh and a Moose near the parking lot. There were also Lesser Yellowlegs, Lincoln's Sparro, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, American Wigeon, Arctic Tern, Mew Gull, and Glaucous-winged Gull. My last stop was West Chester Lagoon where there were nesting Red-necked Grebes, Alder Flycatcher, and Hudsonian Godwit.

June 13 my sister and I hiked up Wolverine Peak in Chugach State Park. It was a glorious day for Anchorage reaching 70 degrees and hordes of people were out on the trail with their dogs. It was awful and I will never go back. We didn't see very many species of birds though there were many of each species including Alder Flycatcher, Lincoln's Sparrow, Wilson's Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Hermit Thrush, and Bald Eagle. We also saw two Moose.

After our hike we went back to Hillside Park as I was very interested in finding a White-winged Crossbill but we only saw Golden-crowned Kinglet and Gray Jay. We then returned to West Chester Lagoon and there were several Hudsonian Godwits, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser yellowlegs, Bonaparte's Gull, and Long-billed Dowitcher. There was plenty of light left but we returned to our hotel since we had an early flight the next day.

June 14 we met our group from Wilderness Birding Adventures at the Anchorage Airport and flew from there to the northernmost city in North America, Barrow, AK at 71 degrees lattitude. After landing we checked into the King Eider Inn and then put on all the clothes we owned and headed out in a van to look for birds. The wind was blowing viciously and keeping the temperatures in the low 30s the entire visit. The town itself was hideous, depressing and trash filled and filthy. Barrow is owned by the Inupiat Indians and every visitor must pay the tribe $50 just to land there. The Eskimoes own the gas wells there which supply the entire town with gas heat. Despite the ramshakle surroundings the town has excellent internet service. Other than that I can't recommend it unless you enjoy visiting a trash dump because that's what it is. Once we got out of town things improved when we got out on the open tundra which despite its barrenness in mid-June when the rest of North America was bursting with spring blooms, was full of the many birds that nest in the tundra. There were many sightings of Northern Pintail, Snow Bunting, and Lapland Longspurs. Long-tailed Ducks were everywhere along with numerous Semi-palmated Sandpipers and a few Baird's Sandpipers. We saw a lot of Red Phalaropes and Red-necked Phalaropes and several Snowy Owls. We also came across a few American Golden Plovers looking very dapper in their breeding plumage. Every day we saw dozens of Pectoral Sandpipers many of them males in display flight with their chests bursting forward. Toward dinner time we finally saw what I made such a long trek to see, the endangered and rare, Steller's Eider. I was so excited to see it I nearly cried either from the incessant wind or from the knowledge that this bird may go extinct in my life time. The owner of WBA, Bob, had joined us and asked our driver and bird guide, Dave to pull over and there in a melt pond about as far away from the van as possible was my other target bird, the Spectacled Eider. Dave's scope, a 62 mm Swarovski was small and inferior to Bob's 77 mm Leica. Bob showed me the Spectacled Eider through his scope and I was very happy to see it. I remember the first time years ago I was thumbing through National Geographic's Field Guide to North American Birds and saw a picture of the Spectacled Eider. Oh I wanted to see one but in reviewing the range map determined it would be impossible and I would never see one. Their range is confined to the tundra of far northern Alaska which seemed remote and out of the question at the time. In my mind's eye though as my trip to Barrow approached and the dream became more of a possibility I imagined seeing it as I had seen it in NGFG-- up close and detailed, not this little spec in the spotting scope. On the other hand at least I was able to see it. The most exciting bird for Dave and Bob was an extremely lost Yellow-rumped Warlber of the subspecies, Audubon, a first for Barrow. After a while we stopped and drove into town for dinner which was bizzare. All food in Barrow besides the whales the Inupiat's slaughter is shipped in. We ate at a "Mexican" Restaurant where one guest, John from Florida, ordered a milkshake. I ordered something that was merely a tortilla with a can of refried beans dumped into it and some iceberg lettuce.
After dinner we went back out for a while looking for more birds and I spotted another Steller's Eider, this one much closer and I was even more content.
June 15 we had breakfast in Dave and Bob's room and then met Nathaniel a local Inupiat who for $85 a person drove us out to the northernmost point in North American, Point Barrow to look for polar bears. As we drove out along the beach Nathaniel explained that the Inupiats still enjoyed hunting and shot eiders. He claimed they shot all three species found there but I hope he is wrong and they are not shooting the endangered Steller's Eider which would be a sin in my opinion. The Inupiat are allowed to legally kill whales for subsistence. Nathaniel said that this spring they had killed 14 whales. He drove us to the place on the point where the Indians dump the whale carcasses to look for the bears. We saw fresh polar bear tracks near the carcasses but no bears. The carcasses were only partially decomposed but you couldn't smell anything due to the intense wind. Nathaniel was nice enough but I found the whole concept of living in Barrow off of slaughtered whales insane and offensive. It seemed to me the Indians were clinging to a past way of life that can no longer be sustained. They all had snow mobiles and cars (where were they driving to?) and piped in gas heat from their gas wells and a pricey fully stocked grocery store. (Peaches were $5.49 a pound!) And the way they discarded their broken down cars and snow mobiles and other trash in heaps in their "yards" was grotesque and appalling. At the point we stopped to take photos, touch the Arctic Ocean which was still very frozen, and while there a Sabine's Gull flew by. We had a lengthy discussion about how to pronounce this bird named after Irish Scientist, Sir Edward Sabine. After our trip to Point Barrow we had lunch at the grocery store and then headed back out in our own van to look some more. We found more Snowy Owls and a Long-tailed Jaeger and a King Eider that was preening just feet from the van in a large melt pond. King Eider's have gorgeous powder blue heads and orange bills and it was fantastic to get so close and see all the beautiful colors. After a while it finally swam away and we continued on. We came upon a thrush beside the road that turned out to be a female Varied Thrush, another bird far off course. We had dinner at a nasty restaurant that allegedly was serving Japanese food. I ordered the bento box and it was terrible.
On the last day we drove around until lunch time when we had to catch our flight back to Anchorage. We saw more Snowy Owls, one lonely Brandt, and two out of place Rock Ptarmigans, a male and female. We drove toward the dump and found a Ruff in breeding plumage and we spent a long time at a melt pond that held a nesting Spectacled Eider that let me get very close video, a beautiful breeding American Golden Plover, and a Parasitic Jaeger, all tundra nesters. We didn't get back to Anchorage until very late and even though it was as bright as midday we went to bed.
June 17 we drove first to Connor's Lake in Anchorage where we walked around the lake. We came across a moose with a calf and then an Arctic Tern attacked me because I guess I was too close to her nest. She dive bombed my head and in raising my tripod to protect my head my already fragile viewfinder on my camera became even looser. Toward the back of the lake we got as close as possible to a nesting Pacific Loon. Then we drove the scenic and beautiful Seward highway all the way from Anchorage to Seward 126 miles south. First we drove down Crow Pass Road just outside of Anchorage to the end and hiked the incredibly beautiful Crow Pass Trail. I did not have enough clothes on and nearly died of hypothermia at the pass so I could not thoroughly look for the White-tailed Ptarmigan. But the scenery along the way was outstanding and we were able to walk right up to Raven Glacier at the pass. The pass was so windy we didn't tarry long and returned back the way we came back to the car. Next we stopped at beautiful Tern Lake along the Seward Highway where there was a nesting Common Loon and many terns. Upon arrival at the fishing town of Seward we checked into the very overpriced Marina Hotel and went to bed.
June 18, it was raining and continued to rain all day putting a damper on our planned boat ride to Kenai Fjords National Park. During the trip my viewfinder fell completely off and I was reduced to filming solely through the LCD which was very challenging with so many tourists and with the rain and mist. We travelled on a large boat with two decks both covered with a full restaurant and bar. The boat left from the harbor where a Bald Eagle was perched on a pole nearby and into Resurrection Bay bounded on both sides by gorgeous sitka spruce forested mountains and into the Harding Gateway. There were lots of birds in the water, mostly Common Murres and Thick-billed Murres but an occasional Rhinoceros Auklet and a very accommodating Sea Otter. Not long into our trip we came across a large pod of Orcas which excited our fellow travellers greatly. The boat spent a long time with the Orcas one of which breached in a dramatic fashion. But we had lots more things to see so we eventually moved on. As we sped along we passed one Red-faced Cormorant, one Parakeet Auklet and one Leach's Storm-Petrel. We also found one Humpback Whale. We stopped at the Chiswell Islands to see nesting Stellers Sea Lions many of which are larger than a black bear, a moose, and a carribou combined. There were hordes of Tufted and Horned Puffins nesting on the rocks and in the water near the boat. Next we left the island and approached the Holgate Glacier. The boat turned sideways to give everyone a good view and soon sure enough the glacier calved (part of it broke off and slid into the sea) before our very eyes. Afterwards we were treated to a delicious all you can eat buffet of wild Alaska King Salmon. I went back for seconds, yum. And all you can eat dessert too. After admiring the glacier the boat turned around and headed back but I still had not seen what I came to see. I stood under the eaves of the upper deck scanning and scanning and wiping my binoculars from rain and spray until finally I saw two tiny Kittzlitz's Murrelets one on the water and one flying past the boat. The ranger had no clue; she was too busy reading her script and of course nobody on the boat cared enough for the boat to stop but I had seen my third life bird of the trip. It never stopped raining but after our boat trip we drove out to Exit Glacier and despite the lateness of the hour there were many people hiking with us on the short trail to the glacier. Markers along the road and the trail mark the glaciers incredible retreat from when it was first discovered in 1900. The only birds were a few Hermit Thrushes, Varied thrush, and Orange-crowned Warbler.
June 19 was our last day. We left Seward and started our drive back to Anchorage. We stopped at Tern Lake and took a short walk. A Bald Eagle was very close on a tree vocalizing. There was also a Northern Waterthrush, Townsend's Warbler, Black-billed Magpie, Adler flycatcher, and some Tree Swallows. On the way to Anchorage we stopped at Chugach National Forest and drove the road to Palmer Creek. It was very snowy and eventually we had to stop. We got out and just started hiking up a very steep slope looking for White-tailed Ptarmigans. It took two hours of struggling up the steep hillside past thick willows and snow patches and finally up moss covered strands til we finally got above tree line. The wind was howling and the summit was wind swept and barren but beautiful. However, it was devoid of birds except a lonely Spotted Sandpiper that flew over. It took only 30 minutes to get down as we slid most of the way over a snow field on our butts. We stopped at Crow Pass Road one last time looking for that doggone White-winged Crossbill with no luck then returned to Anchorage. My flight stopped in Minneapolis where I had a three hour layover. So I rented a car and drove to a nearby park. It was 80 degrees and the sun was out--a great respite from the foul weather of Alaska.
The weather is atrocious in Alaska but if you can tolerate it the rewards are great.

Southeast Arizona: May 28-31, 2010

I would have preferred to camp but was too afraid to do so by myself that close to the border. So I stayed at a hotel in Green Valley, AZ. I drove first to Florida Canyon but as it was midday I only saw Hooded Oriole and Bell's Vireo. I next went to Madera Canyon and hiked up the trail quite a ways where I found Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher and Plumbeous Vireo. Around Madera Kubo there was a Hepatic Tanager, Berryline Hummingbird, Magnificent Hummingbird, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Cassins's Kingbird. I parked at the picnic area and saw a Painted Redstart in the trees, Acorn Woodpecker, Black-throated Gray Warbler, and Black-headed Grosbeak. White-throated Swifts flew overhead. That night at Santa Rita Lodge the Elf Owl came just after dark and at the upper parking area I heard Whip-poor-wills and Whiskered Screech-Owl.
The next day I got up extra early and drove to Ruby Road. I stopped at Pena Blanca Lake and saw Vermillion Flycatcher, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Northern Cardinal, Summer Tanager, Phainopepla, Blue Grosbeak, and one Thick-billed Kingbird. Along the road there was a Cooper's Hawk, White-winged Dove, and Rufous-crowned Sparrow.
I pulled off to go to California Gulch and not long after heading down the trail found a Five-striped Sparrow. A Varied Bunting came very close. It was an excellent day for a hike very pleasant, no people, lots of butterflies and a life bird. What more can you ask for? I hiked along the stream for quite a ways and saw hundreds of Marine Blue Butterflies as well as Emperor Snouts. There was a Bell's Vireo with chicks, Canyon Wren, and Canyon Towhee. My friend, Ken, told me to get out before noon so that's what I did although I could have easily stayed longer. Next I stopped at Patagonia Lake State Park but as it was a holiday they had jacked up the price to $10 and it was packed with picnickers and boaters. I only saw Bell's Vireo, Broad-billed Hummingbird, Bewick's Wren, and Great-tailed Grackle. Then I headed back to Madera Canyon. It was getting late but I found a singing Northern Beardless Tyranulet, Painted Redstart, Hepatic Tanager, Whip-poor-will, and Whiskered Screech-owl. There were too many people at the Elf Owl home.
The next day, May 30, I returned to Florida Canyon but saw only White-winged Dove, Varied Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, and Cooper's Hawk. Then I went back to Madera Canyon. At the first parking lot there were perched Rufous-winged Sparrows singing. I found an Elegant Trogon behind Santa Rita Lodge along with more Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers. There was a Bronzed Cowbird at Madera Kubo and a nesting Plumbeous Vireo. After some redneck Mexicans in a white truck tried to run over me as I was filming the vireo nest I decided to leave and drove all the way to Ramsey Canyon. The Blue-throated Hummingbird nest I was hoping to film was empty. I saw only black-chinned Hummers, more Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers and one hepatic Tanager. I stopped at Roadside Rest and found the nesting Thick-billed kingbird and a Gila Woodpecker nest. A Gray Hawk flew by and there were also some Bridled Titmouses and one singing Yellow-breasted Chat.
On the last day I hiked a long way into Florida Canyon and saw an Arizona Woodpecker and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. There was some kind of immature flycatcher with a band. At Proctor Road I found Brown-crested Flycatcher nesting in a telephone pole. There was a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher and a Cooper's Hawk along the trail and a Buff-breasted Flycatcher. Before heading back to the hotel for the night I drove all the way up Mt. Lemmon outside of Tucson. I saw Grace's Warbler, Olive Warbler, Pygmy Nuthatch, Yellow-eyed Junco, Hairy Woodpecker, and Broad-billed Hummer. After sunset I tried for another Flammulated Owl but only heard Northern Saw-whet Owl calling.

New Mexico: May 19-21, 2010

Albuquerque is a city with no soul-- a slightly dangerous and depressing place. Even the Whole Foods was small and inadequate, though it appeared to be the hang out for the local alternative people. I only went there to drive up to Sandia Crest to look for Flammulated Owls but was so tired by the time the sun set that I left before hearing one. Before the sun went down I drove to the summit and saw many Broad-billed Hummingbirds at the feeders. I lost the muff to my camera's microphone which was annoying because it was extremely windy the entire trip. Around the trees there were lots of Plumbeous Vireos, Warbling Vireos, Black-headed Grosbeaks, and some Western Tanagers. I camped at a noisy campground where there was only a White-winged Dove to look at and left early in the morning driving four and a half hours to the Gila National Forest. I found a nice camping place at Cherry Creek Campground and looked around there the rest of the day. There were plenty of birds to look at--Cordilleran Flycatchers, Plumbeous Vireo, Greater Pewee, Red-faced Warbler, Swainson's Thrush, Acorn Woodpecker, Pine Siskin, Grace's Warbler, White-throated Swift. Two weird people in a white van pulled up and ruined my solitude so I left and drove to the Mangas Creek area on Highway 180. There I found a Summer Tanager, Yellow Warbler, Red-winged Blackbird, Bullock's Oriole, and Western Wood Pewee. Next I drove to Bill Evans Road that goes along the Gila River looking for a Common Black-hawk but decided it needed to come back early in the morning. However, I decided to park for a while under a large sycamore tree where a lot of bird activity was going on. Cassin's Kingbirds were going back and forth and there was a Willow Flycatcher on a nest, a Broad-tailed Hummingbird stopped by and a Bridled Titmouse. There was another Summer Tanager, Vermillion Flycatcher, Tree Swallows and a Spotted Sandpiper. Before I left I made one more stop and found a family of Scaled Quails. I had given up on the hawk but as I was about to turn off Bill Evans back onto Highway 180 there perched up in a tree was a Common Black-hawk! I tried to call in an owl before falling asleep but was unsuccessful. However, as I dozed off I heard many Whip-poor-wills calling all around the CG. I awoke at 2:00 AM to the mournful call of the Flammulated Owl!
In the morning I drove the short distance to McMillen CG and found another Red-faced Warbler and Grace's Warbler. Back at Cherry Creek there was a Painted Redstart. It was hot and windy. I left Gila NF and drove to New Mexico's most famous birding spot, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. I took a walk on a desert trail and saw only one Black-throated Sparrow. On the refuge I saw American White Pelican, Ladder-backed Woodpecker feeding chicks in a nest hole, Green Heron, Summer Tanager, Vermillion Flycatcher, Neotropic Cormorant, and Gambel's Quail. From the refuge I drove west to Water Canyon. I passed a herd of antelopes on my way up to the campground. As I set up my tent a Gray Flycatcher came and perched in a tree above the picnic table. During the night I heard another Flammulated Owl way off in the distance.
I looked in Box Canyon the next day but it was way too windy and before heading back to Albuquerque I stopped again at Bosque del Apache but due to high winds saw only some Black-chinned Hummingbirds at the visitor center. Then I went home.

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DENALI, ALASKA: June 20-28, 2009

After arriving in Anchorage on June 20, 2009, Sharon, Susan, and I first drove up to the Arctic Valley where a wedding was taking place. It was windy and cold but we trudged up a very steep trail to some rocky ledges where I was hoping to find a White-tailed Ptarmigan. There were no Ptarmigans at all just some Orange-crowned Warblers, Alder Flycatchers, Fox Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, and Wilson's Warblers and lots and lots of wildflowers mostly Wild Geraniums. It took a long time to carefully descend from the steep gravel hillside without tumbling all the way down on our backsides. Back at the base we found a picnic area across from the ski area. It was so windy we had to boil the water in the bathroom. We ate quickly to escape the awful wind and drove down the mountain to Potter Marsh. We looked in the marsh from some of the pullouts but only saw one Beaver and many Arctic Terns and Mew Gulls. Then we continued south on the Seward Highway past Cook Inlet and all the way around Turnagain Arm. We considered camping at Bird Campground in Chugach State Park but after parking at an open spot, getting out and hearing all the noise-- live music, loud highway noises, and noisy campers-- we decided to continue to our reserved spot in Chugach National Forest on the back side of Turnagain Arm on the Kenai Peninsula. On the way we pulled into the turn off for the Portage Glacier to see if any sites were open there but they were all full. I wanted to stop at Portage Glacier but it was nearly 11:00 PM and Susan said we should continue to Porcupine Campground where we had a reservation. It was the summer solstice and still very light out but Sharon and Susan were sleeping and too tired. It's too bad because it was the one day of the whole trip it did not rain at Portage Valley. We drove the long but beautiful drive around Turnagain Arm to the very end of the road at the old gold mining town of Hope, AK to our camp site at Porcupine Campground. It was a very private campsite with ample room but ours was occupied by squatters whom we quickly threw out and made camp. It was still light out after we erected our tents but it was so late that we were soon off to bed. It was hard to sleep with it so light out.

June 21, 2009, the first day of summer, I got up and started boiling water for coffee. As soon as it began to boil the whole stove and pot fell over spilling boiling water onto my right hand causing a severe burn. Despite the mishap we had our breakfast and after admiring all the beautiful dwarf dogwoods that surrounded our campsite left for Chugach State Park. First we stopped at Potter Marsh to walk around the boardwalk. An Alder Flycatcher was singing away right at the entrance and a Lesser Yellowlegs flew repeatedly up onto the railing singing loudly. The boardwalk took us right over the marsh and would have been quite enjoyable except it was too close to the highway noise. Still we enjoyed seeing a singing Lincoln's Sparrow and hearing a singing Northern Waterthrush. There was a Bald Eagle roosting near the marsh and a requisite Black-billed Magpie. I saw a Yellow-shafted Flicker (in California they are red-shafted) fly over and we heard some Black-capped Chickadees in the alders.

We left Potter Marsh and drove up to the Glen Alps section of Chugach State Park. A steady rain was coming down as we parked at the trail head for Williwaw Lakes. The trail descended to a drainage where many wildflowers were growing including the beautiful Chocolate Lily. Soon the trail split and we went right and began an arduous climb up a steep hillside. I was too worn out from our Arctic Valley scramble and insisted that we go back down. We returned to the split and began walking the left branch which was much more manageable though muddy, and Susan spotted our first moose of the trip munching on the wildflowers. We got within one mile of Williwaw Lakes but everyone was just too tired to continue so we returned to the car intending to make a last stop at Portage Glacier. We drove back through Anchorage and down Turnagain Arm again but as soon as we hit the Kenai Peninsula it again began to rain. We tried to stop at Beluga Point to look for whales but the wind was blowing so hard that I could barely open the door and so we continued. By the time we reached Portage Valley it was pouring. We pulled over at the Begich Visitor Center and could only take photos of the iceberg remnants of Portage Glacier from the car. The rain was so intense that we never even got out of the car but continued on down Turnagain Arm back to our cute little campsite at Porcupine CG where we had a wine and cheese social before turning in to bed with it still completely light out.

June 22, 2009, we decided to try Portage Glacier one more time before heading up to Denali. As we approached Portage Valley the rain came harder and harder. We pulled into the fish viewing area but it was too early for spawning salmon. Next we put on all our best rain gear and hiked the 1.6 mile trail to Byron Glacier. It was raining so hard but it was stunning to walk right up to the glacier and see it melting into a cold stream. We went to the Begich-Boggs Visitor Center where you can look at the icebergs from a tunnel but learned that the Portage Glacier has receded so much in the last 100 years that you now must take a cruise ship to walk on it. Where the icebergs are today is where the glacier used to be in 1860. The rain wouldn't let up so we continued back to Beluga Point where we had lunch. Shortly thereafter we had our first bear sighting as two bears walked near the edge of Cook Inlet. Next we left Anchorage and drove to Denali State Park. We pulled into the Mt. McKinley View pullouts along the Glen Highway but Denali was obliterated by clouds as usual. I told Susan and Sharon not to expect to see North America's highest peak while there because it is so high and so massive that it creates its own weather patterns and is frequently shrouded in clouds. At Denali State Park a ranger suggested we walk around Byers Lake which we did. Devil's Club and Nagoonberry were growing near the trailhead. There were a lot of mosquitoes but we had our head nets on. We saw two Tundra Swans on a nest and a beaver in the lake. While stopped for a break I heard the unmistakeable high weeze and looked up in a Spruce to see my first ever Bohemian Waxwing! After circling the lake we had dinner at the Denali SP picnic area before proceeding to the entrance to Denali National Park some 80 miles further along the Glen Highway. We set up camp at the Riley Creek Campground at the park entrance while serenaded by several Varied Thrushes.

June 23, we drove as far on the park road as they allow to the Savage River Bridge which we crossed on foot and then humped it up 3000 feet to the top of Primrose Ridge. From the bottom it seemed like nothing but dwarf birch grew there but as we ascended we were regaled with a host of various wildflowers blooming including the gorgeous Brook Saxifrage, the ubiquitous Bluebell, Wooly Lousewort, Moss Campion, Eskimo Potato, Pink Plumes, Arctic Milkvetch, Bog Rosemary, Cinquefoil, and many, many more. The hike required numerous stops not just to admire the many wildflowers but to catch our breath. While breaking at one point a Golden Eagle flew over and put on a spectacular aerial display I'd never witnessed before. The eagle would fly up and up and then dive straight down with its wings folded into its body before swooping up again at the last minute and soaring up and up into the clouds only to swoop down again wings in like an arrow shot down to earth by god. Close to the summit Susan and Sharon petered out and I was left to myself to scramble to the peak looking all the while for a White-tailed Ptarmigan. I didn't see any Ptarmigans but there was a Northern Wheatear, American Pipit, and a Merlin. All three species of Ptarmigans occur in Denali but the White-tailed can only be found above 4000 feet on rocky ledges. After enjoying the birds, flowers, and views down to the Savage River and across to the Alaska Range, I rejoined my compatriots and we had lunch before descending the steep slope. Back at park headquarters we picked up our park bus passes and then drove past the Savage River Bridge to mile post 29, the Teklanika Campground, our home for the next three nights.

June 24, I was awake in the tent listening to the rain bouncing off the tent fly and waiting, waiting for it to stop. When at 7:30 it still was raining I gave up and got up, made breakfast and lunch and prepared for a full day out in the last frontier. We stood at the bus stop and three buses wouldn't let us get on until finally a bus driven by Monty picked us up. In Denali you may only drive your car as far as the Savage River unless you are camping at Teklanika CG and then you may only drive to the campground and back. No one may drive any further along the park road except a very few winners of an annual lottery. Everyone else must take a park bus driven by Aramark, the official park consessionaire. Denali National Park is six million acres of pristine wilderness crossed only by one road, the park road which goes from Riley Creek to Kantishna some 80 miles away. Just one mile after Monty picked us up the bus stopped again at Teklanika River rest stop. It continued to rain steadily and it was hard to see out of the park (Aramark) bus windows. So some Germans in the seat ahead of us got out and wiped the windows off for us and them. As we continued into the park the rain turned to a heavy snow and it became increasingly difficult to see through the muddy windows. However, the snow had driven the park mammals down the mountains and much closer to the park road than they would normally be. Soon we were stopping for a mother grizzly nursing her cub close by. We saw a Carribou near the road with her calf close behind. It was the first time I'd ever seen a caribou calf and it was Sharon and Susan's first look at any carribou. Monty explained that the Eielson Visitor Center at mile marker 66 was named after a bush pilot whose plane went down in Russia. We were all left scratching our heads at the connection with Denali National Park. There was little to see out of the window other than the snow storm so Monty told the story of Adolph Murie. In the 1930s the Park Service thought that wolves were the cause of a decline in the park's Dall Sheep population so they were shooting the wolves. The Park hired Murie to conduct a study of them. He was the first person to conduct a scientific study of wolves in their natural habitat in Denali. He gathered enough data to prove that the Park's policy of shooting wolves was actually imbalancing the fragile tundra ecosystem. Murie's ensuing book, The Wolves of Mt. McKinley, remains a classic to this day among biologists. I had first read about Adolph Murie and his wife, Louise, in a book about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge which they both tirelessly fought to protect throughout their lives.

In 1906, naturalist and hunter, Charles Sheldon, spent 45 days on the Toklat River studying wildlife. He returned back east and spent the rest of his life urging his influential friends and members of congress to protect the area. Finally in 1917 Mt. McKinley National Park was set aside as a wild life refuge with two million acres. Sheldon personally delivered the bill to President Wilson to sign into law. In 1980, the park boundary was expanded with an additional four million acres. Later the park name was changed to Denali the Athabascan name for North America's highest peak. Close to lunchtime we arrived at the Eielson Visitor Center, the first certified green building in the US. There we learned that Eielson had flown a plane delivering goods and people to the area before it was a park and that he became famous for flying the first plane across the Arctic Ocean. Still I thought the visitor center should have more aptly been named the Murie Visitor Center or better the Charles Sheldon Visitor Center. We got off Monty's bus at Eielson and hiked from there down a trail to the Thoroughfare River. The snow turned to rain as we descended. Somehow we got off the trail and ended up bushwacking through thick willows the last quarter mile, but finally made it down to the river and found a moose there. We walked up the river toward the Muldrow Glacier and the clouds partially cleared exposing Mt. Eielson. We walked back up to the visitor center and Susan rested there because her shoes and socks were wet, while Sharon and I attempted to take the Alpine trail which was unfortunately closed due to bear activity. We walked the road instead. Snow covered everything and we saw little but some Arctic Ground Squirrels. We gathered Susan and boarded another bus headed back to the entrance with driver, John. On the way back we saw an additional nine grizzly bears very close to the park road, including one mother with three cubs. As we approached Polychrome Pass a broken down bus was blocking a hair pin turn. John adeptly manuevered the bus through the turn and got us safely back to Teklanika. Despite the foul weather it was an exciting wildlife day.

June 25, 2009, the sun was out but it was 29 degrees! Holy Toledo. I got up and was excitedly making coffee when I heard a high pitched wheeze-- two Bohemian Waxwings were right there in the campground-- an auspicious beginning to our day. I roused Susan and Sharon out of bed and we caught a bus headed for Wonderlake driven by Cindy. Cindy found some Dall Sheep high up on a ridge, the first ones of the trip. We also saw some carribou, more grizzlies, and moose, and one Red Fox. As we rounded Sable Pass at 3900 feet, Mt. McKinley, some 55 miles away, came into view. Cindy announced it so non-chalantly that I almost thought I misunderstood her. After spending an entire week in Denali in 1996 and never seeing it not once, I didn't think we would see it this trip either. I wasn't going to chance the famed Denali clouds covering it before we got to the viewing area at Eielson, so I took some pictures of it before Polychrome. By the time we reached Eielson sure enough Denali was partially obstructed by clouds. The family sitting behind us on the bus was from Ibiza and they were speaking Portugese. The parents spoke enough English to ask me to put the window up every ten minutes but the kids spoke no English and couldn't understand the interpretive dialogue provided by the bus driver. They talked incessantly even while Cindy was explaining the park flora and fauna. At Eielson we took a 20 minute break so I walked as far as I could up the Alpine trail. It was sunny and full of wildflowers and surprisingly following yesterday's heavy snows, three species of butterflies-- Common Ringlet, Common Alpine, and Arctic Fritillary. It's a long drive just to get to Eielson and the Portugese chatter was mildly irritating but turning to extreme by the time we got to the kettle ponds after leaving Eielson and headed toward Wonderlake. There were nesting Tundra Swans in one of the ponds and Cindy stopped so we could look at them. There were also Green-winged Teal, Barrows Goldeneye, and Greater White-fronted Geese with goslings. Opposite the kettle ponds we passed along Muldrow Glacier, one of the many glaciers at the base of Mt. McKinley, and all along the back side of the Alaska Range and Mt. McKinley which remained shrouded in clouds the duration of the day but was spectacular nonetheless. Almost to Wonderlake a Chinese boy pulled out his gameboy and started playing it with the sound on. I felt like I was on the number 14 Muni Bus! I had had it. So I told the boy it was inappropriate to play a video game with the sound on while in a wilderness area. Meanwhile the Portugese morons' son behind me started singing Star Wars. When he began to sing the Flintstones, instead of asking him to be quiet, the father started humming along with him. Even while stopped to admire wildlife with Cindy imploring everyone to be quiet the little stentorian family continued their Portugese palaver. I was outraged. Just before reaching Wonderlake Cindy told us that those beautiful photos you see of McKinley with Wonderlake in the foreground are taken from Kantishna further down the park road! We should have gotten out at the kettle ponds and Swan nest. We got out at the lake but it was full of mosquitoes and so we only used the bathroom before departing again. Almost ready to pull away, Mr. Ibiza said in broken English to Cindy, "my wife, she not on bus." I thought to myself too bad we couldn't have left both of you there. As the bus headed back toward the entrance the Ibeza brats continued to hum and even that deteriorated into a tuneless monotone drone. I couldn't take it and so we jumped out when the bus stopped for a lady to take a photo of Mt. McKinley. I prefered to walk back than spend my afternoon with those horrible people. As we walked along I was shocked to find two more species of butterflies-- Theano Alpine and White-veined Arctic. As we walked along admiring the Alaska Range it began to hail: it was only a matter of time since we had seen all other forms of precipitation. After a while a bus came and we got on. This bus was driven by this character named, Dick. Some weird lady who was camping at Teklanika was on the bus telling Dick about this evil bus driver who would not stop for wildlife. I almost thought she was joking it was so outrageous. Dick said there was one Nazi bus driver who was behind us. We asked Dick to let us off at Highway Pass, a pass Cindy had pointed out earlier in the day as a nice place to take a walk on account of all the wildflowers. As we approached Highway Pass Dick pointed out a Golden Eagle. Just as we all turned to look at it, a Ptarmigan bolted out and started chasing the eagle. Dick then let us off and our walk did not disappoint. First of all there were four bears across the drainage. Secondly there was a field of an endemic flower, the Arctic Poppy, growing there. And thirdly there were hundreds of species of flowers clinging to the tundra, that you could admire if you were willing to get on your hands and knees to examine them. I could have spent hours there in that one spot. We walked along across the tundra enjoying the solitude and scenery. But it was getting late so we crossed a willow patch to get back to the road and flushed a Willow Ptarmigan family. There were more butterflies in the tundra and some Arctic Warblers in the willow patch. It was a delightful walk marred by our unfortunate luck to reach the park road just as the Nazi bus driver pulled up. We got on and the harridan demanded to see our bus passes even though it was nearly 7:30 PM and we were miles from the entrance with no other way to get there than by our bus pass. I pulled them out of my pocket and we sat down. Oh how I wish we had not gotten on with that officious, punctilious, harpy. As the bus approached the Toklat River someone spotted two Gray Wolves and yelled stop. Ms. Punctilious said, "I can't stop." I yelled "Stop!" She said I cannot stop the bus. I said only 15% of park visitors get to see a gray wolf. She said I won't stop. I said well then let me off and she said "no, no walking is allowed here." I said this is false imprisonment. This officious intermedler on the bus jumped up and jabbed her finger in my face and yelled, "you need to get control of yourself missy." I wanted to punch the virago but instead I sat down because it was obvious I was on a bus full of abused sheep. I looked at the front of the bus for the driver's name which was posted above the rear view mirror, Chandra Willig. Chandra the chanticleer pointed the bus toward the left and said, "here on the left we have..." I thought she was going to point out a Snowshoe Hare, the most common mammal in the park. Instead she said, "a park sign that says no stopping." I wanted to point out that the park service spent years shooting wolves and I found it ironic they didn't want a park bus to stop to look at one. Also extremely ironic was the man walking near the sign Chandra just took pains to point out to me. We pulled into Toklat and I used the toilet and again began walking the park road. I would rather walk the 20 miles from Toklat to Teklanika than ride with that punctilious harridan and her bus full of Dall sheep. We stopped at the Toklat River Bridge for some final pictures. As we walked along I scanned the spruce trees for a Northern Hawk-Owl. Pretty soon another bus came along and we got on. I never learned our new driver's name but the bus was full of some folks from Tennessee with thick accents talking about grizzlies over yonder and curiously the driver had one too. She was very sweet though. At Polychrome she asked if anyone wanted her to stop for a Gyrfalcon. She said incredulous, "no one wants to see the largest falcon in the world?" Someone yelled "get your hands back on the wheel!" I said I would like to see one! This idiot from Germany who spoke no English would not even bother to put her window down and I was stuck in an isle seat so all I got was a shakey video shot. When she dropped us off at Teklanika I thanked her for stopping at the Gyrfalcons and she seemed very pleased. Back at camp Varied Thrushes were singing but the temperature was dropping fast to 42 degrees by 10:10 PM.

June 26, was our last day in Denali. We packed up our tents and left Teklanika. We stopped at the Savage River Bridge and walked the lovely Savage River Loop Trail. On the trail we saw a whole family of Willow Ptarmigans and a female Northern Pintail in the Savage River. As we were driving from the Savage River to the entrance Susan yelled for me to stop. She spotted a Northern Hawk-Owl in a spruce tree. I got out and it let me get pretty close to it. A Mew Gull tried to swoop down over it and caused it to squawk. After admiring the Hawk-owl, we took a much deserved shower at the Riley Mercantile and then left Denali and drove the Denali Highway, a 135 mile mostly unpaved road from Cantwell to Paxton with incredible views of the Alaska Range and the Wrangell mountains. We spotted two Bohemian Waxwings doing a mating dance. Then we stopped just past the Brushkana CG and got out to look for Smith's Longspurs. We heard one singing but could never find it. There was a Wilson's Snipe winnowing. We drove further stopping at some ponds but it began to rain and by the time we reached the Tangle River CG no one had the heart to take the tents out in the rain. We cooked dinner under the hatch of the car and then left to find a lodge. We stayed at the Tangle River Lodge and in the morning drove further to Milepost 13 to look for Smith's Longspurs. It was so windy that Sharon returned to the car. Susan and I doggedly continued. We met a carribou that looked at me as if it were about to be shot. We found a female Lapland Longspur but finally the wind drove us hurrying back to the car. There were magnificent views of the Wrangell mountains from the hill top.
A Whimbrel flew over and there were some Arctic Warblers in the willows. A Bald Eagle was perched on a cabin top. As we returned down the Denali Highway we saw three Common Loons in breeding plummage in one of the many ponds. We stopped at McLaren Summit and took the trail there with commanding views of the Alaska Range and the McLaren Valley. On they way back to the trailhead I spotted a Long-tailed Jaeger. Gray-cheeked Thrushes were singing from the trees. We found a breeding Least Sandpiper at MP 104 and then we left the Denali Highway. We stopped at Denali State Park for dinner and then drove from there back to Anchorage for the night before our flight home. Despite the foul weather, the stentorian Portugese family, the crazed punctilious bus driver, and the mosquitoes, it was hard to leave the astonishing last wild place in North America.
New birds:
Northern Hawk-owl
Bohemian Waxwing
Smith's Longspur
By: Michelle Brodie July 7, 2009

St. Paul Island, Alaska May 22-26, 2009

On May 21, 2009 I left work in the afternoon and took a long miserable flight with a three hour layover in Salt Lake City, to Anchorage, AK. My plane didn't arrive until 1:00AM. I had no time for anything but to find my hotel in Anchorage. May 22, 2009, I got up as early as I could and drove to the Westchester Lagoon in Anchorage where I was hoping to see a Hudsonian Godwit. It was low tide and there were only Arctic Terns and Mew Gulls on the islands and Red-necked Grebes in the lagoon. I walked the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail to the railroad depot but there were nothing but Orange-crowned Warblers and no shorebirds on the mudflats. I had no spotting scope to scan and anything out there would have been too far. So I left and headed to the airport where I was to meet my Wilderness Birding Adventures group for a trip to the Pribilof Islands, 750 miles off the coast of Anchorage in the Bearing Sea.

I met my group, our leader, Aaron Laing, and four other guys at the Anchorage Airport which is still named after that convicted criminal, Ted Stevens, and we caught a small twin engine plane to St. Paul Island, one of four islands that make up the Pribilof Islands, some three hours west. St. Paul is home to 200 permanent residents, mostly native Inupiat Eskimos and the largest breeding colony of Northern Fur Seals in the world.

Upon landing we checked into the tiny King Eider Hotel and then immediately headed to a pond where we quickly found a Common Greenshank, a Eurasian species rarely found on St. Paul and certainly nowhere else in North America at all. Everyone was very excited especially Aaron. I couldn't remember if I had seen one in South Africa when I was there in December 2007 or not. I told Susan before I left for the Pribilofs that if we saw some common Asian species that she and I had already seen I would have to fake enthusiasm. After some nice looks at the Greenshank we began a thorough scouring of town looking for another rarity. The other van, a group with High Lonesome Birding, found it first and radioed us. We raced over and I got a brief look at a Dusky Thrush, a species I had never even heard of before that day. We got out and I briefly filmed it before it flew away. It was overcast and windy. After loosing the Dusky Thrush we headed over to the Trident Fish Factory for dinner. We would have all our meals there for the next four days. The fish they served at dinner was very good but the vegetables were canned, the salads featured iceberg lettuce, and everything was cooked in massive quantities of butter. After dinner we drove to Polvina Pond and found a Wood Sandpiper (uncommon breeder on St. Paul) a Common Sandpiper, a Eurasian species, and miraculously a Common Snipe, a Eurasian Species that closely resembles our Wilson's Snipe. After enjoying the sandpipers and tramping through the marsh for as long as we could we then headed back to the King Eider Hotel which is really a bunkhouse, to settle in for the night. It was nearly 10:00 PM and still like midday out, when Aaron said we would meet in the lounge area to go over our bird list for the day. It became apparent right away that I could never add anything to the conversation. Aaron could talk about nothing but birds. We went over the list and Aaron announced the bird of the day. Everyone agreed that the Dusky Thrush was the winner. It was still light out when I went to bed after 11:00 PM but breakfast was not until 8:00 AM so that was OK.

May 23, I got up and made myself some Peets coffee I had brought because there was no way I was going to drink Vulgar's (Folgers). A lady was in the coffee pot already. She was with the High Lonesome group. She was excited about a Pintail out the window which she tried to point out to me but I either couldn't get excited enough or couldn't see it. She was a retired neurologist from Cleveland. We had nothing in common so after my coffee I went and had a shower. Scott, the TDX (the Eskimo tribe that owns St. Paul) tour guide, was late picking us up so I took a picture of one of the few breeding birds on the island, a Rosy-crowned Finch which is a subspecies found only on the Pribilofs. You have to hike above 10,000 feet to see one in California. Scott drove us to Trident and we had breakfast. The men were gorging themselves on pancakes, stuffed crepes, eggs, and sausages. I filled my plate with fruit. At $9.00 it was a very expensive plate of fruit. Aaron and Scott discussed birds. Back outside after breakfast some arctic foxes were lounging on the rocks. It was sunny and not very cold for St. Paul. Scott divided the groups up and he drove our group to a fur seal rookery with some steep cliffs. We climbed up the cliffs (except for Alex who couldn't make it) and got very close to breeding Horned Puffins, Tufted Puffins, Least Auklets, Parakeet Auklets, Crested Auklets, and lots and lots of Common Murres and Thick-billed Murres and Black-legged Kittiwakes. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were having a great time looking at all the sea birds and taking lots of photos but Aaron felt bad for Alex and went to the base of the cliff to join him. Scott became restless after a couple of hours and pressured us to leave. We reluctantly left the cliff and rejoined Alex and Aaron who had found another Common Greenshank and Wood Sandpiper in the pond below the cliffs. There were two ladies from Anchorage who had joined us who were not really birders, Marsha and Leslie. They were having a great time on the cliffs too and asking lots of questions. Soon it was time for lunch so we headed over to the Trident Fish Plant. During lunch Scott and Aaron disccussed birds. I never got to add anything. After lunch I walked outside while the men had seconds and saw an Arctic Fox still in its winter coat (all the rest I saw had already obtained their summer coats). Soon Aaron came outside and addressed the group. He told us we had three choices-- relax until 3:30, go find some Emperor Geese, or tramp through the marshes around Polvina Pond to see what we could scare up. It was quite obvious what Aaron wanted to do but since the four of us had paid $2800 to come to St. Paul with Wilderness Birding Adventures he had to at least pretend we had a choice. The four of us looked at him incredulously about the first choice. Why would we pay thousands of dollars to "relax?" We all said we did not want to "relax" and had no preference between 2 and 3. So Aaron made an executive decision we would walk all the way around Polvina Marsh looking for something new. Marsha and Leslie asked to be dropped off at the fur seal rookery. We dropped them off and then Scott dropped us of at Polvina Marsh and left to take a nap. As an employee of TDX, he would be living on the island for the next four months. After Scott dropped us Aaron told us that last year the bird guides had instituted a rule of taking a break after lunch during which time no birding was done. It sounded insane to me. Why would you pay that much money to go lounge at the hotel? The hotel was bare bones and there was not much to do there. The leader of the High Lonesome tour apparently was abiding by the lunch break rule though and taking his group back to the hotel after lunch until 3:30. It seemed way too tame for me and I was glad I was not on the High Lonesome tour. The leader, Phil, was much older than Aaron. And even though Aaron was self centered, selfish, bookish, and obsessive, at least he was energetic. And Aaron was a fantastic bird spotter and had a great ear for bird songs even low pitched shorebird songs and was incredibly knowledgeable about birds in general. I was hesitant to lug my Canon and my Sony professional video camera into the marsh and so I opted for the Sony only since that is my preference. Aaron gathered us in a circle before starting out and made us think about what we wanted to see. He had us focus on Black-tailed Godwit and asked us to conjure one by positive thoughts. We started out into the marsh knee deep in our Neos (waterproof overboots). I heard a bird and put my binoculars on it. I was not yet decided on what it was before Aaron yelled out, "Black-tailed Godwit!" Black-tailed Godwit is a Eurasian species that is casual on St. Paul Island. The bird flew high and away but after a few minutes it flew back and landed approximately where we first found it. I took a picture of it with my video camera. Aaron would not let me get closer. I should have ignored the little bastard and walked toward it. He was so busy taking pictures with his stupid point and shoot lined up with his spotting scope (commonly known as digiscoping) that he couldn't be bothered with the fact that my video camera takes inferior pictures at that distance and we were on the trip for the benefit of the paid customers. I was lamenting that I had not lugged my Canon out there when I began to have the urge to urinate. There was nowhere in sight to hide and I was with four guys! Aaron took picture after picture and blabbed on and on about birds. Finally he decided we had to head back to the road and give up on continuing around Polvina I guess because he didn't want to flush the bird before the others got to see it. We went across the road and I went into a sand dune to relieve myself. We walked into the marsh we had checked the first day and refound the Common Snipe. After a while Scott arrived to pick us up. Aaron and Scott discussed birds in the van. We returned to the hotel and met Stefan who had arranged to use a four wheel drive truck. Although the truck held six, only someone of my short stature could have fit in the middle back seat so I volunteered . Aaron who is about six foot four sat in the front middle and crushed my legs. He discussed birds with Stefan on the way out to the northeast corner of the island which was partially blocked by a sand pile in the road. The goal was an Eye-browed Thrush that had been spotted two days earlier. Stefan made it through the sand in four wheel drive and we swept the barren plane leading to the coast where the fur seals roosted but found nothing but some resident Rock Sandpipers (a subspecies endemic to the Pribilof Islands) and Snow Buntings. Stefan took us to a secluded beach where some gulls were combing the beach. Aaron announced that the one closest to us was a Vega Herring Gull. I looked at it and it was screaming SLATY-BACKED GULL! I said wow that's a very dark Herring Gull and it's bigger than the nearby Glaucous Gull. Hmm. After going on and on about the eye color and ignoring the dark mantle and screaming pink legs, diagnostic features of a Slaty-backed Gull, Aaron finally conceded that it was indeed one. We scanned the ocean afterwards but there was little besides some very distant Red-faced Cormorants (a Pribilofs specialty bird that breeds there) and some even more distant King Eiders. Soon we left for dinner. During dinner we rejoined Scott and Scott and Aaron discussed birds. After dinner Aaron asked me if I had seen an Emperor Goose before. I started to tell him the story about going to Bodega Bay when he abruptly cut me off . Alex had never seen one before and was anxious to do so. Another TDX employee, Sean, took us to look for the Emperor Geese. It was clear that Sean was not nearly the same caliber birder as Aaron the Great and Scott. But he was nice enough and he soon walked us out to a point where we found them on a sand bar. There was a beautiful male King Eider that Aaron showed me in his scope and some Harlequin Ducks and Long-tailed Ducks. I took a very distant photo of a female King Eider.

After birding until 10:00 PM, Aaron insisted that we meet to go over the bird list and choose the bird of the day. They had all seen a Bar-tailed Godwit at the seal rookery that I had missed but Keith and I had seen a Lesser Scaup that they had missed. So our numbers were off and Aaron was visibly upset. Then it was time to choose the bird of the day. Aaron said he knew there would be dissension. I said the male King Eider, a fairly common bird of the Pribilofs. Aaron looked shocked and gave me a very disapproving look. Alex announced his choice, Emperor Goose because he had never seen one before whereas he and Aaron had found a Black-tailed Godwit a few days earlier on Adak Island in the Aluetian chain on an earlier trip. Then I said while the King Eider was very beautiful in actuality my choice was by far and away the Black-tailed Godwit, a much rarer bird that I in all probability will never see again. Ted, a very uptight effete from Portland, Oregon, sheepishly announced that at the risk of incurring the castigation of the group for choosing such a common bird, his bird of the day was a Lapland Longspur that he spent a long time with. The island was nearly covered from shore to shore this time of year with Lapland Longspurs to the point that no one ever even stopped to give them a second look. So I would say his comment more likely than not did cause an internal snicker with Aaron the Almighty Birder. Both of them were shameless listers and chasers and everyone already had Lapland Longspur on every conceivable list they might keep so there was no need to even consider the lowly Lapland Longspur. Aaron, as gentle and kind hearted as he was, feigned approval of Ted's choice. Ted was an ostentatious chaser who related numerous stories while we were there of chasing after this bird or the other in Oregon. I don't care for chasers or listers and he was the worst sort of lister, with a list for nearly everything. He kept copious notes on every single nook and cranny we visited on that tiny island asking Aaron repeatedly where are we now, where were we five minutes ago. It was all getting so tedious between the lister/chaser Ted and the incredibly self-centered and rabid single topic talker Aaron in the confined space of a tiny island in the middle of the Bearing Sea. Everyone went off to bed leaving just Aaron and me. I told him that I had been to South Africa and that's why I wasn't sure if I had seen the Common Greenshank or Common Sandpiper. I told him I had seen 241 birds there. He did not ask me one single question about it, only said he had never been there and then turned the subject back to himself. So I begged off to bed and had a couple of shots of whiskey before falling asleep.

May 24, Aaron and Scott had gone to sitting across from each other during all meals and talking incessantly about birds from the moment they encountered each other in the morning and continuing all through the day. One of them mentioned Paul Lehman, a famous birder who spent some time on the Pribilofs, and Aaron said, "I can't talk to him because all he ever talks about is birds." I said, "I don't know how to tell you two this but that's all y'all talk about." They both said it wasn't true. (In their defense someone did mention once what an idiot Sarah Palin was and how even in the Pribilofs we could not see Russia). After breakfast we drove to some point and did a sweep of a rocky shoreline. Aaron spotted a Hermit Thrush that somehow eluded all six of us and got away. Hermit Thrushes are very common across North America. But Aaron was keeping a trip list and was excited to add a new bird to our cumulative total. I was wondering how to get excited about paying $2800 to see a bird I could see at home. By the time we finished sweeping the shoreline it was time for lunch. When we got to Trident I purposely moved way to the end of the table away from Aaron and Scott because I simply could not listen to them talk about birds non-stop for one more minute. It was so tedious; what bores! So Aaron said to me, "oh that's a good idea; let's mix it up." Then he moved closer to me and Scott promptly sat across from Aaron so I couldn't get away from them. I went to the bathroom and a lady from the High Lonesome group came in. She confided to me that our group was much better than hers. Despite Aaron's boorishness and mind numbing obsessive chatter about birds he was a very good bird guide within an incredible ear for obscure bird songs and excellent bird identifying skills. But it wasn't hard to beat a group that "relaxed" from after lunch until 3:30 PM! I could barely tolerate my lunch while Scott and Aaron continued their loud bird palaver which I was not allowed to add to or participate in in any way. So when I finished I went back outside into the wind to watch the foxes and auklets on the cliffs. When the others came back out Scott dropped us off at the town marsh which we tramped through and found another two Wood Sandpipers. Later we went to a slough where we found yet another Wood Sandpiper, some Eurasian Wigeons, and a Semi-palmated Plover. It was gray, wind swept, and overcast but not stormy like it usually is on St. Paul. We were planning a sea watch for that evening after dinner and it was shaping up to be a cold one. For our last stop before dinner we went to a ridge top with a lake in it. They were all praying for a Smew but I was praying for a Mongolian Plover. We saw neither. So after hiking to the empty lake we all sat beside it and rested a while. For the first and only time of the whole trip I got to tell a story. I told them about my friend, Ken, who was abandoned by the bird guiding company, Rockjumper, when they had a secret meeting and kicked him off the group because his camera was too big deserting him in Madagascar. They were all incredulous and it became the group joke later when they found I did not scrupulously keep a life list as they did. When I said that I had a California Condor on my life list (not permissible by ABA Rules) Aaron said they were going to have a meeting and kick me off of the group and leave me on St. Paul Island.
Dinner was more tedious bird talk from Aaron and Scott and then after dinner we went to a point and had our sea watch. It was very windy and cold and I was dressed like an Eskimo. There were many Northern Fulmars flying about but my target bird was a Short-tailed Shearwater. Ted got his scope on a shearwater far out in the ocean. I got my binoculars on it and it did indeed resemble a shearwater in its shape and behavior. Aaron said it was a Short-tailed Shearwater and I said, "That's my lifer Short-tailed Shearwater? It could be any shearwater. How could I tell from that distance?" He said that Short-tailed Shearwater was the only one that occurred on St. Paul. So I added a very disappointing look at a life bird. Aaron let me use his scope after a while so he could sit down next to Scott and discuss birds. I scoped and scoped the ocean and finally Keith (the nicest and most normal guy on the trip) found a much closer Short-tailed Shearwater that he got me on as well. Still it was much too far away. No one was really interested in the sea watch but me. So after a while we had to leave and go back to the King Eider Hotel. On the way back Scott yelled out Curlew and slammed on the brakes and everyone jumped out. I put my bins to my eyes but they were completely fogged over and I didn't see it. Fortunately it was only a Whimbrel (very common year round resident in San Francisco). It was 10:30 PM but Aaron insisted we have our nightly meeting to go over the bird list. This was the night it finally came out that Keith and I had seen the Lesser Scaup and no one else had seen it. Ted saw it but refused to add it to his list because he could not independently identify it at that time (what a punctilious pain in the rear). Then it was time to decide on bird of the day. We hadn't really seen anything too terribly exciting and I was hoping Aaron would skip over me and ignore me like he usually did. He piped in that the Hermit Thrush was going to be his highlight (I repressed an eye roll) because his heart raced when he saw it but then decided it had to be the Whimbrel (I may have yawned at that point). By that time I think he was so immersed in himself that he forgot to ask me my bird of the day and so I escaped to my whiskey and bed.

May 25, 2009, was Memorial Day and our last day on St. Paul Island. It was overcast after two fine days of sunshine but no storms to blow in any rarities. I trudged to bird palaver breakfast with Scott and Aaron. I ate my $9.00 plate of fruit and then escaped the incessant bird chatter to the cliffs outside. There were the same auklets and puffins flying back and cross from the cliffs to the ocean. As I was admiring them in their beautiful breeding plummage Aaron walked up and asked if I was saying goodbye. Actually I was because although Tufted Puffins occur in California waters the only ones I've ever seen there were from a rocking boat and were in their not so exciting winter plummage. Scott assigned himself to Aaron and Stefan to High Lonesome. We drove to another sea cliff to see a nesting Red-legged Kittiwake. We walked to the top and had excellent views of nesting Fulmars in various plummages including this dark morph. I was led to believe there would also be a nesting Red-faced Cormorant but incredibly even though Scott lives on the island he did not know where to find one! I was disappointed because although we had seen quite a few they had all been in flight and I had been unable to either film or photograph one. I found it odd that someone could live there full time as the birding guide and not know where one nested. Oh well what could I do about it. Aaron sat by Scott while we took photos and they discussed birds. After a while we left to have lunch at Trident for the last time. Scott and Aaron discussed birds while I tried in vain to ignore them. After lunch we went back to the King Eider, packed, checked out, and checked our bags with PenAir. The plane was late by about three hours so after Scott returned from a nap I finally convinced him to take us out for one last time to look for birds. I had read so much about the Pribilof Islands in bird books and all the rare birds that have occurred there over the years, many of which were discovered hiding from the fierce winds in the crab pots that are stacked up in long huge rows during the off season, but curiously we had not checked them not once during our trip. Since we had an extra three hours Aaron suggested that Scott take us to check them. Aaron and Scott walked between the rows while the rest of us stood slightly ahead and on both sides looking for flushed birds. Near the end I put my bins on some motion and found a Hoary Redpoll-- a new bird for the trip! I yelled out Redpoll and everyone got a good look at it. Yeah, I found one bird and it became the bird of the day. We walked around town and I found one lonely blooming flower-- some type of buttercup hunkering down low to the ground. Aaron found an escaped Cockateil on somebody's roof. We also walked around a pond with some just emerging willows that were only as high as my boot top. Aaron spotted a Bald Eagle. Then it was time to catch our flight to Anchorage. The plane only held 12 people and had no toilet! Good thing I am short. Near Anchorage we passed an erupting volcano-- the Redoubt Volcano. Since our plane was three hours late I barely had any time at all to make one last desperate attempt for the Hudsonian Godwit. Now that Aaron had found the Black-tailed Godwit the second day, I had seen all the Godwits that occur in North America except Hudsonian which everyone assured me was "easy" in Anchorage. As soon as the plane landed I quickly said good bye to everyone (they were all continuing on to St. Lawrence Island for 10 days! Lucky bastards) and then rushed down to get a rental car and headed back to Westchester Lagoon. I could not find the directions and ended up tearing all my clothes out of my suitcase before fishing it out of the very bottom. Finally around 10:00 PM I arrived at the Lagoon. I walked from the car to the closest island with only my binoculars. There were the usual Mew Gulls and Arctic Terns. Then I heard a bird calling and looked over to see one lonely Godwit flying into the island-- one Hudsonian Godwit. I studied it with my bins to make a positive id and then flew over to my car to get my video camera for one brief shot of it before it flew back to Cook Inlet to roost for the night. It wasn't nearly as pretty as the Black-tailed Godwit I had seen on St. Paul Island. Where were the hundreds of them everyone claimed you could see in Anchorage? No matter, I only needed one. It was nearly midnight when the sun set in Anchorage and people were still picnicking at the park. I headed off to bed at the Holiday Inn.

May 26, 2009, I got up as soon as I was able and after packing and drove to Hillside Park for some last minute birding. I couldn't find any crossbills- just lots of mosquitoes so I left and headed back to Convicted Felon Airport. As the plane took off the pilot said he would bank so that those on the right side of the plane could see some glacier but after a few minutes he came on and said he lied but if you were sitting on the left side, where I was seated, you could see a rare sight--Mt. McKinley or Denali completely unobstructed by clouds! The guy in the window seat said to crawl over him he didn't mind, so I could see this spectacular sight. I had been to Denali in 1995 and we never saw Mt. McKinley the whole time (my brother reminds me of this every time I see him) even after taking a 72 mile bus trip to Wonder Lake, which is fairly typical. I looked out the window and sure enough there it was all 20,320 feet of it. What a way to end my trip!
Life Birds:
Common Snipe
Black-tailed Godwit
Red-faced Cormorant
Red-legged Kittiwake
Dusky Thrush
Short-tailed Shearwater
Hudsonian Godwit
Michelle Brodie
June 2, 2009

North Dakota: June 21-29, 2008

North Dakota
June 21-29, 2008

I flew into the Bismarck Municipal Airport on the first day of summer. It was a beautiful day in North Dakota. At the suggestion of my friend, Ken, I went straight to the tiny town of Tuttle to a side road off of Highway 3. There were some Grasshopper Sparrows, Vesper Sparrow, Bobolink, and some other things but it was the complete opposite direction of my campground so I soon left and headed back west to Cross Ranch State Park. On my way back west on I-94 I nearly ran over a Sharp-tailed Grouse, one of my target birds, crossing the interstate. A few minutes later I was pulled by a North Dakota Highway Patrol for going 82 MPH in a 75 MPH zone. I handed him my driver’s license and he said “Ma’am are you OK?” I said I am depressed; I’m going through a divorce. He wrote me a warning ticket and followed me for 20 miles, I guess to make sure I was OK.
I arrived at Cross Ranch State Park and set up my tent in a fantastic camp site well away from anyone else and right on the Missouri River. Each site was surrounded by cottonwood trees and mine was very private.

Sunday, June 22, 2008, I awoke to the roar of bird song all around my tent. There was no way to sleep; they implored me out of bed. So I got up and took a walk alongside the river. There was a mixture of birds from east and west-- Black-headed Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole, House Wren, American Robin, Red-eyed Vireo, and Warbling Vireo singing all around. In the river I saw a female Hooded Merganser and Bank Swallows were flying up and down. After checking in the with the ranger I walked across the street and went to the Cross Ranch Nature Preserve, The Nature Conservancy’s first project in North Dakota. Unfortunately the day I was there someone had let the cows out and they were all over the trail with their stupid calves threatening me. I tried to shoo them away but they held steadfast in the trail. The trail goes through some short grass prairie and has some impressive views of the Missouri River flood plain. I couldn’t get past the cows though so finally I just started walking out into the prairie. I came across some small trees and there was a mish-mash of eastern bird species mixed in with western species. North Dakota is the exact geographical center of North America and is at a cross road between eastern and western bird species (probably other species as well). So I would see an Eastern Kingbird on a fence right next to a Western Kingbird. There were many Grasshopper Sparrows and Field Sparrows at Cross Ranch. A Yellow-breasted Chat popped right out in front of me and began to sing and in the same tree was a singing Willow Flycatcher. There was only one bison and it was well away from me which was fine with me after my close encounters with the stupid cows blocking the trail.

I left Cross Ranch and drove east about 30 miles to McKenzie Slough in the tiny town of McKenzie (all towns are tiny in North Dakota). I walked along the marsh and could hear some Sedge Wrens singing but not one would show its pretty little head so I could get a look at this new species. How unsatisfying. I drove along the slough and saw four Wilson’s Phalaropes in breeding plumage as well as a Black Tern hawking over the marsh. After driving along the slough for a while I decided to head back to my camp site at Cross Ranch. Everybody had left and I was the only camper—a camper’s dream! It was so peaceful in the cottonwoods along the Missouri River, I could have stayed there all week long. I took an evening walk along the river and listened to all the birds singing, Blue Jays, Field Sparrows, Baltimore Orioles, Eastern Bluebird, and Common Yellowthroat. Cross Ranch is on the Lewis and Clark Trail. When Lewis and Clark came through there were still Grizzly Bears and Swift Foxes but all I saw were some White-tailed Deer and squirrels.

Monday, June 23, 2008, I reluctantly left Cross Ranch and drove west about 120 miles to Theodore Roosevelt National Park near the border with Montana. I stopped at the Painted Canyon section and low and behold the ranger I met in Dry Tortugas was behind the desk. She told me about a Golden Eagle nest on the scenic loop and gave me a bird check list. I took the Painted Canyon loop trail while there and was devoured by biting gnats. I was the only person on the trail and I can see why. Those things left welts on my neck that lasted a week. On the trail I saw a Lazuli Bunting that practically bumped into me it was so close. This trail is part of a trail used by Colonel Custer when he traveled back and forth between the Fort in Bismarck and another one in Montana while battling the Sioux Indians to steal their land. I drove from Painted Canyon into the main section of the South Unit and set up my tent at a nice site on the Little Missouri River at the Cottonwood Campground. Then I went for a walk on the Lower Paddock Creek Trail. It was full of Prairie Dogs and Bison and I also saw a Wild Horse wallowing in the dust probably trying to get the gnats off of it. There were more Field Sparrows, one Lark Sparrow, Rock Wren, Baltimore Oriole, Common Grackle, and Common Nighthawk. I only went a couple of miles and then took the entire scenic loop, stopping at all the pullouts. I stopped where Sarah, the ranger, told me the Golden Eagle nest was and sure enough there it was and nearby on a ledge was an immature Golden Eagle. As evening approached I returned to the Scenic Loop Drive and pulled into the entrance to the Coal Vein Trail. I stopped when I saw something crossing the road and got out with my camera—a Sharp-tailed Grouse. I was just able to film it as it scooted up a hillside and away. Night was approaching so I returned to Cottonwood Campground. I walked around the campground listening for a Screech-owl Sarah had mentioned but only heard a Great Horned Owl. That night in my tent I woke up to the sound of a Bison stomping and snorting right next to my tent! I was so scared I was going to be trampled. My little flimsy tent was no protection from a 2 ton animal! I waited thinking I was going to die until it finally stomped away.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008, I drove outside of the park at the suggestion of another ranger through some of North Dakota’s oil wells to the trail head for the Petrified Forest Trail. I hiked 10 miles with my big professional camera on that trail. It was so hard carrying that camera that far. All the petrified wood was in the first two miles and then the trail dipped down into a riparian zone where I saw more Yellow-breasted Chat, Red-eyed Vireo, Spotted Towhee, dozens of Clay-colored Sparrows, and out of the woods a Sharp-shinned Hawk. As I rose over a ridge to the grasslands I came across a beautiful male Mountain Bluebird. The rest of the trail went through grasslands and I didn’t see many birds but the views of the Little Missouri River far below were outstanding.

After my hike I decided to try something else so I drove east to Schnell Recreation Area hoping to find a Gray Partridge around the agricultural fields there. I walked a nature trail and was enveloped with dozens of ticks. Some ferocious looking clouds were on the horizon so I went to the campground there and had a shower and then left. There was no time to check the agricultural fields because that storm was descending on me fast. Soon hail the size of pennies was plinking onto the car and I could not see a thing. Fortunately as a drove back west toward Teddy Roosevelt NP I drove out of the storm and into sunny weather. I decided to try the Little Missouri National Grasslands. You can follow Custer’s Trail through this grassland and also supposedly see some of North Dakota specialty birds. All I saw were some more Grasshopper Sparrows, Swainson’s Hawk, Mountain Bluebird, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Harrier, Lazuli Bunting, and one Say’s Phoebe. Way off of the trail were a few Antelopes. That night I was too scared to sleep in my tent with those roaming bison around so I slept in the car.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008, I got up before dawn and started driving like mad for miles through endless prairie toward the tiny town of Stanley where I was again pulled by the ND State Patrol. This guy was in a pooh brown uniform with one yellow light flashing, the other one out. I thought the guy was delivering mail for god’s sake. He said I was going 76 in a 65. He asked me millions of questions and I burst into tears and said, “look I know you must be lonely out here on the sparsely populated prairie and need to meet your quota but why are you harassing me?” He said, “OK, get in the car with me.” I said no way you pervert. So he wrote me the ticket and then had the nerve to say, “have a safe trip.” I became very depressed after that. I arrived at my destination, Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, not too late. In 1964 Congress passed the Wilderness Act to protect tracts of ecosystems across the US. Lostwood Wilderness Area was created in 1975 as part of that act to protect an area best representing the mixed grass prairie; it has a rich diversity with over 700 species of plants and 100 species of grasses. It is also home to the Baird’s Sparrow, a much sought after bird species as well as Sprague’s Pipit and Upland Sandpiper. I drove the auto tour route listening for the elusive Baird’s Sparrow which is said to have a song sounding like the opening of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. I pulled over and heard the unmistakeable, “dit, dit, dit, deeeee.” I rushed to pull out my camera, got my binoculars on a sparrow out in the prairie and there it was. But I only glimpsed it for a minute before it dove back into the grass never to be seen again. I tried to cajole it back out with a tape recording of its song on my ipod but it was having none of that. I was still feeling rather depressed about my personal problems and the speeding ticket and couldn’t even get very excited about adding the Baird’s Sparrow to my life list. I drove the auto tour some more and heard about half a dozen or maybe the same one moving around, Baird’s Sparrow but no luck seeing it. So I left Lostwood and drove 11 miles south to the tiny town of Powers Lake to see about getting a camp site. The “campground” was nothing more than a grassy field with some electrical outlets in it next to Powers Lake and across from two steel grain towers. I had lunch at a picnic table next to Powers Lake where a lone American White Pelican was swimming along with a Western Grebe.

After lunch I drove north to Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge and then on to Upper Soris National Wildlife Refuge, which was absolutely gorgeous. I was going to walk the Cottonwood trail but it was full of ticks and I wasn’t going to do that again. So I drove slowly past a grassy marshy area listening for the elusive Le Conte’s Sparrow. There was a Sedge Wren way out in the grass singing away but no Le Conte’s. I also saw some Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Bobolinks and a Willow Flycatcher. I decided to stop again in the evening on the way back to Powers Lake at Lostwood. I came across an Upland Sandpiper right in the auto tour road. In a wooded area I saw an owl that I think was a Long-eared Owl but it was too far away and just as I was about to leave the refuge a Sharp-tailed Grouse crossed in front of the car. I slept well that evening all by myself at the Powers Lake CG. They asked for a $3 donation to use the electrical outlet which I did to recharge my camera battery. The CG also had a hot shower and flushing toilet so I added a dollar for that too.

June 26, 2008, I left Powers Lake and drove north nearly to the border with Canada to the best birding spot in all of North Dakota, J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge. It was raining as I arrived and so I put on a poncho and went for a walk. Then when it started to let up I started the auto tour. There were many Black Terns hawking over the marsh and lots of Franklin’s Gulls. In addition to the extensive marshes at J. Clark Salyer there is also riparian habitat offering a completely different set of birds. I got out at the riparian area and took a walk. I saw a Baltimore Oriole feeding its chick which was in the grass. I pulled over at a weedy marshy area and finally heard a Le Conte’s Sparrow singing but again it just would not respond to a taped call or my pishing or any of my cajoling or begging. So I never did see it either. However, it is now on my list because I am not too persnickety about having to see it if you are sure you heard it and I am sure. I probably should have checked into a hotel in Minot and gone back to J. Clark Salyer the next day too but instead I made a daring move to try to see the incredibly elusive Yellow Rail. I drove for about two hours stopping at beautiful Turtle River State Park to find a camp site before proceeding after dark to Kelly’s Slough where Yellow Rails allegedly breed. Yellow Rails only call at night. So I drove over to the slough and rolled the window down to listen. It began to rain and the mosquitoes were house sized. I tried to play a tape but to no avail and in that rain it would have been a miracle frankly to hear one.

June 27, 2008, I left Turtle River State Park and stopped by Kelly’s Slough again but didn’t see too much. Then I drove south through the not so tiny town of Fargo and through the medium sized town of Jamestown to Alkali Lake Audubon Refuge. It was about to rain so I left my camera behind. Too bad to because a Swainson’s Hawk was just a few feet away perched in a tree. A bird was hawking in a field that looked much like a Black-billed Cuckoo but I don’t know if they hawk. Next I drove to Arrowwood NWR. The rain stopped but it was nearly mid day and I didn’t see much there besides more Bobolinks and a Red-tailed Hawk. Next I drove to Chase Lake NWR. It was very windy making it hard to hold my binoculars still or see or hear anything. I camped that night in the nearby tiny town of Medina at a little camp ground that also had a hot shower, water, flushing toilet and was only $10 a night. I got up at dawn and drove back to Chase Lake but it was incredibly windy all day long with sustained winds of 25-30 MPH. It is very difficult to bird in that kind of wind. I did see a Short-eared Owl early in the morning and got out at one point to film a Swainson’s Hawk when a farmer pulled up. He asked me if I was a birder (I was surprised he was familiar with that word) and when I said yes he said Oh let me give you this brochure for a tour route to follow to see some good birds around here and her are some more to give your friends. I said, thanks and then I asked him, “do you like living here?” To which he replied, “I love it!” I decided to try his suggestion. I drove around the area and never saw another human soul or building or anything the entire day. However, it was extremely windy making it nearly impossible to see or hear any birds either. I finally saw a Chestnut-collared Longspur but it was too far out in a field. I stopped at Lake Louise and saw four Upland Sandpipers. At Chicago Lake where you can supposedly hear Yellow Rails I heard a Sora and a Virginia Rail and saw a Wilson’s Snipe. At some of the other stops I saw Greater Yellowlegs, Orchard Oriole, Willow Flycatcher, Black Tern, Bobolink, and a nesting colony of Bank Swallows. After completing the tour I tried Ken’s suggested spot in Tuttle but there was little happening there besides a Ferruginous Hawk on a telephone pole. I drove back to Cross Ranch State Park to camp. On the drive there I finally saw a Gray Partridge crossing the road and as I entered the park I saw a Badger scuttling into a the prairie.

Sunday, June 29, was my last day. I left Cross Ranch SP and drove to Audubon NWR. I took the Prairie Trail and saw about five Great Horned Owls. I also saw several Ring-necked Pheasants, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Bobolinks, Northern Harrier, Marsh Wren, and one very cooperative Sedge Wren that let me get pretty close to it. There were also more Bank Swallows, Upland Sandpiper, Black-billed Magpie, Common Tern, Marbled Godwit, Black-crowned Night-heron, and a pair of Redheads. I also saw a Silvery Blue butterfly. There was not much time left and it was a gorgeous day so I went for a walk at the Cross Ranch Nature Preserve. A Least Flycatcher was persistently singing at the parking area. There were more Field Sparrows, American Kestrel, Northern Harrier, Turkey Vulture, Yellow-breasted Chat but nothing new. I took a different trail than the first day and was sauntering along when I came across an enormous Western Hognose Snake. It scared the hell out of me because I nearly stepped on it. I didn’t know this until later but one of their defense mechanisms is to inflate their entire bodies to enormous proportions. I mean this snake had about a six inch diameter! I got out of there after that. After all those near death experiences it was time for me to leave North Dakota. Despite all my scary encounters with highway patrolmen, stampeding cows, snorting bison, and inflating snakes, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the incredible solitude of North Dakota, the stark beauty of Teddy Roosevelt Park, and all the beauty and charm of the wilderness there.
New Species: 5
Michelle Brodie
July 13, 2008