Lake Hemet through Binoculars

Watching birds from your own backyard is a great way to meet your feathered neighbors. During migration, when an unfamiliar bird shows up, you can grab your binoculars, field guide or bird app and investigate the newcomer.

"Going birding" is the next step. First, you need to climb out of bed at o'dark thirty so you can get to your destination early. Remember, the early birder gets more birds.

Nestled next to Thomas Mt, Lake Hemet is a fantastic place to find new and familiar birds in the San Jacinto Mountains.

Lake Hemet

Salton Sea

When you are in the high country looking out over the land, there are only a handful of bodies of water. It's easy to see why some migrating birds would pick Lake Hemet to refuel on their journey to the Salton Sea and beyond.

The month of October has been a great month at the lake. Early in the month, the Coffeeberry bushes were full of berries and hungry birds.Yellow-rumped warblers and Phainopeplas were everywhere!

 White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows out number those birds now.

Caspian Tern

Osprey

Caspian Terns flying over the lake were a common sight for a couple of weeks but they moved on and were replaced by a couple of Ospreys.

It is amazing to find a bird you are least expecting when you go birding. Seems that this is the season for Lewis's Woodpeckers. They are irruptive migrants so they do not show up every year. This is the first sighting of them for me at Lake Hemet since moving here! It's been fantastic!

Another new bird for me this month at the lake was this feisty Merlin that chased a few pink-bellied woodpeckers while we were there recently. It certainly interrupted their storing of acorns.

Looking at photos is nothing like finding the bird yourself! For me, it's like going on a treasure hunt.  Hope you grab a pair of binoculars and find your own birds in your "patch" where ever that may be.

"Many people think of birding as a passive pastime. No! That's bird watching. Birding is an active pursuit full of unknowns and excitement. To me, there's nothing better than a healthy dose of birding on the edge." James Currie When Eagles Roar

 

 

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Photos and content by Robin Roberts

Breakfast with the Birds

Breakfast with the birds. What a great way to start the day!

The 30 plus hummingbirds that were eating throughout the day at our 4 feeders have disappeared. Only a couple remain. I'm guessing most of them headed down to warm, sunny Palm Desert for the Winter. 

White-headed Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Acorn Wooodpecker

Nuttall's Woodpecker

Every morning as I drink a cup of coffee, I am joined by these 4 woodpeckers. How lucky!

They come to the water or the Black Oak tree.

Two of these beautiful pink bellied Lewis's Woodpeckers from up north joined the others this week briefly. They love snags like this one on our hill to search for flying insects. Besides insects, they love acorns like the Acorn Woodpecker.

The Yellow-rumped Warblers will be seen occasionally through the winter.

However, this Black-throated Grey Warbler is probably one of the last we will see until next Spring when they return.

A sparrow is not just another LBJ (little brown job). Many birders totally ignore these little birds since they can be hard to identify. This one is pretty easy though when you glance at his golden head. This is the Golden-crowned Sparrow. 

Not all Dark-eyed Juncos are the same either! This subspecies from the Southern Rockies is a rare visitor to California. We have never seen this Grey-headed Junco until this week!

It is no surprise that the dripping water and bird bath are popular spots in the morning. Four Western Bluebirds and Mt Chickadees are sure to visit during breakfast.

Today, however, we were shocked to see a California Thrasher.Check out that long down curved beak! They usually hide out under the Chaparral plants. The dripping water was too much to resist during this dry season. It came out of its secretive spot to drink drops of water from the bird bath.

I love Mountain Chickadees. They always surprise me with their skills. This one was hanging on between the porch slats while checking out another bird bath.

Birds disappear in a flash when a bird eater like this Sharp-shinned Hawk shows up...Whew! No one was captured while we were watching...

If you aren't used to eating breakfast outside, try it! It's the best way to start the morning!

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Photos and content by Robin Roberts.

Hidden Gems off El Camino Sierra

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Our long awaited camping trip to this beautiful part of the state, the Eastern Sierra Mts, was cut short. When we watched our tents collapsing under the strong winds and learned that an unexpected drop in temperatures with rain/snow was approaching for the upcoming days, we opted to bail out early.

Sometimes, unexpected welcome surprises come when you have to go to Plan B or C. We didn't have a Plan B until we watched our tents collapsing but finally, we decided to head south to avoid the early snow. When we arrived in Independence, we had the great fortune to see at least 150 White Pelicans heading south against the back drop of these beautiful mountains.

 I've written about our friends at Winnedumah Hotel many times. Once again, they didn't let us down! This time, Frank, one of the owners, knowing of our disappointment at canceling our camping trip, generously volunteered to show us a local fishing hole since he knew we were birders.

Billy's Pond is one of the kazillian hidden gems off of El Camino Sierra, Hwy 395.

There weren't a lot of birds but we did see a couple of Pied-billed Grebes. One of which wrestled a red crustacean successfully.

The dirt road leading to the pond was an adventure itself. Evidently, mining was big in Mazourka Canyon in the past so there are lots of abandoned mines. Exploring this endless road will be an adventure for another trip.

Not a lot of birds on this road, however, we found this Sage Thrasher. It took a lot of patience and perseverance to get this shot!

As we were leaving this special spot, a lizard ran at top speed across the road. Being in a new territory, odds are it was a new lizard for us. We stopped the car and started searching for the mystery reptile. 

Luck was once again on our side. I spotted this perfectly camouflaged lizard as it lay motionless in the sand.

With the help of our friend who is a lizard expert, this is a Long-nosed Leopard Lizard. When breeding, the females get impressive orange spots on their bodies! Wow!

Like lots of journeys in life, our trip wasn't what we planned but it was filled with unexpected welcome surprises.

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees." John Muir

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Photos and content by Robin Roberts

 

Searching for a Black-backed Woodpecker

It's not often that I go birding in search of a specific species of birds. However, when we discovered that a Black-backed Woodpecker had been seen numerous times this summer within a short driving distance of our campsite at Silver Lake, we headed off with binoculars and high hopes. BTW, this was our long awaited final camping trip of the year in the Eastern Sierra Mts.

This is a crater at Inyo Craters, a fascinating place near Mammoth. A path through a forest of Jeffrey Pine trees leads to the craters. This is also where the woodpecker had been spotted. Imagine searching for 1 or 2 black woodpeckers in a forest...It is NOT easy!!!

Initially, we got excited when we spotted this woodpecker but it is a Williamson's Sapsucker. This is also an uncommon bird but it wasn't the bird we were seeking.

With the unexpected change of weather approaching, we were going to cut our trip short. How could we go home without giving it one more try? We returned the next day. As we walked along the trail, we searched in the big, dead trees for signs of woodpeckers. No luck!

We decided to go off trail a bit to some trees that looked inviting. After wandering about a bit, a black woodpecker flew over my head and landed in a nearby tree.

Wow! We couldn't believe our luck! This rarely seen woodpecker that races to post burned forests looking for woodboring beetles landed within our sight! We were shocked! We watched it chisel off bark looking for grub. It was a "Big Year" moment for my birding friends. We stood here motionless for as long as this bird stayed on this tree. This sighting will be with us forever! It's simple moments like this that are reminders of the importance of honoring and protecting wildlife and wilderness across this beautiful planet!

 

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Photos and content by Robin Roberts