Chasing Birds at Christmas

Chasing down a bird that you've never seen before is part of the thrill of birding. When a  new bird shows up in a nearby location unexpectedly, it's hard to resist. For many of us, there are too many restraints like a job, school, family or lack of funds to drop everything in search of the bird. However, if everything aligns just right so that you can go off on the adventure, there is no guarantee the bird won't use its wings and fly off before you arrive. But, if you find the bird, aaaahhhh.....it's worth it!

My own bird chase began 2 weeks ago. White-winged scoters were seen at the Salton Sea. They aren't regularly seen here so off we went on a 4-hour roundtrip trek to this birding hotspot in the desert.

When we arrived, we found hundreds of Bonaparte's gulls circling in the water and dipping their beaks to the surface of the water. These winter residents spending their breeding season in northern Canada and Alaska.

Hundreds of probing Black-necked Stilts filled the shorelines.

We found the resident Green Heron along its crowded pond but no scoters.

When you don't succeed with your "chase" bird, it's best to go to plan B. In our case, Dos Palmas, a remote oasis managed by the Bureau of Land Management, BLM, was a great option.

We parked our car at the gate and walked over a mile to the distant beckoning palm trees. As we walked along this desolate dirt road, we could envision the early traveler's stagecoach stopping here for respite.

The ponds here are managed to benefit the rare desert pupfish and Yuma clapper rails but this protected wetland habitat benefits lots of wildlife. This time of year, Ring-necked ducks and Canvasbacks are a few of the wintering ducks that have found refuge here. While we were in this remote, desolate spot, we came across another birder from the Desert Cities Birdclub! What a fun surprise! Obviously, birders are attracted to the same places.

We left this beautiful spot without our "bird". A few days later, we discovered on Ebird that our scoters were seen again. The challenge was before me. Should I spend another 4 hours traveling in hopes of finding these birds again? They aren't even colorful! What about the million things I should be doing instead with Christmas coming? Mmmmm....Sure, why not! Off I went but this time, I was by myself.

If I wasn't successful, at least I could buy more delicious dates from the Oasis Date Farm. Yum!

Luck was on my side. On a clear, sunny warm day at the beautiful Salton Sea, I found a male and female White-winged Scoter. This distant shot is not too impressive, I know, but it is special to me. If you have ever searched for birds, gold, Loch Ness monsters or Pokemon Go characters, you know how content I felt.

White-crowned Sparrow

Another type of bird chasing and counting has been occurring over 100 years. People from all over the country participate in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird County. Last Sat, Idyllwild held its CBC. Our group of birders found 110 species. It's not too late to join a CBC. They are lots of fun! One of our counters, Jenn Hajj wrote a beautiful Christmas song all about doing a Christmas bird count. She gave me permission to post her video here. Check it out! It will make you smile! Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/HWAZ31YaIUg

Photos and content by Robin Roberts.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Change in the Seasons

Change is happening! No longer are the trees covered in golden leaves. Only a few remain. Most importantly, the rain and snow have returned! Yahoo! This past week, we had overdue rain for 2 days in Idyllwild and snow in the higher elevations. I could hear the trees gulping up the water. Well, I almost heard them.

This is my favorite photo during the rainy days. A Northern Flicker found refuge on our fence under the eaves sheltered from the heaviest rain.

The fun part of being "socked in" by clouds during a rain event is the curiosity about what is happening in the high country. This week, when the clouds disappeared, snow was revealed at the highest elevations. Fantastic! We have yet to have snow fall in Idyllwild but hopefully, it is just around the corner.

Thanks to some very generous local philanthropists, we now have a park in the center of town. Since Thanksgiving, it is full of Christmas scenes and one of the tallest trees is covered in beautiful lights.

Recently, a mural was dedicated to the community by a grateful artist. He honored the firefighters that prevented our town from being destroyed in the July wildfire. Driving off the mountain, we are continually reminded of what was lost during that fire and what remains.

Fortunately, nearby Lake Hemet in Garner Valley survived. 

The presence of familiar wintering and resident birds is reassuring.

This White-tailed Kite is a wintering visitor. It is really fun to watch. It hovers in the sky before dropping down on its prey.

The resident Bald Eagles are still hanging around. They will have lots of eyes watching them starting next week as they begin to add sticks to their nest for a new season of raising a family.

Mudslides and debris flows are a concern this winter since the nearby mountains were burned in the July wildfire. So far, little damage has occurred. Changes have occurred in the campground. Part of the shore is now muddy and this once green, grassy area is now covered in several feet of mud. The retention wall used to hold in the water but now it cascades over the edge.

These Horned Larks seem to like the new landscape.

We are truly grateful for this little community, the special people who live here and the wildlife that still survives. Hopefully, my next post will be about the search for a rare scoter.

Click on photos to enlarge.
Photos and content by Robin Roberts.

Cranes of the World

 

Why did we travel to Baraboo? I wanted to visit the International Crane Foundation. This unique Whooping Crane scarecrow and its chick greet you when you arrive.

Blue Crane

Wattled Crane

All 15 cranes of the world are located here. Unfortunately, 11 out of the 15 are threatened or endangered. Loss of wetland habitat is a major problem.

The beautiful crowned cranes adorned with golden plumes are targets for illegal trade in Africa. The International Crane Foundation is actively working with countries that are trying to save their cranes from extirpation or extinction.

In North America, ICF has been breeding and reintroducing Whooping Cranes into the wild since the 1970's. In the 1940's, only 14 or 15 of these majestic birds existed in the world. For 15 years, they worked with Operation Migration in establishing a migratory population by training them to follow ultralight aircraft from Wisconsin to Florida. Today, there are about 600 in the wild. They are still endangered but progress is being made.

Here are a couple of videos of them foraging or calling in unison.

While driving around the harvested cornfields, we discovered hundreds of Sandhill Cranes some of which were playfully dancing.

While we were admiring these trumpeting cranes, a few more arrived. One of them was white and stood a foot taller than the others. Wow! It was our lucky day! We found a rare Whooping Crane.
By the leg bracelets, we could see that it was a reintroduced bird in the wild. Hopefully, in the near future, this won't be a rare sighting.

Click on photos to enlarge.
Photos and content by Robin Roberts

Beautiful Baraboo

Baraboo? Unless you have been here, you probably have no idea where it is located. Any guess?

The trees are full of color. Birds have already headed south.

In the center of this small town, a local coffee shop fills up with neighbors spending time together. This little box is for exchanging books with one another.

A popular state park fills up with campers and day hikers. I suspect cross-country skiing and snowmobiling are popular in the winter.

While you are here, you can visit Aldo Leopold's shack and visit the foundation that his family started to continue the legacy that he started with his book, The Sand County Almanac. The property surrounding his shack once was an abandoned, desolate farm. He and his family restored the land by planting thousands of trees and wildflowers.

There is a lot of wisdom in this book that was published in 1948.

Have you figured out where Baraboo is yet?

Click on photos to enlarge.

Photos and content by Robin Roberts.

Sewer Ponds to Cow Patties

Beautiful Garner Valley! A couple of families have been ranching in this area for decades. Thanks to their hard dedication to the land and to their unique way of life, we pass this beautiful landscape with grazing cattle on the way up to Idyllwild. It's not an easy life especially when you have to deal with wildfires and mudslides.

I've been getting to know other places like Garner Valley better now since my favorite trail is still closed. That has been a good thing. Otherwise, I'd never see Jack Rabbits leaping across a field.

Grazing cattle means you have to watch out for lots of cow patties! The Western Bluebirds take full advantage of this little perch to look for insects. I watched them go from patty to patty looking for the next morsel to grab.

Open land like this is a perfect hunting ground for the Loggerhead Shrike. 

I'm sure he would have liked skewering these lizards but they weren't within his sights.

The other place I've been exploring is the sewer ponds. If you are a birder, you know this isn't a bad thing. For the rest of you, don't worry. I'm doing fine. On one side of the dirt road, you can see the aftermath of the fire but on the other side of the road, it is untouched. Perfect for birds. They still can find seeds from the plants on one side and lots of insects on the other side plus a bit of water ranging from clear to green in between.

We have been finding all kinds of neat birds in this hidden spot like this Red-breasted Sapsucker.

This Red-tailed Hawk let me know what he thought of my visit the other day. It's a bit blurry but imagine how cool it was to have a Red-tail screeching at me.

Plenty to eat...

and drink...

and drink. This is the secretive little Wrentit that you usually hear but don't see.

Bushtits are always foraging together in a flock and they barely have time to rest. It was fun to catch these two for a moment before off they went with the flock again.

So, I bet you are having second thoughts about sewer ponds and cow patty fields now, right?

This was the best sight for me today, though. New growth shooting up from under charred trunks. Signs of hope and renewal coming out of the ash.

Photos and Content by Robin Roberts.
Click on photos to enlarge.