September in Mono County

The Grub directed us to camp at the Lundy Canyon Campground, operated by Mono County. We had a great site and it was nice and quiet EXCEPT for the first night, when some woman at the edge of the campground made terrifying shrieks and screams at the top of her lungs...she sounded like she had just come upon a grisly murder scene, or was getting stabbed over and over again. It really sounded animalistic and was very unnerving. Grub and I investigated but did not actually go knock on her camper as things still seemed very weird, but at least we discerned that no one had been stabbed to death (or stabbed at all). I think she was having a bad trip on something - Grub pointed out it was Burning Man season, and this location was in the post-burn dispersal path - but who knows what the truth is? Anyways, lots of Mountain Chickadees at the campsite...unlike hallucinogens, Mountain Chickadees are always pleasant.

How is that for an opening caption? Some more explanation is required...in September we took a family trip to the east side of the Sierras to hang out in one of my favorite parts of the state, Mono County. It's a weird place (see above, for example). There is good birding, facemelting scenery, and aside from a few places, not a whole lot of people. We met up with a couple friends of the blog: Alexis (Arexis), who is responsible for entirely shaping my fate, and famed east side financer, The Grub, who BB&B has spoken with at length (most recently here). Mono County is the part time home of The Grub, everyone's favorite venture capitalist and bitcoin miner, who lives in a junkyard there during the warm months. I don't mean to say he has a shitty house there (his house is in Nevada), I mean he lives in an actual junkyard. The Grub is, of course, the richest person you and I know, but he shuns the mansion and the Mercedes for a tent and Pinyon Jays. He is, after all, an artist, and that just complicates things further.

Despite all of The Grub's financial success, he would be nowhere without The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive, which at least he readily acknowledges. Knowing how close I am with Felonious, Grub was more than happy to help us track down a Black-backed Woodpecker, so he took us to Inyo Craters, where they have reliably seen most of the year. It was my first time there, and was a fruitful stop.

The White-breasted Nuthatches at Inyo Craters are the interior subspecies (Sitta carolinensis tenuissima), which sound very different from my backyard birds here in San Jose (S. c. aculeata). You may recall that it wasn't long ago when the AOS considered splitting WBNU three different ways, these two subspecies and the eastern birds...I suspect that this potential split may be revisited at some point. In the meantime, for a nice breakdown of the distribution of S. c. tenuissima and S. c. aculeata in California, look here.

Here in California, it's a Red-breasted Nuthatch invasion year! What a relief, it has been a while. I've only had a few in my 5MR but they were very common at many sites in Mono County during our visit.

Williamson's Sapsuckers are a true high elevation specialty bird and just too great to ever really get accustomed to. They are more distinct than the other sapsuckers in plumage, genetics (they don't hybridize willy-nilly), and habitat preferences. This one was more cooperative than most.

After not seeing one in about a decade, it was relief to not wait very long to find a Black-backed Woodpecker near the parking lot. We would go on to see a total of three, and heard two more! My personal Black-backed dam that has been building for the last decade has finally burst. I thought it was interesting that this area has so many Black-backeds, as there is no sign of any fire, and these birds are known fire followers. Other birds of note here included Red Crossbills and a Band-tailed Pigeon.

See? Scenic. Not that phone photos really do the place justice. This is Minaret Vista, just outside the entrance to Devil's Postpile National Monument.

Green-tailed Towhees were abundant...which is ideal, considering they are the best towhee and one of the few green birds in the west. Still hoping to get the ultimate crush of one of these, maybe next time.

We were too late for most wildflower species, although rabbitbrush was blooming all over the place. Here is one of the year's last blazing star blossoms, somewhere in the sage flats near Mono Lake.

This aquatic thing was blooming mightily up in a few patches at the Lundy Canyon beaver ponds. Nerds, tell me what this is please.

Annie had her Mono Lake baptism, which she really enjoyed. Once she realized all the black stuff was a mass of flies she was slightly put off but was happy to wade around nonetheless. She did appreciate the brine shrimp.

Other than Black-backed Woodpecker, this is the bird I had my heart set on seeing. Like the woodpecker, I had only seen Greater Sage-Grouse once before, about a decade ago. After dipping hard on Gunnison Sage-Grouse earlier this year, I had a serious grouse itch (grouse-itch) that just had to be scratched. Luckily, Arexis found a flock for us at Bodie, which allowed for great looks.

So, so sick. Behold the majestic grouse surveying its domain. A supremely satisfying birdwatching experience.

Bodie State Park is an isolated ghost town, way out in the sagebrush north of Mono Lake and not far from Nevada. It was my first time there, and pretty fun to walk around in despite all the tourists. We also saw another distant group of grouse.

The cloudscapes were brilliant during out shortish visit.

It was pretty windy too, but some birds were still out making the best of it. The "town" was littered with not only Europeans, but also Mountain Bluebirds.

Brewer's Sparrows were the most abundant Bodie bird other than Mountain Bluebirds. I assume this very fresh looking, warmly colored individual is a Hotel Yankee.

Other birding highlights included Pinyon Jay flocks, a Mountain Quail loitering in the road, and a huge crossbill flock at June Lake. The water level of Mono Lake was extremely high at the time, which is generally a good thing except it made for poor conditions for shorebirds and the such - consequently, the number of species we actually saw using Mono Lake was pretty pathetic.

But with GRSG and BBWO in the proverbial bag, the trip was Great Success! Hopefully we will go back next year, maybe getting into the White Mountains...who doesn't want to camp in the bristlecones?

Relfections On The Inner Nuthatch

Last year, while on a Shearwater Journeys trip, we had a Red-breasted Nuthatch land on the boat, far from the mainland. It is not unexpected to see landbirds way offshore during migration, although it is always confusing and more often than not disturbing. If we were in the Carribean, this would not be considered strange...millions of birds migrate between the U.S. Gulf Coast, Carribean islands and South America every year. But this is off the coast of California...no one knows why these birds are over the open ocean, where they are trying to go, and how often they make it back to land. Why are they out there? How could they get so lost? And then there is the truly deviant question...do they actually know what they are doing?

Particularly tired landbirds frequently alight on boats. This nuthatch joined our cruise a few miles west of the Farrallon Islands, a notorious vagrant trap and migrant hotspot during the fall. The nuthatch still had a lot of energy...we nervously watched it make timid forays from it's perch by the gaffing hook toward Southeast Farrallon Island, change it's mind 50 feet later, and return to its perch. Open water crossings are always risky for songbirds, particularly when there's a lot of gulls around.

Finally, the nuthatch set off without looking back. I watched it for as long as I could as it rollercoasted up and down just above the waves, until it was too far away to see. I have no doubt the bird made it back to the island, but it was a poignant moment to watch something so fragile flying with all of its tiny might, as the swells of the expansive Pacific sloshed just beneath it. A nuthatch, lover of conifers and high mountain ranges, could not (should not?) fully comprehend the depth, reach and power of the ocean...but there it was, completely out of its element, doing something braver than most of us would ever understand.

What does it all mean? And how do we access our inner nuthatch, the one that yank-yanks at our heartstrings? How can something that is so content to cling to the bark of a tree and make tin horn noises be more inspirational than most people I meet? These are the sorts of questions that waft into your brain as you perch at the top of a cliff, for hours on end, with only unconcerned cormorants and guillemots for company.

The Dickcissel Exists...I Am Sam...Warbler Vs. Curlew Field Marks

One day last month, I spent an hour and a half roaming around, looking for this Dickcissel. I was finally rewarded when it flew in from nowhere and landed directly above my head...it's good to know that the birds have respect for Number 7. Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA.

Well I thought I would give you a reprieve the the typhoon of Florida birds that has been responsible for flooding BB&B for much of last week. All of today's birds were photographed in that world-renowned wildlife haven known as the city of San Francisco, CA. As with last fall, a lot of my Perpetual Weekend is spent birding the bay area, and things have been good so far...although some of us keep trying to forget the Fork-tailed Flycatcher incident, and I double-dipped on a Harris' Sparrow this week (ouch though).

It's been a great fall for birding in California, and I haven't even bothered checking what I missed while off in Florida. Who knows what else will turn up? We all just need to keep birding...only on December 1, the first day of Birder's Winter, should we allow ourselves any rest.

Lastly, BB&B would like to announce its official endorsement of Jill Stein for President of the United States. Vote for Obama if you live in a battleground state, but otherwise I don't see any reason environmentalists should be voting for him...aside from being better than Bush (not difficult), he hasn't done much to earn our unconditional support. At any rate....vote!

When you tell nonbirders you saw a Dickcissel, they don't believe the bird exists...I'm sure you can guess why this is. At any rate, I've only seen a handful of these birds, and never where they are actually expected.

Who does not love a Dickcissel, bucolically foraging in a pastoral scene?

The light was not mellow, but I think this Black-throated Gray Warbler (an uncommon fall migrant here) turned out pretty well. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA.

Despite the fact that Yellow Warblers are the most abundant warbler species in the area during the early weeks of fall migration, they don't seem to quite bum birders out as much as the later but inevitable onslaught of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Fort Mason.

I think the blackberries in the background make the picture.

As any and every birder knows, this is a huge year for Red-breasted Nuthatches. Hopefully they can find enough food, as pretty much everyone who has laid eyes on a nuthatch instantly grows incredibly fond of them. Yank-yank. Land's End, San Francisco, CA.

Behold the Steller's Jay. On Halloween, while dressed as Sam Shakusky (from Moonrise Kingdom..."What kind of bird are you?"), I got into a debate on the status and distribution of bluish jays with another random Sam Shakusky in front of a bar. Needless to say, dude did not know who he was dealing with. Photographed at Golden Gate Park.

This Yellow-throated Warbler stayed put in one of our shittiest parks for 3 months last year. It came back again this fall at the same time, and as far as I know is still around. Ferry Park, San Francisco, CA.

Check out the length of that bill. Birders should not worry about confusing this bird with other warblers, they should worry about confusing it with a curlew.

I wonder where this bird has been in the intervening 9 months...how far south did it go last winter? Where did it spend its summer? In nerdiful news, I recently came across someone's thesis on variation within the species, and he ends up recommending abolishing a couple of the recognized subspecies...you can check that out here.

I don't take photographs of Brewer's Blackbirds very often, but when I do....I am usually not seeing much else. They're always a welcome and attractive bird though. Ferry Park.