Summer Trip 2015 Birding Part 2

Here is the second of three birding installments from our 2015 Summer Trip. As many of you likely recall from previous blog posts we visited many states, left the country, visited my sister on the west coast, and stopped at many National Parks and Monuments. We still have some unprocessed photos from spring/summer 2015 with all our travels, but alas most of the bird and mammal photos from this trip are done. Below is my recollection from our drive back from Oregon, almost none of it covered in previous reports or photos. 

After birding a bit on the coast I realized how much I had missed looking for birds over the previous month and was anxiously looking forward to searching for new species along our drive home. The Van was leaking transmission fluid when we stopped in Boise, but luckily all was fixed and we were on the road again a day later.

Letting fate determine where to Bird in Idaho and Wyoming

I benefited from using the BirdsEye app during our 2015 Spring Break trip as well as this trip. The app makes it easy for me to search reported birds to eBird and identify areas to explore, which increases my awareness of expected species, and allows me to target areas to add life birds. 

Their reaction after being apart for 30 minutes!

Our primary goal was putting time behind the wheel and miles behind us so I focused on the most desired birding outcome....LIFE BIRDS!  A life bird is the first time a species is seen, and brings me a huge level of enjoyment when I see a new bird. 

Late in our second day from Portland I decided to stop at the Juniper Rest Stop just north of the Utah/Idaho border on I-84 with hopes of seeing a previously reported Juniper Titmouse. The girls were stir crazy so Christine took them for a walk while I went in search of birds along a quieter path. I did not add any new lifers, but I was fortunate enough to have a Say's Phoebe sit in the open and allow me to take photos. The girls followed me back and were able to see and hear the Ash-throated Flycatchers call.

I've seen Say's Phoebes in a few states as their eastern range is the Midwest.

We drove out of Idaho, through Utah, and into Wyoming before we found a hotel for the night. It had a pool and we lounged around it late into the morning. Before we left town we stop at the state visitor center, which yielded few birds but did offer a chance to see a new mammal for the trip.

We headed down the road a couple hours before stopping at Green River - Scotts Bottom Nature Area as once again I used BirdsEye to find a location. I had hopes of finding previously reported Lesser Goldfinch and Sage Thrasher as lifers. We walked around the southern campground area and struggled to see anything in the afternoon heat. A distant Brewer's Sparrow perched and sang as we were returned to the Van, but this lifer seemed like charity and was very unrewarding given the overall limited bird activity, distant views of this bird, and sweltering heat.

After the initial walk our return to the freeway took us by water treatment ponds. Birders have a weird affinity for these sewage lagoons, so we stopped in. An American Avocet chick in the middle of a pond caught our attention so we stopped to watch. I'm not sure if the parent was concerned with the van 30 yards away or just curious, but it flew in and walked with feet of my window.

 The Avocet will loose it's salmon neck and head colorization after the spring breeding season.

As we slowly left the ponds along the dirt road Christine spotted a goldfinch with a dark crown. This was almost certainly a Lesser Goldfinch, which is yellow and black similar to American Goldfinches but with a green hue to its back and dark cap for the male. I missed the bird and was frustrated by my perceived bad luck of not seeing it! Christine's cooler mind reminded me that it would be okay to park and wait on the hopes that the birds might return. After a while the Lesser Goldfinches returned!!

 

Lesser Goldfinch (Left) and Mountain Cottontail (Right) from Green River!

With all the time birding during the third day, limited hotel options, and the late start we decided to drive late into the night all the way to Walden Colorado. At dusk we saw Greater Sage Grouse in the road, that were easily seen from a mile away. They were so large we initially thought they might be turkeys! As we got close they flew off, but it was a decent look at another lifer, the third of the day!! As fate had it, my birding plan for the next day would bring us closer to two of these lifers.

Headed West

Summer Trip 2015

So, it has probably been a year (or more) since I have posted anything to the blog but Malcolm has thankfully taken up the slack.  As I sit down tonight in non-air conditioned room that barely has room to walk around, let alone sleep 4, I am trying to relax and let go of the small mistakes I have made on the trip.  We have been gone from home for 2 ½ weeks and it has been thoroughly busy but enjoyable.  As I look back, I see laughter, smiles and lots of love for my family.  We are lucky and blessed to have the opportunity to go on a trip like this and see our family.  No little ‘hiccups’ should get in the way of seeing this wonderful opportunity to make memories for both myself and my family.  So, though I am not the blogger that Malcolm is, I will try to fill in for him and chronicle some of our trip so far as well as provide some fun photos that we can look back on to remember our summer trip of 2015!

HEADING WEST

Though the days have been long and we are not even halfway to Oregon, we have already had some good memories.  We started off by taking back roads in MN and SD to get to the campground we had reserved in the heart of the Black Hills National Forest.  We made sure to stop at the huge Raven statue at the Belgrade Centennial Memorial in MN and the girls had a chance to run off some of their sillies and pose for the first of many ‘classic vacation photos’ to chronicle our journey.  It was beautiful memorial for such a small town in the middle rural MN and I had never been there that I recall. 

Our goal for the trip is to have a picture to for each state that we drive through so the girls can look back and have proof of which ones they have visited (maybe one day we’ll make an album!)  Here are the one we have so far,  notice that we were on the dirt backroads of SD/WY when we hit the state line…not such a fancy sign in middle of free range cow pastures!

BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK/Black Hills

This was the one thing so far that I wish I had planned differently.  We only got a chance to drive through the badland with a QUICK walk/climb in the park.  We were already so late that we had to race through it in order to reach our campground in the middle of the Black Hills.  I wish we had planned for time to hike and climb this beautiful landscape.  It was absolutely beautiful!  Danielle was an absolute daredevil making me squirm as she shot to the top of the rocks barefoot no less!  No fear for climbing, I guess, though deep, dark caves….not so much.  (more to come!)

Rushing on we made the journey to our campground but we arrived after dark and with a thunderstorm on our tails.  It was a very stressful 30 minutes trying to set up the tent in the dark with thunder/lighting sounding ominously in the background.  (Not my proudest of parenting times and I am sure not the most exciting of setups for camping the girls will have).  However, we got it up and we were in the tent not 10 minutes before first pea-sized hail then downpour rain hit.  We were so thankful to have it up in time but realized that it was the first hail storm we had ever camped in!  The girls were scared and Danielle spent most of the night at the bottom of the sleeping bag and I spent the next while worried that the tent would blow down and we would end up sopping wet.  The reality was that the tent stayed up but the waterproofing I had sprayed after our Texas trip did not hold up to the raging thunderstorm.  But we mostly stayed dry…just a couple of damp pillows/clothes but almost everything was still dry…thankfully!

Mount Rushmore

I don’t believe I have ever been to Mount Rushmore before this trip, I was surprised at how commercialized/built up.  Multi-level parking garages and the expected hordes of tourists.  It reminded me of an amusement park, that is until you see the beauty and wonder of the monument.  It is hard to fathom how they could construct it without modern technology with just the vision of a man and dynamite and jackhammers!  Super cool.  This was the one place that Michaela wanted to see on our trip though I am sure it had a large part to do with recognizing it from school.  Though it was not quite as she expected either as she was more under the misconception as I that is was more of a natural area and less of a ‘business/touristy’ feel.  Though both girls did think that the monument itself was “awesome!”

 

Black Hills Cave Tour

I decided buy a ‘groupon’ for a cave tour and we went there after Rushmore.  The cave itself was nothing spectacular but provided the girls with enough ‘fear’ that it was exhilarating for them and they enjoyed it.  The cave itself was mostly dead due to human pollution of touching and so forth, but it was cool to walk through the caverns and enjoy how nervous the girls were about exploring such a dark space 100s of feet below ground.  It seemed such a milestone for them to conquer their fear and continue the tour, though I am sure they will not be volunteering to go down one by themselves anytime soon! 

 

Taking pictures in dark caves are challenging.

On to Yellowstone

Today, we spent most of the day driving from the Black Hills to Cody, WY but we still had a good day and got to see Devil’s Tower as well, but it was a quick drive by/potty break before heading on.  After looking at our picture from here I had to edit it to sepia/black & white because it reminded me so much of the old time portraits where no one smiles!  My only defense is that it was REALLY bright!!!

Though one of the funniest parts of the day for me was at the beginning when we used the van’s “Shortest Route” navigation to Cody.  Being in the heart of the black hills and 1 hour from the freeway I asked the campground manager about the back way/shortest way to the free heading to Yellowstone.  He recommended that we should take it but made us aware that it had quite a bit gravel. After 20 miles our route turned to dirt and we had 6 cows laying in the road....luckily another option existed and we didn't have to backtrack.  Malcolm liked it as we were able to stop quickly for birds, including a Townsend's Solitaire just over the WY border.  More to come in a few days, we're hoping to find a camping spot in Yellowstone tomorrow....fingers crossed.