Species List

Stuart Healy Journal - June, 2002 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

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This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Friday, June 28, 2002.

Saturday, June 1, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Out today with Warren & Iris Woessner from Minneapolis, MN for one target bird -- the Flame-colored Tanager in Miller Canyon. The last time we birded together was in July, 1997 for Black-capped Gnatcatcher. This trip was scheduled over a month ago and almost had to be cancelled because of the National Forest closure. Fortunately, my special use permit allowed me to fulfill the obligation..

Today was trip #5 for that flaming tanager. Although all of them have been successful, today took the longest and was the most frustrating. We hiked in before sunrise and located the male FLAME-COLORED TANAGER 100 yards below the mine shaft at 5:50am. The bird sang for a few minutes then disappeared without a trace before anybody had a chance to see it.

Warren positioned himself above the mine where I had seen the bird on all previous trips, and I went thrashing around in the bottom of the canyon where I spent almost 3 hours combing the area exhaustively (and exhaustingly!) without success. Around 8:40am., I received a radio call from Warren who had just relocated the bird 100 yards above the mine in the company of a female Western Tanager. Shortly afterwards the SABO group arrived, what timing! For the next 45 minutes or so, the bird stayed in the same general area and vocalized (calling, not singing) just enough for us to track it. The bird was somewhat flighty but fortunately, stayed put several times long enough for my clients and the SABO group to get multiple looks by attrition. Thanks to Sherri Williamson for the use of her scope.

Thanks also to Tom Beatty for the use of his property for parking and short cut access to the Miller Canyon trail.

Around 6:30am while trying to relocate the tanager, I spotted a WHIP-POOR-WILL sitting on a branch. I immediately reached for my backpack only to remember in milliseconds that I had left my camera at home! "Darn it" I said, or words to that effect. I missed quite a few photo opportunities today including an eye-level PLUMBEOUS VIREO on a nest and many fearless RED-FACED WARBLERS at close range. Perhaps the key to obtaining good views is not to carry a camera.

We recorded 38 species on Miller Canyon trail above the Beatty's property:
Band-tailed Pigeon, White-winged Dove, Whip-poor-will, Blue-throated, Magnificent & Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Arizona Woodpecker, N. Flicker, Greater Pewee, Western Wood-Pewee, Cordilleran, Buff-breasted, Dusky-capped & Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers, Steller's & Mexican Jays, Hutton's, Plumbeous & Warbling Vireos, Hermit Thrush, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Canyon, Bewick's & House Wrens, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, Virginia's, Black-throated Gray, Grace's & Red-faced Warblers, Painted Redstart, Spotted Towhee, Flame-colored, Hepatic & Western Tanagers, Black-headed Grosbeak and Brown-headed Cowbird.

Today was my last day of scheduled work until July 2. June is a crappy time to be in Southeast Arizona (especially this year!) and I normally schedule vacation and/or work out of state. I was scheduled to be in Colorado and Wyoming during the last couple of weeks of the month but a client's medical problems caused a cancellation. 

My plans for the beginning of June are to watch the World Cup and do a little casual birding, filling in some holes in my June data to the extent that closures will allow. After that I'll head north to spend some time in Montana and possibly North Dakota. Exactly when I leave will depend on how well or poorly England perform in their first round games. Journal updates for the next couple of weeks will likely be sporadic.

Monday, June 10, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
After a marathon of World Cup soccer watching (still continuing), today I ventured out for the first time in over a week, mainly to try out a new gadget (Magellan GPS 315) and a new gizmo (camera-scope adaptor). I purchased the GPS unit last week but today was the first real test -- I'll write up a review in the coming weeks (basically, the unit works well but the documentation is woefully inadequate). I had a local machine shop make up an adaptor so I could attach my Olympus C-700 Digital Camera to my Swarovski ST-80 HD scope. Basically, it consists of an aluminum tube with different inside diameters and clamping knobs at each end. It certainly makes digiscoping easier (not having to hold the camera against the scope) and lets me spend time on other problems! I picked up the adaptor yesterday and today was the first field use. I'll add a section on my digiscoping experiences to the camera review sometime this month.

I was on the road while it was still dark for a trip over to Willcox. Lots of LESSER NIGHTHAWKS were working the lights at the Border Patrol checkpoint on Hwy 90 south of French Joe Canyon. I arrived at Willcox just after dawn and spent the next 3 hours working on Digiscoping. With the new adaptor I was able to get usable results at greater distances than hand holding can produce. Most of the shots that I managed were against the light and/or at some distance (Murphy strikes again), anyway, it was good practice.

Among the birds of note were single Western and Clark's Grebes, a lone White Pelican and a couple of  male Blue-Winged Teal (I see them here every year at this time). Scaled Quail were very common, calling and perched up in multiple locations.

I recorded the following 34 species at Willcox from 5:25-8:20am.
1-Western & 1-Clark's Grebe, 1-Am. White Pelican, lots of Ruddy Ducks, Mallard, 2 male Blue-Winged & 1 male Cinnamon Teal, Great Blue Heron, 1-Black-crowned Night-Heron, Swainson's Hawk, lots of Scaled Quail, Am. Coot, 3-Wilson's Phalaropes, 1-Black-necked Stilt, lots of Killdeers, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Say's Phoebe, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Cassin's & Western Kingbirds, Chihuahuan Raven, Loggerhead Shrike, N. Mockingbird, Barn Swallow, House Sparrow, House Finch, Song Sparrow, Pyrrhuloxia, Bullock's Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark and Great-tailed Grackle.

Monday, June 18, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Yesterday I started my much anticipated trip north. Disappointingly, my vehicle developed a problem after only 300 miles and I decided to return home. (Too many trips to California Gulch and French Joe Canyon?)  Ironically, the car performed flawlessly on the way home and my mechanic couldn't reproduce the problem this morning. Today, in the heat of the afternoon I headed over to Willcox to try and force the problem to reoccur -- it didn't! Now I have to decide whether to go ahead with my trip and risk getting stranded when the car decides to die.

As I expected, the birding at Willcox was mediocre -- hardly surprising with a temperature of 105 degrees at the main pond. On the plus side, heat evaporation is dropping the water level and shorebird habitat is starting to appear -- good timing for the upcoming southbound shorebird migration.  

The highlight today was a early/late/non-breeding (just a few spots) SPOTTED SANDPIPER. I now have a total of 6 June records for Southeast Arizona, 2 each during week 1 and week 4; and 1 each in week 2 and week 3. Also present were 4 female WILSON'S PHALAROPES. Southbound females start to get common in the first week of July (females return first), although I have quite a few June records.

Other birds present from 20 seen included WESTERN GREBE, BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, 12-AMERICAN AVOCETS, 2-BLACK-NECKED STILTS, lots of RUDDY DUCKS, male and female BLUE-WINGED TEAL (golf course pond), SWAINSON'S HAWK and HORNED LARK. I didn't see either the Clark's Grebe or White Pelican that were last reported a couple of days ago.

Wednesday, June 19, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Despite my vehicle woes, I decided to go ahead with my trip and put in 15 hours on the road to break the back of the journey. I started and ended in darkness and traveled 1025 miles through AZ, NM and CO ending up in Sterling, CO for an overnight stop. The car acted up once but now I know how to work around the problem.

The normally spectacular scenery in NM and CO was marred by smoke from the various fires, including a very serious looking fire north west of Las Vegas, NM. Of course, I didn't see many birds at highway speeds (27 species in all) and there were long stretches through northern New Mexico and Colorado without any birds at all. Still, that gave me a chance to check out my newly installed CD player by cranking up the volume on the latest CD from Jennifer Peña -- "Libre". 

Nighthawks were the first and last bird of the day -- LESSER NIGHTHAWK as I was leaving Sierra Vista and COMMON NIGHTHAWK as I picked up I-76 in Brush, CO. I also saw both species in NM and several Commons while driving through CO. The bird highlight of the day was a LEWIS'S WOODPECKER in the riparian section along the Mora river, at the Mora County line in New Mexico. I just happened to be driving by as the bird flew across the interstate!

Here's the full list recorded over 1025 miles and 3 states:
Turkey Vulture, Swainson's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Long-billed Curlew, Killdeer, Rock Dove, Mourning Dove, Lesser Nighthawk, Common Nighthawk, Lewis's Woodpecker, Western Kingbird, American Crow, Chihuahuan Raven, Common Raven, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Barn Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Horned Lark, House Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Pyrrhuloxia, Western Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle, and Brewer's Blackbird.

As I've mentioned many times, June is not a good time to be birding in southeast Arizona. For much of the country the dog days of summer occur during July and August, whereas in SE AZ they occur in June until the monsoons of July and August bring much needed relief. I usually work out of state and/or take vacation in June, and with the World Cup happening in June it was a no-brainer for me to schedule the month off. With the way the weather turned out  this year (multiple 100 degree days don't happen too often in Sierra Vista), I'm sure glad that I am not working. 

When I initially planned this trip, I was going to spend all of my time in Montana, now the only western state in which I've seen less than 100 species. Almost all of my birding in Montana has been limited to those species that can be seen while traveling along the interstate plus a few roadside stops. A few weeks ago I decided to add North Dakota as well, a state in which I've only birded once on my way to Minnesota in June 1996. With the delay due to the car problems I almost dropped the North Dakota segment, but at the last minute I decided to start there as planned.

I'll be heading to Minot and nearby areas where my targets will be Black-billed Cuckoo and Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow, two species that I've never seriously looked for (and maybe I won't get serious about them on this trip either). In Montana, I'll just be bumming around going wherever the fancy takes me; without any particular goals other than looking for Gray Partridge if I don't see one in North Dakota (a species that I've never seen in the U.S.). I'll also try to visit as many different habitats as I can, given the time available; and spend a little time in Glacier National Park where I've only been once before. Throughout the trip, perhaps I'll also see some of the species that winter in Arizona and breed in Mt and/or ND, such as Sprague's Pipit and Baird's Sparrow.

Thursday, June 20, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day  
Today was mostly another day on the road from Sterling, CO to Bismarck, ND. My route took me to east to North Platte, NE, then pretty much due north through Nebraska and South Dakota on Hwy 83, a total distance of 630 miles. The weather started quite cool (mid 50s), very cloudy, windy and best of all, raining! Much of the day was well below 70 degrees and I only saw 80s in northern South Dakota. I don't think we're in Arizona anymore Toto.

I made one birding stop along the way, at Valentine National Wildlife Refuge in Nebraska. Although I've birded quite a bit in Nebraska, most of my time has been spent in the panhandle and the Pine Ridge area so I've seen very few eastern species in the state -- hence my decision to stop at Valentine. The refuge was very interesting with its grassland, lakes and wooded areas and I very much enjoyed my time here -- an all too brief 2 hours, I wish it could have been longer. 

Highlights for me were the eastern species (common though they may be) such as EASTERN KINGBIRD, GRAY CATBIRD, BROWN THRASHER, ORCHARD ORIOLE and DICKCISSEL -- the latter being quite common and singing in multiple locations.

I came across a COMMON NIGHTHAWK sitting in the road. At the last moment the bird flew up onto a fence post and sat there in typical fashion. After I finished my photo session and drove off, the bird returned to the road.

Perhaps someone can tell me what this species of TURTLE is -- I was fast enough to catch up with the larger one (it hardly moved) but the smaller one gave me a run for my money. [Identified as Snapping Turtle and Ornate Box Turtle]

I didn't spend much time looking for water birds and I spent far too much time trying unsuccessfully to photograph a GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, an impossible task in the wind. Nevertheless, I recorded the following 31 species on the refuge: Am. White Pelican, Wood Duck, Mallard, Turkey Vulture, Willet, Killdeer, Forster's Tern, Mourning Dove, Common Nighthawk, N. Flicker, Eastern Kingbird, Bell's & Warbling Vireos, Loggerhead Shrike, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Marsh Wren, N. Rough-winged Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, Yellow Warbler, Grasshopper, Vesper & Lark Sparrows, Dickcissel, Orchard Oriole, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern & Western Meadowlarks, Common Grackle and Brown-headed Cowbird.

Among the roadside birds were CATTLE EGRET (SD), N. HARRIER (NE), SWAINSON'S HAWK (SD & ND), FERRUGINOUS HAWK (ND), RING-NECKED PHEASANT (ND) and BOBOLINK (SD).

Friday, June 21, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
A very abbreviated report today, sleep is important. I moved north from Bismarck to Kenmare and did some casual birding at two National Wildlife Refuges -- Audubon NWR midway between Bismarck and Minot; and Des Lacs NWR near Kenmare.

I didn't see anything special at either refuge but I enjoyed the sheer abundance of some species and the fact that many of the breeding species were singing, particularly CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS, GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS and BOBOLINKS.

Between the two refuges I recorded the following 68 species:
Pied-billed & Western Grebes, Double-crested Cormorant, Am. White Pelican, Canada Goose, Gadwall, Mallard, N. Pintail, Blue-winged Teal, N. Shoveler, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Red-tailed Hawk, Ring-necked Pheasant, Am. Coot, Marbled Godwit, Willet, Killdeer, Ring-billed & California Gulls, Black & Common Terns, Downy & Hairy Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Western & Eastern Kingbirds, Black-billed Magpie, Am. Crow, Red-eyed Vireo, Cedar Waxwing, Veery, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, European Starling, Sedge & Marsh Wrens, House Wren, Tree, Bank, Barn & Cliff Swallows, House Sparrow, Am. Goldfinch, Yellow & Black-and-white Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Lark Bunting, Song, Savannah, Grasshopper, Chipping, Clay-colored & Vesper Sparrows, Spotted Towhee, Black-headed Grosbeak, Baltimore & Orchard Orioles, Yellow-headed  & Red-winged Blackbirds, Western Meadowlark, Common Grackle, Brewer's Blackbird and Bobolink.

Saturday, June 22, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day  
The best laid plans of mice... the cliché certainly applied to me this morning. I made the short drive from Kenmare to Lostwood NWR in a pre-dawn thunderstorm that produced a significant amount of rain in a few hours. I could hardly see to drive it was so bad. I arrived at the refuge at dawn and then sat in the car to wait out the rain. After almost two hours it hadn't abated so I headed into Minot for breakfast and to regroup having lost the best hours of the day. I spent the remainder of the morning and afternoon hours at Upper Souris and Des Lacs  NWRs, then headed over to Lostwood again in the early evening.

I spent a lot of time looking for NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROW today without any success. Actually, I heard one shortly after I left Kenmare this morning but it was still dark and raining so I really wasn't able to look for it. Since it would be a lifer and I only heard the bird, it doesn't even make my day list! That was the only one that I heard all day despite covering lots of habitat.

LE CONTE'S SPARROWS, on the other hand, were fairly common in a number of locations. I'm particularly proud of this digiscoping effort, my best yet on LBJs. Not so much for the quality (which is fairly good by my results to date), but because of the circumstances. I heard the bird as I was driving along a "quiet" country road and after getting the car of the road, I setup the scope and camera and set about finding the bird. It turned out that the road wasn't so quiet after all and it was fairly disconcerting trying to stay off the road (no shoulder) without falling in the ditch and, oh yes, photographing the friggin' bird!

Perhaps the bird I enjoyed the most today was a cooperative VEERY at Tasker's Coulee on Des Lacs NWR. In my few expeditions into the range of this species I've heard it many times but all my views have been brief. Today I was able to watch a bird singing a close range which was quite a treat (I'm easily pleased).

Day list (69 species): Very common    New for trip
Pied-billed & Western Grebes, Double-crested Cormorant, Am. White Pelican, Ruddy Duck, Canada Goose, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, N. Pintail, Blue-winged Teal, N. Shoveler, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Great Blue Heron, N. Harrier, Swainson's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Am. Coot, Marbled Godwit, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Am. Avocet, Killdeer, Ring-billed Gull, Franklin's Gull, Black Tern, Mourning Dove, Hairy Woodpecker, N. Flicker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Western & Eastern Kingbirds, Black-billed Magpie, Red-eyed Vireo, Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Bluebird, Veery, Am. Robin, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Sedge, Marsh & House Wrens, Barn & Cliff Swallows, Black-capped Chickadee, Horned Lark, Am. Goldfinch, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Song, Savannah, Le Conte's, Grasshopper, Chipping, Clay-colored and Vesper Sparrows, Spotted Towhee, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow-headed & Red-winged Blackbirds, Western Meadowlark, Brewer's Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird and Bobolink.

Sunday, June 23, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Today I moved on from North Dakota into Montana, forsaking my chances for life birds as I fully expected to do. As you can tell, I'm not too serious about target birding when I'm on vacation -- that's too much like work. I've mentioned before about the need to separate work and personal birding. Now it's time to bear down and get serious about casual birding. 

Last night I stayed in Stanley, ND (here's a tip: if in Stanley, don't order Mexican food) and I had considered returning to Lostwood again this morning. However, the wet conditions (not as bad as yesterday) made me decide to head west instead. I stopped in Williston and took some time to smell the roses (i.e. have a sit down breakfast) before leaving the state. The last bird in ND was BOBOLINK and the first bird in MT was MOURNING DOVE.

I headed north on Hwy 16 out of Culbertson to Medicine Lake NWR. Among the highway birds through some excellent grassland were SWAINSON'S HAWK, RING-NECKED PHEASANT, FRANKLIN'S GULL, DICKCISSEL, GRASSHOPPER SPARROW (abundant) and BOBOLINK. A small pond yielded GREATER YELLOWLEGS and SPOTTED SANDPIPER.

More excellent grassland habitat along the entrance road to Medicine Lake NWR provided me with interesting and entertaining birding, and I took well over an hour to cover 2 miles from the highway to the headquarters area. If BAIRD'S SPARROWS were common here, GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS were abundant, singing every 100-200 feet close to the road. The Baird's were further away from the road and harder to detect. Also here were lots of pristine looking CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPURS that would perch up tantalizingly for about 30 seconds at a time. I chose to wait until later to photograph them which was a mistake because later it started to rain and I lost the opportunity. 

I found multiple BAIRD'S SPARROWS in three different locations on the refuge simply by driving along and listening for them. Generally, they were some distance in from the road and the distance plus the wind and mosquitoes made for very difficult viewing conditions.

I spent about 3 hours on the refuge before returning south to Culbertson and then headed west to Fort Peck and on to Malta for an overnight stay. I went through a real "toad strangler" of a rainstorm just east of Wolf Point and from then on managed to avoid the rain, although I could see thunderstorm/rain cells in all directions.

The park-like setting of Fort Peck was a pleasant place to bird and had a nice mix of eastern and western species. I didn't stay long since I wanted to get an early night (however, it's almost 10:30pm as I conclude these notes!). Among the birds at Fort Peck were OSPREY, CASPIAN TERN, COMMON NIGHTHAWK, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, GRAY-CATBIRD YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK and ORCHARD ORIOLE.

Day list: (75 species:) very common  new for trip
Pied-billed, Eared & Western Grebes, Am. White Pelican, Ruddy Duck, Canada Goose, Am. Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, N. Pintail, Blue-winged Teal, N. Shoveler, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Osprey, Swainson's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Ring-necked Pheasant, Am. Coot, Marbled Godwit, Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Am. Avocet, Killdeer, Ring-billed, California & Franklin's Gulls, Caspian & Common Terns, Rock & Mourning Doves, Common Nighthawk, Western Wood-Pewee, Western & Eastern Kingbirds, Black-billed Magpie, Am. Crow, Loggerhead Shrike, Am. Robin, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, European Starling, Sedge & House Wrens, Barn & Cliff Swallows, House Sparrow, Am. Goldfinch, House Finch, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Lark Bunting, Song, Savannah, Le Conte's, Baird's, Grasshopper, Chipping & Clay-colored Sparrows, Dickcissel, Black-headed Grosbeak, Orchard Oriole, Yellow-headed & Red-winged Blackbirds, Western Meadowlark, Common Grackle, Brewer's Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird and Bobolink. 

Monday, June 24, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day  
Today I progressed westwards through Montana, from Malta to Shelby, in preparation for a trip through Glacier National Park tomorrow. In terms of birds, "there's a whole lot of nothin' going on" through this section of Montana!  It was a mostly clear and sunny day and much warmer than yesterday, somewhere in the mid 80s. I took it relatively easy today and only birded at a couple of locations.

I birded for the first three hours of the morning at Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge near Malta, actually, most of that time I spent on photographing common birds. I only made it about 6 miles around the 15 mile loop -- I would have liked to stay much longer but then I would have needed a serious blood transfusion, boy those mosquitoes were fierce!  

FRANKLIN'S GULLS (mostly non breeding plumaged birds) were absolutely abundant around the shore of Lake Bowdoin. However, there were a few around that looked like this bird (check out the broken bill). CALIFORNIA and RING-BILLED GULLS were also common.

I always enjoy those "Murphy gets screwed" moments and one such moment happened to me today. I spotted a good looking LARK BUNTING perched up, so I stopped the car and braved the mosquitoes to set up the scope and camera. Wouldn't you know it, just as I was ready the bird flew away (lots of expletives deleted). I decided to stay put and spent some time photographing an EASTERN KINGBIRD and a SAVANNAH SPARROW. After a few shots of the sparrow I turned away to make some adjustments and, lo and behold, when I looked through the lens a LARK BUNTING had now displaced the sparrow! 

After another sit down breakfast for the second day in a row (what decadence), I drove west to Havre then south through the beautiful area of Beaver Creek. Unfortunately, I was there in the heat of the day so bird activity was quite low. Birds that were active included DUSKY FLYCATCHER, GRAY CATBIRD, TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, AMERICAN REDSTART, MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER and BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK.

Rather than return to Havre, I decided to take a "short cut" through the Rocky Boy Indian reservation where there wasn't a single road number or direction sign in the whole place. But, hey, my recently purchased GPS unit came through with flying colors and I negotiated my way through what seemed like a maze. Eventually, I reached Box Elder and then took secondary road 448 for 30 miles to hook up with highway 2 again. I was hoping for something special for my trouble of taking the road less traveled,  but all I saw were NORTHERN HARRIER, lots of HORNED LARKS, a few LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES and a handful of LARK BUNTINGS. 

To cap of my day of driving, I ended up driving almost 50 wasted miles to finish up the day. I wanted to stay in Cut Bank but I couldn't find a motel room and had to double back 23 miles to Shelby. More expletives deleted.

Day list (64 species) very common  new for trip
Eared Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Am. White Pelican, Ruddy Duck, Canada Goose, Mallard, N. Shoveler, Canvasback, Redhead, Great Blue Heron, N. Harrier, Swainson's Hawk, Ring-necked Pheasant, Am. Coot, Common Snipe, Marbled Godwit, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Wilson's Phalarope, Am. Avocet, Killdeer, Ring-billed, California & Franklin's Gulls, Black & Common Terns, Mourning Dove, Common Nighthawk, Western Wood-Pewee, Least & Dusky Flycatchers, Western & Eastern Kingbirds, Black-billed Magpie, Am. Crow, Warbling Vireo, Loggerhead Shrike, Townsend's Solitaire, Am. Robin, Gray Catbird, House Wren, Tree, Barn & Cliff Swallows, Horned Lark, House Sparrow, House Finch, Yellow Warbler, American Redstart, MacGillivray's Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Lark Bunting, Song Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, Black-headed Grosbeak, Yellow-headed & Red-winged Blackbirds, Western Meadowlark, Common Grackle and Brewer's Blackbird.

Tuesday, June 25, 2002     Previous Day    Next Day  
Another abbreviated report today on a day that should have been the highlight of my trip, but one that turned out to be a great disappointment because "going to the sun road" in Glacier National Park is closed. The road is closed on both sides of Logan pass at Avalanche on the west side and a little above Sunrift Gorge on the east side. I felt sorry for all the folks here for the first time. At least I've been over the pass before, although I must admit that my memory of that trip is vague. 

My first disappointment came when I found that Highway 49 between Kiowa Junction and East Glacier was closed due to a sunken road, eliminating several birding areas. After driving directly from Shelby via Cut Bank and Browning, I birded my way from Kiowa junction to St. Mary. I then entered the National Park and birded in the Many Glacier area followed by a trip up "going to the sun road" as far as the closure. Then came a long drive to get to the other side of the park via Browning and East Glacier over to West Glacier. The closure meant that access to the higher areas with their spectacular views and more interesting birds were completely off the menu. I ended up doing lots of driving for very little reward. Even so early in the season, the west side of the park was crawling with "grockles"  (tourists). I ended up in Kalispell for an overnight stay where the temperature in the early evening was still 90 degrees. Hey, I can stay home for this! 

Highlight of the day was seeing this BALD EAGLE near the east entrance to Glacier National Park, shortly after seeing an OSPREY. Although the bird was conveniently perched up atop a small tree, it was more than 300 yards away and represented quite a challenge to digiscope. I also enjoyed hearing the song of VARIED THRUSH again along Lake MacDonald "Creek", actually a raging torrent (send some to Arizona!)

Day list (51 species): very common  new for trip
Canada Goose, Wood Duck, Gadwall, Mallard, Lesser Scaup, Common Merganser, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Am. Coot, Spotted Sandpiper, Red-naped Sapsucker, N. Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Willow Flycatcher, Black-billed Magpie, Am. Crow, Common Raven, Warbling Vireo, Cedar Waxwing, Varied Thrush, Mountain Bluebird, Veery, Swainson's Thrush, Am. Robin, European Starling, House Wren, Violet-green, Barn & Cliff Swallows, Ruby-crowned & Golden-crowned Kinglets, Black-capped Chickadee, Horned Lark, House Sparrow, Pine Siskin, House Finch, Yellow & Townsend's Warblers, N. Waterthrush, Wilson's Warbler, Song, White-crowned, Chipping & Vesper Sparrows, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Yellow-headed & Red-winged Blackbirds, Western Meadowlark, Brewer's Blackbird and Brown-headed Cowbird.

Wednesday, June 26, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day  
This morning I started birding just south of Kalispell and followed that with visits to Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge and the National Bison Range. After a late morning break in Missoula, I reluctantly began my southbound journey by traveling to Bozeman for an overnight stay. Tomorrow I'll leave Montana and spend Thursday and Friday in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks; then it's back to the heat and smoke of Arizona..

I left Kalispell at dawn and spent an hour or so checking the sloughs and farm fields between town and Flathead Lake. I saw mostly common stuff except for a single BLACK-NECKED STILT which is listed as rare in the literature that I have, and was certainly not a bird that I expected in this area. I also saw my first CINNAMON TEAL of the trip. I was hoping to stumble into a Gray Partridge but no such luck. RING-NECKED PHEASANTS were fairly numerous.

After a short drive south, I resumed birding along Duck Road near Ninepipe NWR. I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of  SHORT-EARED OWLS flying around and interacting with each other. (Eventually, I saw approximately 6 of them along a 2 mile stretch of grassland.) In another "Murphy gets screwed" moment of pure serendipity, I happened to stop the car at exactly at the right place. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some movement and found this juvenile owl still wet behind its short ears, crouching down "hiding" in the grass. I wasn't so lucky in photographing an adult because the bird simply wouldn't tolerate close approach 

Ninepipe NWR was a bit of a let down. The place was absolutely teeming with birds but the combination of limited access and a nasty sun angle made viewing next to impossible. The highlight for me was a HOODED MERGANSER 

I moved on to the National Bison Range, a place that I found to be impressively scenic and potentially a great spot to bird. I wish I could have been here at dawn because the temperature when I arrived was pretty high and activity was minimal, although COMMON NIGHTHAWKS were still flying around and VESPER SPARROWS were still singing. The most common species was NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW. A lone MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD looked a little forlorn, preening on a fence wire. 

I continued south to Missoula, pausing to photograph an OSPREY at the nest. I had a late breakfast in Missoula and left there at noon with the temperature near 90 degrees, forecast for 95 this afternoon. Time to crank up the A/C, crank up the CD volume, turn on cruise control and enjoy the scenery -- lush green valleys and snow capped mountains. About 3 hours later I arrived in Bozeman, poised for a thunderstorm and, thankfully, much cooler (although the rain never happened).

In the evening I headed out to the East Gallatin Recreation Area where there's a great trail system through the riparian habitat. The mosquitoes obviously like the area too and I donated some more blood. There were more (and bigger) mosquitoes here than any other place that I've visited. This was my last chance for Black-billed Cuckoo but I didn't get a sniff -- I saw BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE though! Among the 20 species that I recorded here were LEAST & WILLOW FLYCATCHERS, VEERY, GRAY CATBIRD (everywhere I looked) and LAZULI BUNTING.

Day list (55 species):  very common  new for trip
Western Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Canada Goose, Gadwall, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Redhead, Hooded Merganser, Great Blue Heron, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Swainson's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Ring-necked Pheasant, Am. Coot, Black-necked Stilt, Killdeer, Ring-billed Gull, Rock Dove, Mourning Dove, Short-eared Owl, Common Nighthawk, N. Flicker, Western Wood-Pewee, Willow Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Black-billed Magpie, Am. Crow, Warbling Vireo, Cedar Waxwing, Mountain Bluebird, Veery, Am. Robin, Gray Catbird, European Starling, House Wren, Tree Swallow, N. Rough-winged Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, House Sparrow, House Finch, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Song Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Lazuli Bunting, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Brewer's Blackbird and Brown-headed Cowbird.

Thursday, June 27, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Thanks to the half a dozen folks that informed me about the turtle species in the June 20 photo, identified as Snapping Turtle and Ornate Box Turtle.

I left Bozeman early this morning and entered Yellowstone National Park at the Gardiner entrance. I worked my way through the park west and south (avoiding the Old Faithful area), from Mammoth to Tower to Canyon to the south entrance. I then entered Grand Teton National Park and birded at a couple of spots before rain stopped play at Jenny Lake in the late afternoon. Lots of people were on the road (I guess I was part of the problem too!) which made it difficult to bird from the car while trying to keep an eye on traffic. Traffic noise made it almost impossible to listen for birds at roadside stops. Then there's the awful stink of diesel exhaust from the many trucks and RVs. Get the picture?

Temperatures were in the mid 80s in Yellowstone and cooled down a little in Teton as the clouds built up. The scenery was spectacular as usual. Among the bird highlights were a couple of TRUMPETER SWANS and an immature SANDHILL CRANE on Flat Creek in Jackson, numerous BARROW'S GOLDENEYES on the Yellowstone River, AMERICAN DIPPER on the Gardner River in the Montana section of Yellowstone, TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, GREEN-TAILED TOWHEES singing all over the place; and CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS, RED CROSSBILLS and CASSIN'S FINCHES all at multiple locations. I also saw a BLACK BEAR and lots of BISON. 

I stayed the night in Jackson, home of the $90 per night Motel 6. Imagine what the upscale places are charging! It seems that I'm mostly here in June and July during the rip-off season. Still, everybody has to make hay while the sun shines. If you come here in winter they'll give you a room for free just to get your body heat. The streets of Jackson were bustling with people tonight.

Day list (61 species):  new for trip
Am. White Pelican, Ruddy Duck, Trumpeter Swan, Canada Goose, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, N. Pintail, Cinnamon Teal, N. Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Barrow's Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Great Blue Heron, Osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Coot, Sandhill Crane, Spotted Sandpiper, Killdeer, Ring-billed Gull, California Gull, Rock Dove, Hairy Woodpecker, Western Wood-Pewee, Black-billed Magpie, Clark's Nutcracker, American Crow, Common Raven, Warbling Vireo, Am. Dipper, Townsend's Solitaire, Swainson's Thrush, American Robin, Red-breasted Nuthatch, House Wren, Tree, Violet-green, Barn & Cliff Swallows, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Mountain Chickadee, House Sparrow, Pine Siskin, Cassin's Finch, Red Crossbill, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, MacGillivray's Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Savannah Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Green-tailed Towhee, Western Tanager, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark and Brewer's Blackbird.

Friday, June 28, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day  
This morning I had some well defined objectives before heading home: 1) visit Rendezvous Mountain for Black Rosy Finch, 2) visit Signal Mountain for Blue Grouse 3) do some casual birding at Sawmill Ponds, one of my favorite places to bird in the park. The first tram up Rendezvous Mountain wasn't until 9:00am so I had some time to work with.

I started on Signal Mountain at 6:15am, long before any tourists were up there. Near the top I encountered A perched PEREGRINE FALCON, perhaps in a location were it roosted. 

Last year at this time I saw a very cooperative displaying male at the top of the mountain. Although I didn't see that bird today, I could hardly complain about lack of cooperation from this BLUE GROUSE. I first spotted the bird feeding in the grass and started taking shots from a distance, moving a little closer each time, just in case the bird took off. I need not have bothered because, eventually, I was able to get very close to the bird. While taking this shot, I could easily have reached out to touch it.  In the end I was swinging my arms around trying to get rid of mosquitoes and the bird never flinched even though I was only 3 feet away. Amazing! Here's a sequence of shots of this very cooperative bird:  photo #2  photo #3  photo #4. Other birds noted here included CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, SWAINSON'S THRUSH, WESTERN TANAGER, GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE and PINE SISKIN. 

Here's a partial view of the Tetons from Signal Mountain (hey, one lousy scenery shot from the whole trip, so sue me). If this fails to inspire, check your pulse.

I spent far more time on Signal Mountain than I had envisaged and I didn't have much time left to bird at Sawmill Ponds. Not that it mattered much because activity here was disappointingly low. Highlights were CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER and a MOOSE. On the drive over to Teton Village I added WILLOW FLYCATCHER.

I've visited Rendezvous Mountain a number of times before and have always managed to see Black Rosy Finch there, albeit sometimes at a distance. In June of last year a hike over to Cody Bowl produced excellent looks at a couple of birds and I wanted to check the same area today. When I reached the top of the mountain I was a little dismayed to see how much snow was still covering the trail but I decided to try anyway, which perhaps was a mistake. I ended up in very deep snow a couple of times and fell even more times. On one occasion I twisted my ankle and the 1.5 mile return walk carrying my back pack and scope was extremely slow and painful. [Several hours later I could hardly walk at all but now (Saturday pm) I'm starting to recover.] To make matters worse I didn't find Black Rosy Finch and lost one of the feet (spikes) from my tripod. Other than that it was the perfect end to my trip.

Seriously, it was worth the $15 ticket and the foot pain just to be in such a beautiful and inspiring place. I think that I may have been a Black Rosy Finch in a previous life (or maybe I'll be one in the next). They get to live in a wild and scenic location where it never gets too hot and there are few people. My kind of place.

This was the first real opportunity to test my new GPS unit on a walking expedition. It told me that I walked 1.5 miles starting at almost 10,500 feet, dropped down to 9,750 feet and climbed back up again to 10,000 feet at the "Rosy Finch" spot; in other words, uphill both ways! Unfortunately, it was completely unable to lead me to the Rosy Finches so I'll be calling Magellan to complain that their technology really stinks.

Birds are pretty sparse in this environment (I lied about the scenery shots) and I was really surprised to see a WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE up here. More typical and expected species included CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, COMMON RAVEN, TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, AMERICAN PIPIT and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW.

I was back in my vehicle at the bottom of the mountain at 1:00pm and with more than just a little sadness began the journey home. My original plan had been to head south through western Wyoming to spend a little time in the Uinta Mountains of Utah, taking two days to get home. However, with the pain in my foot I wanted to minimize brake and accelerator use so I headed west over Teton Pass into Idaho and picked up I-15 in Idaho Falls. I drove directly home and arrived at 9:30am on Saturday morning. The journey of 960 miles took 20 1/2 hours including a couple of 1 hour snooze breaks.

Since leaving home on June 19, I traveled a total of 4940 miles and birded in Montana (4 days), North Dakota (2 days)  and Wyoming (2 days); and traveled through Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Nebraska (some birding), New Mexico and South Dakota. I recorded a fairly low total of 162 species (see trip list that also includes links to all photos), visited some familiar places, found some new places; and best of all, I wasn't in Southeast Arizona during a particularly hot and dry year when many birding locations are closed (now including Patagonia Sanctuary and the San Pedro river). We had some thunderstorm activity over the Huachucas on Saturday afternoon so, hopefully, the monsoons may just be arriving on time.

I now have a couple of days to recover before resuming work on July 2. I heard a quote somewhere while on the road that nobody on their death bed has been known to say "I wish that I'd spent more time at the office". However, in my case this may not be true.

This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Friday, June 28, 2002.

Species List

Stuart Healy Journal - June, 2002 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

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