This trip wasn't really planned, it just happened as a result of circumstances. I'd initially planned to visit Maine for my June getaway (as a six week driving tour) but cancelled because of the high cost of gas. I decided to spend those six weeks in the White Mountains of Arizona but I abandoned that after a little over two weeks because of high temperatures, fires and forest closures. I bummed around home for a while then decided to head to somewhere cooler -- Wyoming .

I've visited Wyoming a number times before, including June of the past three years (2001-2003). Consequently, hard target birding for lifers was not an objective. I focused on grassland species, woodpeckers and high elevation finches, etc. Other than Blue Grouse (which I failed to find), I didn't look for grouse at all.

I spent from June 22 to July 2 in the state, generally working a counterclockwise loop from the southeast corner (Cheyenne and Laramie areas) to the northeast (Gillette, the Black Hills and Devils Tower), then west across the top of the state to Sheridan/Story through the Bighorn Mountains to Cody then north to the Beartooth Highway. I then headed south and spent a couple of days in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. I finished up by continuing south to Fontenelle Reservoir, Seedskadee NWR and the Pinyon Juniper country south of Rock Springs; and finally to Evanston in the southwest corner.

Temperatures were generally mild throughout the entire period. The high mountains were cool and low elevations were not really warm at all. I encountered some rain, a few snow flakes and very little wind. All in all, it couldn't really have been much better from a weather standpoint.

The birding was quite productive everywhere that I went and I saw a total of 163 species. The only rarity that I found was White-winged Crossbill and I'm beginning to doubt whether it really is a rarity or not. I posted the sighting to the Wyoming birding list and it didn't evoke a single comment. They are either a very apathetic bunch or the bird is really as common as dirt (I don't think so). The highlights of the trip for me were the high elevation birds, especially Black Rosy-Finches and Pine Grosbeaks.

The trip log has the day to day details and the trip list shows all the species that I recorded (with a few location details, # individuals, etc.). You can also view all of the bird photos that I took from the list as well as from the newly released "Trip Photo Log" feature in the photo gallery.

The references that I used were "A Birder's Guide to Wyoming" by Oliver K Scott (I purchased this book in 1993 when it was first released and have used it numerous times) and "Finding The Birds of Jackson Hole" by Bert Raynes and Darwin Wile, 1994; (purchased in 2001). The former is now seriously out of date. If anyone wants more details about these books, please contact me privately.