Grasshopper Sparrow Hunt

Went birding this morning along Meiss Road. As I drove east on Sunrise Boulevard I got a glimpse of a shiny pelt and my heart nearly stopped - was that a RIVER OTTER??!!!

Unfortunately it was - a dead River Otter. Not too gruesome, but decided not to post the poor thing's photo (yes, I took photos, what of it?). It was amazing to see such a gorgeous critter, one of nature's cheeriest and fun loving, out there dead on the roadside because it tried to cross the road. And to see one so close to civilization was, impressive, yet as it was dead, sobering. Little Otter, hope your spirit runs wild and free.Now!

Following the depressing discovery I made my way to Meiss Road where I go fairly frequently these days. My goal of the day was to find the every-elusive Grasshopper Sparrow. I've seen them before but never in California. There were lots of birds along the rutted dirt road.

Cranky, overheated Western Meadowlark.

One of the usual Meiss Road residents, a Horned Lark

Amazingly, there was even a glorified 'bug'. Oh yeah, I know it's not a bug, it's an dragonfly, another 6-leggedy thing altogether. Heck, when I was a kid in the Bronx we called them 'darning needles'.

Found it! It's a Common Whitetail with uncommon good looks- I mean, for a BUG
And just when I thought I'd have to come back another day, there it was, sitting on a metal fence post - a Grasshopper Sparrow! TADA!

Grasshopper Sparrow

Love the double yellow stripes on its flat topped noggin

I was thrilled to get off three shots of this bird before it took off. It was a cooperative little imp, it didn't budge while I maneuvered my birding blind (known to you as my Honda) to allow a good camera angle. Really, that was one sweet, aiming to please little fellow. That bird has a nest someplace out in the grassy meadow. Good luck with your family young Grasshopper!

Tahoe Redux

Day two of birding Tahoe started at the Donner Memorial State Park. Surprisingly, I've never visited the park before so I hardly kicked or screamed at all when Don recommended walking a park trail.

Donner Memorial State Park
The grassy pine forest on either side of the trail was filled with icy cold snow melt. Despite which, there were flocks of hundreds of little Pine Siskins hopping about.

One out of 100 Pine Siskins
A tiny little Mountain Chickadee landed near me, and ignoring me, busied itself, digging.

Not sure a big staring human is necessary...

Some of the trail was washed out by winter flooding but happily, wooden bridges were still serviceable.

Creekity  bridge over a swift creek

I was thrilled to finally get some good photos of Red-breasted Sapsuckers that explored nesting holes in a giant Lodgepole pine.

Our next birding stop was Squaw Valley, which is currently open for the ski season. High up on the slopes we could spot skiers shushing down the mountain.

Squaw Valley Olympic Village

Rocky craigs at Squaw Valley

There were zero birds at Squaw Valley so we headed over to Alpine Meadows where we could hear a bird singing. Before long a tiny bird could be spotted, singing its heart out at the top of a pine. It was a Sage Sparrow - no, really, a Sage Sparrow, no where near low land chaparral, but there was, to be truthful, plenty of sage on the mountain slopes.

The Arrow points to a birdie - see it?

Ok, not the best, but that bird was way the heck off in the distance

We visited our favorite meadow, which is along Alpine Meadows Road, and although it was past noon and there were few birds out, Don spotted a HUMONGOUS Bald Eagle winging its way east. Sadly I wasn't fast enough to get a shot of the impressive eagle.

After a leisurely lunch, during which Evening Grosbeaks were most notably absent, we drove south along the California side of Lake Tahoe. The scenery was, as always awesome. There was what I was certain was a glacier, but a closer look revealed it to be a a beautiful waterfall, composed of a white

torrent of snow melt.

See the white streak in the distance?

Close up of the wild white torrent of snow melt

On a hunch, instead of heading directly back to Sacramento, we headed back to our first stop of the previous day - Ice House Road. This time we trudged all the way to the top of the mountain, for a look at Loon Lake, where a huge Osprey soared over the ice covered lake.

Ice covered lake off Ice House Mountain Road

The top of the mountain was so pretty, and the ice covered lake - magical! I can hardly believe I'm less than an hour away from such beauty. Nice end to a two day birding spree.

Tahoe Time

The only things blooming on Ice House Road were Dogwood Trees

You know, those birds  don't just watch themselves, so it is time to loosen up the dust on the annual birding lists. So, bright and early, so I threw a picnic bin in the trunk and with birder buddy Don, headed east. Soon we were buzzing along Ice House Road in Placer County. Ice House Road is great for me, the  closest alpine/montane habitat I can access. The birding gods were a bit stingy this trip, but the scenery is always great and sometimes a little Chipping Sparrow serenades you.

Chipping Sparrow, chipping out its little Springtime serenade
Trying not to jinx ourselves, we drove over to Markleeville, where we now annually look for the 'ever elusive' Pinyon Jay. You know Pinyon Jays - the little blue jaybird that has successfully evaded Don and myself for our entire lives. How do those birds even know we're looking for them, huh? Mind boggling, I can tell you.

No Pinyon Jays, but Don spotted some little Pygmy Nuthatches that seemed fond of an old wooden fence post. Turned out the little imps were interested in a knot hole in the post.

The Pygmy Nuthatches were interested in a knot hole in the old fence post"

Indian Creek Reservoir
We checked out a mountain road that led to a pond sized Curtis Lake where a few ducks and coots paddled about. Farther along we found Indian Creek Reservoir. There we found a few White Pelicans and a lot of little Eared Grebe. There were a lot of California Quail skittering about like over sized gray mice.

This little guy sports a nice herringbone grey suit
Something the Reservoir area has loads of are dead trees. Sounds awful at first, but for small birds, dead trees are like beautiful condos, up for grabs. And there were loads of small birds interested in every little nook and cranny on the snags.

Mountain Chickadees check out accommodations

A Western Bluebird wondering if it wants to build a home near noisy Chickadees

Yet another neighbor in the same snag - a Violet-green Swallow

Clark's Nutcracker
One of the fun things today was it was my first opportunity to try out a new iPhone app, called eBird. That handy little app allows me to post bird sightings, for my records and for other birders to know what is out there, while I'm still out in the field. Normally I post what what I've seen on eBird at home on my computer. There is nothing like enjoying yourself and making a small contribution to the record keeping that aids modern birding. Sort of like carrying out one's very own mini-Christmas Bird Counts. How about that? Now you can bird, play & contribute to birding knowledge, all in one fell swoop.