Targets met and exceeded!

As of my last posting almost a year ago I had just reached my goal of 250 birds for Humboldt County and 300 birds for California, and I had made a list of some target birds for the state I hoped to find over the summer. I'd added 9 more species to reach 260 for the county by the time Jill and I left Humboldt . Several of those species were on my target list for California as well. The newbies for the county were a Sage Thrasher, Dusky Flycatcher, Townsend's Solitaire, Western Wood-pewee, Willow Flycatcher, Solitary Sandpiper, Pigeon Guillemot, Lazuli Bunting, and Yellow-breasted Chat.

Jill and I spent the summer in Truckee working with Western Willow Flycatchers throughout the central Sierra Nevada. I was there from the last week in May through the first week in August. Jill stayed through the third week in August. Then took a roadtrip home.

It was a blast. We really enjoyed working in the mountain meadows. We saw lots of animals, like weasels, bears, and beavers, and of course many bird species. I added 23 species for California and actually had a longer California list than Texas list for a few months. Two of the species were lifers: Pinyon Jay, an old nemesis bird of mine that I never could seem to track down, and not one, but two Yellow Rails in Plumas County at the base of Lassen Peak. The rest of the species were mainly sage desert species from the east side of the Sierra or the White Mountains, or species that in California are more common in the mountains. The sage desert species included Chukar, Gray Flycatcher, Juniper Titmouse, Pinyon Jay, Sage Sparrow and Green-tailed Towhee. Some of the mountain species were Northern Goshawk, Lewis's Woodpecker, Cassin's Finch, Evening Grosbeak and Olive-sided Flycatcher.