Day Three: Birding and Hiking Around SLO

Day three in Pismo Beach again dawned with blue skies, sunshine, and temperatures reaching the mid to upper 70s. It was another day for birding and hiking, and our first stop in the morning was to the Oceano Campground where a summer tanager has been seen recently. No luck with the tanager, but I did see my first tree swallow (139) of the year, with about a half dozen more to follow later in the day. The other interesting sighting at the campground was an odd trio of geese: a snow goose, a cackling goose, and a greater white-fronted goose, all hanging out together. There were some domestic geese nearby, but I thought it was interesting these three “loners” were hanging out all together:

Right across the street from the campground was the county park where we had a brief lunch on day one, and I wanted to go back and take a closer look at the bird life. That turned out to be a very good idea! One of the first birds I saw was an eared grebe (140), a species I tried and failed to get on the year list last year. It also turned out to be one of four grebe species on the same lake – there were also pied-billed grebes, two western grebes, and a single Clark's grebe (141). It was a nice opportunity to make a direct comparison between the western and Clark's – the most obvious distinction between them is whether the white on the face goes over or under the eye (click for larger view):

I found another great species in the scrub on the far side of the lake – an adult and an immature black-crowned night-heron (142). I always love seeing this species, and with the birds seemingly having deserted their former roosting site along the Columbia River in Portland, a this species was not a “gimme” this year.

Many of the birds from the previous visit were still there: hundreds of gulls (mostly western and California), mallards, Brewer's blackbirds, great-tailed grackles, and hundreds of coot. The coot were everywhere along the central coast, and it's easy to overlook a bird you see in great numbers. But when given a closer look, they're a pretty nice looking species too:

Next up we headed south to Oso Flaco Lake, where there's a boardwalk hike that goes through the forest, across the lake, and into the sand dunes that stretch along the coast south of Pismo Beach. Another rare bird had been reported here – a black-and-white warbler – but apparently I used up my twitching luck on the caracara the day before because this one wasn't to be either. There were some other species, however, that haven't quite made it to Washington on their northbound spring migration just yet. I saw a few more tree swallows, lots of yellow-rumped warbles, and my first orange-crowned warbler (143) of the season. There was also a single female American goldfinch (144), a large flock of chestnut-backed chickadees, and another Nuttall's woodpecker hanging out in the deciduous woods at the beginning of the trail.

Next, the boardwalk crossed the lake, where the most common species was the ruddy duck (about 75 of them), along with some northern shoveler, coot, gadwall, double-crested cormorants, and the only bufflehead we saw on the trip.

We wound our way through the sand dunes next, and I can only imagine what it must look like when all the lupine bushes on this part of the beach are in bloom. It was pretty quiet bird-wise, but we heard something when we stopped to look at a western scrub-jay, and it turned out to be a California thrasher (145)! This was a species we both especially hoped to see after reading about it on an interpretive sign at the Elfin Forest the day before, and with it's sharply down-curved beak it was an impressive bird to look at. In addition to being my 35^th year bird of the trip (!!!) it was also a life bird for me.

The trail went over one last dune before going down out of the beach grass and lupine bushes and onto the beach itself. We walked a little in the deep sand, but it was slow and difficult going, and that along with the strong winds had us turning back before too long and back-tracking our way back to the car.

As we crossed back over the lake, I paused when I heard an unmistakable sound coming from the reeds. It was a yellow-headed blackbird (146)! I'm confident this was what I heard as nothing else sounds quite like it, but I found out later this is an unusual species to see here, and was likely only stopping over here while migrating further north.

From Oso Flaco Lake, we drove inland and up into the rolling green hills to Lopez Lake Recreation Area. The area is popular with campers and fishers, and with all its hiking trails we hoped it would be good for birding, too. The first birds we saw there were also there for the fish – a hundred or more double-crested cormorants, dozens of western grebes, 18 pied-billed grebes (the most I've ever seen in one place), and a pair of osprey (147).

There wasn't much in the way of walking trails along the lake, so we started following a trail up into the hills, the muscles in my legs complaining the whole way after the Bishop Peak hike of the day before. As the temperatures reached 80 or so, along with the lack of wind, it was pretty warm for this northwest gal, but in the shade of an oak grove in a valley between two hills it was the perfect temperature. While stopping to enjoy this break from the heat, we spotted the first of several acorn woodpeckers (148), and watched them as they worked acorns into holes in the trunk of the oak trees:

Continuing up the hill, we heard a band-tailed pigeon (149) calling, and saw lots of turkey vultures circling the bluff above. They must like to glide on the thermals created around such peaks? There were also a lot of them around Bishop Peak the day before.

We came to a lot of broken rock that fell across the trail, and it was cool to see the fossilized remnants of shells on a lot of the pieces – evidence of a very different variety of fauna that inhabited this region in a bygone era:

The trail looked like it continued back into the hills and away from the view, so we stopped to take in the vista of Lopez Lake before heading back down to the car:

We stopped in the oak grove again on the way back down to take another look at the acorn woodpeckers. While there, I heard a different call that sounded like an off-kilter chickadee. It took a moment to locate the source of the sound: an oak titmouse (150)! My second life bird of the day. Unfortunately they were too far away for pictures, but there were at least three of them up among the upper branches. It was cool to see both acorn woodpeckers and oak titmice in the oak grove, species that are known for associating with that particular tree.

By this point, it was late afternoon, and we were warm and thirsty. We headed back to San Luis Obispo where we went to the tasting room at Tap It Brewing and enjoyed their IPA and APA (American Pale Ale) offerings along with a sneak preview of their summer seasonal ale. Then, it was back to the hotel in time to continue happy hour on the deck and take in another spectacular central coast sunset. Life is rough, eh?

Orcas Island Birthday Weekend ~ Part 1

Yesterday (Sunday) was my birthday, and this year I got an extended celebration with a weekend trip to a nearby Orcas Island. When we got on the ferry on Friday afternoon it was pouring rain, and I figured that at least we had a nice cabin to stay in and watch the showers if that's what the weekend had in store. By the time we pulled in to the Orcas ferry landing, however, it had slowed to a drizzle, and by the time we drove to Cascade Lake the rain had stopped altogether. We decided to hike the 2.7 mile trail around the lake, and the weather mostly held off. There were still lots of low-lying clouds hanging in the trees around the lake, making for some especially scenic (and iconic Pacific Northwest) views.

There were lots of Pacifc wrens, golden-crowned kinglets, dark-eyed junocs, and chestnut-backed chickadees in the woods. We even saw a bald eagle fly out of the forest, but the lake itself was pretty empty until we came to this bridge that separated the main part of the lake from a smaller offshoot. In this more protected cove we saw a flock of about twenty ring-necked ducks, four hooded mergansers, and three pied-billed grebes. Nearby were also some bufflehead and double-crested cormorants.

As we neared the end of the hike, we noticed it was getting lighter. As the sun was getting lower in the sky, it started to shine through a break in the clouds, changing the scene from the foggy one above to the bright one below:

The reflections in the water were really amazing: the near-perfect mirror image of the scenery was only disturbed the water droplets falling from the branches, creating a ripple effect across the surface. Once we got back to the car, the late afternoon light was especially stunning.

We got to our cabin just before sunset proper, and settled in for a nice evening including a spaghetti dinner, a fire in the wood stove, and a dip in the outdoor hot tub where the only sound you could hear was the gentle waves crashing on the nearby shoreline.

Despite a forecast for rain, I was thrilled when we woke up the next morning and the clouds started to clear shortly after sunrise. After going out for a nice breakfast, we made our way up Mt. Constitution, the highest point in the San Juan Islands at about 2,400 feet. There were still some clouds up there, and the summit was actually above the clouds, which again made for some interesting, ever-changing views.

Even up here the sun was starting to work its way through the clouds:

There wasn't a lot of bird activity up here. We heard a common raven, a flock of red crossbills flew by a couple of times, and we heard and saw several Pacific wrens. The wrens sure seem to be around in great numbers right now! They're one tiny forest dweller.

After our excursion to Mt. Constitution we decided to spend the rest of the day at the cabin. There were some hiking trails on the property there and a great view out the front windows into a secluded bay. Next up - some wildlife and scenic highlights from around the cabin!

The Land of the Midnight Sun

Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Population: 35,132

Here we are in Fairbanks, and this is as far north as we will make it on this trip into the Land of the Midnight Sun, as Alaska is so appropriately known (at least for half the year). Looking at a map it is amazing to see where we are, and I have been thinking about it in different ways as I try to fully absorb being in this place.

We are less than 200 miles from the Arctic Circle, the line where on the summer solstice the sun will not set at all.

In terms of latitude and longitude, we are at 65˚ N and 148˚ W (compared to 49˚ N and 123˚ W in the San Juan Islands). Every degree of latitude is always 69 miles, but as you approach the North Pole the distance between degrees of longitude is reduced – from more than 40 miles per degree in the San Juan Islands to less than 30 miles per degree here (think about how all the lines of longitude on a globe converge at the top and bottom at the poles). As a result, we are so far west that if we were to head due south we would run into the Hawaiian Islands. Isn’t that strange?? I was surprised to learn that.

Today, the sun will set at 12:20 AM and will rise at 3:17 AM. It basically hasn't gotten dark for more than a week now. We've seen swallows catching insects at 10:30 PM. We've heard robins singing after 11:00 PM. I wonder how and when animals decide to sleep when it is so light all the time? Perhaps, like me, they just sleep less this time of year, too tempted by the lure to be active during daylight. How about those animals that are normally nocturnal?

I wanted to post a picture taken at midnight to show how light it is, but that will have to wait for now since last night I fell asleep before then (those shorter nights catch up with you at some point!). So here is a picture I took at Marsh Lake in the Yukon after 10 at night on May 27th, with the sun still shining on the mountain peaks:

Our drive to Fairbanks was relatively uneventful, and since we had a good number of miles to cover from Valdez we didn’t make a lot of stops. The highlight was a stretch of highway where we saw four moose, including our first male with a growing pair of antlers.

The weather remained cloudy for our drive, and instead of seeing the tops of the mountains we saw the sides of the mountains and a low layer of clouds that hung ominously above. This photo shows the fog covering most of Rainbow Mountain, which is known for its slopes made up of various minerals giving it colors that range from red to black and from blue to yellow:

We had our first thunderstorm as we pulled into Fairbanks. It's amazing how after a couple of weeks of being in the remote areas of the north and visiting the smaller communities, 30,000 seems like A LOT of people. It's somewhat of a culture shock to see fast food restaurants, freeways, traffic lights!

The rain has stayed with us into today, for which the people here are thankful. They are talking about how much their gardens need the water, and how rain is better than the smoke that would accompany potential wildfires. We didn’t let the wet deter us from going out and doing some birding on our full day here. We saw a pair of sandhill cranes and a flock of Canada geese out in a field, with some cliff swallows flying overhead. American robins and yellow warblers were singing all over the place. We saw a few slate-colored dark-eyed juncos, a different race from the dark-eyed juncos we see most often in Oregon and Washington. Where are all the birds unique to the north? We got one, as courtesy of my dad’s iBird Pro application on his phone we were able to confirm the singing of several northern waterthrushes (year bird 194, NA life bird 326) – cool!

As we drove back from dinner tonight the weather finally started to clear and as we crested a hill we saw a mountain peak in the distance - Mt. McKinley! The tallest peak in North America looked big even from 120 miles away. It is only visible about a third of the time, so I was worried we might not even get to see it at all. Now I'm hoping we'll get a closer look, as tomorrow we head towards Denali National Park.

The Stunning Klondike Highway

Location: Skagway, Alaska
Population: 892

Today we actually headed south along the Klondike Highway which connects Whitehorse of the Yukon to Skagway, Alaska. It's a good thing we didn't have as many miles to cover today, because we had to stop a lot to take in the breath-taking scenery. The road traverses the southern lakes region of the Yukon, so you're looking at a winding series of lakes surrounded by the boreal forest with snow-capped mountain peaks surrounding it all.

The wildlife was comparatively sparse today, though we did see a cinnamon phase black bear. We also saw our first Arctic ground squirrel of the trip, as well as our first mountain goats far away up on the rocky slopes. Not many birds to speak of, though as you'll see the landscapes more than made up for that.

Our first stop was Emerald Lake, which reflects all kinds of amazing greens and blues due to the presence of marl, or a calcium carbonate clay-like substance on the bottom of the lake that forms when limestone dissolves and reacts with the calcium in the water. The scene was completed by the eerie calling of a pair of common loons that nests on the lake, a sound that echoed off the hills and evoked a true feeling of wilderness. Listen to the wail call here if you're not familiar with it.

Our next stop was the supposed smallest desert in the world, measuring in at about one square mile: the Carcross desert. It wasn't a true desert, since we aren't in dry climate here, but it was very strange to see sand dunes in the middle of the forests and mountains. The sand was mostly deposited by the silt that dropped out of melting glaciers when the region was a lake formed by an ice dam during the end of the last ice age. The desert is in a small rainshadow, which has allowed a unique micro-climate to form here. There are several unique plant and insect species that live in this little desert-like area:

One of the best stops of the day was at Windy Arm, a branch of Tagish Lake that was not living up to its namesake today. The water was glassy calm, making for some amazing reflections in the water:

We then climbed up into the mountains where there was snow alongside the road and some of the lakes were still mostly frozen. This was especially amazing considering we were experiencing the warmest temperatures of the trip and record highs for the region in the upper 70s! I would never expected such warm weather up here at this time of year, but here we are wearing shorts and driving with the windows down through the Yukon.

Then, after seven days of traveling, we made it to Alaska! I'm amazed at all we've seen in Canada before arriving here: 87 bird species and 13 mammal species, including 16 black bears! Now, what will Alaska bring?

The Northern BC Rockies

No internet yesterday, so for now, here's an update I wrote from yesterday, Tuesday the 25th....

Location: Muncho Lake, British Columbia
Population: 20

Have I mentioned that British Columbia is huge? I know I said so yesterday but it really is hard to believe that we often transit through British Columbia on our whale watching trips out of Friday Harbor and that after four long days of travel we are still in this amazing province. I see on the map where we are, but it is hard to grasp being at 59 degrees latitude, with much further north to go! It does the soul a lot of good to see so much untouched land, and to think that we’re seeing the most developed of it on the only main highway for hundreds of miles around. Over the years we all see and hear a lot about the world’s environmental issues, and I don’t want to belittle them because I worry about them a lot, but today was a perfect example of how there is a lot of raw wilderness left, and that all has not been lost.

They call this region the Serengeti of the North and with good reason. Black bears. Mule deer. Elk. Moose. Woodland caribou. Caribou!! And this isn’t even Alaska yet. I am just awestruck at the sheer beauty of this place. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, since they capture it for me better than words as this point.

For the first part of the day the highway look like this:

Along this stretch of highway we spotted another moose, and this time she stayed long enough for me to take a photo:

Soon we started our climb into the Rocky Mountains, and for a while it seemed like there was wildlife around every corner. Elk - like this mom and her youngster:

We saw five black bears. This was my favorite photo from today:

We saw a couple of woodland caribou. I really didn't expect to see caribou until Alaska if at all, and I didn't know there were two types of caribou (the other type is the barren ground caribou). Here is a young male who was licking the rocks for salt alongside the road:

Whenever there weren't animals that demanded my attention, the scenery was breath-taking. Here is one example of the still mostly frozen Summit Lake, with snow-capped peaks in the background:

Today we covered part of the most remote stretch of the Alaska Highway. There are miles and miles of nothing but road, and when you come to a "town" it's nothing more than a hotel and a gas station, if it is open at all. Our stop-over for the night was the Northern Rockies Lodge on Muncho Lake.

Before leaving Fort St. John this morning, we saw a lake with Bonaparte's gulls and black terns (year bird 176) circling overhead. When we arrived at Muncho Lake, this gray jay (177) met us at our cabin:

Muncho Lake is a beautiful aqua color due to suspended copper oxide left as rock dust by receding glaciers. If you don't want to drive all the way to the lake, you can catch a float plane in from Vancouver, as many fly-fishers do for a weekend getaway. Here was an early evening float plane taking off in front of the beautiful mountains that encircle the lake: