Willow Creek Campground - Lakeview, OR

I spent the last 5 days at Willow Creek Campground about 16 miles east of Lakeview. A nice secluded campground filled with Pine and Aspen trees. You can stay 14 days free of charge. It has 2 pit toilets and a pump for water but the handle was missing. I don't know if it was vandalism or if it was removed by Forest Service for the season.

As you can see the Aspen are in changing to their beautiful fall colors of yellow and orange! Along one side of the campground was Willow Creek. Only a couple of feet wide with pink spotted Brook trout darting about. I used grasshoppers and caught a few. All were 5-9 inches. I turned them all loose! There was pretty good birding along the creek. The downside, for some, is there is no cell service. I even 4 wheeled up the side of a mountain on an old logging road to where I could see a cell tower in the distance. Still no service! You might wonder how I ended up in such a remote place. It is still to hot to go south and Amy's son was headed to this area to deer hunt. He has been encouraging me to come along for several years so off I went. It is about 7.5 miles on gravel road to the campground. A bit washboard in places but overall not bad and as you can see it was a beautiful spot!

Lahontan Reservoir Recreation Area

I am at Lahontan Reservoir again this year! The water is the lower than on any of my other visits! There is 1 developed camping area but there are miles of beach to camp on. I chose this spot as it is away from the more crowded areas!

Lots of campers, boaters and fishermen around the lake! Any fish caught should not be eaten as they have a very high level of mercury. The mercury is from all the mining done in the past. I prefer a catch and eat method!

Birding at Fort Churchill

I am out everyday doing my bird thing. In the evenings and during the night, I have been hearing a short repetitive raspy screech! I listened to all the local night bird calls on several birding apps but none sounded like what I was hearing so last night, I decided to hunt it down. I slowly worked my was thru the woods as the sun was setting. To my surprise, there was a Great Horned Owl sitting on a limb about 6 feet off the ground making the noise! I slowly backed away and left it to its screeching! None of my birding apps has that call for a Great Horned Owl so I may head out again tonight and record it. I did have a great bird hike this morning. I identified 38 species and got some great pics! A couple of my favorites are this Great Egret in mid step with its refection below.

Another is this Mourning Dove sitting on a barb wire fence with a cow, slightly out of focus, behind it!

While glassing over a small flock of White-crowned Sparrows, I spotted this female Lazuli Bunting!

As you can see, like many female birds, she is drab in color!  This is great camouflage that protects her and her young from predators when she is sitting on a nest! To see more pics and a complete list of today's birds, click here: Fort Churchill ebird list

Fort Churchill State Park Silver Springs, NV

As beautiful as the Twin Lakes area is, I decided it was time for new scenery. It is still too hot to head south so I went back north! I am now at Samuel Buckland's campground in Fort Churchill State Park. This campground is an oasis in the desert! Looking at the below pics, you will see what I mean!

That is part of the remains of the fort. It was an Army fort built to protect settlers and also a Pony Express station.

Here is my campsite. Lots of large Cottonwood trees. Most sites are very shady but I chose one that has lots of sun for the solar panels plus my rear windows face away from other campsites and toward the Carson river! It is $15 per night. It has pit toilets and plenty of potable water spigots! It also has a dump station that can be used at no additional cost!

Here is the Carson River. This time of year the rivers run pretty low in the desert! It flows from Carson City and into Lahonton Reservoir where I stayed on last years trip. Daytime temps are in the 80's and night time near 50.

Hiking for an overview picture!

I have been wondering what kind of view I would have if I hiked the hill beside the campground!

 I started out planning to climb to the top but when I arrived at the big boulder, circled in black, I decided that would be a good place to stop. I did not realized that it was on a bench so I was only 2/3 of the way to the top. Here is a pic looking back at the campground. I am using large pictures so you can see the details!

Here is a view of Twin Lakes. Upper Twin Lake is barely visible in the background. The two lakes are connected by a narrow channel.

There were 3 things that would have made the hike easier. 1. Wear boots and not tennis shoes as they quickly filled with rocks! 2. Hike in the morning not the hottest part of the day! 3. Take my hiking stick for stability on loose gravel slopes!

Awesome Twin Lakes Birding

Started this morning with 3 Great-horned Owls hooting and flying treetop to treetop around my campsite! I tried adding a video of an owl hooting but it would not play to here are a couple still pics.

The owl below leaned forward and lifted its tail to hoot! I had never seen that before but they were all doing it!

I tried adding the video to my ebird list but even though the site claims to support MP4 files, it would not accept the file! I identified 31 species on today's walk. There are 2 lists for today as the owls are on a separate one. They came by before the sun cleared the ridge so it is a bit dark! Here are a couple pics from today.

 A Clark's Nutcracker. There were lots of these eating seeds from pine cones.

A Green-tailed Towhee. To see a complete list of today's birds and more pics, click here: Twin Lakes bird list

Twin Lakes-Bridgeport,CA

I will be spending the next couple days here at Twin Lakes. There are 6 Federal campgrounds in this area. Some are along Robinson Creek, which is the creek that flows out of the Twin Lakes basin. I chose one closest to the lakes and without reservations. It is $23 ($11.50 with my Senior discount) per night with paved sites, pit toilets and potable water. All sites along the creek were taken but I have plenty of sun for solar panels and great phone connectivity! This is the view toward the lake.

This is the view of the campground. It is slightly above 7000 ft with daytime time temps in the 70's and night time temps in the 30's!

I took a bird walk along the creek and up to the lake. The creek is so clear, that you can see the bottom of the creek at any point. The lake is almost as clear.

I stopped at a fish cleaning station where a man was cleaning a 4.5 lb rainbow trout! The largest he has ever caught. There is a little store nearby where you can get all the basics like bread, milk and liquor! I was able to ID 23 bird species and get a few good pics like these of a red-tailed hawk.

To see more pics and a complete list of today's birds, click here: Twin Lakes bird list

Davis Creek County Park- Washoe City, NV

I left Howard's Gulch this morning and drove about 200 miles to Davis Creek Campground. It is another beautiful campground in the midst of tall pine trees! It is $25 a night with no hookups but it does have flush toilets, Potable water and showers! All RV spots are paved and fairly level. you might have trouble finding one to fit a large RV but my little Bigfoot fits just fine.

There is a 1.7 miles hiking trail that wanders around and thru the camp. I birded part of it and identified 16 species which included 3 types of nuthatches and 3 types of woodpeckers, one of which is this White-headed Woodpecker!

I'll be on the road early tomorrow. I will have to take a look at a map to determine my next camp site!

Howard's Gulch-Canby, CA

I spent last night at Howard's Gulch in the same site as I camped on last years trip. It is a beautiful small campground but has is no phone reception. I hiked the local  trail which was a little over 1 mile long. It wandered below some great rock walls as it circled a hilltop.

Part way around it would of had a great view of Canby if it were not for the forest fire smoke!

I decided to take a different route south, from last year, and drive a little further to avoid the smoke. It also avoided a winding road and some steep inclines. I did get to ID a Nuttall's Woodpecker, a first for this ebird hotspot!

Bee-ware

When walking thru the woods at the end of a hot dry summer, beware of your surroundings! I noticed several bee's nest while birding today! This bald-faced hornets nest was very close to the path and about head high!

 In this close up pic you can see the hornets busy adding to the nest.

Fortunately this one was easy to spot and avoid unlike the in-ground yellow jacket nest I stumbled upon at Waxmyrtle Campground on the coast! They introduced themselves with several burning stings. They made it clear that I was not welcome in their territory and I quickly fled to a safe distance. The burning only lasted a couple minutes but the itching lasted for over a week!

I did see a number of birds on my walk including this Cooper's Hawk which was on a perch over looking the river.

Birding in the timbered areas has slowed significantly since I visited here a couple months ago but the lakes and marshes are teeming with birds gathering up for their winter trip. I will be following them south shortly!

Collier Memorial State Park

This morning I walked the trails around Collier Memorial State Park. Although my main reason was to look for birds, I struggled to stay focused as my senses were bombarded by all the wonder surrounding me!

There was the crashing in the trees as squirrels dropped pine cones to store for winter. Colorful butterflies, leaping grasshoppers and yellow jacket wasps were going in every direction! I could hear the splashing of fish as they leaped to catch insects in the nearby river. The smell of pine trees and sagebrush mixed with campfire smoke filled the air.

Despite the forest fire smoke, the sky was beautifully blue and the sun shone on all the forest making the dozens of shades of green almost glow! Even though I refer to myself as a birder, I think a more fitting term is “Outdoors-man”. I think that term better fits most people who call themselves, hunters, fishermen, rock hounds or bird watchers! Those activities are just motivators to get us off the couch and into the great outdoors!

As much as I would like to be able communicate with others the wonders of the outdoors or the mixed sense of excitement and serenity I feel when I am out there, I just don't believe the words exist. I truly believe that every person needs to take time to step away from the rush of everyday life and be amazed at what nature has to offer! Out of the billions of heavenly bodies that can be seen in the night sky, the one we live on is unique!

Wood River Wetlands

Went to Wood River Wildlife Preserve, which is at the north end of Agency Lake, to bird first thing this morning. It is a marshy area with great trails and views of open water.

I was wondering how birding would be compared to my last visit several months ago. I was able to identify 63 species! I have pics of one species that I am not able to ID yet but with the help of friends I am confident we will get it figured out. It was a bit cloudy and smoky so not the best lighting for pics but I did get these!

 American Bittern

 Black-crowned Night-heron

Green Heron

To see more pics and a complete list of today's birds, click here: Wood River bird list

First day out on this year's Snowbird trip!

I will be at Williamson River Campground for the next couple days.

The smoke, that drove many people to the coast this summer has cleared up and the sky is bright blue. The temp is and will be mid 80's for the next week. I am a lot more confident this trip because of the experience I gained from last year's trip. I will head over to Klamath lake to bird in the morning! Missing home but excited to be on the road!

Backyard Birding in Veneta

After spending most of the summer on the coast, I decided to move inland away from public campgrounds during the 3 day weekend! I have been in Veneta at a friends house. All week I have been getting glimpses of a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers (one of my favorite northwest birds) but I was not able to get a good pic until yesterday when a colorful and vocal male spent time right above our heads.

I have been watching Robins and Cedar Waxwings feasting on the berries of several Cascara/Chittum trees located on the property where I am staying. I did not expect to see a Pileated Woodpecker as most of my sightings of them have been where they are high up in a large tree! I was especially happy to have this one hang around long enough for me to fetch a camera and grab this photo. As the afternoon wore on, a Northern Flicker and a Red-breasted Sapsucker also flew in for a berry feast. I was hoping they would not land anywhere near my pickup, knowing how the berries from this tree affect the digestive system! Tomorrow I plan on starting my southern exodus for the winter!