Nonetheless in California! And but ANOTHER couple of days that I can dedicate for chasing birds across the Golden State. And if you happen to recall my earlier publish, I couldn’t shut up about how a lot I beloved the Sierras of California:) So, yeah. You’ll be able to guess whereabouts I went.
Despite climate warnings and a few highway closures at greater altitudes, I had set my eyes on “Lassen Volcanic Nationwide Park”. Previous to the journey I had a although time deciding between that and Yosemite NP however with the encouragement of the Palomarin subject stations crew and with the thought “Yosemite is THE factor to go to in Cali, I’ll do it subsequent time, I’d slightly go to one thing much less recognized”, I set off in the direction of Lassen. I additionally had a selected chook in thoughts which gave the impression to be preferring Lassen slightly than Yosemite based on eBird. What’s it? You’ll see.
The drive in the direction of Lassen was one for the books itself. Napa valley with its stunning rolling hills together with the night solar hitting them and lighting up the dried-out grass was making these hill sides look straight out of a pastel portray. Let’s simply say that “Nowhere To Run” by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas was blasting on the aux and I used to be having a ball. Alright, to the birds. Alongside the way in which I finished at Sacramento Nationwide Wildlife Refuge to absorb the beautiful sights of a whole lot of Snow Geese (Anser caerulescens) along with Ross’s Geese (Anser rossii) roosting within the open wetlands. What a sight! Presumably 1000’s of those birds had been flying, roosting and creating the loudest environment ever.
After an early wakeup the following morning I continued on in the direction of the park. On the drive up I finished at a number of locations and loved the mountainous surroundings and its birds. Even such a well known and pretty frequent chook as a Widespread Raven (Corvus corax), gliding on thermal winds throughout a valley with snowy peaks within the background is a joyous sight. Oak Titmouses (Baeolophus inornatus) had been displaying off nearer then ever and I used to be very excited to watch a Rufous-crowned Sparrow (Aimophila ruficeps) which was a lifer for me, foraging nearly by my toes. Though not the chook I got here all this manner for.
Lastly having arrived on the Lassen Volcanic NP customer centre, I packed my sketchbook, a heat jacket, my sound recorder, and set off on a path. By the way in which, the snow was already a couple of meter thick, however the first a part of the path was pretty walked on so the snow was agency. An beautiful stroll. Gorgeous surroundings, accompanied by Mountain Chickadees (Poecile gambeli) which had been current in nice numbers and appeared fairly irritated with me and stored on pssshh-pssshhing all all through my stroll… And finally, amidst all this I heard the decision that I used to be right here for. A Clark´s Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) was giving a faint name fairly far uphill. At this level I used to be already fairly excited though I actually actually needed to truly see one. And nicely, that meant placing on snowshoes and going uphill. After fairly a little bit of stumbling by means of the forest I lastly caught a glimpse of the nutcrakcker. The chase continued for one more half an hour and eventually settled as soon as the chook discovered a tree which suited his wishes. I used to be thrilled to get some sketches and audio recordings because the chook was leaping round department to department and flying to close by timber. Such an incredible expertise!
However manner undergo all this effort to see this one, gray, chook? I keep in mind watching a video by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology once I was youthful, concerning the Clark´s Nutcracker, which defined their habitat, behaviour and the way scientists had been monitoring local weather change by means of the shifting ranges and behaviours of this species. That being stated, previous to coming to California, I knew that I needed to see it. One other factor that prompted me to go as much as the Sierras to try to discover this species was simply the considered the chase. And boy, let me inform you, the chase was straight out of a kind of BBC “Planet Earth” behind the scenes the place the filmmakers trek by means of the arctic, enduring the weather, bears and frostbite. It was like that minus all of that. However positive did really feel prefer it…:) So yeah, it’s an general gray chook but it surely was the expertise that made it extra vibrant.
Lassen was nice! In addition to the nutcracker I received improbable views on the White-headed Woodpecker (Dryobates albolarvatus) and lots of different high-altitude forest specialists. Particular thanks as soon as once more to the nutcracker who stored flying uphill after which downhill after which threw some zig-zags, I had a pleasant 8 kilometre trek! Oh, and to place somewhat cherry on prime I watched “The Huge Yr” for just like the twentieth time that night and it was the right finish of the day.