I spent the afternoon relaxing and watching soccer. I am now going to look for Flammulated owl. This is going to be a very long night. I must leave right now to bike 5 miles and then hike the 3.5 miles to reach the spot where we will start our owing loop. We will start the 5-6 mile loop at 9pm. It will take about 4 hours to complete the loop at which time I will then have to hike the 3.5 miles back to my bike and then bike the 5 miles back to where I am staying. So that's 12 miles of hiking and 10 of biking to try for this bird. UGH. I am hoping to be back here by 3am, catch a few z's, and then head to Ft. Collins tomorrow. I will try to put up a more involved post at some point.
2:50am update: Just got back after bagging Flammulated owl! I saw two very well and heard 3 more. But wait, there's more! I actually got a second year bird on the night hike. You'll have to tune back into tomorrow to find out which one. I'll just tell you it was a good one!
Nice teaser. Looking forward to hearing about it. You should try and contact Dan Hartmann, wildlife photographer in Yellowstone. He lives just outside the northeast entrance to Yellowstone in Cooke City, MT. He often knows where Great Gray Owls are being seen in the park. He led my group to excellent views of the adults a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteDorian: Just a head's up: based on a visit my wife and I made to Pawnee NG in July 2012, it's going to hot as hell. We got some nice birds at the Crow Creek Recreation Area, but we could only stand it for about two hours.
ReplyDeleteI don't see Townsend's Solitaire listed as a mountain species you still need. I recall you posted a photo of one earlier but apparently wasn't sure of the ID at that point. I do not see it in your species list. Do you still need it?
ReplyDelete#401 - got it in AZ. Seen a bunch of them since then. The crappy photo I posted was a few weeks agao, but well after I had ticked the AZ bird.
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