June 20 (Day 171) - Rest day, flashback to my PhD days, future life choices

I knew last night that I would be a bit stiff this morning. Riding a road bike without any form of suspension on dirt roads is not only tough on the bike, but it really beats up the knees, wrists, and other joints as well. So, when I got a note from my PhD thesis advisor this morning saying he needed me to take some time to review a manuscript that we are going to be submitting for publication, I decided to take today as a rest day to revisit the science I left behind at NYU when I finished my PhD 3.5 years ago. My thesis advisor is actually a fairly hardcore birder himself; It has been very easy for us to stay in touch since I moved to Boston. We actually hang out and bird together in New York or Boston at least a few days each year. It was really nice to see that the project I left behind has fallen into capable hands and will eventually result in another publication on my CV. I doubt that I will return to academic science moving forward, but it was really nice to revisit my former life for at least a brief window today.

The biggest highlight of today was the Pizza Hut lunch buffet in town. The dude attending to the patrons kept trying to take my plate away. I had to growl at him like a dog when he tried this. I consumed approximately 1.5 pizzas, biked home, and fell asleep. Prior to this I did look for Willow flycatcher down the road a bit without success.

Since I know at least a few people will ask (and I don't real have much bird material today), I'll give you a not-so-quick-but-hopefully-informative overview of what I did for my PhD. I have always been interested in development. Very generally, developmental biology is the study of the events through which organisms grow and propagate themselves into subsequent generations. In more specific terms, development is the collection of genetic, cellular, and morphogenetic processes that control the specification of different cell and tissue types and the subsequent organization of these cell and tissue types into functioning and reproducing organisms. For example, there is much prenatal development between the time that an egg and a sperm unite to form a single-celled zygote and the birth of a baby 9 months later. There is subsequent and prolonged postnatal development that continues at least through the onset of the reproductive stages in this next generation. It would be impossible for any one person or laboratory to study every aspect of development, so each group of developmental biologists has its own little niche in which to study the very complex and beautiful process by which organisms take form, grow, and reproduce.

Clearly, the end goal of all of this research is to help humans in one capacity or another. However, it is difficult if not impossible to do experiments on people, so scientists instead rely on model systems to study development (and almost all other aspects of biology as well). Below is the life cycle of a human and of the model system in which I worked, the nematode C. elegans. While the body plans and the generation times are clearly very different, many of the core features of development have been conserved across evolutionary time from nematodes to humans. By studying what genes and proteins are required for the development of an organism as seemingly simple as nematode, we can actually glean quite a bit about how analogous developmental events might be regulated and executed in humans. The human genome contains about 20,000 genes. The worm genome also has about 20,000 genes, and about 35% of these are evolutionarily conserved with humans. Despite what they teach in some schools these days, you're more like a nematode than you ever realized!

Generation time ~15 years, generally 1 offspring per cycle

Personal note: humans should NOT NOT NOT chose 

to reproduce this fast!

Generation time of 2.5 days.

1 adult worm lays ~250 eggs over 3 days.

By the time the last egg is layed, the first egg has 

developed into a adult worm which itself s now laying eggs!

45 second, time lapse movie showing the ~14 hours

of embryonic development in C. elegans.

The animal hatches as a larvae after these 14 hours.

Gastrulation proper starts about at about an hour into

the clip and runs until hours 5-6.

Time stamp in top left is hours:minutes:seconds.

SO AWESOME!!! So how did I fit into this? I specifically worked on the molecular control of gastrulation in C. elegans. Embryos generally have 3 germ layers layers: endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. Endoderm will become most of your internal organs. Mesoderm will generally form muscles and bones. Ectoderm will contribute to your nervous and skin systems. Nematodes don't have bones, but they do have everything else I listed above. These 3 germ layers are organized during a massive embryonic movement of cells called gastrualtion.  This organization of these germ layers is what is happening in the movie above. After they are correctly organized, the further morphogenetic articulation produces what you will recognize as a long, skinny, worm shaped body. I specifically studied what genes were required for the the very early stages of gastrulation. I explored how cells sense their physical positions relative to other cells and how they know where to move once this embryonic reorganization commences. Much of my work centered on cell polarity. This is the process by which cells asymmetrically partition function across their cell bodies. Think of it this way, a cell moving in a gastrulating embryo is moving in a given direction. Therefore, that cell must have somehow delineated or marked that axis along which it is moving; There is a vector and a polarity associated with this movement. I was able to identify a previously uncharacterized molecule that polarizes embryonic cells so that they can move in the right direction once the embryo starts reorganizing itself during gastrulation. For those that want the genetic and molecular specifics, here you go. 

Anyway, I write this as a bit of personal pride and also as a bit of personal practice. One thing that I think I do well is communicate seemingly complex ideas in a way that people not immediately familiar with them can grasp and find interesting. While I doubt that I will return to the laboratory, I would like somehow to be involved as an advocate for science and other forms of rational thought. I may find that the best way to do this is as a high school science teacher, I may try to get involved in science writing, or maybe, just maybe, I can get elected to Congress so that we actually have a PhD level scientist making important scientific decisions moving forward. Somebody correct me if I am wrong, but I do not think any of these people have a PhD in anything even remotely connected to science. Its absolutely terrifying! Anyway, these are just some of the things I think about as I bike what sometimes seem like endless miles around the country. I have the feeling that I will figure it all out eventually.......

Quick trivia question: We've had one president with a PhD. Who?

I'd personally like to see more......

Lastly, Queen Sonia got to do something SUPER COOL today. If you're not a baseball/sports fan this won't mean much, but if you are, the photos will require zero explanation. I'm very jealous!
HINT: there is ivy on the outfield wall!

June 19 (Day 170) - The great grouse hunt continues.....

After the hard day I had yesterday, I decided to get right back after the Gunnison sage-grouse today. I may need to vent about tough days once in a while, but I can promise that I'll always be ready to get back after it the next day. In this vein, I decided to return to the exact spot where I missed the grouse yesterday. The habitat looked so good that I thought it was worth another shot. It would be ~33 miles of backtracking, but being that I did not have a ton of information on anything further along my route, it made the most sense to make to a morning out of the endeavor. The ride back to the spot was not a big deal since I knew what to expect this time around. I also left half of my stuff at the Gunnison Lakeside Resort. They were very friendly, and they were nice enough to keep an eye on my unneeded panniers. Here is a shot of the lake where the resort is located and along which I biked both yesterday and today.

Another 69 miles for the count!

The birding this morning was markedly better than yesterday afternoon. I found numerous Brewer's and Vesper sparrows, and I probably observed 5-6 Sage thrashers. The constant chatter of meadowlarks and magpies kept the air alive with sound, and the warm sun today was a welcomed contrast to the ominous clouds that hung over the same space just 14 hours prior. I did not have even a whiff of a Sage-grouse, but it was a beautiful morning to be out birding!

View from the plateau/mesa top this morning

A shot of yesterday's scary clouds. I did all my 

grouse hunting in that thin green strip at the 

bottom of the gulley. 

The view from inside the green strip today. 

Grouse and their newly hatched chicks come 

to these more lush areas to feed on insects.

 A young magpie from this morning - 

his tail isn't fully grown in yet!

Close-up of same very approachable bird from above

It was 2pm by the time I picked up the rest of my stuff and headed into Gunnison proper. I had actually been put in touch with some fold at the the Gunnison Division of Wildlife (GDW). I had set up a meeting with them at 4:30 to discuss possible grouse finding strategies. While waiting for this meeding, I stopped at the Neversink rest area along highway 50. Here I had a possible Willow flycatcher. I needed a second look at it, but I was not able to get one before I had to leave for my meeting. I am hoping to return to this spot just 4 miles from town sometime tomorrow to refine this bird. Willow flycatchers have been eBirded regularly from this spot, so if the bird I saw was a Willow, I am sure it will be around tomorrow. I plan to check it out in between bouts of grouse hunting.

I met with Nathan Seward of the GDW and of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife. He had invited a reporter friend, Will, to join us. We chatted about my trip, the conservation status of the Gunnison sage-grouse, and about where I might go to find the birds. The Gunnison sage-grouse was formerly considered a subspecies of the Greater sage-grouse, a physically larger (40%) and more widespread western species. While both of these species have seen steep declines in recent years, the Gunnison decline is the more alarming since the population is so much smaller in relative numbers. Their decline in the the last 40 years has been due mainly to development and habitat fragmentation (aka "progress"). Briefly, and I hope I have these numbers approximately correct, there are thought to be around 5,000 of the birds total. 80-85% of them are apparently in the greater Gunnison area. These birds are split between public and private lands, and from what Nathan and Will conveyed to me, it sounds as though local ranchers have been fairly willing to help in the conservation of these now very rare birds. Actually, someone posted this article on my Facebook page today! A victory for the grouse!

Unfortunately, not everyone is as cooperative as the Gunnison locals. In some places, private landowners take it upon themselves just to shoot any potentially threatened animals on their properties. They do this to avoid dealing with any consequences stemming from conservation of these species in the future. The Gunnison ranchers realize that if the Sage-grouse declines to a point where it becomes listed as an endangered species, it will mean a royal headache for them since they won't be able to gaze their cattle on the public lands that they now share with the grouse. They have a vested interest in keeping the population healthy. 

Nathan gave me some really good leads on the birds. One lead that he gave me was CR38 south of town. Several other birders had also recommended this area, so when we finished talking at 5:30, I grabbed some food and immediately began the ~12 miles ride to the spot. My host for the night actually lived right of of CR38, so I was able to drop most of my stuff at her house en route. The habitat into which I ventured tonight was exactly the same at that which I had birded this morning. However, the lush strip ran parallel to the very quiet dirt road. This meant I could bird it from the bike. The strip that I birded this morning was perpendicular to the road; This meant I had to ditch the bike in a bush and walk up and down the strip to search for birds. I slowly worked my way up the road, looking and listening for grouse activity. I traversed the stretch that Nathan said would be the most productive. Nothing. The road was in great shape, and it actually got quieter as I climbed. BY this I mean the road composition changed and I noticed that my tires were making less and less noise as they rolled along. I decided to keep going since I felt like the quiet ride would let me hear birds more easily. I also figured it would let me sneak up on birds before they heard me and ran away.

Before I realized it, BANG!!! Several grouse flushed out of a roadside ditch just 25 feet in front of me. For those who have not heard a grouse flush before it is hella (very) loud and normally scares the pants off of anyone not ready for it. These birds surprised the hell of out me. I almost fell off the bike. I think I counted 4 birds, and I think there were some chicks as well, but to be honest it all happened so fast that I am not 100% sure of the numbers. I did see the black bellies that are indicative of this species. All the birds disappeared over a rise in 2 seconds except for a lone female who started running up the road. I jumped off the bike, fished out the camera, and successfully documented species #482 for the year. This was certainly one of the most exciting and challenging finds of the year. I found these birds at 8pm or so after essentially looking for the previous 36 hours (well, not while I was sleeping). It was an incredible satisfying find, and I really enjoyed the slow coast down the slope as the sun slowly and finally disappeared over the sage covered hills to my west. On the ride back down I also observed 3 Pronghorn (antelope) and 2 Great horned owls.

Gunnison sage-grouse!!!

What it felt like to find this bird!

Old skool Carlton Banks, baby!

It was an amazing ending to two days of non-stop grouse hunting. The next 4-5 days of the trip will be focused on getting up above tree line to find Brown-capped rosy-finch and White-tailed ptarmigan. I will almost certainly find Clark's nutcracker as I climb up to get these species. So, those are the next 3 species I will hopefully track down. I will also return to the Willow flycatcher spot tomorrow morning, but it won't be between bouts of grouse hunting! I had to lie to you to keep you guessing a bit!

Up, up, up, up, to 13,000 feet!

June 18 (Day 169) - Frustrations and more frustrations......

I do not have cell reception at the moment, so I cannot include the iPhone photos I took today right now. I will try to get the uploaded tomorrow.

The last guy sums up my day perfectly.....

If you have not seen "Spaceballs", please do so immediately.

One of today's goals was to find Gunnison sage-grouse. Needless to say, I was not successful. Adding insult to injury, there were a number of logistical issues that arose that made the entire day a headache. Today's ride was going to encompass more than a mile of climbing, and the endpoint would be determined by the outcome of the sage-grouse search. I am really starting to wonder if I should even waste time looking for these grouse. These species are so easy on a lek, and so difficult the rest of the year. I can foresee many more days of frustration ahead. This is what these repeated failed attempts to track down grouse feel like.

Anyway, I had been told about a riparian strip in and otherwise endless sea of sage where sage-grouse hens bring their newly hatched chicks to feed. It was about 6 miles off the main highway on a well-maintained dirt road. I was told there was a "slight incline" to the road. Here is where my information fell apart. When the hell is a 5-6% grade to climb an 800 foot mesa a "slight incline"? That's like saying Sarah Palin and Rick Perry are "slightly crazy". This ride killed my legs on the way up and my brakes on the way down. It was not what I needed after already doing a mile of climbing in the previous 42 miles. I was under constant threat of rain while I was birding the area. I was lucky to escape with only minor sprinkles. The only real bird highlight was a beautiful Golden eagle I flushed off of a cliff. The area looked so good, but you just can't tell with grouse. They don't fly and they don't sing, so all you can do to find them is walk around and hope you step on one (or bike over one). 

Ups and downs for 68 miles

Had I found the sage grouse I would have continued into Gunnison with no thoughts about it. Since I missed it, this has caused all kind of headaches. Basically, today's spot was one of only 2 that have been recommended to me. The other is about 10-12 miles south of Gunnison, again on a dirt road. No one has recently eBirded anything from this other site, and I know nothing about the condition of the road. I do not know if I should return to spot #1 tomorrow morning (this time with the unloaded bike) or head into town and focus on spot #2 tomorrow afternoon or the following morning. Maybe looking for these birds is a complete waste of time at either place. I wish I had more information. I hate making decisions without all the required information. In a car, both spots could be hit in the morning and the afternoon. I get one crack at one of them. 

Anyway, I ended up at the Gunnison Lakeside RV and Cabins for the night. This place is nice, but it came with a few logistical caveats. First, you need to bring your own bedding if you stay in the cabins. I am not carrying a sleeping bag,  but knowing that these cabins were an option, my host last night lent me one that I can drop off at his brother-in-law's house in Gunnison when I arrive. Second, there are no restaurants here, but there is a tiny store with a a few items. The problem here was that the store was going to close at 7pm and there was no way I could get there until 7:30 after my fruitless sage-grouse hunt. Sonia convinced them to stay open an extra half hour, but I really had to hammer on the pedals to make it. I rode so hard to get food that I am not sure how my legs are going to feel tomorrow as a result. The headaches just never end on the bike. 

I think readers know that what I am doing is difficult, but I also think very, very few have any idea of just how difficult it is. Things that come up in the course of the day cause problems. I worked so hard on that "slight incline" that I ran out of water much earlier than I expected. I had a sweet dehydration headache on the 10-mile sprint to the food store - awesome! The west wind on which I was counting this afternoon also never materialized - great! Dinner was pasta that Pat (more on her in a minute) cooked for me and the standby cold, canned peas - yum! Since I did not make it into town, I can't use my cell phone from where I am tonight - even more awesome! This means I can't get the information I need to make an informed decision about birding tomorrow - sweet! It also means I won't get a crack at a potential Boreal owl someone told me about since he's only around tonight before he heads to Florida - money! I also feel that as the first person (sort of) to attempt something like this, I am the logistical guinea pig for everyone that follows. Anyone who reads this blog and decides to do something similar will know ahead of time that the "slight incline" is a royal headache! 

Anyway, things are tough right now, but there is always an upside. Today I birded are area that I am sure has only been birded by a handful of people. If I could get the grouse in one of these riparian areas, it would be so much more satisfying that paying to sit in a freezing trailer and seeing it from a mile away. The terrain is beautiful, and I am slowly becoming acclimated to the higher elevations. 4000' of climbing is no longer a challenge, and with the long days right now I can spend a lot of time out in the field not seeing grouse. I met some really nice cyclists on the road today. I told them about my adventure and heard a bit about theirs in return. Lastly, Pat, the woman running the show here at the Gunnison Lakeside RV and Cabins, is incredible nice. She even cooked for me the pasta I bought at her store since she realized I did not have a pot of my own to use. It was a very nice gesture at the end of a very hard day.

Tomorrow is another day. There may be birds, but there will certainly be biking......

June 17 (Day 168) - A terrible day of birding is salvaged at the end

I am very tired after a very long day, so this is going to be on the short side. Today I went up to Black Canyon National Park to look for Dusky grouse. A number of people said this was a good spot for them, so I decided to make a day trip of it. The problem today was that there were 30 MPH sustained winds all day. This made the riding very difficult and the birding essentially a waste of time. I left the house at 6:30am, and I arrived at Black Canyon at 8:30am. To make a very long and windy story very short, I spent 10 hours and 45 minutes hiking and biking around the park to find absolutely NOTHING. I did have a flyover Peregrine, but outside of that the birding was a dead as the Miami Heat. I imagine that the winds kept what few birds might have been present hunkered down for the day. 

30 miles to and from park + 20 miles riding in park.

6 miles hiked in park as well.

View of Black Canyon.  I probably should have taken

more photos, but I was too focused on looking

for grouse that didn't want to be found.

The day was salvaged, when at 7:15pm, I flushed an odd looking bird. I got a 3 second binocular view of the bird. It was "very large" empid with an extremely prominent white eye ring. The long tail was being vigorously flicked. I quickly realized I was looking at a Gray flycatcher! This was year bird #481. Although I did not get the grouse, I birded really hard today. It did feel good to pick up the flycatcher right at the end. I had just about decided to leave the park, when I doubled back for one last pass through a particular area. Gray flycatcher has been reported recently in the park, but I was a bit surprised to find the bird in an oak/sage mix rather than a pinyon/juniper mix. I'll take it either way! I returned to the house at 8:30pm, 14 hours after I left. A very long day - UGH.

The coolest find of the day was this guy. Evidently, he is a Common collared lizard. I saw a few of them today, but this guy was really cooperative for photos.

Common collared lizard

Today's winds were from the south. This would have made riding with the loaded bike today very dangerous as the 30-50 MPH winds would have been pushing me into traffic as I rode east. The winds tomorrow will be ~15 MPH from the west. This should give me a nice push as I tackle what will surely be a very difficult ride to Gunnison tomorrow. There I will deal with the next big headache, the Gunnison sage-grouse. I think it will be a minor miracle if I am actually able to find this bird. After today's grouse debacle, I am not feeling very good about finding other family members in the next few months. I think finding grouse off-leks might be the single biggest bird finding difference between my big year and a traditional big year. 

OK, I'm beat. That's all folks!

June 16 (Day 167) - Easy day to Montrose, more tough riding ahead, great pains for new birds

Today was basically the second half of what I had originally planned for yesterday. Since finding the Black swift took all afternoon and evening yesterday, I was unable to make it to Montrose for the night. This mean that today's leftover ride was very, very short and easy. As a result of this, I rode exceptionally slowly to listen for birds along the road. The habitats would change as I dropped elevation, so I thought that I might find birds as varied as Red-breasted nuthatch, MacGillivray's warbler, Willow flycatcher, and Gray flycatcher. The nuthatch was the only bird with which I connected today (#480), but it was a really nice ride nonetheless. After I dropped out of Ouray, I spent most of the day cruising down this lush valley as I left the mountains behind me to the south. The winds really built over the course of the day, and by 2pm they were blowing at a steady 25-30 MPH and gusting to upwards of 50. Needless to say, it was a good afternoon to be off the roads.

Tomorrow is also going to be fairly windy, but I think I have formulated a decent plan for the day. I am going to take a day trip to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park with hopes of finding Dusky grouse. There is supposed to be a healthy population of the birds in the park, so I should have a good crack at ticking this bird. It will be a bit of a long day trip since the park is 15 miles away and will required 2,500' of climbing to reach it. The winds are going to pick up in the afternoon so the ride back to Montrose could be challenging. 

The ride that is scheduled for Wednesday is going to be the toughest of the year so far. On the big climb to Silverton, CO, I climbed 5,600 feet and rode 37 miles. The ride from Montrose to Gunnison on Wednesday will require exactly the same amount of climbing, over the first 35 miles, but will then require an additional 30 miles of flat riding beyond that. There is hopefully going to be a stiff west wind on Wednesday. This should aid me on the 30 flat miles once I finish the climbing. The wind tomorrow is going to be from the south and would not aid me at all if I were to ride to Gunnison tomorrow instead of Wednesday.

I am at the point now where I need to take great pains to find every single possible species. Almost all of 32 bird species I want to find between now and early September will require dedicated rides and searches. There are very few "free" species remaining - at least until I get to California. Earlier in the year, I valued time more than birds. This is why I left High Island a few days early event though I was still missing a few birds. Now that I have found so many birds and am at least 2 weeks ahead of schedule, I really need to slow down and put in the time to find what birds remain. I will be spending a disproportionately large amount of time these next few months looking for gamebirds (grouse, quail etc). Gamebirds are particularly hard to find since you literally need to step on them to see them. You need to cover a lot of appropriate habitat to find these birds. Hawks, swifts, and water birds can be seen from hundreds of yards away. You can stand in one spot and let the birds come to you. Grouse and high elevation birds don't work that way; You need to go to them. Here is a list of the birds I want to find in before I get to Northern California in early September. Some of these might not be possible. For example, Black rosy-finch would required a long, hard few days of riding into Utah to get it and only it. Gray-crowned rosy-finch is also going to be extreme problematic. If I could get 29 out of 32, I would be ecstatic. I just don't know if this is even possible, but we'll find out! The 18 bold species are birds that I will make an effort to find in Colorado in the next 2-3 weeks. The other species will be potentially added in WY, ID, OR and maybe UT. If I miss some birds in OR (i.e. Mountain Quail), I can get them in northern CA. 

Trumpeter swan - WY

Chukar - WY, ID, OR

Ring-necked pheasant

Mountain quail - OR

Gray partridge - WY, ID, OR

White-tailed ptarmigan

Ruffed grouse - WY, ID

Sooty grouse - OR

Dusky grouse

Sharp-tailed grouse - this is a reach unless I can get to Nebraska - Could also get GP Chicken there

Greater sage-grouse - WY, ID, OR

Gunnison sage-grouse

Ferruginous hawk

Mountain plover

Flammulated owl

Great gray owl - WY

Rufous hummingbird

Calliope hummingbird

Williamson’s sapsucker

Black-backed woodpecker - OR

Willow flycatcher

Gray flycatcher

Clark’s nutcracker

Bank swallow

Varied thrush - OR

Chestnut-collared longspur

McCown’s longspur

MacGilivray’s warbler

Sagebrush sparrow - WY, ID, OR, could get lucky and find in CO

Gray-crowned rosy-finch - This is incredibly unlikely anywhere I will be

Brown-capped rosy-finch

Black rosy-finch - UT (I know I could get in NM in winter, but that's a 600 mile detour)

June 15 (Day 166) - Ouray and Black swifts!

The plan for today was to head to Ouray, CO where there is a very accessible nesting site for Black swift. After I collected the swift, I had planned to ride another ~40 miles north to Montrose where I would spend the night. As you will see, this plan required some major adjustments.

The day started out with an 1,800' foot climb to reach Red Mountain Pass at just over 11,000' This ride was incredible beautiful. The climb was slow and steady and did not take too much out of my legs. As I crossed the pass, I noticed a dirt road that led up the mountainside. I decided to ditch the bike in the woods and hike up this road to get above tree line to look for 2 high altitude species, White-tailed ptarmigan and Brown-capped rosy-finch. Finding either of these species now would mean much less riding later, so I figured it was worth a few hours even if finding these birds was a long shot. I did not find either bird, but I did have a great 2 hour hike that took me well above the tree line.

23 miles - short day, not by design!

Leaving Silverton this morning

The bottom of Red Mountain Pass

 The view south from the top of the pass

The higher elevation area to which I hiked

From the pass to Ouray was a 3200' drop. I do not recall having to pedal once the entire 13 miles. I made a video of the descent, and I will get that up as soon as possible. I arrived in Ouray and headed right to the Black swift nesting site at Box Canyon Falls. I thought picking up this bird would be a snap, but it turned out to be a bit more of an effort than I thought. By this date in other years, the birds have already laid and are now incubating their eggs. This means that one of each pair of the birds must be at the nest at all times. It is normally possible to just walk up and see the birds sitting on nests. However, this year, the birds are running a few weeks behind schedule. Apparently, it took them about 2 weeks longer to return to Box Canyon this year that previous years. Consequently, none of the birds have yet laid eggs. This meant that there were no Black swifts to be found when I arrived at 1pm. I was informed that the birds were out flying around and would return at sundown. This meant I would have to spend the entire day in Ouray. It also meant that I would not have sufficient daylight to ride to Montrose after I collected the birds at the very end of the day. This forced me into a motel in Ouray for the night. I did manage to find a Cassin's finch at Box Canyon for bird #477. 

A longer (6 min) video of my very long, steep decent

into Ouray. I probably get close to 50 MPH at 4 mins

I spent the afternoon dealing with logistics and then returned to Box Canyon at 6pm. While I was waiting for the swifts, I saw two large birds soaring high over the cliffs. I thought they might be Turkey vultures since they appeared to be flying in a slight dihedral, but a binocular inspection revealed them to be eagles. They appeared very long-tailed and small headed. These marks, coupled with the high-held wings, would make these Golden eagles for year bird #478. I could also see the bold black and white tail pattern of a juvenile Golden on one bird. I took some incredibly distant photos (barely) showing all these features. 

A single, distant shot (barely) showing tail 

banding pattern of juvenile. You'll need to click

the image to see it a bit larger.

Shot showing relatively long tail and small head

Finally, around 8pm, a group of swallows and swifts appeared overhead. I was able to pick out several larger swifts that looked good for Black swifts (#479). Slowly, these birds descended into better view, and individual birds coasted into the canyon to roost for the night. Entering the canyon with my flashlight, I was able to find 6-7 roosting birds just as the sun set. I really needed a third hand today. I needed one hand to hold the flashlight, one hand to manually focus the lens (it was too dark for auto), and a third hand to hold the camera and press the shutter. It took a bit of fumbling around, but I eventually got a few OK shots of the roosting birds. Some roosted directly on the rocks while others set up shop on what looked to be ready-to-go nests! This can be a very difficult bird to find, so this is a very good addition to the year's list. These guys are certainly incredible fliers. Their aerial acrobatics prior to roosting were just amazing. Oh yeah, this was also a life bird for me - WOO-HOO!!!

Evening grosbeak at Box Canyon

Inside Box Canyon Falls - The swifts

nest right on the vertical rocks above the water!

An empty nest that I photographed at 1pm when the

swifts were out and about

That same nest shot at 8:30pm once the swifts

 returned - ISO 6400 on 7D! (plus flashlight!)

Another swift on a nest right next to the catwalk!

Again, ISO 6400 even with flashlight!

I also made a new friend today! Graham Floyd and I

spent a solid hour talking bird shop while we waited

for the swifts to return. His family was really nice as well.

Tomorrow is going to be a bit interesting because of today's changes in plans. I only have ~37 miles to cover to reach Montrose. I will also drop 2000' over this distance which will make the short ride even easier. I can really take my time as I descend, so maybe I can pick off a few additional species (Gray flycatcher, Ring-necked pheasant among others). 

June 14 (Day 165) - Pinned by Wind, Finch redemption, town of Silverton

I decided to stay in Silverton, CO today rather than ride to Ouray to look for Black swift and then onto Montrose to sleep. I did this for a number of reasons. First, I will have to climb back up to 11,000 feet (from 9,300) en route to Ouray. My legs are a bit beat after yesterday, so I figured it best to give myself a light day today before I do this climb. Second, the strong winds forecasted for today could make riding on these narrow mountain roads more dangerous than it otherwise needs to be. Third, after I top out at 11,000' early in the ride,  I will drop 3200' to reach Ouray at 7,800' before I drop an additional 2000' feet to reach Montrose at 5,800'. In losing this altitude, I will be leaving the high elevation zone that I spent so much energy to reach. I reasoned that since I have worked so hard to get this high, I may as well spend an additional day trying to pick off high elevation species before I give that elevation back as I drop to Montrose. 

Given all of this, I set out on the unloaded bike this morning with the hopes of tracking down a few of the high elevation finches that eluded me yesterday. I actually decided to retrace my steps back up to Molas Lake which I passed on my descent into Silverton yesterday. With an unloaded bike, a climb of 1,300 feet over 5 miles would be no problem!

View looking south

Molas Lake

Today was certainly better birding than yesterday. I found Pine silken, White-crowned sparrow, Lincoln's sparrow, Chipping sparrow, Western tanager, Wilson's warbler, and 2 more Gray jays. By the time I reached Molas Lake, the winds were a steady 20 MPH. This birding had cooled down s the winds had increased. Just as I was about to start my descent back to town, a got a very brief look at what I was 95% certain was a female Red crossbill. However, at that same moment a huge wind gust went through and pushed the bird off the tree before I could solidify the ID. UGH - so close! I decided to just wait around and see if the bird would return. It did not. However, about 10 minutes later a male Red Crossbill landed in the top of a nearby tree for year bird #475! He lifted off just as I raised the camera, and a female flew out of the same tree behind him. These Colorado birds really don't want to be photographed! This was an extremely satisfying find for me since I felt like I should have found this bird yesterday. I put int the time today and nailed this bird on a day when I did not make any miles along my route. Sure I will probably see this again somewhere else, but at least now I don't need to worry about it if I don't!

But wait....there's more! As I started back towards town, I ventured down a dirt road that looked interesting. I ditched my bike in the woods and walked about a mile down the road before turning around. On my way back, I flushed two birds from the same tree. The first was what I think was a young Townsend's solitaire. I got a crappy photo of it before it bolted. The second bird landed right above my head. I figured it would be another solitaire, but I decided to check it out anyway. After staring into the pine tree for two minutes, a bit of movement revealed a Pine grosbeak for year bird #476! Whoomp there it is! I even got a photo of this bird! This, like the crossbill, was a bird I had hoped to find yesterday. I was super stoked at this stage; The decision to stay at elevation in/around Silverton was validated!

A nice chipping sparrow from today

Townsend's solitaire (I think)

Pine grosbeak from today

Here's a better shot of one of these I took in 

Massachusetts a few years ago.

The winds really shut down any birding that might have happened this afternoon. I decided instead to check out the town of Silverton. Is is an old mining town that now survives mainly on tourism in the summer and skiing in the winter. There is a very fun old school steam train that connects Durango to Silverton. This train runs through some of the same terrain through which I biked yesterday. It seems as though most folks who visit Durango take the mountain train ride up to Silverton for a day trip. My host, Calvin, works at the small bike shop in town during the summer. His winters are spent as a ski guide. He has actually started doing combination biking-skiing day trips during his free time in the winter months. Here is a really cool video of one of these stunts. He executed an filmed the entire thing by himself! Its really impressive. 

Silverton

Durango-Silverton steam train

Calvin on bike

Calvin at the bike store

My next ride!

OK, time to hit the hay. Tomorrow I will bird Ouray for Black swift. This would be a life bird for me, so stay tunes to see how it goes!