One of the reasons for the trip was hook up with the Big Basin Volunteer Trail Crew (bbvtc.org). I joined the Crew in 1996 became the co-leader in the early 2000s and now I’m the BBVTC webmaster. It was a surreal experience being the the park since this was the first time back after the 2000 SZU Lighting Fire that burned almost all of Big Basin.
On April 26th, Jeannine and I plus the pups, headed to the Oregon Coast. We stayed at a house right on the coast with beach access and about 2 km north of Ona State Beach and a few more south of Newport. I’ve always admired the Pileated Woodpecker and I saw a few during my stay in Oregon. This one I found in a small park north of Coos Bay and he landed right next to me. It was foggy so I had to lower the shutter speed to 1/500s but with the image stabilization the bird remained sharp.
The Wrentit is a year round resident along the west coast of the United State and Mexico from Baja up to Washington state as well along the western side of the Sierras. I really like their ping pong ball song and both sexes sing with the male singing faster than the female..
Since moving to Reno, NV in 2016 one of my target species was the Greater Sage-Grouse. I became aware of a Lek northwest of Pyramid Lake in an area called Sheep Springs. This year I found another Lek south of Yerington in Lyon County NV.
Another year has passed and with that some new favorite photos. Some were common locals and migrants but there was one rare visitor from California: The Acorn Woodpecker.
