After spending a day in Inchon South Korea, we flew into Vladivostok Russia. We had great guides the Explore Primorye Tour Company run by Rada Sumach and Sergey Abarok and we even had with us ornithologist, Tatiana Svatko. One of our stops was to Sergey grandmother's home north of Valdivostok where we saw this Eurasian Nuthatch.
Went on a Heritage Expedition voyage organized by Shearwater Journeys and it was a wonderful adventure. I don't know how many parts this will required but I saw 137 new species, experienced a forgotten coast, encountered spectacular birds including the Stellar's Sea Eagle and the purpose of the expedition to find the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Hopefully, I will be able to share the experience through my photos and words.
I was in the area attending a workshop with Nick Page and a group of 10 other photographers. The first afternoon we head out into the Palouse toward Steptoe Butte, which looks over the rolling wheat covered hills. The photograph below was taken about 1 hour before sunset. The low sun highlighted the contours in the hills and the grain silo and with the light in the farmhouse it created a line of sight between the two.
The migrant birds started to arrive last week and I decided to hike around the canyons northwest of Reno, NV. I started at Keystone Canyon where I found Rock Wrens, Gray and Dusky Flycatchers, and a fly over of a Common Poorwill.
Washoe Lake is a eutrophic, shallow lake that has a maximum depth of 12 feet (3.7m) and is located between Reno and Carson City Nevada. Extensive droughts in the past have caused the lake to dry up entirely, most recently in 1992, 1994, and 2004. Washoe Lake is fed by several small streams from the Carson Range to the west and ephemeral streams from the Virginia Range to the east. At its northern end, Washoe Lake narrows as it flows through the Scripps State Wildlife Management Area ending at Little Washoe Lake that feeds Steamboat Creek, which runs north to the Truckee River east of Sparks. This is a great place for birding with 212 species being recorded so far.
