Day 3 - Time to Sharpen the Focus

Ninety-two miles by car, three and half miles by foot, five hours of really tough work.

Last night I convinced Jill to accompany me into the hinterlands this morning to look for the Northern Spotted Owl (strix occidentalis caurina). The terrain that she graciously allowed me to guide her through turned out to be too steep, the canopy too open, and there were too many windfalls that seem to block our every-path. So when we pulled into a Five Guys Burgers and Fries for lunch, we did so without an ounce of guilt.

Our hard work did not go unrewarded, however, from a birding perspective. We enjoyed, what we thought was, a wide variety of avifauna given our location. Our list includes AMERICAN DIPPER, OSPREY, BELTED KINGFISHER, GRAY JAY, BAND-TAILED PIGEON, YELLOW WARBLER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, TOWSEND'S WARBLER, and one distant warbler that I tried unsuccessfully to turn into something special.  

Our most unusual observation was the affect the arrival the Gray Jay had on the mixed flock of warbler we were enjoying sorting through. Within seconds of the three jay's swooping into area - the warblers disappeared without a trace.  

We also took the opportunity today to practice 360 degree photography that we hope we will be able to use to document and share the attributes of the areas in which we locate our target species. Mouse-over the first photo below to activate the viewing menu:

A few photos of the warblers and jay:

The bird below is the one I tried to make into something special . . . 

I almost forgot - we did get another feather!