50 was the magic number

Observers: Tom & Jo Heindel plus dozens more
Email: tjheindel@aol.com
Remote Name: 198.81.26.10
Date: 02/07/04
Time: 03:16 PM

Sighting

On 7 Feb the Eastern Sierra Audubon Society hosted the annual Winter Wildlife field trip. Fifty was the number of hardy and enthusiastic birders. Fifty was the average windspeed with gusts far greater. Fifty was the number of species we saw between Klondike Lake and Tinemaha Reservoir. Highlights were a Great Horned Owl sitting on its nest, a Brown Creeper creeping up the willows, a Merlin shooting into the wind as though it was dead calm, 14 duck species, 2 adult Red-shouldered Hawks interacting as though pair bonding, lots of Red-tailed Hawks, a couple of Northern Harriers clasping talons and tumbling in courtship, a couple of wind-whipped Ferruginous Hawks hugging the ground, a couple dozen electric Mountain Bluebirds, and THREE Bald Eagles. It was an uncomfortably windy but invigoratingly fun trip.