At Long Last-Pictures of the Tour

MINES ROAD-- DAY 3
Great Birds up Mines Road included Phainopepla, Rufous-Crowned Sparrows, Yellow-Billed Magpie, Golden Eagle, White-Breasted Nuthatch and Bullock's Orioles

DROPPING DOWN DEL PUERTO CANYON--DAY 4
Added Lawrence's Goldfinch, Ash-Throated Flycatcher, Lark Sparrow, Black-Chinned Hummingbird, and Greater Roadrunner

SIERRA BUTTES
No time to climb them and look for Gray-Crowned Rosy Finches this year.  Regardless, they are beautiful from afar.

SIERRA NEVADA FIELD CAMPUS
Arriving at the Field Campus was great.  Just above 5000 feet in elevation, lots of great birds could be found in the Lakes Basin/ Yuba Pass area.  I was lucky to get to be there for about 10 days.  Five of those days I helped out with Jim Steele's Birding By Ear course.  What was better, finding Spotted Owl, Northern Goshawk, Black-backed Woodpecker, Evening Grosbeak and Williamson's Sapsucker OR not having to cook for myself over a campstove with just one pot?
Thanks Field Campus Staff!!!

SIERRA VALLEY FROM YUBA PASS
Yuba Pass birding is fantastic.  Most Bay Area and beyond Audubon groups make a pilgrimage to the Pass in early summer.  Who can blame them?  Mountain Quail, Evening Grobeaks, Pine Grosbeak, Northern Goshawk, Hammond's and Dusky Flycatcher, and a chance at the elusive Black-Backed Woodpecker.  

SIERRA VALLEY
Yellow-Headed Blackbird

SIERRA VALLEY
White-Faced Ibis are abundant down there.  I wish I would have gotten a good shot of the American Bitterns that are often readily viewable off of Marble Hot Springs Road.

TRUCKEE RIVER TOWARDS LAKE TAHOE
A gorgeous day riding.

LAKE TAHOE

LAKE TAHOE
(Surrogate) Momma Merganser with her hands full.  Certainly not all of these are genetically hers.

RIDING UP MONITOR PASS
  Monitor gave me so much trouble in 2011 riding up it from the east side.  I got my sweet revenge this summer riding from the Markleeville side this year.  That day started with a marauding group of PINYON JAYS in the town of Markleeville.

MONO COUNTY AT LAST!!!

ARRIVING AT MONO LAKE

WAY UP LUNDY CANYON
Yeah, okay, I missed finding a Cordilleran Flycatcher, but it's hard to feel like it wasn't worth the ride and hike up.

EAST SIDE OF THE SIERRA
This shot is near Bishop.  My camera was acting up on the east side, so this is one of my few pictures from that area. 

RED ROCK CANYON STATE PARK
TOO HOT!!!

RED ROCK CANYON STATE PARK
Riding my bicycle through Joshua Trees in July was maybe a little bit stupid. It was 108 degrees the day I arrived.  I feel better about it now that I'm home.
The birds were nearly silent, even at dawn.  Fortunately, a couple of Cactus Wrens were around.

DOWN IN THE MOJAVE
Some birds were surprises along the way.  Certainly, this Western Screech Owl was a big surprise.  The surrounding was a monocrop of Creosote Bush, not to mention this was 9:30 in the morning and about 90 degrees.

BIG SUR
Riding through the Big Sur was amazing.  I didn't mind the climbing since the headwind died down a little after Cambria.  California Condors!!!

ROADKILL RINGTAIL IN THE BIG SUR
Certainly would have rather seen a living animal, but I'm glad to know they are around.

PURPLE MARTINS JUST OUTSIDE OF BIG SUR THE TOWN
Sorry for the poor quality picture.  I need a new camera.  There were ten Martins in the area.  Twenty minutes later a Black Swift fly overhead.  Certainly one of the most exciting twenty minutes of the whole trip!