Anne and I plan to begin a Western Adventure after returning briefly to Pennsylvania to visit kith and kin and provision our motorhome.  The purpose of the trip will be to visit Alex and other friends and relatives and to enjoy western scenery, but, as usual, we will also be seeking exquisite glimses of avian fauna.

We have already seen some 630 kinds or species of birds in the continental United States and Canada.  Some one hundred more that regular visit these lands have eluded us so far.  Our route is designed to allow us to find 39 of these outstanding species.  I, for one, am intensely curious as to how many “life-birds” we will find.  There is a chance we will see all 39.  There is even the possibility of our picking up a few more “accidental” or “vagrant” birds that are not on the target list.  In the era of the Internet, the appearance of rare birds is broadcast by proud spotters, and the birding community descends upon wayward critters.  Still, it is extremely unlikely that we will find each of the 39 “target birds” on our list.

There are several excuses for not finding all of these species.   A number of the birds are nocturnal or exceedingly cryptic.  Technically, we may count a species if we only hear it, but we prefer to see and watch our birds.  Some birds are somewhat unpredictable with regard to location.  They can and do fly to where conditions, especially food, are right.  So, we may be in the right place at the right time, but the bird will be elsewhere.  Finally, even active birds can make themselves frustratingly inconspicuous, especially after the breeding season.  It is always easiest to find a singing male prominently perched on territory in May, but the birder cannot be everywhere in May! 

So, we have a challenge ahead of us.  In case anyone is interested, I’ll list our species below with the locations where and and the dates when we hope to spot them.  You may find this wild bird chase amusing if only for its human interest.  I’ll try to update you on these pilgrims’ progress. 

March 23 or 24:  Greater Prairie Chicken, Prairie Ridge State Natural Area, IL.  Prairie chickens and sage grouse assemble in the spring at leks where the males dance when the females come out of the brush.  Yes, the dancing becomes x-rated from time to time.

 

March 27-29: Lesser Prairie Chicken, Cimmaron National Grassland, KS.  Prairie chickens were once abundant, but have now almost vanished with the prairie.  We’ll look here for the rarest species that inhabits dry grasslands.

 

April 1:  Gunnison Sage Grouse, Gunnison CO.  The range of this variety of sage grouse is limited to southern Colorado.  It will likely be a cold dawn at the established viewing station on a high plateau.  The rules require you to arrive before dawn so as not to disturb the dancers.

 

April 12:  Le-Conte’s Thrasher, Mojave National Preserve or elsewhere in CA.  This is an uncommon, sand-colored skulker of the desert.

 

April 14 or 15:  Yellow-footed Gull, Salton Sea, CA.  Most live in Mexico, but a few sometimes hang out at the Salton Sea.  We’ll look for them.

 

April:  Mountain Quail, California.  We should hear its calls in the mountains and hope for views.

 

April 16-25:  Spotted Dove, , southern CA.  This is an exotic that we should encounter in suburban neighborhoods.

 

April 17 or 27 or May 16, or May 22:   Cassin’s Auklet, at sea off San Diego CA, Ventura CA, Newport OR, or Westport WA.  This is a white-eyed pelagic migrant that we hope to see before it departs for rocky islets off Alaska.

 

April 17-19:  Common Poorwill, Jennings Lake County Park, CA:  We should see this frogmouth’s glowing eyes at night, and hope to see more of bird too.

 

April 18 or 19:  Surfbird, San Diego, CA:  A migrant shorebird that we should catch sight of along rocky shores before it departs for the far northern tundra.

 

April 22 or 23:  Elegant Tern, Bolsa Chica, CA:   This coastal bird is common in Mexico, but forms only a couple of colonies in southern California. 

 

April 22 or 23:  Allen’s Hummingbird, Huntington Beach CA:  This tiny hummer is common along California coast.  We should see many of them.

 

April 22 or 23:  Tricolored Blackbird, Huntington Beach CA:  This is an uncommon nomad that can be hard to find, but we know of its haunts.

 

April 25-27:  California Gnatcatcher, Ventura CA:   A tiny sprite that is rare, but regular, in bushes between posh homes on brushy slopes near the ocean in southern California.

 

April 27:  Island Scrub-Jay, Santa Cruz Island, CA:  This island endemic is found only on this bit of land.  It is really just a variety of  the scrub jay found in Florida and the far west, but it is designated a species and so will add to our list.

 

April 27:  Xantus’s Murrelet, Pacific Ocean near Santa Cruz Island, CA:  Tough to see, these tiny blackbirds swim among the waves and flee by air or sea at the approach of the boat.  We hope for a view going or coming from the island.  We’ll need your prayers for this one.

 

May 10-12:  Hermit Warbler, Crescent City CA:  This yellow-faced warbler of tall trees in California should be easy to find and see in the distance, but hard to see well.  It is known as a “sore neck bird.”   We have missed it before in the spring in California because it does not arrive until the end of April.  This year we should find it.

 

May 28-30 or July 20-25:  White-tailed Ptarmigan, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA or San Juan National Forest, CO:  This has been a nemesis bird for us.  It is wonderfully camouflaged year-round, pure white in winter and lichen-mottled rock-gray in summer.  If it doesn’t flush, you can easily overlook it.  We hope to spot it on one of two alpine hikes, one in Washington and another in Colorado.

 

June or July:  Northern Pigmy Owl, Western mountains:   This tiny owl is widespread in the West, but hard to notice.  It is a stealth aircraft.  We may call it in by peeping.  A terrible predator, it kills birds as large as itself. 

 

June:  Flammulated Owl, NV or UT:  We will listen for its peculiar hoohoo  hoo call in pine woods at night.  It is very hard to see unless we find a nest hole or someone tells us where to find a nest hole.

 

June 11 or 12:  Himalayan Snowcock, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, NV:  This introduced and established large grouse species can sometimes be found high in the Ruby Mountains.   We will hike to a mountain lake before dawn and wait for it to crow and perhaps appear for us.  The hike may be difficult.

 

June 11 or 12:  Black Rosy-Finch, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, NV:  Rosy finches summer on the northern tundra or on alpine meadows.  In winter they can be spotted at feeders, often near ski resorts. This species is found in the western Rockies and in the Ruby Mountains.  Some graze in the same meadow as the snowcocks, and we’ll look for them there.

 

June 11 – 30:  Virginia’s Warbler, NV, UT, AZ:  We should encounter this common tiny bird when in mountain brushlands.  The wood warblers are an American family speckled with colors like butterflies.  This one is gray with a yellow breast and rump.

 

June 17-19:  Grace’s Warbler, Zion National Park UT:  This species is present and common in woodlands of parts of the Southwest for only for a few months each year.  We’ll listen for its accelerating and loudening trill.

 

July 20-25: Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, Durango CO: This rosy finch is found in the eastern Rockies in Colorado.  We will reach the western edge of their range and climb to the alpine to find them.  We’ll look in the same meadows for the White-tailed Ptarmigan. 

 

August 2 or 3: Botteri’s Sparrow, Amado AZ:  This is a summer resident of meadows of a certain kind of grass in the desert Southwest.   The males should be singing and sticking their heads out of the thick grass during our time there.  The weather is likely to be very hot.

 

August 2 or 3:  Rufous-winged Sparrow, Amado AZ: An uncommon resident of desert grass mixed with brush and cactus in SE AZ and NW Mexico. 

 

August 5-9:  Whiskered Screech Owl,  Madera Canyon AZ:   We may not find this bird  which stops calling in July, but we hope some residents can give us come clues.

 

August 5-11:  Montezuma Quail, southern Arizona:  We have struck out on this bird before, but, with luck, will find it along back roads near Nogales.  It is a secretive, handsome, and well camaflauged nomad of border scrublands.

 

August 5-11:  Greater Pewee, SE AZ:   Reports suggest that we should have no trouble finding this SE Arizona “specialty” in August.  We shall see.  It calls “Jose Ma-ria.”

 

August 5-11:  Buff-breasted Flycatcher, Sawmill Canyon, AZ:  We are told that it is less common than the pewee, but we should also find it.

 

August 5-11:  Dusky-capped Flycatcher, SE AZ:  This SE Arizona “specialty” should be easy to find.  Identifying this drab bird may be slightly more difficult. 

 

August 6:  Five-striped Sparrow, California Canyon, AZ:  We will join a guided tour entering one of two south-draining canyons at the Mexican border where the range of this species extends into los Estados Unitos.  Access is by jeep road and then a scramble down the canyon.  We will bring lots of water.  This is considered to be the toughest sparrow to find in the country to find.

 

August 12-14:  Thick-billed Kingbird, Patagonia AZ:   We hope to find this border species at the spectacular Patagonia State Park where it is a rare, but usually regular in late summer visitor.

 

August 16-20:  Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Coronado National Forest, AZ:   We should find this uncommon mountain songbird in the magical Chiracahua Mountains. 

 

August 16-21: Blue-throated Hummingbird, Portal AZ:  We hope to find this giant hummingbird that ranges just into Arizona and visits feeders placed by local birders in the high mountains.

 

August 16-21: Red-faced Warbler, Chiricahua National Monument AZ:  This is another species rare in southern Arizona Mountains.  Most leave for Mexico in August, so we hope to find a few of these exceptionally handsome birds before they go.

 

August 16-21:  Olive Warbler, Chiricahua National Monument AZ:  Another summer resident of the mountains of southern Arizona.

 

August 21-24 Mountain Plover:  We will, with luck, find a report of these birds on the western plains and see them somewhere.  This bird breeds in the high prairie and has become quite rare.  We won’t be in southern California or Arizona where they winter in winter nor in the northern plains in the late spring where they breed, so we have to try to find them on migration.  We are unlikely to succeed, but failure gives us an excuse for another trip to Colorado.