Lots of my birding happens alone, which is partially a function of getting up and getting out early, and stopping on my way home from work somewhere. Works out just fine cause I can go at my own pace and stop and check things out for awhile if i want. Sometimes take Janx-- good birding dog: she's mellow, listens to me pretty well, just make alot of quick movements so doesn't flush alot of birds.
But some days G and Clem are along with me, which is good too. Though both can tire a bit of my investigations, pace, or mileage. Harriman Lake can be a bit monotonous, too. It wasn't a place I ever went prior to birding-- had driven by it a hundred times over the years, but never stopped in. Reason? Just a simple 1.5 loop around a lake: no elevation gain, mostly dirt road, no big boulders to climb on or anything. But factor in the birds and it's gravy...
First time I pulled up a Red Tailed had just killed a rabbit... Before I was able to get out of the car, he flew with him to a nearby barbed-wire fence, and the rabbit remains got hung up in the barbs. Red Tail was nonplussed, then frustrated in his attempts to extricate his meal from the wire and move on. I watched as he tried again and again, working of course with just his feet and beak. Even thought about getting out of the car, shooing the bird off, untangling the rabbit myself and dropping it clear for him to retrieve. But the other voice in my head was saying, "Tob-- he's dealt fine with these challenges till now-- leave him be. He'll figure it out, or won't..."
Three minutes later he managed the dis-entanglement and moved on...
Anyways, today Clem right-away announced she WAS NOT going on the walk with us, when I said we were going on a walk. So I sweetened the deal for her a bit: 5 bucks if she could identify 10 different species of bird. She was in-- game on :)
Mallards were the first ducks: easy enough. I'd tried to prep her for the look of the Coots, Widgeons, and Blue-Winged Teals in the car on the way over. It took a little more direct instruction, but after a few minutes she could clearly differentiate the first two. (Didn't see any Blue Wingeds-- they were all over about a month back, but no longer). But the new addition to the pool was the Lesser Scaup: hadn't seen them yet this fall but here for four of them...
Then an excited burst from Clem: "A Red Tail Hawk! A Red Tail!" as one swooped low, just over her head, and then came back up to land there in one of the cottonwoods.
We continued: a flurry of house finches, the sound of a blackbird (only one, though I've seen hundreds in huge, garrulous flocks before), and on up ahead to the inlet adjacent to the Great Horned Copse (good viewing to the center of the lake).
A wise-ass Realtor by the name of Bud slowed to ask a few questions: "What do you see out there? I see a bunch of DUCKS..."
I lured him over, told him to have a look through my binocs and he'd be able to see a Bufflehead along with the Coots, Widgeons, Geese...
A Dufflehead? he asked. Then spent some time trying to adjust to the binoculars, without much success. Tried closing one eye, like he was hunting, he said. Then switched gears to real estate and gave us his card, made a few comments about what the Fed would be up to soon, and interest rates, and a few more random cracks, and moved onwards. I'm thinking I'm definitely not calling this guy if we sell our house-- he's looking for an audience even more so than looking to make some money--
No Pied-Billed Grebes-- they've moved on after consistent residence throughout the spring and summer. No Owls or Balds or Mountain Bluebirds. But we hit 13 species by the time we rounded the bend towards the car-- a Magpie. And were on our way to lunch, Clemmie happily demanding the payoff...
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