Tag: Townsend's Solitaire

Thrushing to the End of the Month

I cannot believe how fast this month has gone. Granted we were out of state for most of it, but even then, it feels like we accidentally took a wormhole to May. I’ve been in a bit of a panic since glancing at the post count for April. Even with Brad’s help, I was still way below my self-imposed monthly quota. Managed to claw my way back over last week with several finds from our trip to Las Vegas in Feb/Mar. Needed one more in these last couple of days before May. Checked out the queue – Brad has several ready for us, but he is still on assignment and want to keep him focused on the Ptarmigan objective. That left me three choices – a grey bird that continues the Desert NWR theme, a grey bird with quite the proboscis or a complete left turn to some creepy crawlies. Grabbed a coin, made a few tosses and welcome to today’s featured feathered friend.

Townsend's Solitaire found at Desert NWR, Las Vegas NV in March 2023

Powers of deduction can quickly reveal the winner. No bursts of color and by birding standards a pretty normal bill…yep, we are going to stay with the Desert National Wildlife Refuge theme from the last couple of posts. While reading the latest finds from this site – specifically the Corn Creak Field Station area – three birds stood out. The Western Bluebird, the Mountain Bluebird and what I thought was a surprising addition based on our location.

Hit the jump to see how our quest went!

Continue reading Thrushing to the End of the Month

Solitaire Anyone?…by Brad Marks

Greetings everyone! We are essentially at the midpoint of our winter trip south and I must say this has been quite a productive start to this year’s Average Year efforts (not updated yet, but link here). Ron was able to meet us down here for a week and recently headed back (ironically on the day the FAA grounded all planes). Now Linda and I need to head back to get all the birds we hid from him hehehe. We’ll be moving our base camp soon and that means connectivity may be in jeopardy. While we get that straightened out, I’m going to leave you in Brad’s capable hands to keep you entertained. In case you notice a green tint to this post, that’s due to the fact Brad has managed to tin a bird neither Ron or I have…I’ll let him tell the story.

Take it away Brad!

As you may have guessed, Jan and I have traveled to Colorado a few times recently.  Our daughter lives there so it gives us a very good excuse to frequent Colorado and all it has to offer.  During our visit last spring, we decided to check out some local hiking.  Many of the guide books lists dozens, nay, hundreds of hikes from casual walks to the much more adventurous challenging hikes, some involving ropes and harnesses.  We decided to see what was close by our hotel near Boulder.  After a brief All Trails app search, Jan found Eldorado Canyon State Park.  We first went last April, but Jan was hobbled by an injury and couldn’t hike far.  We headed back this fall to more fully explore.  Once leaving the Boulder area,  the highways turned into county or village roads (no center stripes in some cases) and then very quickly into unimproved roads.  By “unimproved” I mean not paved but graded every now and then.  Oddly enough the roads “improved” a bit once we were inside the park (still not paved though).  We’ve learned from last April not to make the rookie mistake of stopping at the very first pull-off. 

Hit the jump to read more about Brad’s Colorado adventure at Eldorado Canyon State Park!

Continue reading Solitaire Anyone?…by Brad Marks