Fire!!!!!

The signs of fall are beginning to show here in California. On the east coast I look forward to fall as it means, changing leaves, cooler temperatures and migrating birds. In Northern California fall signifies slightly different thinds... lightning storms and forest fires. On Tuesday as we approached Lassen Natl. Forest we noticed clouds up ahead. Since it NEVER rains in the summer here, I was not surprised to soon see that this was not an approaching storm, but rather a giant forest fire burning near our banding station. Make that 3 forest fires burning near our banding stations.



The road to one station was closed so we headed to the second station which ironically is named BURN. When we got there, we could see the fire in the distance and decided it was too smoky to band to we fled back across the valley to Trinity National Forest where we camped for the night. Had we approached the fire this is what we would have seen. This photo was taken that same night when 4000 acres had burned. The fire doubled over night and has since grown to 10,000 acres.



Hopefully it is controlled by Monday when I am scheduled to return.

The following day we headed up to Indian Valley and were greeted by a monstrous electrical storm, (which sparked 11 new fires, all extinguished). If you really want to get good looks at lightning bolts I suggest heading to the top of a mountain. You really want to get out in the open so your are the tallest thing around and thus will have the best view.





We rode out the storm in the car and hoped not to see any fires burning. Enough about that, after all we were here to band birds, and that is just what we did. We have recently started owl banding, which consists of arranging four nets in a square surrounding an audio lure which plays the songs of the 4 species of smaller owls that we are targeting. We then check the nets every 40 minutes from sunset to sunrise. We work in shifts so that we can get some sleep. The first night we didn't catch anything but a bat however, we had lots of owls come down close to the nets including singing Northern Pygmy Owls (2), Western Screech Owls (2) and Northern Saw Whet Owls (1).
Banding this week was a bit slow, but we did still get lots of cool birds, the highlights being a HY Mountain Quail captured at Indian Valley, and a HY Belted Kingfisher captured at Salmon Creek.

Belted Kingfisher captured at Salmon Creek

HY Mountain Quail captured at Indian Valley (Dont' mind the funny goggles.)

Many of the warblers have completed their adult prebasic molts (a replacement of all feathers after breeding) and are stunningly beautiful. This yellow warbler captured at Indian Valley is a good example. The outer most 2 primaries were the only feathers still in pin and the bird looked brand new. I wanted to take it home with me. Lets hope his feathers last for the whole year.






Banding Lists:

Hocker Flat
Song Sparrow 4
Yellow-Breasted Chat 1
Spotted Towhee 2
Yellow Warbler 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 2
Western Tanager 3
Wrentit 1

Cap D Creek
Wrentit 1
Yellow-Breasted Chat 2
Spotted Towhee 1
Wilson's Warbler 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 2
Swainson's Thrush 1
Song Sparrow 1
Black-Headed Grosbeak 1
WILLOW FLYCATCHER 1
Western Flycatcher spp. 1

Indian Valley
Wrentit 6
Purple Finch 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Oregon Junco 5
Red-Breasted Sapsucker 5
Spotted Towhee 8
Dusky Flycatcher 4
Western Flycatcher spp. 1
Orange Crowned Warbler 1
Cassin's Vireo 2
Yellow Warbler 1
Macgillivray's Warbler 1
Mountain Quail 3

Salmon Creek
Song Sparrow 4
Wilson's Warbler 2
BELTED KINGFISHER 1

Black Tern hovering; Rocky Point, OR

Yellow-Headed Blackbird photographed at Rocky Point, OR

Clark's Nutcracker at Crater Lake, OR