Day two was great. Not a real hard "center of the trip day", where one
aggressively pursues adventure in order to justify the time and money invested -
just a day to move further out of the back yard and try to slow down enough to
absorb what is new in where and how one is going. The tension on day two comes
from wanting to get as deep into the trip as possible, while wanting and needing
to avoid the interstates which WILL get you as deep into the trip as possible.
Whatever you do on day two it's bound to be wrong and not really provide anything to write home about.
Day two on this trip was no exception. It was great. We had boxed ourselves into the north east corner of Oregon and were a good five hours away from crossing into Idaho.
Awakened by the sound of "Friendly annoying neighbour dog" helping himself to last night's trash, we crawled out of damp sleeping bags and drove off into the mist. This was to be the first of many "sleep and runs" as we beat the park ranger out of the $7.00 service fee by leaving at 6:15 a.m.
After four hours of driving the wind, rain, mist and winding roads through oppressive fir and cedars on the Oregon side of the Snake River, the day started to open up for us. Just south of $10.00 a dozen hamburgers (offered every "Tightwad Tuesday" in Richland Oregon) we ran smack up against the butt end of a cattle drive.
The drive parted, the mist lifted and Cletis got his firsts "Lifer" for the trip.
Half a dozen Chukar's littering the side of the road. Cletis was pleased. This was bird number 300 and something on his haphazard North American Life List, and a mandatory free shot of the Wild Turkey.
The rules for listing, "drive-by-birding", and saluting any new birds are a bit technical for anyone without a formal background in ornithology, so best not to go into them here. The main rule however - the one that all self respecting naturalists should know and abide by - is that, any bird species not previously seen and identified by the birder requires a Wild Turkey salute, regardless of the time of day. This makes for interesting mornings given that morning birding is the most productive.
The main advantage of the Wild Turkey Lifer Rule is that it generates more sightings, which in turn call for more Wild Turkey, which generates more sightings...I think you know where I'm going with this. The more saluting you do, the weirder the birds start to look and the less likely it is that you've ever seen "one of those" before.
You might expect that as the birds get weirder, identification would become
more difficult, but it doesn't. Wild Turkey brain lubricant gets the lateral
thought juices flowing and before you know it you've got names and an in-depth
understanding of the habitat and life cycles of a whole mess of previously
undiscovered species.
That said, not all birds that get "the salute" are rare. Another species frequently found on the dirt road from Richland to Huntington Oregon, and certainly worthy of a salute, was the Brown Headed Cowbird. Not at all uncommon but nonetheless worthy of recognition because of it's survival technique of brood parasitism, which generates a great deal of negative press and only a modicum of fan mail.
Cowbirds in general are slagged because they lay their eggs in other birds' nests and leave their young to be raised by strangers without so much as a criminal record check. Cowbirds are also blamed for declining populations of songbirds, because raising the cowbird off spring exhausts the host parent and leads to an increased mortality rate among the host's own progeny. Interestingly, the detrimental impact of cowbirds on the host species is nothing compared to the impact of modern Hominids. Even so, I'm not going to slag modern hominids, since they too are just part of Mother Nature's deal - part of the grand turth.
Preaching aside, the day continued to unfold. Twice across the Snake and south into the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. Cutting through a vibrant wetland and into some "sorta mountains", we pulled onto the windy shores of "god knows what recreational lake, Nevada" and, without leaving the vehicle, snagged, at 20 meters off shore, one of the top 5 birds of the trip.
Click it out - Clark's Grebe - Lifer - Wild Turkey shot. Not to be confused with Western Grebe. See the difference?
Have another shot - you will.