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Wyoming BIG DAY Report

This is really long, and it is only related to Utah by the person involved, ME,
and the fact that Wyoming borders Utah.  If your not interested in a true,
comical, bird-filled story, delete now, or just read the first paragraph for
the general idea!  -Tim

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?BELTED KINGFISHER!!!!!? I am sure anyone walking near my car at 9:06 pm in the
river walk parking lot in Evanston last night probably thought I was a crazy
person.  Well, after 14 hours of non-stop birding (not quite, I will explain
later) I was on the fringe of craziness and had finally hit my goal for the
day.  Bird number 131.  I don?t know why this number, maybe because it was one
past 130?  Who knows, I definitely don?t.  However, I do know it was a sweet
ending to what can only be the weirdest big day I have ever been part of. 
Probably because I was alone for starters, but also because of the twists and
turns, and misses and finds the day had produced.  The truth is I only decided
to do a big day on Thursday night, I came up with a route that I thought could
produce about 150 species, and wasn?t too exhausting.  I would have to get up
and drive to Fontenelle Dam to start the morning, after doing my transect
early, really early.

I arrived at Weeping Wall Campground at around 7:53 am and started ticking away.
 Common bird, common bird, wait CEDAR WAXWING? Sure enough a flock was moving
through the trees and I was quite surprised.  I marked off 22 species as I
headed back up the road, the last being a GREAT HORNED OWL in the tree near the
entrance.  Below the dam I had only 3 target birds in Western Tanager, Warbling
Vireo, and Black-headed Grosbeak which were all appearing in numbers. As I
headed up to the Dam I was awarded with a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, actually common
but always easy to miss.  From the Dam I headed to Seedskadee National Wildlife
Refuge, hitting bird 40 with a Gadwall on the north end of the tour road.  Next
I noticed a strange looking bird on the river, and raised my binoculars to see
a COMMON LOON with 2 Mergansers.  A bit late, and not one of my expected birds,
definitely a good find.  However, Seedskadee did leave a little to the
imagination on the side of Waterfowl; I was quite disappointed as I left with
only 57 Species.

Next I was headed to Rock Springs, and the Little Firehole area, and just as I
left the refuge a GOLDEN EAGLE was spotted on a telephone pole, another bird I
had not put on my list as I didn?t have a close enough reliable location.  I
arrived at the ravine with the cottonwoods at around 10:15 am and the first
bird I heard singing was a JUNIPER TITMOUSE, a great pick up. I also managed
all the other common juniper birds and a male BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD to top
things off.  No Scott?s Oriole, Bushtit, or Pinyon Jay, even with tapes played.
 As I left Rock Springs I was at 72 species and my next stop was the Lyman/Fort
Bridger Valley.

My first stop was Rollins Reservoir in Lyman, for missed waterfowl and terns. 
No terns? and only CANVASBACK, RUDDY DUCK, and CANADA GOOSE.  No teal for the
day yet.  I headed across the back roads, missing Common Snipe and Willet, and
arrived in Fort Bridger just in time to see 2 EURASIAN-COLLARED DOVE flying
from the tree they had been at just 2 weeks ago.  I headed north towards Wall
Reservoir, and slammed on the breaks as a GRAY CATBIRD dove across the road in
front of me.  Another prize.  Wall left me disappointed again as there were no
terns, Franklin?s Gulls, or new waterfowl.  But, there were three shorebirds, 2
WILSON?S PHALAROPE, and a lone RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, definitely a bonus.  With
89 species it was off to Evanston.

I arrived in Evanston just after 1:00 pm and headed to Bear River State Park,
with only SONG SPARROW on the goal sheet, and it was found.  I headed up the
road to Woodruff Narrows Reservoir adding SANDHILL CRANE, and LARK SPARROW
along the way.  Again I was shocked at the lack of water birds on the
overflowing lake.  I added AMERICAN WIGEON, CINNAMON TEAL, WILLET, and WESTERN
KINGBIRD.  I headed out through Woodruff, Utah, to Sage Junction and over
towards Cokeville, WY.  In the marshes along the road to Cokeville, I managed
to add GREEN-WINGED and BLUE-WINGED TEAL, COMMON SNIPE and TURKEY VULTURE
putting my list at 101 species for the day.  It was around 2:15 pm when I
filled up with gas and lunch in Cokeville and headed into the mountains for the
last stretch of the journey.

Along 232 out of Cokeville I added SWAINSON?S HAWK, then I hit the mountain, and
with only a few new birds in CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER, HAIRY WOODPECKER,
MacGILLIVRAY?S WARBLER, and DARK-EYED JUNCO.  Then the unthinkable happened,
the one thing that can hamper or destroy any big day? My Jeep got stuck!!!!  It
was 2:45 pm and I was 14 miles into the mountain on my way to Hobble Creek
Campground and the mother load of mountain birds when I miscalculated a snow
bank, which was just a bit too deep.  And that?s where it ends right?  WRONG!
It gets worse.  I spent about 2 hours digging snow, stacking logs and rocks,
hoping someone would be along shortly to help, but no, just me in the snow by
myself.  Finally by the power of 4 wheel drive, and just enough crap stacked
under my wheels I rocked the car backwards, out of the snow, off the side of
the road into the mud down the embankment off the right side of the road.  I am
not going to lie, I said more than just ?Gosh Darn it!?

At this point I didn?t quite know what to do, I thought I was in too deep and
would have to walk to higher ground, and do the one thing I feared, calling my
parents and asking for help.  I looked at the situation and thought, I could
stack and dig just enough that I might be able to get it back on the road, or I
might send the other front tire off and my car down the hill with it.  What to
do?  There was only one way to know if my idea would work, and that was to
stack some rocks, and logs.  After an hour of getting my contraption of rocks
and wood in place I strapped on my seatbelt, took it out of park and gently
nudged it into reverse. Nothing.  Alright, floor it then! My car wavered on the
edge just dragging along the roadside for about 10 feet, then as if lifted by
the wings of an Eagle, I shot back up on the road! (This is why I didn't spend
quit 14 hours birding, afterall 4 of it was stuck trying to get myself out!)

I couldn?t go any further, and I was worn out.  It was 6:45 on my cell phone,
and I was beat.  4 hours of shoveling snow, and mud and moving rocks while
chopping wood can do that to a person.  I headed back toward Cokeville,
defeated and realizing that my day was over.  I have heard many times that it
can take only one bird to change everything, and this can hold true in any
situation, whether it be birding as a whole, or a big day.  My bird was a BLUE
GROUSE.  I was only about 2 miles back towards Cokeville when the 2 birds
scampered across the road.  I of course was in need of a picture, and this was
the opportune time.  After 15 minutes of trying to gain an angle, get the light
right, and slipping around on the talus slope of the mountain side, I called it
quits.  But when I got to my car I started to think about all the birds I head
singing and calling while I was working on getting unstuck.  And it sunk in
that I must have heard at least 20 different species. CASSIN?S FINCH, PINE
SISKIN, OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER, HAMMOND?S FLYCATCHER, BOTH NUTHATCHES, MOUNTAIN
CHICKADEE, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, WILLIAMSON?S SAPSUCKER, RED CROSSBILL,
STELLAR?S JAY.  Then as I sat in my car 3 CLARK?S NUTCRAKER flew past me.  I
started to tally up and realized I was at 120 species and could very well hit
my target.  Coming back down the canyon I managed YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER,
SWAINSON?S THRUSH, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW and a huge miss on the day SPOTTED
SANDPIPER.  Topping it off at the bottom of the canyon was a male BROAD-TAILED
HUMMINGBIRD, number 125.

Where to go, what did I miss, what could I still find?  So many possibilities
(not really) but I knew what I needed.  First just south of Cokeville, it was a
FORSTER?S TERN on a pond, then 4 BLACK TERNS in the same marshes the birds were
in last year, only I couldn?t see them 5 hours earlier?  Then 7 WHITE-FACED
IBIS took to wing making it 128 species.  I headed back to Sage Junction, then
through Woodruff, UT, back to Woodruff Narrows, my last hope, with 3 birds in
mind, FRANKLIN?S GULL, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, and PIED-BILLED GREBE.  But it
just wasn?t meant to be, as none of the birds were present, and the road to the
dam was closed so I couldn?t take a look beneath for these species.  I headed
out of the Narrows knowing I needed to get to Evanston while it was still light
and check out the River Walk Ponds.  Wait, what is that?  Sure enough a
FRANKLIN?S GULL was wheeling in circles out over the south end of the lake.  I
got back on the highway and thought about stopping where the Bear River goes
under the road to look for a SNOWY EGRET, a bird that had been around the area
2 weeks earlier and may still be.  I wouldn?t have to, as my timing was perfect
as a brilliant white SNOWY EGRET flew over the road just west of where I was
going to stop, species number 130 for the day.  It was 8:50 pm and I had
several possibilities, but I knew where my best shot was.

I pulled into Evanston and turned towards Interstate 80 past the Rodeo Grounds,
just in time to see the sign for the River Walk on my right, I pulled in and
raced to the edge, I was going to hop out and run across the bridge in the
fleeting moments of day light to try to find a grebe or cormorant.  But, I
wouldn?t have to ?BELTED KINGFISHER!!!!!?  A male bird flew no more than 15
feet in front of my car headed north along the river.  Number 131!  And that
they say is history.  As it would turn out neither the grebe nor cormorant was
on the pond.  It was 9:06 pm and I thought, I could go south of here and wait
for the Poorwill to start calling.  But I was tired and all I wanted to do was
get back to my tent and pass out.

So today I came home, still caked in mud, realized that I can?t get to some of
my transects in the mountains due to snow.  I am going to take tomorrow to map
out the lower elevation places and come up with a route to get all my work done
in an elevation based order.  For now a shower, and some rest.  Just as a side
note, you won?t believe the species I missed, but as anyone who does a big day
knows, it happens.  Here are those birds, ones that I should have found no
matter what but somehow didn?t: Pied-billed Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant,
Fox Sparrow, Prairie Falcon, Black-necked Stilt, Black-capped Chickadee,
Red-naped Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker.  Not to mention the birds I couldn?t get
to deep in the mountains: Barrow?s Goldeneye, Calliope Hummingbird,
Golden-crowned Kinglet, Townsend?s Solitaire, Hermit Thrush, Orange-crowned
Warbler, Brown Creeper, and American Dipper.

I believe this western Big Day route in the future, in May on a normal big day
could easily produce more than 150 species.  But hey who cares for right now.

Ain?t Birdin? Great!

Tim

Salt Lake City, UT and Southwest, WY
http://www.timaverybirding.com

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