Hi All,
Spring has sprung in the eastern Sierras: The aspens are just beginning to
get their leaves, tulips and daffodils are waving at me from yards as we
pass, and the wildflowers are just gorgeous, especially the fields of wild
iris around Bishop, CA.
>From Thurs. May 1-Tues.May 6, my husband and I traveled north on Hwy. 395,
passing through Bishop, the June Lake Loop, Bridgeport, Twin Lakes, and
Bishop Creek, returning the same way. We camped in our rescued camper,
and here's a list of the 54 birds we saw: (Birds in caps are lifers)
House Finch Crow Starling Cooper's Hawk
Raven Redtailed Hawk Meadowlark Rock Dove
Brewer's Blackbird Kestrel Cliff Swallow Western Kingbird
House Sparrow Horned Lark CA Gull Black-billed Magpie
Redwinged Blackbird Turkey Vulture Golden Eagle Robin
Great Blue Heron Northern Flicker Steller's Jay Mountain Chickadee
Red-shouldered Hawk RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER Canada Geese
Eared Grebe Ruby-crowned Kinglet Audubon's Warbler
Brown Creeper Common Merganser Fox Sparrow
Pine Siskin House Wren Spotted Towhee Yellow Warbler
Song Sparrow Western Grebe Mallard Barn Swallow
Hairy Woodpecker Bullock's Oriole Cassin's Finch Mountain Bluebird
Pygmy Nuthatch GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE Unidentified Flycatcher
Black Phoebe GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH CA Quail
Brown-headed Cowbird VIOLET GREEN SWALLOW Mystery Bird
Clark's Nutcracker
NO Hummingbirds !!!!!!!

I saw a mystery bird that I still can't identify in a cottonwood tree by
the East Walker River below Bridgeport Reservoir: It looked like a smaller
version of a Black Phoebe, except where the BP is BLACK and white, this
bird was BLUE. I think it had 2 wingbars, and the flycatcher crest. It
flew off too quickly for me to see any more. Any ideas ?
The Gray-crowned Rosy Finches are alive but not well in Aspendell outside
Bishop. In the 2 hours I was at the Wallace home observing them, I saw 2
"puffers", as Mrs. Wallace calls them. These birds sit lethargically on
the ground, feathers all puffed out. They can fly, but slowly. She
reports that most of the puffers die. There are still at least 40 finches
at this home, located at 140 Iris, off Cardinal Road, which is off West
Line Road (Hwy 168) out of Bishop.

Cathi Tomsen
tomscar at lasercom.net
Hemet, CA