Hi folks,

I had a peripatetic weekend, beginning last Friday, as I had to go to
Colorado Springs to pick my Mom up from the hospital. Something
to do with 6.800-feet elevation, emphysema from 65 years of smoking,
a respiratory infection, age 83, etc. Come to find out that our air travel
services corporations will not transport people who have more than a
certain amount of oxygen - even if the ticket was already paid for, etc.
So, 'riding the rails' was the next best option. I took notes of what I
saw, in the order of when I saw them...

I left Sea-Tac at 7:30 a.m. Friday the 2nd for a connecting flight in
Phoenix (which I missed....). Coming out the door and driving to the
airport, I saw/heard:
Winter Wren
Crow
Glaucous-winged Gull
Dock Dove
Starling
Mallard
Canada Goose

Got into Phoenix airport, where there is NO opportunity to bird,
but did see:
Rock Dove
Great-tailed Grackle

Got into Colo Spgs after dark and drove for the Denver Amtrak station
at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday the 3rd to make the 'California Zephyr' which
was (being an Amtrak train, after all..) only 1-1/2 hours late. In the
early morning dusk en route to Denver, there were:
Black-billed Magpie
Mallard
Starling

Got on board the train, got Momma settled with Dad attending. So, went
to the observation seats in the lounge for a day of interrupted birding.
The train went west over the Rocky Mtn crest, then down the Colorado
River. Got dark a little NW of Grand Junction. Found that even with
decent 10X42s, you can't focus on the little brown dickey-birds very
well. But did pick out:
Rock Dove
Am. Kestrel
House Finch
Yellow-shafted Flicker
Brewer's Blackbird
Red-tailed Hawk - lots
Mtn. Bluebirds - in flocks of 100s
Steller's Jay
Townsend's Solitaire
Raven
Western Tanager - high elevation, kind of late?
Am. Robin
"Blue-winged" Teals
Canvasback
Scaup spp.
Coot
Double-crested Cormorant
Harrier
Common Merganser
Belted Kingfisher
Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Avocet
Shoveller
Dipper - along the upper Colorado
Red-winged Blackbird
Song Sparrow
Turkey Vulture
Horned Lark
Also saw: Bighorn Sheep, Pronghorn, Mule Deer, Beaver, Otter

On Sunday the 4th, Woke up about dawn near Elko, Nevada en route
to Sacramento and the Bay area to switch onto the northbound. Lots
of birds seen along the Humboldt and Truckee Rivers in Nevada, the
pines were full of birds near the crest of the Sierras, and the marshes
from Sacramento to the Bay (Suisun area) were thick with water birds.
Cooper's Hawk
Am. Robin
Rock Dove
Crow
Starling
Mallard
Pied-billed Grebe
Blue-winged/Cinnamon Teal
Wigeon
Red-shafted Flicker
Sparrow species
Raven
House Finch
House Sparrow
Brewer's Blackbird
Horned Lark
Western Meadowlark
Avocet
Ruddy Duck
Great Blue Heron
White Pelican
Sandhill Crane - 2 in a wet meadow along the Humboldt River
Red-tailed Hawk
Burrowing Owl - near Sparks, Nev
Mourning Dove
Steller's Jay
Red Crossbill
Red-shouldered Hawk - can sure tell when you get to Calif!
Yellow-billed Magpie
Goldfinch spp.
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
Am. Egret
Ring-billed Gull
1 Ba-zillion "peeps" - San Francisco Bay
California Gull
Red-winged/Tricolored Blackbird
Snowy Egret
California Towhee
Willet
Western Gull
Also saw: Coyote, Mule Deer

After a 3-hour layover in Emeryville, it was dark when we caught the
"Coast Starlight" (a much nicer train, with nicer attendants and con-
ductors). Daybreak on Monday the 5th came when we were near
Mt Shasta City. Good birding along the Klamath marshes and Lake.
Not much going across the Cascades or in the Willamett Valley.
Red Crossbill
Mtn Chickadee
Townsend's Solitaire
Am. Robin
Red-shafted Flicker
Hairy Woodpecker
Cassin's Finch
Starling
Red-tailed Hawk
Brewer's Blackbird
Rock Dove
Black-billed Magpie
Mtn Bluebird
Mallard - Klamath Lake
Ring-billed Gull
Great Egret
Coot
Green-winged Teal
Gadwall
Redhead
Marsh Wren
Red-winged (Tricolored?) Blackbird
California Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Pied-billed Grebe
Bufflehead
Dowitcher spp.
Greater Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
Canada Goose
Great Blue Heron
Killdeer
Western Grebe
Clark's Grebe - cool!
Horned Grebe
L. Scaup
Belted Kingfisher
White Pelican
Violet-green Swallow
Sharp-shinned Hawk - Turner, Oregon
Also: Pronghorns near Butte Valley, Calif. and a Black-tailed Deer
doe above Oakridge, Oregon.

Didn't see anything 'new' from Salem to Olympia, where the train
arrived only 1 hour late at 7:15 p.m. I'm sure that I missed a lot,
and there were a lot of birds seen that couldn't be identified.
Mom & Dad had detrained in Albany, and she was feeling some better
(back near sea level....). Birding by Amtrak wasn't the most satisfying,
but it beat the heck out of watching football all weekend......

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net