Subject: [Tweeters] Colima Warbler & Cougars
Date: Sep 5 12:13:39 2009
From: Larry Schwitters - lpatters at ix.netcom.com


My experiences Colima Warblering were quite different than Richards.
One big difference is that we never saw it. I attribute that to our
going for it April 11 and again April 12. No one had been seeing any
yet so Richard is probably right on with his mid-April
recommendation. But you can find them later than mid-May. In the ABA
"Birdfinder" Cooper puts his West Texas trip in an early July slot.
Of course that doesn't make it any cooler. One of the reasons he does
this is to give you a better shot at Lucifer Hummingbird.

Cooper also states "The trail to see Colima Warbler is 11 miles long
and there is virtually no possibility of hiking less than 7 miles to
see the bird."

"No possibility" is stretching it. Here is what FrancisToldi said
after her? May 14th trip.

"The books make much of how impossibly difficult the Pinnacles Trail
is and how one should only hike it going down. For me steep downhill
is harder on the legs than uphill, so I was happy to go up the
Pinnacles and down the more gradually sloping Laguna Meadows route.
For a reasonably fit middle aged person, the Pinnacles Trail is not an
unreasonable hike (assuming it is hiked in the EARLY morning, with
plenty of water and food). Laguna Meadows might be a better way to go
for someone who is solely on a Colima Warbler mission, since the bird
can be found within a few miles of the roadhead most years." She
began this hike at 7 AM.

You don't have to go to boot springs to see the Colima Warbler, but to
get the total experience you probably should. I would suggest first
light. Leora and I both thought the "steepness" of the Pinnacles
Trail to be over rated.

Larry Schwitters
Issaquah



On Sep 5, 2009, at 7:58 AM, Richard Carlson wrote:

> The Colima Warbler hike in Big Bend requires you to start early with
> headlamps. The first thing sign my wife and I saw at 4:30 am last
> year was "Warning Mountain Lions, DO NOT Hike in the Dark, or in
> Small Groups".
> I don't quite know how I convinced my wife to keep going, but the
> idea of her waiting for me when she got tired evaporated.
>
> This is a long 10 mile all day trip. You have to hike the trail
> between mid-April and mid-May, so it's hot. If we 66 yr olds with
> crappy joints can make it, anyone can, but it's not for the faint of
> heart. Be sure to get hotel reservations in the park many months
> early. The bird is very hard to find. A major birding group owes
> me for finding the bird and guiding them to it.
>
> Lovely mountains, surrounded by vast areas of empty desert that make
> eastern Washington look like a garden.
>
> RCC
>
>
>
> Richard Carlson
> Full-time Birder, Biker and Rotarian
> Part-time Economist
> Tucson, AZ, Lake Tahoe, CA, & Kirkland, WA
> rccarl at pacbell.net
> Tucson 520-760-4935
> Tahoe 530-581-0624
> Kirkland 425-828-3819
> Cell 650-280-2965
>
>
> From: Roger Moyer <rogermoyer1 at hotmail.com>
> To: tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, September 3, 2009 11:42:45 PM
> Subject: [Tweeters] Colima Warbler
>
> I am comtemplating going after the Colima Warbler next spring and
> would appreicate input from anyone who has made the "jaunt". I
> understand it it quite a climb to get to the site. If somone could
> contact me offline about the hike and such I would appreicate it.
>
> Roger Moyer
> rogermoyer1 at hotmail.com
> Chehalis, WA
>
> Hotmail? is up to 70% faster. Now good news travels really fast. Try
> it now.
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