Subject: [Tweeters] Himalayan Snowcock - Ruby Mountains
Date: Jul 25 14:19:46 2010
From: MEYER2J at aol.com - MEYER2J at aol.com


Hi Tweets:

On July 22, 2010, Mike and I hiked the trail from the Lamoille Valley
parking lot to a high point above Island Lake, in the Ruby Mountains of Nevada.
After an hour's hike, we arrived at the lake at 6:10 am., hiked up
further to about 9700 ft., where I scoped the entire mountain bowl many, many
times for 2 hours. At 8:10 a.m. I caught my breath as I spotted 2 Himalayan
Snowcocks on the northwest ridge. Mike came running from his vantage point
and we enjoyed nearly 5 minutes of excellent scope views of the 2 snowcocks
walking among the boulders and standing against the horizon. It was a
magical and exhilarating moment in time. (We never heard a peep or call from
the snowcocks.) Thank you Bob Flores and Andy Stepniewski and others for
your input, advice and encouragement. It was worth the effort, indeed.
Fortunately, we spent a week in Colorado Rocky Mountain National Park prior to
driving to Nevada, which acclimated us to the altitude, making the upward
hike pain free. Weather was perfect. We stayed in the town of Lamoille at
the Lamoille Hotel where we had views of a nesting Broad-tailed
Hummingbird from our cabin door. Since we were in the area, we also hiked to Dollar
Lake and drove to Ruby Lake NWR during the three days that we were in
Lamoille. We didn't spend much time in Lamoille Canyon because there was road
construction that meant 25 minute waits for one-way traffic throughout the
day. Even after being home from a 3700-mile road trip, we continue to be in
awe of Nevada's Ruby Mountains and the Himalayan Snowcock.

Good birding, Joyce Meyer and Mike West
_meyer2j at aol.com_ (mailto:meyer2j at aol.com)