Ended April on a High Note

Today was a good day. I feel like I spent the entire day refilling my bucket instead of draining it. It’s 12 hours on the dot since we left the driveway and I am still working through all the amazing experiences and sightings we had today.

I needed to make a trip that would typically take me about 90 minutes, but I knew I had time, and I knew that spring is finally ringing all around us. So, I took the long way home, so to speak. It took nearly 6 hours to reach my destination. The journey was a masterclass in stopping and smelling the roses.

We drove back roads, and roads that are back roads to back roads. We walked in canyons and sagebrush, and stubble fields and grassy fields, up hills and through forests.

We saw a Peregrine Falcon nest with both parents feeding and being attentive to the chicks. We saw Mountain Goats. Kelseya and Sagebrush Buttercups. A couple dozen Forster’s Terns. A flock of 30-40 Yellow-headed Blackbirds, another similar sized flock of Black-necked Stilts, and a third similar sized flock of American Avocets. Franklin’s and Bonaparte’s Gulls. Pelicans. Deer and Antelope (technically Pronghorn). We saw a Say’s Phoebe, and about a dozen Osprey.

We saw Vultures, Curlews, Eagles, Grebes, Kestrels, Red-tailed and Swainson’s Hawks. Cranes and Herons, and Swifts and Swallows. Limestone cliffs, and rivers and lakes, and prairies. The Labrador was in creeks, and rivers, and reservoirs, and vernal streams that flowed over the road.

We are ending April with 43 year birds, we added 11 new species for the year. That surpasses our previous best April by a full 10 species. And all of that simply makes today a good day.