Sounds like a horrible idea, right? However if one always waited for the best weather instead of enjoying ugly conditions I would never have found a Pectoral Sandpiper. The Cornell School of Ornithology describes this “fairly rare bird” in this manner:
A medium-sized, chunky shorebird, the Pectoral Sandpiper is found most commonly on mudflats with short grass or weedy vegetation and seems more at home in the grass than in the water.
If you inspect the image, please note the water. I got wet watching this bird, and the two Snow Geese for which I had actually driven over to the Riley Road Playing Fields. I will admit this afternoon was some of the worst photographic conditions I’ve experienced in some time!
Molly and I are home in Duluth, which for me means lots of rest in a final attempt to kick this pneumonia bug. I did take a slow 12 mile bicycle ride yesterday afternoon along the North Shore of Lake Superior. After all how could I resist the call of peck fall foliage, clear blue skies and a gorgeous Lake Superior? In addition, the NW winds made for a huge songbird migration. I had hundreds of juncos and yellow-rumped warblers which were my company for the bike ride!
Here are few final photographs from my trip our to the Rocky Mountains.
The late, great John Denver pulls his guitar out and starts to strum/sing “Rocky Mountain High”! Yes, this region of North America is special and John innately understood that fact.
Yesterday was one of the most special days of my life outdoors. Since I was a little boy over 55 years ago, I have hoped I might see an Arctic Ptarmigan. Given hanging out on the Alaska tundra at high elevation near the start of winter is unlikely for me, finding these birds at one of the few locations they live in the Lower 48 (mountain tops high above the tree line in the Colorado Rockies) was my only viewing chance.
While the best way to fight pneumonia may not be to go hiking with my friend, Peter Ismert, at 13,000+ feet, I ignored the wisdom of years and at 5:30 am we left for the summit of Mount Evans in search of the Arctic tundra bird, a White-Tailed Ptarmigan. Major success! We found a flock of 14+ birds. Wheezing and coughing I climbed the mountain in search of my childhood dream.
After 2.5 hours of hiking, the darn Ptarmigans kept climbing higher and higher while my darn chest demanded we descend to a lower elevation! Our efforts were worth every cough and wheeze! I still have hundreds of images to process, but here are a few photos I particularly like from the first set.
S short video of three White-Tailed Ptarmigan almost in their winter white.
Finally, Peter took this image of me on his iPhone during our hike. Can you find the Ptarmigans? I am focusing in for a new photography after butt scooting / sliding into position!
