Finley Day 3

Where were all the birds today?! I'll tell you where, hiding. I could hear some of them in the centers of the bush islands I survey, but say not nearly as many as usual. Oddly enough I also saw some lazuli buntings and common yellowthroats begging, which I haven't seen in a few weeks. There were a few western tanagers out and about and the white-tailed kites were actually in the unit today, not to the south as they usually are. Saw a juvenile macgillivray's warbler and a few male finches (purple and house). Doug says the males are probably hiding out, molting right now. That makes sense since I haven't seen many compared to females and juveniles. Molt is probably why I didn't see many birds in general today, they all hide out since they can't really fly.

The highlight of the day was first thing this morning. It was foggy this morning, a very dense fog. As I was walking I could hear elk talking to each other to the SW-SE. Their calls are pretty eerie as it is, when its foggy it is even more so! I was almost to the start of my surveys (still foggy) when I heard a loud noise to the W. I looked and there was a spike elk and a young cow, staring at me. They turned E so I looked where they were looking. There was a herd of about 50 elk, one bull with really big antlers. I started talking to them, telling them that they needed to move because I didn't want any trouble but needed to be where they were. They didn't move for quite some time, and then when they did . . . they disappeared! With the elk gone I went to the first island. Just as I was getting ready to pull my binoculars and notebook out of my backpack I hear a large animal slamming on its breaks. I look up and there were two young cow elk staring, wide-eyed, at me. After about 60 seconds they turned on their heels and ran. It was pretty crazy!