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My American Birding Adverture, Part 4

     After our short stay in Bend, we moved south to Mt. Shasta. Even though it was summer, the mountain top was still covered in snow. We did a lot of interesting stuff in Shasta, including horseback riding, fishing, birding, and we also went to a limestone cavern. My three most memorable birding spots were, Larry Wehmeyer Educational Area, Elsa Rupp Nature Study Area, and the Shasta Caverns.

White-breasted Nuthatch


    On our second day in Shasta, we decided to go fishing. Even though we didn’t catch anything, the scenery was outstanding, so it was worth it. The next day, determined to improve our luck, we did all of our birding that day. We arrived at the Education Area early. When we got out of the car, there were already a lot of bird sounds, so we birded outside of the entrance, and saw a few woodpeckers and some bushtits. When we entered the trail, I saw something on the ground. I immediately stopped Dad so he wouldn’t continue walking. The bird on the ground was the state bird of California, the California Quail. It’s quite an interesting looking bird, with a teardrop-shaped plume protruding from its forehead, and a scaly belly and neck. After that encounter, we moved on into the trail, where we heard many foreign sounds that we couldn't identify. We decided to use the Merlin app again, to see what it would pick up. We were very startled when the app showed the Yellow Warbler, a beautiful warbler with a complete yellow body except for some red streaks on the breast. We waited for a while to see if it would come out. After a couple of tense minutes of not hearing it, it started singing again, this time very close to us. We scanned nearly every tree in sight and were about to give up and move on when a small bird shot into the obscured bushes. After some waiting, it popped out and started to jump from branch to branch.With my new camera I was able to get a couple of pictures on target, but because the forest was too dark, they didn’t turn out very well. Our hearts still pumping from the excitement, we decided to go to the next birding spot.

California Quail
    The Elsa Rupp Nature Study Area was beautiful, with a small crystal clear creek running through it and lush vegetation all around it. We met a dad taking his tiny but handsome kindergarten-age boys for a bike ride along the creek. After we met them, Dad was using the app to see if it would pick up anything. We heard a weird sound, which Merlin was able to identify as an Evening Grosbeak calling. Very excited, me and Dad scanned the trees for movement. A flock of birds landed high in the trees, and sure enough, they were Evening Grosbeaks! When I was about to start taking pictures of them, I was met with the same problem as before: it was too dark for a good picture. After that, we saw the cute Wilson’s Warbler, with its black cap and yellow body making it super adorable. Our return luck was with us again, for we heard a bird calling, and from previous encounters, I could tell it was a Western Tanager. I couldn’t possibly be happier when three of them landed in the trees. I was lucky enough to get one where he had a berry in his mouth, which went perfectly with his flaming red head and dazzling yellow body.

  

Western Tanager with berry in mouth

 
Afterwards, we met up with the rest of the family, and we went to the Shasta caverns. because of its interesting location, you have to take a boat to get there. At the entrance of the Visitor Center where you get your tickets, mom spotted the clown-like Acorn woodpeckers. It was a year-lister for us and I wanted a good picture to top it off, so I ran all the way back to the car to get my camera. I trotted back at full speed, but it was too late - they had left. After a short boat ride, we still had to take a bus to get to the Caverns. The bus driver was telling everyone on board about the history of the Caverns, when she stopped the bus, and a family of quails scurried across the road. She said they were California Quails, and that sounded right so I didn’t give it a second thought. Later Dad told me they were actually Mountain Quails, which instead of the teardrop plumes, has a straight unicorn-like feather. Some very interesting birds today!

~ Article and photos by Isaac Lang

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