Nancy was the only one to join the guys on the late night owl hunt, and they dipped on everything except a real "goofy-looking" porcupine that was caught in a tree! So we all headed out the next morning, picking up yet another Boreal Chickadee in the parking lot and a roadside Bald Eagle on the way. The first stop was the search for Upland Sandpipers, and since I didn't feel like tromping across the tundra, I poked along the road (I did get distant views of the first bird, but they chased it when it dropped). Had a Whimbrel fly over and a curious young Gray Jay and sparrows, but that was about it, and when the gang was just about back to the vans Kevin announced that he had the bird "on the spruce" to which Marshall answered, "Which spruce?!" (when you have a bazillion spruces!) They got him teed up nicely, so I went ahead and tromped up and got an excellent view, but Nancy was very happy as that was the one bird she really wanted to see! (She had prepared a bunch of flashcards using the Sibley illustrations, and said that when she was preparing them the Upland Sandpiper really caught her fancy!)
Back to the Denali Highway... Bald Eagle Juvenile Gray Jay
We head out into a bog (strikingly similar to The Bear Story Bog) to look for Upland Sandpipers
Alan and Carol enjoy said bird... Heading back to the vans
Unfortunately about this time Judy realized that she left her scope in the room, but rather than go back right then they figured they'd finish the road and then go back afterwards (the hotel would undoubtedly hold it for them). We headed on, picking up the expected dickey birds along the road and waterfowl in the ponds. We stopped at Brushkana Campground to use the potties and were inundated with mosquitoes; it was unbelievable! The periodic thumping throughout the van as the bugs that got in bit the dust was amusing! After that Kevin pointed out the site of The Bear Story (that we had yet to hear; the other group heard it on the way up) so we'd have a visual idea of the setting, and then we headed on to a pond that happened to have a pair of nesting Horned Grebes! That was close to the Smith's Longspur field (at least they were gonna try), but Kevin was doubtful; it was already starting to drizzle, and we could see the heavier rain coming, so many of us decided to camp out in the vans and snack! (I jumped out long enough to tell the crew in the other van that Tundra, not Trumpeter, Swans were going over, as we had a low flock of four Trumpeters fly by earlier…) Not surprisingly, they didn't get the longspurs (and we did get rained on), so we stopped at Gracious Diner for lunch, a cute little place out in the middle of nowhere that had great food! We picked up a singing Varied Thrush afterwards.
More scenes
Bog with nesting Horned Grebes (below)
What I'm guessing is the Maclaren River (according to the map)
Another pretty scene with the camera's reflection caught in the mirror...
We stop at a quaint little cafe out in the middle of nowhere Judy wonders about her scope while Ray
for lunch that had great food! wonders about the food...
Ruth chuckles over the fact that they forgot the bottom half of the bun while Sue tries to figure out her new camera...
"Not bad!" says Dr. Carol. "Time will tell..." says Ray!
Sod roof with antlers A Varied Thrush John's so happy he
makes an appearance could hug a bear!
outside the restaurant
At this point we split up: Marshall took Judy, Jim, and John back to the hotel at flank speed, while the rest of us crowded into Kevin's van to bird the road more slowly, then all meet at the Shrike Rest Stop. That's when all the action started! Kevin spotted a Bohemian Waxwing, and as he scrambled out to try and pin it down, another one flew across the road giving at least an identifiable look! (The weather had warmed considerably and more bugs were out, hence the increased activity, he figured…) But in the process of scoping he just happened to come across a black blob that looked suspiciously like a Hawk Owl! About that time Megan and her Crew (pun intended) pulled up and Kevin played his tape in the hopes that the owl would hear it, and sure enough, before long he came right into a spruce close to the road, and was immediately bombed by a Robin! Everyone got knockout views and many of us got great shots through the scopes, so that was a real gift from God that both groups just "happened" to converge on that point at the same time!
Swainson's Thrush "Red" Fox Sparrow Kevin finds a Hawk Owl, and miraculously Megan's
Field Guides group shows up at the same time!
(The tape brought him in pretty close!)
So after that we continued on with precise directions from Megan as to where they had waxwings. The sun was coming out, and thus so were the bugs, so chances were the birds would be more active. And sure enough, Kevin spotted one against the trees and got the scope on him, and he was lovely with that gray coloration and yellow feather edgings! Then a raptor went tearing over that first made me think Gyr, but the wings were too rounded: Goshawk! We felt bad for the others who missed all these goodies, but the owl was not a lifer for Judy (and Jim, being a non-birder, didn't really care), but John might have enjoyed everything, but as he confessed later, he did take the risk!
Bohemian Waxwing Lesser Yellowlegs More scenery
As I said, the plan was to meet Marshall et al at the rest stop where the alleged shrike nest was, and as we pulled in they directed us right to the spot where we could view the nest, and before long Jim spotted Papa on the tree, and we all got great looks before he took off! Apparently Marshall's gang got to see the male come in with two baby redpolls and had photos of them impaled on a spruce twig!
We stop at a gas station where Mew (far left) and Herring Gulls look for a handout; note the size difference!
Mew Gulls hog the telephone pole
We meet up with Marshall's van, where they've Papa checks us out Said nest (you can just make
found the Northern Shrike nest at a rest stop! out a baby)
"Boy, you need a doctorate to operate one of these digital cameras!"
After that we finally talked Kevin into telling us The Bear Story (even though we had to pause midway through for dinner); but to avoid stealing his thunder, I'll refrain from telling it here; you'll need to take one of his tours to hear it! ☺ I'll say this much: he had us on the edge of our seats and rolling on the floor at the same time! We stopped at a little hole in the wall diner with great food and really attentive servers (probably the owner) then headed on down to Anchorage. In addition to The Bear Story, we got him to tell other war stories from tour-leading; at the end of the whole trip I teased Kevin about having to put up with me for the duration, and he didn't even threaten to kill me! "Not even close!" he laughed!
Speaking of vans, there was a friendly feud going on between Kevin and Marshall regarding the van of choice (as I flip-flopped between the two, I discovered many advantages of the Ford over the Chevy...)! But on top of that there was a Bobble-head Battle: they had picked up a beaver bobble-head for the Ford and a moose bobble-head for the Chevy (both were pretty goofy-looking), but Kevin's mascot's head bobbled more than Marshall's, so before long Beaver got "kidnapped" and "Moose" suddenly showed up in the Ford! Beaver eventually made his way back to the Ford, however…
Our van mascots...