Thursday, May 28, 2009

MOC Lake Siskiyou Rally Part 2


After the 3 day weekend hoards left and it was so QUIET!

Lake Siskiyou is a very nice setting with Mt. Shasta just across the lake, but when full the sites are too close together. Of course, this past weekend was FULL. The weather was fantastic low 80s during the day, so there were a lot of day use people as well as the people camping for the weekend. We had all of the usual holiday weekend stuff, kids running and bicycling all over the place. Every other site had to have their own personal campfire starting at 6 PM, even if it was still in the high 70s and still light out. The REAL problem of the weekend was a Harley Club. Half of the group was tent camping at the top of the campground and the other half were in cabins down by the lake.  None of these people ever walk and Harleys are always noisy. They must have made 1,000 trips a day up or down the road running through the campground. Fortunately they all left about 7 AM on Monday morning and it was quiet after that.

 

Along with checking out the microbrewery, invading a local Mexican restaurant with 48 for dinner, and visiting a REAL GOOD sandwich place called Billy Goats Tavern twice, we did manage to do a little birding. I think we saw what would be expected for the area. Sorry no pictures, I am still too new with the new camera to getting bird pictures. Not to mention they were up at the top of all of the tall pines! Even with a zoom, it didn’t matter! The Bird list includes: Western Tanager, Warbling Vireo, Dark-eyed Junco, American Robin, Stellar’s Jay, White-breasted Nuthatch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Green Heron, Great-blue Heron, Great Egrets, Western-wood Peewee and an unidentifiable Empidonax flycatcher.


3 comments:

  1. HI Grant and Kathy,
    Good post about the weekend. I feel for you with the loud bikers. We have just one in our neighborhood. He makes our windows rattle when he passes...funny thing is he does go fast (thank goodness) it is just a very LOUD muffler. I can't imagine how the bike would sound full throttle on the highway.
    You all have a good weekend...I have to check out the Empidonax flycatcher...never heard of it. I'm learning lots from you two.
    Cecilia

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  2. Empidonax Flycatchers are a family of near identical flycatchers. They are usually identified by their distinct calls and sometimes by range where they don't overlap. However, if they are silent and you are in area where different species of Empidonax Flycatchers overlap they are impossible to identify in the field.

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  3. Glad you had a good time birding in our area. Our local Audubon Society has created a wonderful birding map of the entire county. It's usually carried at the local bookstore, Village Book, in downtown Mt. Shasta. Next time you're up, be sure to pick one up, it'll show you some areas you might not find on your own.

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