2023 Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Plumas County, CA.
December 17, 2023. Here are some photos, not many of birds, of my participation in the 2023 Audubon Christmas Bird Count; Meadow Valley, CA area.
Participants gather and form into groups early in the morning, downtown QuincyDarla, one of my college teachers from past days and my group leader.Darrell, also a former teacher of mine and the other leader of the group. Darla and Darrell go together as a pair.A map section showing our area. Quincy is at lower middle right. The white area at left of oval is our bird count area.This is a Google Earth image with rectangles added to show the actual physical locations that we made stops at and conducted our watching and counting.The weather for the day was very gray and cold for the first half of the day. At our first stop we encountered flocks of Pine Siskin.Although we may not have actually seen a plethora of birds and distinct species, at least I was able to come home with this Red-tailed Hawk in my camera.It was unusual to encounter this “native” Blue Spruce tree, all by itself, out in this meadow. What has happened is sometime in the past one of the many non-native Blue Spruce that were planted in the area seeded out, and this one chance seed landed here, germinated, took hold, and has flourished. This tree is likely only about thirty years old.All the members of my group (except I’m behind the camera). Darrell, Michelle, Darla, and Mark. Note that as it has gotten later in the morning (10:56 a.m.) we have been bestowed a bit of sunshine.Our final counting stop area for the day was Snake Lake. This is a photo to set the ambience; the area is actually quite pleasant, if not a little mysterious at times; perhaps spooky is the best word.I’ll have to call this my finest bird photo of the day. Hooded Merganser drake (in back) with hen.Darla called my attention to these large Jack O’ Lantern mushroom clusters at the edge of the shore. Glove shown for scale.Closeup images of the Jack O’ LanternLastly, a photo of me photographing the mushrooms.
