Father Charlie and I went to Mt. Ord, and made a quick stop at Granite Reef on the way home. I saw reports of the Evening Grosbeak at Mt. Ord, and had not seen one before, so we thought we’d try our luck. We left at about 7:00 for the one hour drive to Mt. Ord. The temperature on the mountain was pretty cold, with the low in the mid 30s, and the high about 60.
We stopped first at the FR1688 junction (elevation is 6000 ft). We hiked in the woods and up the road. We didn’t see the Grosbeak. On the way back down the road we ran into Rob Bowker, who I am familiar with from his ebird.org postings. He showed us where the Grosbeaks were. We could see them from the road. This was a good position because the Grosbeaks like to hang out at the tops of the trees, and there is a very steep drop off from the road, so from the road we were on the same level as the birds at the tops of the trees. However, photography was challenging because they were a little too far away, and they stayed in the shadows.
Next we drove to the trailhead for the trail that goes to the top of the mountain (elevation is about 7000 ft). We hiked a little way up the road, and saw quite a few different species of birds (with photographs of 4 species).
On the way back we made a quick stop at Granite Reef along the Salt River. We wanted to see if the Bullock’s Oriole was back for the summer yet. He wasn’t – it’s still a little too early. We didn’t hike the trails, but stayed around the parking lot. We saw the one-legged Cactus Wren and Say’s Phoebe.
