As we approach the 2024 Nevada Bird-a-thon, our thoughts run to our adventures of Bird-a-thons past. Once upon a time, GBBO’s Bird-a-thon team, The Iron Merlins, set out on May 6th, 2020. The day finished with 128 species of birds, along with some unidentified hummingbirds and peeps, and very few other humans. Birding during these early months of the pandemic had us noticing other people far more than usual, and instead of our usual eagerness to share our sightings with anyone and everyone within hailing distance, we were still in very diligent Social Distancing Mode. The day started at 3 AM at Damonte Ranch wetlands - heavily caffeinated and hoping for some rails calling late at night. A few Virginia Rails obliged us, and several other species vocalized, including singing Marsh Wrens. Feeling off to a strong start, we headed off to find some owls, but as we drove up to the Carson Range we realized that the strong winds were going to put a damper on our owling effort.

We followed our route into the Carson Valley, and feeling a little pressed for time decided to skip a few spots, hoping we would have time to get out to Carson Lake in Fallon. Vesper Sparrows cooperated very nicely at the Bentley-Kirman trail, a singing Lark Sparrow at the west end of Sunrise Pass road was our only one for the day, but Juniper Titmouse eluded us. Rushing over to Mason Valley, we stopped a few times in the PJ along Highway 395, and enjoyed Western Bluebirds, a flock of 20 Evening Grosbeaks, and a singing Lazuli Bunting from the flowering bitterbrush. We picked up White-throated Swift and (sigh) an unidentified Hummingbird at a quick stop in Wilson Canyon, but no Canyon Wrens. By the time we got to Mason Valley, it was HOT, the cottonwoods were not jumping with migrants as we might have hoped, and water levels seemed to be much lower than usual. After driving around for a bit we decided we had better head for wetter conditions in Fallon, as those wetlands had been very productive just a week ago. As we drove out of Yerington, a Golden Eagle appeared almost on command, soaring over the mountains just as we were talking about them. But how did we manage to complete the drive to Fallon without seeing any Horned Larks flying across the highway?

On our way back in, we were drawn to the wetland and pond complexes of southeast Reno, and finally picked up Northern Pintail. Our second round at Damonte yielded a Marbled Godwit, but we were still missing some very common species. So we raced across town to Oxbow in search of a Yellow Warbler, but just could not get one to sing for us. Running low on daylight, we heard a Downy Woodpecker whinny and decided we had better check elsewhere. We booked it to the Mogul bridge for the lingering Hooded Oriole. As we arrived it was just getting dark, but an American Dipper called and flew under the bridge right as we were crossing, and midway across the bridge we watched a Bullock’s Oriole chase a smaller Hooded Oriole into one of the cottonwoods. Another few minutes and we spotted the Great Horned Owl on its nest. Still no flashing Yellow Warblers…Just about out of daylight, we thought we might try for that strangely-elusive warbler and maybe Greater Yellowlegs and Wood Duck at Rancho San Rafael. No such luck, but we finally got a Ring-necked Duck. Then as bats began to emerge from their roosts, we realized we had left our headlamps in the truck, so we decided to call it a day: a long, exhausting, bird-filled, wonderful day … with celebratory burritos awaiting!

Marsh Wrens DO sing in the dark, Damonte Ranch Wetlands by Kayla Henry

Noticing the time, we figured we had better stake out our Dawn Chorus spot. Galena Creek yielded another 28 species, including a singing Olive-sided Flycatcher and a Western Wood-Pewee, and a few distant humans on another trail. We spent the morning hitting various spots throughout the Carson Range and along the east shore of Lake Tahoe. Lingering snow prevented some high elevation access, but Spooner Lake was lovely. Here we had our first Wilson’s Warblers, Evening Grosbeaks, and a calling Northern Pygmy-Owl! Perhaps it was the amazing sun-soaked meadows, beautiful weather, and flyover Bald Eagle that set the tone for us needing to make up time throughout the day…But still we managed to go until 10:30 AM before seeing or hearing a single Clark’s Nutcracker…though we had to use the 95% rule since I only saw the shadow of the Nutcracker that Kayla clearly saw fly over. But nonetheless, we felt very successful as this was likely the most potentially crowded place we would be birding all day and we only saw a few distant trail-runners.

Not a Nutcracker in sight (or sound) Spooner Lake by Kayla Henry

As we got to Fallon it became clear that conditions were not significantly wetter here, but the Horned Larks didn’t mind, and kindly cooperated. We managed to turn up Sora and Long-billed Curlew, and scope out some distant kettling Pelicans. Those peeps we flushed while driving just wouldn’t land though... An Ash-throated Flycatcher in the greasewood was a nice surprise, and this ended up being the only location where we saw Northern Mockingbirds. A Sagebrush Sparrow sang in the greasewood, we spotted a Gray Flycatcher, and then we headed off to the next stop. We missed Bufflehead and Lesser Scaup at S-line reservoir, but the Great Egret and Double-crested Cormorant rookeries were enjoyable to watch. No time for Screech-owls, but maybe Soda lake has some Phalarope hanging out? No? Ok- time to race back to Reno to attempt to make up for species missed along the way!

Notes From The Field

From the archives: The Iron Merlin's Big Day 2020