An army of twenty binocular clad soldiers scoured the higher elevations of Riverside country for alien, no avian, species. They were rewarded when come the end of the day 72 species had been tallied, including three White-headed woodpeckers. This is six more species than the similar trip last year. The mountain quail continued to elude us. We were blessed with expert birders Peter and Millie Thomas of the San Diego Club. A Wilson’s Phalarope will remain uncounted because although it was a very good pair of eyes that were set upon him, it was just the one pair. It was a blue sky forever day, a smidge on the hot side, but then for most of this long, but relaxed, trip we were in the comfort of our airconditioned automobiles. A convivial lunch was shares beneath the boughs of the huge pine trees at Idyllwild Nature Center. Our count is as follows:

16 species at Stagecoach Inn & Dorman Art Colony around Aguanga @ 7:30 AM

Eurasian collared dove
Mourning dove
Cassin’s kingbird
Red tailed hawk
Scrub jay
House finch
California quail
Great egret
House sparrow
Cliff swallow
California towhee
American Crow
California thrasher
Redtail hawk
American kestrel
Rock pigeon

33 new species at Lake Riverside Estates @ 8:20 AM

Great-tailed grackle
Western grebe
Pied-billed grebe
Eared grebe
American coot
Ruddy duck
Caspian tern
Turkey vulture
Killdeer
Red-winged blackbird
Mallard
Northern shoveler
Cinnamon teal
Great blue heron
Sora
White-faced ibis
Gadwall
Black pheobe
Say’s phoebe
American avocet
Black-necked stilt
Double-crested cormorant
Canada goose
Brewer’s blackbird
Spotted sandpiper
Redhead duck
Cassin’s kingbird
Peregrine falcon
Nuttall’s woodpecker
Tree swallow
Common raven
Northern flicker
Loggerhead shrike

11 new species at Hemet Lake @ 11:00 AM

Common loon
California gull
Ring-billed gull
Bushtit
Oak titmouse
Cliff swallow
Spotted towhee
White-breasted nuthatch
Mountain chickadee
Anna’s hummingbird
Phainopepla

12 new species at Idyllwild @ 12:10 PM

Stellar’s jay
Band-tailed pigeon
Pigmy nuthatch
Western wood pewee
Dark-eyed junco
Acorn woodpecker
Red-shouldered hawk
Red-breasted sapsucker *
White-headed woodpeckers (3) *
Purple finch *
Lesser Goldfinch *
American robin *

* species spotted later in the afternoon after all but four birders had returned home

Flyin’ High, as usual,

Doug Walkley