I'm planning a birding trip to Central CA in May 2017 and have done a lot of e-bird searching, site guide reading etc. I have a couple of questions that I hope a local might be able to help with:
1) my plan is to cross from Lee Vining/Mono Lake into Yosemite via Tioga Pass, but I'll be there on ca15th May so it's touch and go whether the road will be open. If it's closed, can anyone recommend sites in the eastern Sierra Nevada within an hour or two of Lee Vining where my Yosemite targets might be found: Black-backed Woodpecker, Great Gray Owl, Calliope Hummer, Pileated Woodpecker, Sooty Grouse and Williamson's Sapsucker? Lundy Canyon and the Mammoth area look potentially good, but local info would be great!
2) is Wildrose Canyon in the Glass Mountains as good as eBird seems to suggest. The two North Cal site guides I've got don't mention it, and nor do any trip reports, but eBird shows a few sightings for a stack of Great Basin species I've got no other chance at: Broad-tailed Hummer, Juniper Titmouse, Red-naped Sapsucker,Plumbeous Vireo & Virginia's Hummer, plus Woodhouse's Scrub-jay and Black-billed Magpie which may also be nearer Mono. Is it an under-watched site that's at the western edge of these species' range, or a dull place that occasionally picks up a wandering species from the Great Basin?
3) is the Lake Crowley Sage Grouse lek (closed in April from what I have read on-line) worth a try in May, or should I put all my eggs in the Bodie basket?
My wants list is a hotch-potch of mountain residents, elusive b*ggers like Lawrence's Goldfinch, and summer migrants, following 10 days in Jan 2013 in SoCal that produced 190 species. My current route is: Sta Cruz Island, Ventura, Bitter Creek NRW, Maricopa, Mt Pinos, Kern Valley, Butterbredt & Jawbone, Mono Lake, Wildrose Canyon, Tioga Pass, Yosemite, Pigeon Pt, Santa Cruz, Pinnacles NP.
Many thanks in advance for any guidance people can give!
Sam
1) my plan is to cross from Lee Vining/Mono Lake into Yosemite via Tioga Pass, but I'll be there on ca15th May so it's touch and go whether the road will be open. If it's closed, can anyone recommend sites in the eastern Sierra Nevada within an hour or two of Lee Vining where my Yosemite targets might be found: Black-backed Woodpecker, Great Gray Owl, Calliope Hummer, Pileated Woodpecker, Sooty Grouse and Williamson's Sapsucker? Lundy Canyon and the Mammoth area look potentially good, but local info would be great!
2) is Wildrose Canyon in the Glass Mountains as good as eBird seems to suggest. The two North Cal site guides I've got don't mention it, and nor do any trip reports, but eBird shows a few sightings for a stack of Great Basin species I've got no other chance at: Broad-tailed Hummer, Juniper Titmouse, Red-naped Sapsucker,Plumbeous Vireo & Virginia's Hummer, plus Woodhouse's Scrub-jay and Black-billed Magpie which may also be nearer Mono. Is it an under-watched site that's at the western edge of these species' range, or a dull place that occasionally picks up a wandering species from the Great Basin?
3) is the Lake Crowley Sage Grouse lek (closed in April from what I have read on-line) worth a try in May, or should I put all my eggs in the Bodie basket?
My wants list is a hotch-potch of mountain residents, elusive b*ggers like Lawrence's Goldfinch, and summer migrants, following 10 days in Jan 2013 in SoCal that produced 190 species. My current route is: Sta Cruz Island, Ventura, Bitter Creek NRW, Maricopa, Mt Pinos, Kern Valley, Butterbredt & Jawbone, Mono Lake, Wildrose Canyon, Tioga Pass, Yosemite, Pigeon Pt, Santa Cruz, Pinnacles NP.
Many thanks in advance for any guidance people can give!
Sam