Report from Cindy Moyer:
Audubon trip to Alderpoint today. Anyone who thinks we will ever have
rail service again in Humboldt County should hike the railroad tracks
along the Eel River near Alderpoint. The best I can say is that the
washed-out sections don't seem to have gotten much worse with all the
rain this winter...
Otherwise it was a great trip - warm, but not hot -
and we saw Rock Wrens, Grasshopper Sparrow, Black-throated Gray
Warblers, Lazuli Buntings, Chipping Sparrows, Bluebirds, a singing
Western Kingbird, a GREAT view of a Western Tanager, Blue-gray
Gnatcatchers, Fence Lizards, a Skink, the biggest Alligator Lizard I've
ever seen, Western Pond Turtles, Yellow-legged Frogs, hundreds of Chorus
frog tadpoles (and a few only-recently-ex-tadpoles), about a dozen
species of dragonflies, and spectacular wildflowers including a couple
hundred Diogenes' Lanterns. (This trip is famous for Diogenes'
Lanterns, but I've never seen more than about 30 - and considered myself
very fortunate every time. Today was amazing because they were
absolutely EVERYWHERE.)