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.)