An Explanation, and Preparations

This summer I go in quest of the Willow Flycatcher, a rather unassuming creature that likes to, you guessed it, sally forth and eat insects. This is a species of special concern in California, and is the second year that the study is being done by the Institute for Bird Populations. The trick is this - there are several other of these flycatchers (known as Empidonax) that can be in Yosemite National Park, and they are notoriously difficult to identify by sight. Let me show you why:

Willow Flycatcher Empidonax trailii
Hammond's Flycatcher Empidonax hammondii
Dusky Flycatcher Empidonax oberholseri
All small, drab, gray birds with light eye-rings and wing bars. It's best to use voice, habitat, and manner of nesting to ID them. To hear their songs, click on the bird names to connect to Cornell Lab. They have audio links on the right. Needless to say, I have been studying my birds songs diligently. I actually know all the bird songs for my Empidonax friends, as well as many many more that I have managed to cram into my tiny brain. I'm hoping this will serve me well over the seven weeks I spend in Yosemite looking for these critters.

Things are piling up in the second bedroom as I prepare to depart. I think I learned a lot from last year. My mantras this year are
1. lots of food (food is very expensive in small towns)
2. not a lot of clothing (You don't change your clothes when you backpack. You do a rinse in an ice cold stream if necessary and voilá, good as new. After all, do you really smell that bad if there is no one around to smell you? )

Wednesday I drive to Groveland, CA. That is where we will have a house that will be home base. We train for a week, and then start the search in Yosemite. I think it will be a lot like last year - play the song, listen for a response. The plus is that this is a small bird, so the sound won't have to cover quite the distance as last year's Great Gray Owl search. This means a much more portable playback device - not the behemoth boom box we had to lug around last year. I believe there will be eight people, and that we will work in groups of two. I have been told that we will be spending seven days out camping - either front country (pit toilets, bear lockers, park your car and set up your tent) or back country (umm ... none of the aforementioned, and you get the joy of carrying everything on your back). Bear canisters are a must in Yosemite, so I will have that additional weight. I will try not to complain too much this year. After all, I know what I'm getting myself into, right? Mosquitoes that won't quit, sore muscles, dirt that I haven't seen since being a toddler and the stench of the unwashed.

But, there is this
and this
and this

That's the closest I can come to explaining why this is kind of fun.