Caught!

We saw a willow flycatcher today. I can't believe it. Not like that crafty owl. I was standing next to Bob, the group leader, and he said, "That's a willow flycatcher." I happened to have my binoculars pointed at the same bird. Then, s/he flew off. Bob said that it must be a recent arrival (they winter in the neotropics), or it would have stayed and defended its territory/nest. He said the meadow used to support many breeding pairs, but they had declined precipitously in past years.
We got up at 5:00 a.m. to get to this place - it's called Ackerson Meadow, which i just outside Yosemite in the Stanislaus National Forest. We saw more than forty species of birds in the 4 hours we were there. Many I hadn't seen before. We have to know 15 by sight and sound at the end of training, which is over in a week. These 15 are birds whose songs or looks can be confused with the willow flycatcher. At the end of training, we have a 3-day break, and then we actually start camping out in the field and doing the surveys.
On the way back, we were shown a great swimming hole where you can slide (or jump) into a deep pool. Fun! I'll save that for another day when I've had more than a few hours of sleep and am not in danger of drowning.
All eight of us are staying in a house and sleeping on hardwood floors on air mattresses (much to my relief). I don't think my thirty-eight-year-old bones could have withstood my camping pad on the wood floor. I am the oldest person. Bob - the IBP leader - is even a bit younger than I am. The house, which was recently remodeled and is quite nice, is surrounded by lots of trees. There are many birds that hang out in the yard.
I think I'm going to take a nap so I can keep up with all the 20-year-olds. Tomorrow we actually go into the park and I will get to see the valley again.