2017-07-12 Sonora Pass And Beyond

At 9623 feet, Sonora Pass is the second highest pass over the Sierras. I wanted to explore this area because I was told there was a store along the route with a feeding station and I might get Rosy Finches. I crossed the summit and drove downslope as far as the Dardanelle Resort. I spoke with the store owner and discovered they had only recently bought the place. When I asked about the bird feeders I was told there were none at the store. I suspect the old owners may have been putting up feeders, but the new owner had no knowledge of the past practice. Having driven 14 miles west of the pass and descended to an altitude of 5,700 feet, I felt the likelihood of finding these high elevation birds further downslope was unlikely and I headed back in the direction whence I came.

When I reached the summit, I stopped to look and listen for birds that may be in the neighborhood. After a few minutes, I found juncos, chickadees, butter-butts, Mountain Bluebirds and Chipping Sparrows.

I’ve been taking occasional scenic landscape images while I’ve been out and about on my bird explorations. In my next post I’ll share some of them. Such a post does not fit the guidelines for placement on a birding email list, so those friends who’ve been getting word about my posts on ESBIRDS and CALBIRDS may want to check in on my website is a day or two… that is IF you are interested in that sort of thing.