I’m driving from British Columbia to southeastern Arizona to spend time with my kid brother, Steve. I’m birding as I go, checking rarity reports daily, which is how is how I ‘got’ the Garganey in Waller Park in Santa Maria, California, a life bird for me. The little Eurasian teal touched down a few months back and now ambles about with the locals filling up on handouts. Easy. I almost don’t see her in the crowd of Mallards and Swan Geese. She’s tiny. She’s also one of the easiest rare birds I’ve ever found. Properly rare too. Most species on the reports are common at other times of the year so finding them is no biggie. Not to me anyway. In a few months the Garganey will likely lift off and head for home, thousands of miles away.
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Garganey – Santa Maria
But I’m skipping ahead. I left home three days ago. Bright and early on the second day, I stop at a tiny community park in Washington state where a Mandarin Duck has been hanging out. Another visitor from Asia – if it isn’t an escapee from a zoo or suchlike. There are lots of fantastically beautiful Wood Ducks but not its kin, the Mandarin. I never found it but I notice it’s back on the rare bird list. So, another miss.
Wood Duck
The morning air is still and bright. A pair of Redtail Hawks engage in their mating dance, gliding acrobatically through the branches of the bare cottonwoods. They seem playful. Not so the fierce looking young Cooper’s Hawk across the lawn, scanning for prey. The intensity in her bright eye! Awesome.
Cooper’s Hawk
As I stare at the pond, a very handsome muskrat ambles out and pauses a few feet away and we both take in the same scene. It’s as if he (?) hopes to help out by spotting the elusive Mandarin. After a minute or so, he shakes his head and carries on. Charming. One of the attractions of birding is the likelihood that often you’ll end up in places you would otherwise never visit. And see new things too. It’s the experience that’s rare.
Muskrat
Redtail A-courting
Meanwhile I have many miles ahead of me. I’ve checked the pass through the Siskyou mountains and there’s snow on I-5. To avoid it, I have to head to the coast, to Gold Beach, before I cut back across to central California. I’m lucky, the warmish spring weather continues. I leave the mountains and almost immediately the Pacific comes into view. Surf, sun, the stacks and the other features of Oregon’s remarkable coastline, Beautiful. Not every detour makes going out of one’s way seem worthwhile. This one did. Meanwhile, that Garganey I’m fated to see is still 800 miles away, cadging snacks.
The Oregon Coast
Bird Noetz 