We made another visit to Fort Zach this morning in search of a couple of potential new species for 2025 that were reported there yesterday.   It would seem the absence of storms last night allowed whatever was there to leave and whatever was coming over last night to fly right on past Key West.  So, no new species today.

We did get another look at the Brown Booby on its familiar perch.

This Sandwich Tern stopped for a portrait.  It's about the only tern I can recognize by sight.  It's yellow-tipped bill is its defining feature.

Crystal said she would like to see a Chuck-wills-widow since she missed out on the visit I made with Henry to Fort Zach earlier in the week.   A few minutes later she spotted one that I had walked past.

This Yellow-throated Vireo provided our last decent look of the day.  It too, is migrating south for the winter.

Earlier this week, Henry and I made a trip to Fort Zachary Taylor in search of Chuck-wills-widows.  They have begun their migration through the Keys toward the Caribbean islands and to Central and South America for the winter.  Like many owls, they are a nocturnal species that can be tough to find during the day.  

Henry and I parked the car and walked across the parking lot and there it was.  After four years of looking for this bird, I finally had lifer #592 after about a 20 second search through the dense trees.

You bet we are in the Free State of Florida and Fort Zach is happy to remind you of where you are.

This morning, Henry and I made another visit to Fort Zach in search of boobies.   Yes, Judson, I'm talking about birds.  

Again, Henry and I parked the car and we walked to the beach for a look.  And, just like our previous trip, it took only seconds to spot this Brown Booby fishing with some sea gulls and terns before taking a break on a concrete piling just offshore.

And, just like that, I had lifer #593 and species #525 for the year.  Where does the next species for 2025 come from?  I have no idea.

We said our goodbyes to Tink this week.  At 19 years and 4 months, she had come full circle from the tiny kitten Crystal's sister found in a box with a Pomeranian on the doorstep of the local SPCA.  We called her 'Itty Bitty Kitty' or 'IBK' as she literally fit in the palm of your hand.  She spent her first couple of years sleeping under son Nick's car bed at night.  She never hit 10 pounds.

Tink was a well-traveled cat, having lived in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and finally, Florida.  She was the sweetest little cat until you tried to pet her.  

She was once put under house arrest by the Union County, NC police for two weeks after sending me to the emergency room with a hand bite.  There was never any doubt that Tink was Crystal's kitty and Crystal was Tink's human.

It took Tink about 13 years to catch her first mouse.  I was especially happy with this development as her new nightly pastime of mouse-hunting in the garage provided an adequate diversion from my hand for awhile.

Henry has been asking each day, "Where is Tink?"   Some day he will learn about the circle of life.  For now, he seems content to know that Tink is sleeping under the bed.

We ended our trip through the Pacific Northwest with a jaunt across southern Oregon. We stopped by Crater Lake National Park to take in the incredible views of this 1900 foot deep lake that sits inside the ancient Mount Mazama crater.

In the view below, we see Wizard Island, a volcano within the massive Mazama volcano.

Further north near Bend, Oregon, smoke from the fires that have been burning in the area for the past several weeks filter out the sun over 286' high Salt Creek Falls.  Here we searched unsuccessfully for American Dipper and the Black Swifts that nest adjacent to and behind the falls.

If you ever want to visit "The Middle of Nowhere" then you need to go to Burns Junction, Oregon.  I have been to many remote places across the U.S. but, this area felt the most remote to me.  Malheur and Harney Counties in southeast Oregon encompass an area roughly equal to the combined areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.  The Google maps image below gives a sense of how remote this area is.  

Burns Junction shows a population of 641.  I'm not sure how many species they are including in that total.

We added three more species to the 2025 list at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge including this drab-looking Lewis's Woodpecker.  

We ended the trip with 138 total species observed and 19 new for 2025. This brings the YTD 2025 total to 523.  I also picked up 13 life birds on the trip to bring my life list total to 591.

Then it was back to Key West to await the arrival of all the post cards we sent to the man cubs during the trip.  Clearly, the USPS remains America's beacon of operational inefficiency challenged only in its gross incompetency by the IRS.  Our postcards would have arrived much sooner and for a lot less cost had we been able to send them by Pony Express.  

On our way to Crescent City, CA and the Redwoods National and State Parks we passed a billboard advertising a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum somewhere along the southern Oregon coast.  The ad pictured several freakish-looking humans.   It got me to thinking, why go to a museum?  A simple drive around the Pacific Northwest allows you to encounter more strange beings than you can imagine for free.  In fact there are so many, I wonder if we are the freaks.  It's getting nuttier everywhere but, this area seems to be outpacing most places based on my simple observations.

Photographing the gigantic coast redwoods is not easy.  Trying to create images that do justice to trees that are 15-20 feet in diameter and nearly 300' feet tall is challenging.

Along the way, we saw numerous elk including this old bull with his harem of at least 20 cows, aka female elk.

We also passed another huge Paul Bunyan statue standing with his blue ox, Babe.  This statue was big, much bigger than the one we saw in Michigan earlier this year.  Paul's base weighs more than 800,000 pounds and Paul himself weighs 30,000 pounds.  Babe is over 30 feet tall and also weighs more than 30,000 pounds.  I suspect it would take a lot of peaceful protesters to topple statues this large.

The marshes at Arcata, CA were teeming with shore birds and I was able to capture this photograph of one of my favorite birds... the Long-billed Curlew.

Out on the water, this Pigeon Guillemot was fleeing from seagulls with its hard-earned dinner.

And, this Common Murre was just bobbing along in the late afternoon sun.

And, finally, this Least Sandpiper also seemed to be enjoying some sunshine after a day of clouds, rain and fog.

The lighthouse at Crescent City was inaccessible because of the high tide covering the access road.  So, I settled for this distant shot from across the bay.  

Happily, we found a working man's restaurant across the street from our hotel where I handled a large piece of double chocolate fudge cake and a couple scoops of ice cream.  I'll admit I could have only eaten 4 or 5 of those.  If only I had the time.

A group of rocks along the B Street Jetty in Crescent City, CA proved to be the nightly roosting site for several species of shorebirds including this family of Black Oystercatchers.  Junior is the topmost bird with the dark-tipped bill.

And, this Whimbrel standing on one leg as many shorebirds do when they are roosting.

The rocks were crawling with Black Turnstones and Surfbirds with their yellow feet and speckled bellies all jockeying for the best roosting spots.

One lifer among these birds was this Pacific Golden Plover.

This American Herring Gull was very proud of the purple starfish it had caught.  But, it seemed to be conducting an exercise commonly known as "fitting a square peg into a round hole." 

The past few days have been busy as we have made our way from Westport, WA to Crescent City, CA.

In Astoria, OR, we took a break from birding to visit the retirement home of Captain George Flavel.  Built in 1885, this house is one of the best remaining examples of Queen Anne architecture in the country.

  

From there,  we visited  Fort  Clatsop  where  the  Lewis & Clark expedition spent the winter of 1805-06  near  the  point where  the  Columbia River  meets the Pacific Ocean.  In all, 32 men along with Sacagawea and her  baby and  one dog  spent the  winter in this small flea infested enclave.  It rained 96 out of 105 days during their dreary stay at the fort.

We  chatted with  a fellow who  seemed  to be  one of  the  original members of the expedition although we began to  have our doubts  when he  stated  he was familiar with 'Sloppy Joe's' in Key West.

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse near Newport, OR offers the quintessential panorama of the Oregon Coast.. especially when the rain and fog clear long enough to get a picture.

A little further south is the picturesque Heceta Head Lighthouse which was built in 1894.

We saw the Chestnut-backed Chickadee in California back in June.  But, I did not get a picture on that trip.  This time, I got a great look during our stop at Heceta Head.

And, somewhere along the way we got the first of many looks at the Black Turnstone.

The total species count for the trip has ballooned to 112 with 15 new species for 2025.  13 of these 15 species have been lifers.  My all-time life list now stands at 592.

Happily, the Cracker Barrel CEO has not messed up our favorite eatery in Stanley, Idaho.  And, the pancakes are a far sight better too.

The Sawtooth Mountains were just starting to emerge from the clouds and fog as the storm front left the area a few hours before we did.  We missed a nice day in the Sawtooths as we made our way to Yakima, WA.

The Pronghorn Antelope bedded down in the photo above aren't particularly noticeable.  This is a better look at them at home on the range.  They are usually very skittish.  Getting a decent shot before they take off is not easy.   Yes, they took off after this shot.

Our planned activities at Mount Rainier National Park were a complete bust because we didn't have a timed entry reservation for the area we wanted to bird in.  And, there were absolutely no parking spaces at the Visitor Center.  And, many of the pullouts were closed because of the roadwork being done throughout the park.  Thoughts of hitting the park on our way back to Boise have been dashed because the roads in the eastern half of the park are closing in September for road destruction.

I have always said, why would anyone want to pay $2.88 per gallon of gas in the Carolinas when they can pay $4.59 or more in Washington?  We haven't seen these numbers since we were in California.  Oregon's prices are equally as bad.  $4.99 for regular unleaded is the highest price we have seen so far.  Anyone seeing a 'cause and effect' trend here?

The bird species count is at 67 for the trip with 7 new for 2025.  All seven are lifers for me.  Photos have been hard to come by because of the long distances the seabirds are from shore and because of the perpetually gloomy, cloud cover and rain sprinkles that effectively turn everything into dull gray-tones.

We did manage to stumble upon about 1,200 Marbled Godwits roosting at the Tokeland, WA marina.  And, yes, there is a cannabis dispensary in Tokeland.  It seems to be the only place that has been built there since the 1980's.

The Common Murre is one the seven new lifers observed on the trip.  This shot is from over 100 yards away.

The other six lifers include Glaucous-winged Gull, Black Turnstone, Wandering Tattler, Bar-tailed Godwit, White-winged Scoter, and Red-throated Loon. 

We're hoping for better looks at some of these birds over the next couple of days as we work the Oregon coast between Astoria and Newport.

After glowing reviews from the eye doctor and the dentist, we headed for Idaho and a swing around the Pacific Northwest.  As luck would have it, we picked up species #505 for the year when we walked out of the dentist's office and by chance, looked up and saw a pair of Mississippi Kites circling overhead.  

I have wanted to get to Stanley, Idaho for many years.  Unfortunately, the Sawtooth Mountains have been shrouded in clouds, fog and rain since we arrived yesterday.  So, we ventured south to the Craters of the Moon National Preserve where the weather was more pleasant today.  

The Craters of the Moon Preserve sits in a volcanic rift valley that last saw a major eruption about 2,500 years ago.  Sage brush, small shrubs and trees are finally starting to dot the cinder cones and lava flows that dominate the landscape.  The gnarled tree in this photo somehow managed a foothold in the lava about 1,500 years ago.  It died in 1961.

In addition to spotting pronghorn antelope, we found a pair of mooses in a small lake near the craters.  This is by no means our best look at a moose.  But, they are still fun to observe even when they are about 150 yards away.

Birding thus far has not been good because of the weather.  We have logged 35 species with none being new for 2025.  Otherwise, Stanley has been great and we'll be back at some point to do the hiking we were unable to enjoy this time around.

July has become August and we remain in limbo over Crystal's appendix situation.  So, we have been busy with Henry and OG during this oppressively hot time of the year in the Keys.

The AC went out on our Honda Civic so we made the 3 hour drive to the nearest Honda dealer in Florida City to get it fixed.  Apparently, the only service that can be done in the Keys on a Honda is an oil change and tire rotation.  Making the drive in 90 degree heat with no AC was tolerable only in that we did it across the Florida Keys.

OG has been working on his fishing technique this summer...

... while Henry has made the most of his opportunity to learn some baking skills.

His eating skills are, well, um, also progressing nicely, I suppose.

Meanwhile, the 2025 bird count inched up from 500 to 503 in July.  We're waiting to see how the appendix saga impacts our late August trip to North Carolina and Idaho.  The birding effort for the year is largely over although I'll be making another run to Arizona with my brother in December.  It's good that we got the goal of 500 out of the way early.

The lull in Key West has also given me the opportunity to re-focus on another hobby - family history.  I hope to understand some day how our royal European ancestors became poor American dirt farmers.

This image shows one of my great-grandfathers (standing) and a great-great-grandfather (seated) with family about 1890 in West Virginia.  One of my great aunts was once asked why this great-great-grandfather would leave a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to carve out a new farm on a mountainside in remote West Virginia.  Her response was, "I think the sheriff had something to do with that."  Which might start to answer my question about how we transitioned from royalty to farmers.