Black Canyon

During the period I was off between my summer job finishing up and going back to school, we took a few trips into Black Canyon south of Heber. The area was hit by the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski Fire, but there are several areas where the forest was untouched or lightly burned, including some groves of mixed conifers (white fir, Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine). On August 28, 2010, we went visited a couple of the groves and had some cool bird sightings. The best was a "Mexican" Spotted Owl perched up high in a fir:

We also encountered one American Three-toed Woodpecker, which is a species that is adapted to fires (they invade areas hit by fires in search of insects taking up residence in burnt snags). Surprisingly it took us 7 years to notice them with our first sighting last fall in Black Canyon. I guess it took a while for enough birds to move in and/or breed in the area to the point that they started being noticed within the 470,000+ acre burn area. One of the key field marks to look for with this species is the barring on the flanks, which the more common Hairy Woodpeckers lack.

We also encountered a large mixed flock of nuthatches, vireos, chickadees, and warblers moving through the groves. The warbler species included Red-faced, Olive, Grace's, Townsend's, Hermit, Virginia's, Orange-crowned, Wilson's, and Yellow-rumped Warblers and Painted Redstart. Here is a photo of a Townsend's Warbler:

We also saw some other interesting animals and plants during our jaunts. Below is a photo of a type of fungus beetle (Gibbifer californicus) feeding on fungi on a fallen tree at Black Canyon Lake:

Garter-snake at Black Canyon Lake:

purple geranium (Geranium caespitosum):

Canada violet (Viola canadensis):

red squirrel:

On August 25 we took our canoe out to Black Canyon Lake, which we hadn't had a chance to use in a while. The lake was suprisingly devoid of people and we lucked out in not having the dark clouds do anything but swirl around us. We saw at least one Osprey and a pair of Blue-winged Teal fly over us and several Spotted Sandpipers were still present along the shoreline. After we came ashore on the far side of the lake we walked in back along a creek and found some geodes (rocks containing crystals) and shell fossils.