late January

     Northstar continues to make snow every night to make up for what Nature is not providing. California's governor declared an emergency because of the drought.  Fortunately the machine-made snow is
making enough skiers happy that guests are still coming to stay in the condos.  I am still making reservations for future guests.
     Yesterday I drove up to Mt Rose, along Nevada highway 431.  The summit pass is nearly 9000 ft and supports an alpine forest of Fir and Spruce trees.  I parked Silver truck along a paved forest road and walked into the forest.  It was quiet for awhile, then I started hearing Chickadees closer to the road.  A feeding flock of Mountain Chickadees had brought all their friends and relatives.  I saw 2 Brown Creepers on different trees, heard Red-breasted Nuthatches calling, and a group of Pine Siskins announced their arrival  "shreeeeeeeeep."  I was watching little ones flitting when something else moved in to the top of a Fir.  Red Crossbills !!  Eventually I found 3 pairs feeding in that tree.  Steller's Jays and 2 Clark's Nutcrackers came for lunch as well.  All very exciting.
    Later in the afternoon I stopped by Donner Lake and saw a group of Eared Grebes.

 Top photo:  Donner Lake State Park.
to the right, a Red Crossbill feeding on a Fir cone.  Image from the Allaboutbirds.com website.

Funny thing happened this morning, I walked out the door with my directions to Tahoe Meadows, which I did not find a sign for.  I had only my binoculars and my fanny pack with me.  Totally forgot the camera, I could have taken some photos of these birds myself.

Truckee

     Back in December I drove to Pyramid Lake for the first time.  This lake is an hour east of Reno and is surrounded by the Paiute tribe's reservation.  A remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan, Pyramid Lake is fed by Truckee River. Limestone tufa towers similar to those at Mono Lake dominate the landscape.  There are few trees.  I had the good fortune to meet some nice birders who invited me to participate in their Christmas Bird Count.  I was glad to not be missing this annual event. Count day was January 1, 2014, a good way to start the year.  Three of us were assigned to Area 2 in the southeastern portion of the lake.  We found 28 species for the day.  My favorites were the group of Sage Sparrows, a female Hooded Merganser, and the Western Bluebirds.  Overall the Pyramid Lake count totaled 70 species.
     Schedules at Northstar resort have settled down to four 10-hour days with 3 days off.  Yesterday I drove to Reno to retrieve Dolphin (the kayak) from my friend's house.  They have just bought a house and are moving soon.  The house I am living in has a 2 car garage occupied by 2 larger vehicles (a Pathfinder, and a Jeep), bicycles, skis, equipment, and now Dolphin has joined everything in the garage.
     Donner Lake State Park is very close.  This morning I walked in the forest near the lake to listen for birds.  Mountain Chickadees, a Brown Creeper, White-breasted Nuthatches, an un-seen Woodpecker, and Steller's Jays.  On Donner Lake 4 Common Goldeneyes, and a male Common Merganser were diving and looking for breakfast.

photos from Donner Lake and marsh.