{"id":10688,"date":"2017-01-18T00:35:52","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T07:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/?p=10688"},"modified":"2017-01-18T05:26:06","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T12:26:06","slug":"baja-california-sur-the-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/18\/baja-california-sur-the-bird\/","title":{"rendered":"Baja California Sur: The Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gerardo and Leo picked us up at dawn at our hotel in San Jos\u00e9, and three hours later we started our walk in the Sierra de la Laguna above San Antonio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Sierra<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a lovely warm morning, and there were birds to be seen along the way, to boot. Single\u00a0black-throated gray\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Townsend’s warblers\u00a0<\/strong>reminded us that we were in the southwest, and the\u00a0San Lucas robin\u00a0<\/strong>made sure we knew that we weren’t just anywhere in the southwest.<\/p>\n

\"San<\/a><\/p>\n

We also got to see the bizarrely dim-eyed\u00a0angustifrons\u00a0<\/em>acorn woodpecker<\/strong>, and a heavily spotted\u00a0spotted towhee\u00a0<\/strong>that was presumably the aptly named\u00a0umbraticola<\/em>. A feral hog was a source of momentary puzzlement, and then it was higher, ever higher.<\/p>\n

I was embarrassed at having to take three (three!) quick sitting breaks for out-of-breathness, but everyone was kind about it. I’m not used to being The Problem Client, and I’m not used to being Oldest In The Group, but I guess I’d better start resigning myself to it. At least each of my long pauses\u00a0was another chance at leisurely enjoyment of the stunning desert scenery.<\/p>\n

\"Sierra<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, at about 1200 meters, Gerardo mentioned that we were at the lowest spot he’d ever seen the bird. “And there’s one now!”<\/p>\n

\"Baird's<\/a><\/p>\n

In early February 1883, when he was exactly my gasping, panting age, Lyman Belding set off alone for the\u00a0Sierra. Belding\u00a0found \u201cthe trail leading to Laguna \u2026 the longest, highest, and possibly the worst\u201d in these mountains, \u201cwhich were probably never previously explored by any collector.\u201d<\/p>\n

The effort paid off handsomely, however, when, on reaching the lower edge of the pines, Belding encountered \u201ca beautiful new Snowbird,\u201d which he dispatched and sent to Robert Ridgway at the Smithsonian for description, specifying that the new bird was to be named for Spencer Baird, \u201cin consideration of [his] valuable ornithological services\u2026 in field and office, not the least of such services being his original, full, and accurate descriptions of so many North American birds.\u201d Ridgway, finding the bird \u201cpretty and very distinct,\u201d obliged, concluding his formal description with the observation that the Baird\u2019s Junco \u201cis so markedly distinct\u2026 from all its congeners as to really need no comparison with any of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

We didn’t have to go anywhere near the pines.<\/p>\n

\"Baird's<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, all we had to do was plop down on the roadside and wait for this most beautiful of the juncos to re-emerge from the shadows to feed in the open.<\/p>\n

\"Rick<\/a>