Sunday, June 6

Even the turkey vultures were drying out on the fence posts!


Prezwalski's wild horses



We had to stop the bus until the giraffes moved off the road




Bactrian camels





Breakfast and our final bird count

Rain has been the ever present theme of this year's Birding by Ear workshop. But despite the storms we refuse to let the weather dampen our spirits. This morning we are up at 5 and although it is wet out, it isn't raining at the present. A cup of hot chocolate and an apple and I was ready to hit the trail again. Our two best finds this morning were the scarlet tanager that we heard and saw bits of and the yellow-billed cuckoo that was sitting in plain view for everyone to see. We also added an American Tree Swallow that was singing in the wetlands as we entered Miller's woods. Once again as we were leaving Miller's woods the rains came in buckets and even with my rain gear, I was soaked to the bone before getting back to camp. We packed up and got some dry clothes on before heading out for breakfast. Driving to breakfast we drove through the animal yards and got some great close up shots of the large animals at the Wild's. After eating we did a final tally of all the birds that we had seen or heard over the weekend. Our official count was 80 species which was really a pretty good count considering the extreme weather conditions. Sadly, we said good byes to our newly made friends. I am always amazed at how close you can become to people when you have a shared interest. This year the group was absolutely amazing. I can honestly say that they were the most warm and caring group that I have ever met at this event. Maybe the bad weather just drew us closer but we really enjoyed each other's company. The staff was great as well and I hated to leave but alas, there is grass to mow and a garden to weed. It's back to the real world. And can you believe it, the sun is shining! PS I know you are thinking that all my pictures look very bright and sunny. Most of the time my camera was in a water proof bag or it was so humid my lense was fogged up. The pictures posted were those brief periods between rain drops.