Washoe Valley Drive July 2011

So the final drive of the birding trip to Tahoe. Would we see anything new? Well, the answer to that is yes, but first, let's start with the brake slamming as I spotted a coyote at the side of the road. Very well camouflaged in the dirt and quite a good spot even if I say so myself. No roadrunners round here. We drove round the big lake in Washoe Valley, stopping at several points. One amusing thing we did see was someone back a Crossover too far into the water when trying to offload a couple of jet skis. This resulted in the car filling with water. I think the bit that made me laugh the most was the bloke standing there starting his car over and over again and shouting “It seems to be shorting out! All the lights keep coming on.” If that wasn't enough to prove that we'd driven into hicksville, there was a boat in the water making an almighty roar. When it came to the shore, it was pretty easy to see that a couple of blokes had bolted an almighty V8 engine with superchargers on it to a tiny speedboat. It looked like the engine off a top fuel drag car (and probably was in all fairness). Beautiful engine, but not really appropriate for a tiny boat. I was hoping they'd open it up fully to see what it would do, because it would have either taken off or dipped and turned into a submarine. Sadly, they played it safe. Unfortunately I left my camera an phone in the car at this boating area as I didn't think there would be much to picture. How wrong I was.

I wish I got a photograph of the boat as I really wanted to hold a caption competition and call the two blokes Cletus and Skeeter.

OK, back to the more mundane birding. I did get a California Quail in Nevada and we did stop around the lake at the Washoe Lake Wetland Observation Platform where we did get to see a lot of yellow-headed blackbird. Not the best photos as they were a fair way away, but you can tell what they are. Not particularly rare either, but I've not seen them before and it's always nice to catch something for the first time. Birds in this set are:

American Coot
American Kestrel
American White Pelican
California Quail
Red-Winged Blackbird
Ruddy Duck
Yellow-Headed Blackbird

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