Birding Contest
April 26, 1999
At the visitors’ center in Bakersfield, CA, I found a pamphlet advertising the “Kernville Valley Bioregions’ Festival.” Opening the pamphlet, I observed that the festival included several birding trips in the Kernville area northeast of Bakersfield. Pat reviewed the brochure and we decided that it would be fun to attend such an event -- we might even pick up a few new birds. However, it was Wednesday and the first birding trip that we could make was on Friday. Reservations were required for the trips -- we hoped that there might still be some vacancies. I started calling the Chamber of Commerce phone number listed on the brochure, to make reservations. Over and over I called and no one answered – but I left a message for them to return my call. No one did! In desperation, I combed the brochure and found an email address. I explained that we wished to join three birding tours. Almost immediately I received a reply from Bob Barnes, who explained that vacancies were still available. I replied that “we are on our way.”
Chatting with my neighbor at the Country RV Park in Bakersfield, I mentioned that we were taking our motorhome to Kernville to attend a festival. “You are going to drive your motorhome to Kernville?” he replied incredulously. “Have you ever driven to Kernville?” he asked. “The first few miles of the highway up the Kern River Canyon is very narrow and rocks jut out from the cliff into the road. You could very easily hit one of those big rocks a put a big crease in the side of your motorhome. I would not drive my RV up there,” he said. “But if you drive southeast across the Tehachapi Mountains to Mojave, up north to Ridgecrest, then back west over the Sierra Nevadas, the roads are good. It is three to four times farther, but you can avoid those dangerous rocks.”
“Many thanks for the info,” I replied, “but Pat and I have traveled up the Kern River Canyon before in our car and I remember seeing 18-wheel trucks on that road. If they can make it, so can I. Besides, if I drive the long way, I will be using lots of expensive California diesel. Think I will take my chances with those rocks in the canyon.”
As we entered the canyon, it was quickly apparent that the road was a little narrower and the overhanging rock stuck out into the road a little further than I had remembered. On some tight, blind curves it was necessary to cross over the center line a few feet to avoid hitting the rocks. “Hope nobody meets us coming the other way at a high rate of speed,” I thought several times. With some combination of driving skill and lots of luck, we made it to Kernville unscathed.
The birding trips were pure joy. Well, almost always pure joy. At one point, Pat and I found ourselves high up in the wind and snow of the Greenhorn Mountains looking for Pigmy Nuthatches and White-headed Woodpeckers – wondering about our sanity. It was late in the evening after a very long day of birding and we were tired and hungry. But the three birding experts, John, Terry and Steven, were intent on setting a record for the day. Driving along the road -- wind noise and all -- Terry would announce that she heard the ping-pong vocalization of a wrentit or something. We stopped, got out of the car, and listened and watched -- often adding a couple more species before we continued our journey.
We did it! Our group set the record -- 128 species of birds in one day was more than any other group. John, Terry and Steven were excellent birders. Pat and I felt that we had been a “big help.” At the end of the day I could remember at least two birds we added to the list – a Northern Harrier and a Barn Swallow. All 126 other species were either seen or heard first by one of the other three in our group. “Oh well,” we rationalized, “maybe we did not slow them down too much.” During that one day, Pat and I added 12 new species to our life list. Not bad!
The Kernville Valley region proved to be an excellent place to pick up some new birds. Within maybe 50 miles in any direction from Kernville, it is possible to see birds in the Great Basin, Mojave Desert, grasslands, chaparral, Riperian Forest and Sierran Forest – six bioregions. Each of these bioregions may have some birds not found in the other bioregions, so there is considerable bird diversity. A total of about 330 bird species have been found in this valley area.
The highlight of our trip was the visits to desert oasis birding spots. Butterbredt Springs, about eight miles due west (as the crow flies) from Red Rock Canyon State Park is a hot birding spot during spring migration. A local dentist, John Wilson, led our group there. He provided each car with a small, handheld radio so that he could point out birds along the way. Unfortunately, our car was fourth in line, so usually the bird John reported was gone by the time we arrived, but the 4-wheeled drive up the sandy, bouncy Butterbredt Canyon Road was exciting. A golden eagle was spotted, high on a big rock on a nearby mountain. Lots of Mountain and California Quail were heard and some seen.
Migrating birds come up the canyon, stop to rest and take a drink at Audubon’s Butterbredt Springs. During spring migration, tens of thousand birds may pass through the springs in a single day. We did not see that many, but there were plenty of birds for us to see. John carefully pointed out the distinguishing characteristics of several small, hard to identify, Empidonax flycatchers. We identified several warblers, woodpeckers, and other birds. Quarreling Ladder-backed and Nuttall’s woodpeckers gave us an excellent opportunity to compare the closely related species. A mother Great Horned Owl and her chick hid high in the branches of a Cottonwood tree. It helped that it was a cool, but sunny and beautiful day in the hills overlooking the Mojave Desert.
With directions from John, we took a solo trip on to Galileo Hills northeast of California City. A man-made oasis in the desert, it is an excellent place to watch hummingbirds. We quickly added the Rufous, Costa’s and Calliope Hummingbirds to our list as they refueled on the local flora.
Another trip up across Breckenridge Mountain and a nighttime owl hunt were “frosting on the cake.” Bob Barnes, the organizer of the festival and birder extraordinary, is due much credit. He really went out of his way to help us by calling up a wrentit from the chaparral along the roadside -- a first for us. By the end of this excellent festival, we had added 18 species to our list and I was sore from a 10K run, also sponsored by the Bioregions Festival.
Each day, after our birding trips, we returned to our motorhome -- parked so close to the Kern River that the front end hung over the bank -- relaxed and watched an infrequent kayaker paddle down the rapids, under the Fremont Cottonwood trees, and past the purple lupines growing on the bank. The sound of water flowing over the rapids lulled us to sleep at night.
Life is goood!
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