[obol] Birding Lake County pm 7-3 to 7-6 - JUNIPER TITMOUSE.

[Joel Geier]

Hi Judy and All,

Glad to hear that you had such a good weekend of birding in the Warner
Mtns & Warner Valley area of southeast Lake County!

Willow Creek Campground (in the Warner Mountains part of Fremont NF,
head east of Lakeview on Hwy 140, then follow Judy's directions given
previously) is indeed one of the nicest birding campgrounds we have
found in Oregon. Nearby Deep Creek and Dismal Creek CGs are also very
birdy spots. Just save a campsite for us since we plan to go back there
later this summer, perhaps as an OFO Family Camping Weekend!

The road to one of the Juniper Titmouse spots, which in some places is
signed as Lake Co. 3-14-C, is labeled as "NFD 019" in the DeLorme Atlas
(p. 72, D4, way down in the lower right-hand corner), for the part in
the Fremont NF. However, like Judy reports, I haven't actually seen this
on a sign along that road. 

DeLorme shows "Big Valley Rd." as a road which angles off to the NW from
the junction with Long Valley Rd. However according to the 1:250,000
scale BLM map of the tricorner region (and my own vague recollections),
that one doesn't go all the way through to the NF, the way DeLorme shows
it -- it just ends in Big Valley or perhaps turns into a private road. I
think the part of 3-14-C to the SE of the Long Canyon-Big Valley Rd.
intersection, which connects to Twentymile Rd. south of Adel, is also
called Big Valley Rd. Judy, does that make sense? I can barely
understand what I wrote myself!

It's too bad that the roads are so confusing in this part of Lake Co.,
since these are generally good gravel roads. Once you find the spots,
the titmouse/gnatcatcher habitat is much more easy to hike -- and more
lush, in a desert sort of way -- than the "classic" spots above Hwy 140.
Next time I'm out there, I'll try to remember to bring along my GPS and
create a ground-truthed map of these spots. This area deserves a write-
up as a birding site guide in /Oregon Birds/.

Happy birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis

Judy Meredith wrote:

> Our first effort was for JUNIPER TITMOUSE. We found them 
> in 3 locations without trying the traditional seep along 140 
> at Deep Creek Falls.... Locations for them were as follows:
> 
> Location mentioned by Joel Geier was along road he called 
> FS 019 but we didn't see a number. Later there was a sign for 
> County road 3-14-C on it. The location was about 1 mile SE 
> of the  USNF boundary at a place where there was a "juniper belt" 
> and a ridge 200 to 300 yards to the right. We checked both sides 
> of the road there and the right side was "thick with Juniper 
> Titmouse" just as Joel had reported. The opposite side of the 
> road we had only one in 3.5 hours of birding and  walking the 
> area. The third site was mostly Mtn Mahogany  surrounded by 
> Juniper. It was located 1.8 miles SE along 3-14-C from the junction 
> of 3-14-A and 3-14-C. And Big Valley road is apparently another 
> name for 3-14-C. This location was terrific for the many 
> Juniper Titmouse, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and Bushtits as well 
> as one Long-eared Owl, Lark Sparrow and Poorwill. It was very 
> nice birding in a place with a spectacular view. It was on 
> a ridge/escarpment overlooking the area toward 20 mile Creek. 
> Another way to get  to this area, take 20 mile Road south from 
> Adel. I believe this is also called county road 3-14. At the "T" 
> intersection where Adel is to the north, California is about 3 miles
> to the south, go west on what is called Big Valley Road for 1.9 miles
> and you will see the ridge of Mtn Mahogany on the left/South side 
> of the road.  We walked through this area for about 3 hours and
> loved it there.