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

[Judy Meredith]

OBOL
Responding to Joel's post on the roads southwest of Adel.

We tried several ways from the Big Valley Road but we 
were unable to get into the Big Valley. Most of the side 
roads were gated somewhere between the main road and
said "private property" and prevented us from driving to 
the  valley itself. We were able to walk down to get a view 
but you can't drive through it or to it.  
No signs out there say "Long Valley Road" although it is
listed that way on Delorme.  I do think 3-14-C is the
same as Big Valley Road and perhaps Long Valley Rd.
As Joel so eloquently put it, "I can't even understand this 
myself". 
If Joel heads up an OFO  family camping weekend, go 
join him, I certainly will! This  general area is great for  
hiking, scenery, flowers, butterflies and  probably animals 
as well as for birds. Curiously, we did not see a single 
snake but we did find a few lizards.
Judy
jmeredit at bendnet.com  
> 
>> 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