gpasq@picuxa.UUCP (Greg Pasquariello X1190) (12/01/88)
OK, I realize that this is a very broad question... This coming year I will be getting 3 weeks of vacation time, while my wife will only have two. This means that I get an entire week of birding! I have most of the eastern birds, but now it is time to get some western ones. My question is, where should I go? Here are some of my "limitations": 1. The trip can be longer than a week, but probably shouldn't be more than two. 2. I would rather not go on an organized tour. I would rather find the birds myself, or with the help of a local birder. Finding the birding spots with some of Lane's books won't be a problem. 3. I can go any time of the year, but I may be able to get my company to fly me to Texas in Feb. This might be a good starting point. 4. Money is not a problem, and I am willing to travel from place to place (i.e. Texas to California, etc). I am interested in any an ALL ideas. If you even have one stop in mind, let me know! Greg -- ============================================================================= By the time they had diminished from Greg Pasquariello AT&T PMTC 50 to 8, the dwarves began to suspect Hungry. att!picuxa!gpasq =============================================================================
john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) (12/03/88)
Although I have not birded widely in the western U.S., I have some recommendations for picking up western species. 1. Southeast Arizona: Cave Creek, Onion Saddle, Patagonia, Madera Canyon (much better in spring and summer). 2. South Texas: Bentsen SP-Santa Ana-Laguna Atascosa, even in winter. 3. Northern California: Bodega Bay-Point Reyes-Moss Landing, any time of the year. I don't have extremely wide experience in selecting western bird sites, but I've worked all these spots; they should be quite productive. The Northern California sites reflect my relative prejudice away from passerines and towards mud, shore, and waterbirds, but Point Reyes should produce good landbirds. -- John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, New Mexico USENET: ucbvax!unmvax!nmtsun!john CSNET: john@nmtsun.nmt.edu ``A lesson from past over-machined societies...the devices themselves condition the users to employ each other the way they employ machines.'' --Frank Herbert