Fluid Flow

Gulf Disaster Is Now Worst U.S. Offshore Oil Spill:

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey say the flow rate from the blown-out well is at least twice as much and possibly five times as much as estimates cited by BP. The oil giant says engineers won’t know until at least Thursday afternoon whether the latest attempt to plug the leak is succeeding.

(Via NPR News: Top Stories.)

I have been remiss, any self respecting blog with a name like Fluid Flow should have a link to the oil (and now drilling mud) gushing out of the Gulf Coast seafloor. My apologies, you will have go to the NPR story to see/watch the feed.

The organizers moved the race from February and then came up with the dullest coarse imaginable. Visalia to Bakersfield? Even running it in to the hills didn’t make this a watchable stage.

You had the whole state. Even though an El Nino year gave you a taste of February as you ran into Santa Rosa, the tour was a sleeper. The only suspense was wondering when Phil Liggett would butcher another California place name.

Merced to Lee Vining, now that would have been an interesting bike race. Weed to Crescent City. Needles to San Bernadino. Anything through Death Valley.

There is so much to California that running the race through the central valley leaves us a little flat.

Last Friday as I was coming back from Modesto, I stopped off at a couple of parts of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge north of Los Banos. As is typical for a mid-day, week-day side trip. I saw one other person.

That is usually good for birding, but the mere presence of my truck was enough to set off the ducks on the water. I guess they have learned to associate trucks with guns.

American Coot

So I didn’t get any good views of ducks, but there were coots and lots of shorebirds that didn’t seem to mind the truck. There were also lots of Red-winged Blackbirds, Western Meadowlarks and a couple of raptors to see.

The first stop was at the West Bear Creek Unit (about 15 miles north of Los Banos. The location features a 2.5 mile auto tour that loops around some of the wetlands. About halfway around the loop is a rest stop with pit toilets. The loop would be an easy walk, which would probably afford better birding (see above regarding ducks).

Northern Harrier

But it was a little too cold and windy for me, so stayed in the truck. I did, however, turn off the stereo and open all the windows so I could hear as well as see the birds. Still I am certain that I missed some of the smaller and elusive habitants.

While I spotted a jackrabbit, it was gone before I could bring my camera up. A Northern Harrier prowled the area, living up to his former name “Marsh Hawk”. I was pleased to see and shoot a few Western Meadowlarks, though my shots showing their breast markings were not so good.

The smaller shorebirds were concentrated at the north end of the loop where the water appeared shallower. Here a couple of American Avocets and a few Black-necked Stilts joined a large flock of Long-billed Dowitchers. Also along the shore was a Killdear, a Greater Yellowlegs, and a few peeps that I couldn’t get a good view of.

San Luis National Wildlife Refuge at EveryTrail

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After spending about an hour at the W Bear Creek Unit, I continued down the road to the main part of the Refuge. The site is about two miles off Highway 165 on Wolfsen Road (about 6 miles north of Los Banos), and offers two auto trails, one around a large Tule Elk preserve and one around the wetlands for viewing waterfowl.

Great Blue Heron

I chose the waterfowl route, which may have been a mistake. A large portion of it along the river was closed. Next time, I will do the Tule Elk route (or both).

I did see a couple of bull elk across a wide field. But chose not to try for a photo through the fence. I could just make out that they were bulls in my binoculars, the camera would have had no chance.

Not to say that the waterfowl tour was poor. But most of the birds that I saw were along the road out to the hunters parking lots and would have been missed if I had stuck to the abbreviated route. I am assuming that the full route is closed for portions of the year.

White-faced Ibis

Perhaps the highlight of the day was a flock of White-faced Ibis in breeding plumage. Normally these birds seem completely misnamed.

When I have seen them before, they were nondescript and dark and only their form suggested “ibis”. In breeding plumage, however, they are a mix of almost iridescent purple and green and you can actually see a white ring around their bill.

I also a encountered a cormorant (double crested?) who flew parallel with me as I drove down a dike road. It would have been a great shot, but there were safety considerations.

Other birds were a Western Kingbird, Western Meadowlark, Great Blue Heron, and Great Egret. All in all, if you find yourself traveling between Turlock and Los Banos with a little time, there is good birding here.

It is probably even better if you get out and walk.

San Luis National Wildlife Refuge - 2 at EveryTrail

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More photos on Flickr.

See the Wildebeest Migration in the Mara Triangle… on Google Earth!: “

We’re in the process of installing tracking devices into our vehicles here at the Conservancy, and as our Land Cruiser arrived at Oloololo Gate I had a quick peek at its progress over on Google Earth.

Since I’ve last been on it seems that Google have updated the satellite image for the top of the Mara Triangle, and you can even see the new toilets that we’ve constructed over at Oloololo (in the top left hand corner).

I also noticed that our grader is parked outside of the rangers quarters, which means that it’s just after we had completed grading the roads inside the Triangle and were about to grade the roads towards all the camps and lodges that are on the outside, just at the beginning of August when the migration was in full swing.

You must at least be able to see some wildebeest, I thought.

Well, you can.

That’s quite a few thousand of the chaps swarming their way up towards the north of the Triangle.

I’m sure you’d quite like a look around yourself, and if you don’t have Google Earth installed you can have a look with Google Maps below:’

View Larger Map

(Via Mara Triangle.)

This is pretty cool. The updates don’t extend to the area of Ken’s Mara camp yet, but the coverage is getting better.

I am not sure why. Perhaps it’s because I am approaching 50 (in a year or so), perhaps it’s because I am reading Farley Mowat’s “final” memoir, I am not sure.

It certainly isn’t because I have something to write. I have never had a desire to write. Prose and poetry do not leap from my keyboard. The only time that my writing has achieved passing marks is in journalism, geology, and one composition class at UCSB, where the teaching assistant did not mind my simple and direct approach.

It isn’t much to hang your hat on.

But I do like telling stories and I have lived long enough to have a few.

So I have started an outline. The two top headings are “Timeline” and “Themes”. I don’t know where this is going to go, but it seems worthy of exploration.

I did not watch Neil Armstrong walk on the the moon. I listened to it. We were in camp in southern Oregon and had no TV around.

So I listened to the landing and listened to the Astronauts step out on to the lunar surface. I ran out into the meadow and looked up at the full moon, amazed that there were people walking on the moon.

California experiment successfully concluded:

Around this time 10 years ago I was wandering around downtown San Jose on a sunny Saturday. I had a day to kill after my interviews at the San Jose Mercury News so I roamed the city’s mostly empty streets…

…now we’re working through our second bust, which has pummeled the paper and put many friends out of work. In three weeks I’m joining them.

(Via Tom Mangan’s home page.)

Tom Mangan, who’s Two-Heel Drive blog introduced me to the hiking blog genra as well as a number of Bay Area hikers is leaving the Bay Area.

Happy Trails.

So I spent a couple of more days at Humbug and hiked up the hill again. I think that Humbug may be habit forming.

I was surprised to see that the campground was not full. While there are definitely more people in the park than last November, the campground is not crowded. I did not have anyone in the adjacent sites for the two days I was there.

Little has changed in the camp, the one site that was flooded in November is still closed and coated with a layer of dirt. Brush Creek is still flowing to the north, but has moved outside of the big rocks on the beach. The waves are trying to form a lagoon, but for now, the creek is winning.

A crowd of Western Gulls has taken to the beach and are using the creek as a bath. They are only disturbed when you get too close or bring a dog to the beach. They will let a person get within about 50 feet, but any dog within 200 ft will get them flying.

The Black Oystercatchers are a little more skittish.

On of my goals for this trip was to climb Humbug again, but use the “West Trail”. This trail did not exist when I first tried in 1966. For tradition, I took the “East Trail” when I went up two years ago.

The West Trail is a little steeper (getting you to the summit in 1.5 miles instead of 2.0 miles) and offers a few glimpses to the north of Port Orford and Cape Blanco.

The West Trail traverses the southwest side of the mountain and once you are there, you are greeted with solitude. The road noise from 101 disappears. You might hear an song bird or a few sea lions barking 1000 ft below. Most likely you will just hear your footsteps. It is scary silent.

You work your way up a number of switchbacks, occasionally crossing over to the north side of the mountain where you are once again greeted by the drone of 101. Just below the summit you link back up with the “East Trail” and walk a few hundred feet to the summit.

There was a downed tree across the regular trail so I had to take an semi off-trail route to get to the top. As a result, I discovered the benchmark at the top. It was something that I missed the last time I was here.

The summit of Humbug isn’t awe inspiring, it is really just a little clearing with just enough trees to block your view to the south. But, you have to remember you have just climbed one of the highest points on the Oregon coast. I had the place to myself, so enjoyed a banana before starting down.

While walking down the East Trail I started to focus on the main dynamic of the mountain, the fallen trees that rip open new habitat. It is these openings that allow the diversity of plants and animals on the mountain.

While you might not notice it, it is a very dynamic environment. And not one that I would like to hike in during a storm in December.

More photos on Flickr.

Humbug Mountain at EveryTrail

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This is post should be fun for those who regularly follow this weblog.

We few, we happy few.
We band of brothers (and sisters)…

Oh wait, that is another post (but you’ve got to admit that anyone who can allude to both Shakespeare and Monty Python in the same passage has a special grasp of the English language).

Anyway, you know that I have made a few trips up to Oregon and Washington in the last two months.

On both trips, I stopped at Humbug Mtn. State Park in Oregon. Long time readers will recognize that Humbug has a near mythical place in my life. Even after I conquered the Mountain, I find myself going back.

To some, there is something symbolic about that. To me, it’s cheep at $10 a night.

On my first night camping at Humbug in over 40 years, I discovered that the cell coverage is weak in the campground. I couldn’t get a good signal until I went down to the beach. So I made a few calls from the beach and then went back to camp. I made a few more hikes that night and finally crashed.

The next morning I packed up and headed south. About mid-day I discovered that I didn’t know where my cell phone was. I checked all of the normal places and all the abnormal places it might have dropped into. When I got back to San Jose, I emptied the truck and still no phone.

So I declared it lost, had the phone deactivated, and ordered a new phone.

Fast forward a month. It’s my Birthday and I am opening presents. There is a small box with a ribbon around it. The box is addressed to me at my folks house, the return address is Humbug Mtn. State Park. I am thinking this is a joke and the box contains a number of $1 Humbug Mtn. State Park pins that I have no use for. Then I open the box and find bubble-wrap, and inside the bubble-wrap is…

my lost phone.

Blow me away.

Apparently the phone made its way from my pocket to the “Lost and Found” box at Humbug. While the battery was dead, an enterprising Ranger figured a way to charge it, then looked through the contacts, found an entry for “Mom & Pop”, and called the number.

And the rest is history.

Now I need to figure out how much of a donation to Humbug says “Thank You!” sufficiently. I am thinking postage plus, and maybe a few prints from my stay.

Well I guess that I need to finish up my NW trip post, now that I have been back in San Jose for a couple of days.

I left you all hanging with my “harrowing” description of the trip from Hood River to Seattle. Unfortunately I stuck to reasonable-sized highways for the rest of my trip.

Green-winged Teal

But I did get in some good birding, first with a hike along the Nisqually River, just outside of Olympia, WA. The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is a popular spot with birders, on the trail I encountered several groups of birders (traveling in groups sized just large enough to scare off all but the most common birds). I can imagine their notes (song sparrow, mallard, canada geese, spotted towhee, bewicks wren). I saw a few more birds, including some new ones.

Hooded Merganser

We celebrated my brother’s 50th birthday that night. He seemed reasonably pleased that I made the trip. We went out the next day to do some birding at a nearby park along the Tualitin River. There were a surprising number of species at the small park (Brown’s Ferry Park). The sighting of the day was a Snipe. Unfortunately it took off so fast that neither Ken or I could get a shot off. How I wished for a flashlight and paper bag! We did get some good pictures of herons, geese, and ducks. Also managed to get some shots of rodents including a Nutria and a Chickaree (the local, native squirrel).

Friday was mostly a travel day down to the southern Oregon coast and Humbug Mountain State Park (where I am starting to rack up frequent hiker miles). Along the way, I stopped at the Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area on the Umpqua River. While there were elk there, they just aren’t quite up to the standards set by the elk around Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in northern California (more on this later).

American Dipper

I spent all of Saturday at Humbug and the nearby town of Port Orford. The morning bird hike was pretty pathetic, with only a few jays and juncos making an appearance. But on a trip down to the beach I did see and shoot a Dipper (one of those birds that I haven’t seen in twenty years or so).

Sunday morning there were more birds around and I spent a good half hour trying to coax a Varied Thrush out of the darkest portions of a cedar tree. Round and round I went as the thrush tried to put himself between the trunk and me. I believe that this particular thrush is now on my list of tough birds to shoot. Travel south was interrupted by numerous stops to shoot raptors, some successful others less so.

Red-tailed Hawk

Now about those Prairie Creek Redwoods elk. There were only a half dozen elk in the park proper. One was a cow with a bum leg that made you realize that these elk don’t know predation and have very little to fear. The large bulls grazing on the side of 101 cemented this thought.

Years ago, when I spend a some time camping at Prairie Creek, I realized that the problem with the elk wasn’t that they were “wild and unpredictable” as all of the park signs said, but that they were tame and would let you get real close before they became unpredictable. I never felt comfortable walking around the campground, because you never knew when you were going come back from the restroom and find a big bull between you and your camp.

Monday was uneventful as I weaved my way south from Willits to San Jose, via Geyserville, Calistoga, St Helena, Napa, and Benecia.