AV04/30 Big Bear Lake 30th August 2004

Notwithstanding an early start in the Low- and Hi-Deserts, it was 9am when we started at the Discovery Centre on North Shore Drive. The feeder was very active with all three Nuthatches and many Mountain Chickadees and others. We called at Woodland Trail and the lakeside opposite and found an interesting mix of species, many we certainly do not see at Big Morongo. The low water levels are increasingly obvious and must have brought significant change to bird and animal life - and don't forget that Big Morongo, already at very low levels, relies on Big Bear for it's water supply!

We called briefly at Davidson Drive where Margaret's 'Dozens of Pinyon Jays' failed to appear, and went on to lunch at Aspen Glen followed by a drive up 2N10, but bird life was light in the middle of the day.

Brewer's Blackbird Pygmy Nuthatch Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Mountain Chickadee Scrub Jay House Finch White Pelican Stellar's Jay Wilson's Warbler Bushtit Acorn Woodpecker	American Kestrel Common Raven Great Blue Heron Black-necked Stilt Mallard Northern Harrier Caspian Tern Yellow-rumped Warbler Tree Swallow Western Bluebird Anna's Hummingbird

We concluded by visiting Wild-Wings, exploring an amazing collection of bird-related merchandise, and talking with Bill Downs. He provided us with useful advice for a future visit - perhaps for his last Bird Walk of the season, Saturday September 11th at 8am.

We have no activities planned at present, other than our regularly scheduled Wednesday walks at 7am, but you might like to check out our web site http://bigmorongobirders.blogspot.com/ With invaluable help from Patrick Casey, who manages the Preserve web site, we have cleaned up the specie lists which we often provide, although there is still way to go!

Good Birding.........bb

Barry Parkes
bbparkes@ix.netcom.com