It’s been a hot and very smoky summer in western Nevada. I almost hate to complain, given the horrific blazes that have occurred just on the other side of the Sierras in California. Much of the smoke from those fires moves east, over the Sierras to linger in the valleys beyond. Day after day of hazardous air quality, with recommendations to avoid or limit outside activity.
In early July, just as the smoke from the Ferguson Fire near Yosemite had found its way into the area, I decided to head north, both to get away from the smoke and keep my dog from freaking out at the sound of fireworks. We headed to the Santa Rosa Mountains of northern Nevada, right near the Oregon border. This was my first visit here, so I looked forward to experiencing a new mountain range.
We left the smoke behind somewhere near Winnemucca, drove on up through the lovely farming community of Paradise Valley, and on to the dirt roads that cross the mountain range. Rocky promontories lined the road, and wildflowers were everywhere. We drove over Hinkey Summit, and on to Lye Creek Campground. This was a lush oasis of aspens in an otherwise mostly treeless expanse of sagebrush. Lye Creek was flowing well, and created an audible backdrop to the bird songs and whisper of aspen leaves in the breeze. Granite Peak towered over the campground, and I decided to climb it before leaving the area.
As soon as I set up camp and took a walk around the campground to check it out (we were the only ones there at that point), I sat down to watch the bird activity in camp. Within a few moments, I spotted a yellow-rumped warbler feeding chicks in the nest, and a family of house wrens going in and out of a hole in an aspen tree. Robins, western tanagers, and flickers called as the sun set and evening descended. It was a quiet night, with just the “whoosh” of the stream to lull me to sleep. But with the dawn came a lovely dawn chorus:
I decided to spend the day exploring, so drove around some of the dirt roads, occasionally stopping to watch birds or photograph butterflies. I found a boondock camp along a lower part of Lye Creek, in a small grove of aspens running through a large expanse of sagebrush. I’m interested in gathering more sounds of big sage habitats, so this looked like a good spot. The trees provided a nice respite from the hot sun, so the dog and I whiled away the afternoon listening to a bunch of baby magpies and the gurgle of the creek. Late in the afternoon we took a walk along the two-track that paralleled the creek. Lots and lots of butterflies, and even flushed a small group of sage grouse.
In spite of being relatively late in the year, from a birdy perspective, the sage will still alive with bird song. One song in particular that I have been trying to record is the Brewer’s sparrow. I normally don’t focus on a single species, but these non-descript little sparrows have a wonderful buzzy-trilly song that choruses through the sage in the spring. They are pretty common wherever there is sagebrush, but getting a good chorus is surprisingly difficult. On my second morning in the Santa Rosas, the Brewer’s were singing, but only a few individuals, not a full chorus. I did get a nice recording of a couple of birds, with a flicker and black-throated sparrow in the background:
After breakfast, I took another walk in the area, and noticed a tendril of smoke coming up the valley bottom. There had been no obvious fires in the area a couple of days ago, so this was new. By the time I got back to camp, the smoke had engulfed my camp. I quickly packed up, and headed for Hinkey Summit to see where the fire was. There was a wall of smoke moving from the east toward Paradise Valley.
With smoke rapidly moving up the mountains, I decided to cancel my plans to climb Granite Peak. I headed back through Paradise Valley, where it was easy to see where the smoke was coming from.
The smoke was coming from east of Paradise Valley, near Chimney Dam reservoir. I could see planes already dropping fire retardant on the flames. The Martin Fire would grow to 435,000 acres in just a matter of days, galloping across dry sage flats east of the Santa Rosas. Little did I realize at the time that fires like that were going to become a theme for the summer.
I headed west, stopping at Sheldon Antelope Refuge, Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge, the mountains outside of Lakeview Oregon, and the Warner Mountains of northeastern California. But those are stories for other days.