Creepers, I struck out!

On December 28th, my wife and I visited Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas for yet another attempt at seeing the Bald Eagle. Suffice it to say that even after almost four hours of enduring cold weather conditions we completely bombed out. For the third time we missed our target. Either it really didn't show up or we were just misinformed and were looking at the wrong place. For me that was quite a painful, traumatic experience. Not because we dipped since we have been unsuccessful in our bird chases before, but rather because of the seemingly heartlessness of some fellow birders. I emailed somebody who is a frequent visitor at Bonelli and who has seen the eagle on more than one occasion to ask for specific directions on the whereabouts of the famed raptor, but I never even got the courtesy of a reply. Then there was an acquaintance who, although indirectly, would make you feel stupid by telling everybody on the internet how it was such a no-brainer to locate the Bald Eagle. By and large, most birders that we have met on our trips were courteous and helpful and would even go out of their way to assist in locating a target bird. It 's just so sad that there are some rotten apples in the basket.

Forgive me for venting, but I needed to get that out of my chest.

Anyway, the day was not a total disaster because as we were leaving, we were treated to some very close-up views of a Bewick's Wren and then of a pair(!) of Brown Creepers working on the same tree.




As a final touch, a Coyote insouciantly sauntered into our direction, gave us a casual glance, and passed not more than twenty feet away from us.



And oh, we will still get a Bald Eagle in our lifelist, maybe not from Bonelli, but by golly, we sure will.