Day 35 – California here we come

Record shot of Red-breasted Sapsucker, Sierra Nevada mountains.

We stopped off at the little pond by the golf course at Furnace Creek this morning before crossing Death Valley and heading for the Sierra Nevada mountains, via Owen’s Lake. The pond provided a couple of new State ticks, including White-faced Ibis and White-throated Swift. Lunch was taken at the picnic site at Whitney Portal – the start of the trail to the summit of Mount Whitney – at 14,505 feet, the highest peak in the USA, outside of Alaska. The bird-life was rather sparse and of the handful of species we did see there, only Red-breasted Sapsucker was new for the trip. An hour spent in an unsuccessful search for American Dipper was followed by a much more productive visit to Lake Diaz, where we added several State ticks and Barn Owl (a great find by Bob) to our GABRAT list. Our journey took us south, around the tip of the Sierra Nevada mountains, before finally arriving at our lodgings for the night, on the shores of Lake Isabella.

View of the Sierra Nevada mountains from the Whitney Portal approach road