Bend to Boise - Day 0

This is a photo of the Deschutes River that runs through Bend Oregon. I arrived here today to start a 9-day bicycling trip to Boise Idaho. My flight out of Boston left at 6:20am, so I chose to spend last night at the airport hotel to allow myself a bit more time to sleep in. Nonetheless, I was up at 4:45am.

This is the Great Salt Lake outside of Salt Lake City which was my intermediate stop to Bend. I arrived in Bend a bit after noon pacific time. After checking into my hotel, I got out my camera and walked down to the river to photograph some birds. Over a couple of hours, I photographed 24 species of birds, 6 of which were new to me.

This is a Steller’s Jay, one of the 6 new species for me.

Another new species is this California Scrub-Jay.

I photographed 6 different species of swallows zipping back and forth over the river. Four of the species I have photographed before. Above is a Violet-Green Swallow which is new.

Above is a Cliff Swallow, the other new swallow.

My fifth new bird was this Black-Headed Grosbeak.

Finally, my last new bird was this American Goshawk. I have now photographed 496 species of birds worldwide and 264 species in the US. I expect that I will cross over the 500 mark for my worldwide total on this trip.

Tomorrow, I begin the bicycling. I believe that tomorrow’s ride is about 83 miles. Signing off for tonight. I expect to post ride reports most nights during this trip.