Wednesday. Pagosa springs. Exit conference. It went well. Annie attended. Judy
didn’t. I’ll need some help from Diane to finish the federal compliance
part properly, but the fieldwork is done. On the way there, we stopped at a place we’re supposed to be able to find a
Grace’s Warbler. A campground half way between Durango and Pagosa Springs.
Ponderosa Pine and underbrush. A nice place. No warblers. Actually, tons
of invisible birds singing. None moving. We listened. We stalked. We
watched. No warblers. I did see a Warbling Vireo. A new bird. Smaller
than a robin. Soft gray. No eye-ring. White eyebrow. White under-eye
too, but not connected. It had to be a warbling vireo. Or a Gray Vireo. I
looked in the book, and a warbling vireo is supposed to have a light yellow
wash underneath. I didn’t see that. I’m almost positively, absolutely sure
it was a warbling vireo. No new birds on the list today. Not quite sure enough. Steam train past the RV Park this morning. Then another. They’re running
two trains a day now. Last night we had visitors. The lady Judy met at Honeyville, the store up
the road, wants to sell the house and buy a motorhome. Judy invited her and
her husband to come by after work and take the tour. Nice people.
Interesting. Broke. He worked for Enron for 26 years. The entire
retirement was in Enron stock. Now they have a house, but no retirement.
She works selling honey. He works as a mechanic. Tomorrow, the last part of the last job to finish. The Durango job. The
exit conference got pushed back to 3pm. That will give me all morning to
clean up and organize the piles and piles of paper I have collected and
generated. I get to work at home until the meeting. Then. Back to the front range.