Steve and Judy's Travels!

 

We have self-driving cars.  They’re loaded with artificial intelligence making a thousand decisions a second.  Put a small fraction of that technology into an intersection and smart traffic lights could make some simple decisions, not only about whether there was anyone waiting at the light and triggering the light to change at the next cycle, but look down the road and modify the cycle to accommodate the natural flow of traffic.  If there is only one car waiting to go when the light turns green and there is no-one else coming, just move on to the next part of the cycle.

 

Southern California part of the trip map

 

Standing in a marsh, in the pre-dawn dark, making noises like a rail, hoping not to get arrested.  It worked!  Got the Ridgway’s Rail and I didn’t get arrested!  491.  On to Mile Square Park for the Swinhoe’s White-eye.  That’s a big park, it really is a mile square, and I walked it all, before I finally got the flock of White-eyes.  492.  Drive south to the San Diego River.  Search through five hundred American Goldeneyes to find the one Eurasian Goldeneye.  Got it!  (With the help of a local birder couple who had spotted it earlier and refound it for me.  It’s all good.  It counts.  493.

 

That’s it for the day.  We’re down to single digits.  Seven!

 

 

What’s the point in pulling someone over and giving them a ticket?  Is it to educate the public about traffic rules, create safer streets, and punish wrongdoers?  Well, can you imagine a less-efficient way of doing it than having police in cars waiting randomly for an infraction, catching up to the infractor, pulling them over, running plates and registration, writing up a warning or a ticket, and delivering it, and maybe even a lecture, in person?  That must take at least half an hour per ticket.  Wow.  Maybe 10 or 15 interactions in an 8 hour shift.  That’s not a very good return on investment in police officers.  Look at all the technology we’ve got now; speed limit signs that tell you how fast you’re going, license plate readers on the highways, intersection cameras.  Look at what’s happened to toll roads; no more stopping at one end to pick up a ticket, then stopping at the other end while the attendant calculates the charge, then exchanging money or worse, a credit card with a clipboard, paper, and a signature.  Now, we just drive through a reader and the charge shows up in the mail or against a prepaid pass.  All these technological advancements, but the process of writing traffic tickets hasn’t hasn’t changed in a hundred years!  No, I didn’t get a ticket, and I’m not saying we should use technology to write ten times as many tickets; I’m saying, couldn’t we use technology to free up police officers for more productive constructive work?

 

Still putting dots on the map.

 

L.A. Basin part of the trip map

 

And birds on the list.  Four more today:  Red-masked Parakeet, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Yellow-chevroned Parakeet, Mitred Parakeet.  Finished the day at 490!

 

 

 

 

 

…and into the hotel.  The next morning, I take it all out to the car again and lay out the stuff within reach that I’ll need for the day.  Binoculars.  Camera.  Birding ears (that contraption that lets me hear high pitched noises I can’t otherwise hear).  Portable speaker (for when there is no-one else around to bother, and I’m not in a protected area, to play bird calls).  Granola bars for when I’m not near food or don’t want to stop.  Nuts.  Hat.  A note pad with lists for all the birds I’m looking for that day.  Any empty wrappers.  By the end of each day the front passenger seat looks like a homeless camp.

 

The Charlton Flat picnic area up on the Angeles Crest Highway was very good to me today.  California Quail.  White-headed Woodpecker.  California Scrub-Jay.  And Wrentit.

 

A group of three parks in Pasadena in the afternoon yielded Western Bluebird and Band-tailed Pigeon.  A trip to the Parrot Roost at dusk resulted in a couple hundred Red-crowned Parrots (I already have those), but I missed on the Yellow-headed Parrot.

 

A six-bird day!  Year count 486.

 

L.A. Basin part of the trip map

 

 

It’s odd spending my birthday away from Judy.  Haven’t done that since 1965.  But here I am, hammering out birds:

 

Allen’s Hummingbird

Cassin’s Kingbird

Scaly Breasted Munia

Northern Red Bishop

Pin-tailed Whydah

 

Five more birds to the count.  Ended the day at 480.

 

 

Parks and gardens.

 

 

 

And white pelicans doing their feeding ballet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The high in Fairbanks on Saturday is going to be 29 degrees below zero!  And it’s snowing in Barrow.  They’re below zero too.

 

Saw four year-birds today.

 

Mandarin Duck.

 

 

This thing.

 

Whatever it is…

 

Oak Titmouse.

 

And Nuttall’s Woodpecker.  (No photo.)

 

That brings the count to 475.  That was our target count in 2017 when we finished at 474, so this is a new record for us.  475.  Only 25 to go to get to 500.

 

Parks and Gardens.

 

 

And this should ring a bell for brother Bill.  Puddingstone!

 

I recall you taking me fishing there when I was a kid.

 

California part of the trip map