The hills were alive with birdsong!
Steve’s property is beautiful! We booked it last minute as a place to set up tents for the night as part of a 24-hour birding fundraiser, because we wanted to be in biking distance to Canoe Creek State Park. Steve responded within minutes of booking with clear directions and an invitation to choose any of the sites we wanted. He stopped by that evening to say hi and make sure we didn’t need anything, and offered for us to call him if anything came up!
Meanwhile, the birding from the campsite was unexpected and excellent! Highlights among the 40 species we observed during our few short hours there include a Golden Eagle soaring off the mountain knob above, night flight calls of a Black-crowned Night Heron, and singing Scarlet Tanagers, Indigo Buntings, Hooded Warblers, and the ever-magical fluting of multiple Wood Thrushes.
All-in-all it was just what we needed for the night, and well worth the late pedal up Huntington Pike Road in the dark to get back to camp for a few hours of shut eye (and a distant “who cooks for you all” of a Barred Owl!)