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My Failed Quest to Find a Bird?

Chao Wu
Sep 4, 2016
5 min read

The birder’s world is filled with oddities and experiences. Whether it is being questioned about trespassing by cops, run-ins with citizens on private properties, getting blasted by desert sand or feeling the cold chill of mountain air (the latter two has happened to me so far), we get a sense of ecstasy outside…looking to get a glimpse of an animal covered with feathers.

With the ever great invention of the internet and eBird, obtaining new species (or “lifers” as some call it) supposedly became easier. And, in most cases, it does.

However, there never were surefire moments with any adventure, whether in one’s backyard, in our central prairies, local parks or high mountains. Instead, technology still is limited to a combination of science and the hated word….luck.

Thus we arrive at those never seen species which drive individuals to near insanity…or so they call it.

The “nemesis” birds hide away in our shadows, disappearing into the bushes and trees while some guy with a pair of binoculars scans around, idiotically trying to find it.

We all have one or two of these birds, even though we try not to admit it…

But that story’s a little less incredible. So, I’ll just ramble a bit about one of my personal nemesis birds.

The Pine Grosbeak.

High up in the subalpine forests of our Western Mountains, well North in our boreal forests, lives this large, almost jay-sized finch. In fact, it is one of the world’s largest finches. But hey, I’ve never seen one in real life so I can’t really judge that right?

Well, I learned of this bird years ago in middle school after checking out a guidebook from my local library. It looked chubby, pinkish-red, and kinda’ adorable…so, because I was an odd kid, I put the bird onto a list of things I want to see.

Here's the range map of the species.

ANNNNNDDDD….that ended soon because such was back in middle school, before I even went west to bother with it.

All that changed in the summer of 2014. Freshly graduated from high school, random IB diploma in hand with a difficult goal in college, I had the wonderful experience of going on a road trip out into the Western United States, with focus on National Parks.

So, life gave me the opportunity to see the Pine Grosbeak and I wholeheartedly took it up with my tired hands. And so began the years of annoyance.

My first attempt in the summer of 2014 began in early July, where we traveled first to Yellowstone National Park. Bears and bison aside, I was on the quest to find a list of flying friends…including the pine grosbeak. Of course, after camping there for two nights, nothing obviously happened. So that was failure one.

So, a few days later, we tried again!

This time, it was at Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada of California. Of course, as luck would have it, we went to the wrong entrance, which ended up eating away some of our time. None the less, I found some interesting birdies on the journey, including my first Steller’s Jay, Western Tanager, and Black-headed Grosbeak. But, of course, the Pine Grosbeak escapes yet again…hiding up in the spruces of the mountains.

So after that failure, I was graciously given a second chance the following day on our adventures in Sequoia National Park. Well, once again, after spotting a few big trees later…nothing. We climbed high above the treeline…nothing. We tried the spruces…nothing. So yet another bust…

The road trip droned on until we returned to Kansas after going through the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon. And that was game over for the first attempt(s).

Flash forward one year.

Summer 2015 and it was a brand new year with a brand new attempt! Or so I thought anyway.

This year, it was the Colorado Rockies, from Northern ones to Southern ones. Well, it seemed like it was an easy answer, with lots of good opportunities…which of course ended up in a bust. Even camping and hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park yielded more elk and bighorn sheep than the Pine Grosbeak. Tries in the Southern Colorado Rockies yield some wonderful images of magpies, sand dunes and sage steppe…but no grosbeak. Whoosh, summer 2015 ended and nothing happened!

Although I have to admit I was definitely distracted by other things during the summer of 2015. This included my first time using eBird, as well as my desperate attempt at finding a Pinyon Jay, which at the time, was my other nemesis bird. Additionally, I had to plan my research project which I was to do in the upcoming semester…so there’s my excuse. :D

And then flash forward a few months and it was already 2016.

During the winter break, I was tasked with documenting Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese in New Mexico. Of course, I made a pit stop at the foothills of the New Mexican Rocky Mountains. Braving a big snowstorm with camera and binoculars in hand, I trekked through mushy snow to find the Pine Grosbeak. A few dozen Red-winged Blackbirds, Scrub Jays, Steller’s Jays, Canyon Towhees and Hairy Woodpeckers later and I ended up without any Pine Grosbeaks (seems logical by now anyway).

And then winter and spring ended and summer started.

Still 2016...

By now the story is beginning to become boring. So if you’re still reading, congrats. However, I’ll make it shorter…

Basically the next attempt was in cold forests of Perce, Canada. High up in the hills, where Fox Sparrows sing their hearts out, I searched for the Pine Grosbeak the boreal forest. Out in the distance, Herring Gulls buzzed through nesting colonies of cormorants, waiting for opportunities. Northern Gannets plunge dived into the chilly waters after fish while Great Black-backed Gulls scanned from above, waiting to steal their catch. But away from the battlefield of the coast, I searched…without luck.

But the story won’t end quite yet…not until one last attempt.

So began the grand Rocky Mountains Journey, from the Northern Colorado Rockies, through Wyoming and Montana….then into the Canadian Rockies. We scanned the forests, walked more than 15 miles worth of trails, ran into half a dozen moose and bears…lost a pair of sunglasses…and ended in Jasper National Park in Canada.

And then it was the last day in the Rockies. Desperate and exhausted, we tried our last luck near the pine and spruce groves near the alpine lakes. And search we did, finding elusive American Three-toed Woodpeckers and Boreal Chickadees hidden in the brush and seeing tourists throw rocks into lakes and climbing into areas they’re not supposed to…and still nothing.

With low energy, we exited the Rockies and returned to Kansas.

So thus ends the failed quest for a Pine Grosbeak…a new nemesis bird.

But at the end of the day, the failure isn’t so much one. Instead, it’s a life-long quest for interest and knowledge. That’s what sets us as humans apart from many animals…our unquenchable thirst for science, discovery and knowledge. So, feed into it. Step outside, look, listen and take it all in. Because in all honesty, few things can truly surpass the pure joy and ecstasy of observing the natural world unfold around us.

- Chao

Edit (July 2017): Nevermind, I found it here....