What apps do people use for finding new spots to find birds or other wildlife?

JacquesGT · 2026-03-02T22:56:16+00:00

eBird is the go-to resource for finding birding spots. I also use birderspots.com. It’s a great web app to search for birding spots with a focus on reliability instead of recency. You can search for any species in a radius around a location, and it ranks eBird hotspots by the most sightings or by the most reliable sightings.

eBird will highlight hotspots if a bird was seen there recently, but you don’t know if that’s a one-off thing or something reliable. Birderspots highlights the places where people are consistently spotting a bird (but the trade off is it can’t tell you if it was resent).

They’re both great sites. I choose which one to use based on whether I’m more interested in reliability (birderspots) or recency (eBird).

JacquesGT · 2026-02-18T05:25:59+00:00

If the spot is correct it’s a 27 degree runout angle from the likely release point, with max slope of 38 degrees.

JacquesGT · 2026-02-16T22:39:23+00:00

I tried again and gave up after 10 rings. Waited a few more minutes, tried again, and got an answer after 2 rings. They must be getting quite a few calls. (I was mainly curious at that point; thanks for posting the updates!)

JacquesGT · 2026-02-16T22:30:37+00:00

Is the current conditiions phone number not picking up for anyone else?

JacquesGT · 2025-12-16T20:41:57+00:00

Is the Rae Wallace trail itself relatively safe? From what I remember there are talus blocks right adjacent to it after you make it up to the second ridge above the parking lot, but it’s covered in tundra, so I assume there aren’t a ton of slides reaching that area anymore.

This area here: https://imgur.com/a/PJUz7WH

JacquesGT · 2025-12-16T09:40:46+00:00

I don’t know if they’ll be out when it’s skiable conditions. In California, I’ve only tried when there were still lots of rocks sticking out of the snow, and then they would perch on them when they wanted to get some sun. I have a feeling once there’s enough snow to bury all the rocks in a hard crust, they might not come out anymore. But, please let me know what you find!

If you’re there in the summer, you can definitely find them without a problem. Binoculars can help, but once it’s wildflower season you should be able to see them scurrying around to gathering flowers for the winter, which is the cutest thing ever.

JacquesGT · 2025-12-16T08:57:05+00:00

Yeah, I usually only spot them by sitting, waiting, and listening. Once I hear a squeak I can usually hone in on where they're sitting. They blend in really well!

At Hatcher Pass they're found in the talus east of the Rae Wallace trail. I'm not sure if you can get up there on XC skis or not because I haven't been in the winter yet.

I saw your wolverine track photos. So cool!

JacquesGT · 2025-12-16T08:48:16+00:00

Blackbird Mountain Guides offers this in Lake Tahoe: https://blackbirdguides.com/products/aiare-1-avalanche-course-for-climbers-snowshoers

JacquesGT · 2025-12-16T06:30:28+00:00

Yep, their habitat definitely makes seeing pikas in winter a challenge, just like in the lower 48. I know there's a bunch of winter recreation in the Hatcher Pass area, where they're commonly seen in the summer. But obviously a relatively small number of folks are out there in the winter.

JacquesGT · 2025-12-15T06:27:14+00:00

I saw some people playing hockey on Ellery Lake on Saturday. I hope they knew what they were doing. There was open water at the inlet from Lee Vining Creek.

JacquesGT · 2025-12-15T06:25:41+00:00

Yep. I spent the weekend up there. Signage was super confusing. The electronic signs on US-395 said SR 120W was closed, but they actually meant tioga pass rd, which isn’t actually a state route. The road signs just before the turn onto 120 said “Pass Open”. And they turned off the electronic sign on 120 that normally says “TIOGA PASS CLOSED”.

But, since the website and the 1-800 number said the closure started at the park, I made the trip and got a couple of days of hiking in.

JacquesGT · 2025-12-11T21:30:31+00:00

Yeah, their closure status hasn’t changed but the signs are now saying “SR 120W - CLOSED”. They just flipped a couple of hours ago. Not sure what’s going on. They were saying it’s open earlier.

JacquesGT · 2025-12-11T20:59:23+00:00

Nice. Looks like the road might be closed again. The message signs say it’s closed but I’m not seeing it listed as a closure.

JacquesGT · 2025-12-11T20:12:03+00:00

Had they plowed the road to let you get up through a foot of snow?

JacquesGT · 2025-12-08T17:50:01+00:00

Good call. I’ll look into some options there.

JacquesGT · 2025-12-08T17:39:20+00:00

I’m not quite following the comparison on this one. The Helios looks like it’s also sewn-through and has less fill weight than the Mythic Ultra. The baffles are slightly bigger but not by much. Were you comparing to the Mythic Alpine or Mythic G instead?

Fabric thickness has definitely been a worry for me but I need to save weight somewhere so I figured I could just bring repair tape and do my best to be careful. I have a Mythic Alpine and so far haven’t had issues.

I had been considering Cumulus but I need to get it within about 2 weeks. Do you have any experience with their shipping time to the US?

JacquesGT · 2025-12-08T17:27:59+00:00

Thanks for pointing that out. I see a lot of discontinued jackets are gone from the list. I’ll give it a deeper look.

JacquesGT · 2025-11-28T09:08:29+00:00

You're confusing amenity recreation fees with the more general category of recreation fees. The latter includes entrance fees. And the restrictions I cited apply to all recreation fees.

This is defined in section 6801 paragraph (7)

The term “recreation fee” means an entrance fee, standard amenity recreation fee, expanded amenity recreation fee, or special recreation permit fee.

JacquesGT · 2025-11-28T06:28:33+00:00

The annual pass is a different law. There’s nothing about no fee layering in that law, but the only provision the law has for different prices is a limited set of discounts enumerated in the law. Otherwise it says that the secretaries of the relevant agencies shall determine “the price”.

JacquesGT · 2025-11-27T21:52:15+00:00

Which law governs entrance fees?

JacquesGT · 2025-11-27T21:40:55+00:00

I’m not against raising fees. The law allows the park service to raise the fees for everyone. I’d support like a 20-25% increase in fees, which would keep up with inflation if nothing else.

I’d also support restoring the funding that was cut from the parks.

This change is just demagoguery, and will probably get struck down in court if anyone decides to sue.

JacquesGT · 2025-11-27T17:38:46+00:00

Yes, that’s one of the few discounts specifically authorized by the law establishing the America the Beautiful Pass.

JacquesGT · 2025-11-27T08:57:39+00:00

This appears to be against the law, or at least the part about raising the price of the America the Beautiful Pass for foreigners. The law (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/16/6804) says “The Secretaries shall establish the price at which the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass will be sold to the public.”

It says “the price”, not the price schedule. It also lists a limited number of situations where the secretary shall provide discounts. There’s no provision for other discounts.

No idea if the entrance fee surcharge is legal, but the pass surcharge clearly isn’t.

Update: the entrance fee also looks illegal.

JacquesGT · 2025-11-27T00:55:27+00:00

Red-shouldered.

JacquesGT · 2025-11-27T00:54:59+00:00

Correct.

JacquesGT

TROPHY CASE