Tuesday, May 5--Willows, CA to Chester, CA--Lassen Volcanic National Park

We headed north from Willows, CA at 7 am this morning. It was a slightly hazy 56 but the sun soon came out. Again we were enchanted by the colorful floral median which went on for miles on I-5.

We passed by groves and groves of the grayer olive trees

and groves and groves of the darker green almond trees in the central valley

In studying the California birds, one of my target birds was a Yellow-billed Magpie, which seems to reside only in the Central Valley. I looked on a new bird app recommended by Tom who I met on the coast last week. The app is called BirdsEye.  I looked up nearby birds and then the Yellow-billed Magpie. They had few reports, but there was a report of one seen yesterday at Anderson River Park a few miles from I-5 near Red Bluff. So we stopped there. It was a pretty park with lots of oaks 

and Acorn Woodpeckers

But we were not seeing any signs of magpies, and it was a huge park. We eventually gave up and headed out of the park. We did see this beautiful Western Kingbird in lovely sunlight to soothe our disappointment a bit

As we drove out of the park, suddenly I heard a magpie! In a yard right beside us there were 6 Yellow-billed Magpies! Hooray! New life bird! Joy!

Having found our target bird, we turned east and soon saw our next target in the distance--Lassen Volcanic National Park

Oak trees turned to tall timber, mostly pines

and soon we caught a glimpse of Lassen Peak

and Manzanita Lake

The road through the park only opened yesterday so we were among the first to visit this year! There were not many other people making the journey today.

We were welcomed by this noisy Steller's Jay.

There was plenty of evidence of volcanic action around us. We could not figure how these trees can even grow through the rocks and mudslide.

There was devastation from more recent fires.

Soon we were rewarded with this view of Lassen Peak

Before we knew it, we were driving beside the snow and could understand why they only just opened the road!

The view of the road ahead showed switchbacks and nary a guardrail in sight! Again, there were a few white-knuckle moments--I am not saying whose!

The road passed through steaming, sulpher-emitting fumeroles

with a vigorously boiling mudpot!

At the end of our drive through the park we came to the Visitor's Center at the South Entrance, which was actually open. 

In the parking lot at the Visitor's Center we found a Dark-eyed Junco 

and a Mountain Chickadee

We arrived at our motel in Chester, CA at 4:20 pm. We travelled 167 miles today. Other birds we heard today new to our trip were a Clark's Nutcracker and Red-Breasted Nuthatch. These two birds were verified as heard by 2 birders we met driving through Lassen Park. Our trip mileage is now at 1356 and we are on a generally northeasterly course.