Snowcock--Yessss! (#708) Dream Yr Update
GREGORY.B.MILLER@bge.com
Wed, 11 Nov 1998 09:47:38 -0500
Howdy All!
I got home Monday night...yes, a day early. I missed most of the
yukky weather. I was also a little worried about project at work,
too. And yesterday was another one of those
the-world-is-falling-apart days at work. Sigh. I came back early
for THIS?
I flew out to Tulsa for my twin nephews' birthdays on Friday. It
was a great family time. Unfortunately, the time was all too
short as I left early the next morning for Mining Country...
The chopper flight into the Ruby Mtns was one of the most
exciting things I've done this year! Al Levantin (at 699 for the
year) picked me up in Salt Lake City on Saturday and we drove in
the comfort of his Lexus sport utility vehicle. Yummy. Weather
prediction was for nasty snow for two or three days. Sunday
morning we got up and it was fairly clear, but clouds were
hanging over the mountains. We met our pilot Dale Coleman of El
Aero Services at the hangar at 10:30am and the clouds had lifted
to about 10,000 ft. He decided we should make a go of it.
We got into the little bubble copter--I could see right
underneath me--and made the 15 min flight into the mtns. We flew
up a canyon and climbed in altitude to about 9500 ft. The mtns
were stunning with shear cliffs and rocky outcroppings jutting
into the sky. We'd fly over a cliff and the earth would fall
away several hundred feet below. Awesome!
I was in front and Al was in back. Finally, Al's voice crackled
over the headphones, "I've got one!" I turned to look and for a
moment, could not find it. Then I saw it below me and to the
left. It was overtaking us at better than 60 knots! The pale
primaries were very evident on this hefty, rust and gray bird.
And what a powerful flier! It flew up over a line of rocks in
front of us and dipped out of sight. We picked up speed and went
over the top of the rocks. Wheeee! The earth fell away below
us. I felt the exhilaration of being on an incredible roller
coaster.
We refound the bird out in front of us across the canyon. It
pulled up and looked like it landed. It was a race of time now
in this hide-and-seek game. We needed to stay on the bird. As
we neared the ledge we couldn't see it. We flew over the rocky
wall and into the next valley. No snowcock. It had eluded us.
We flew back around the rock ledge, but found no sign of the
bird. Incredible. It had outmaneuvered our chopper!
Unfortunately, that was the only snowcock we saw. The bird was
#700 for Al and #708 for me for the year.
We also saw a Golden Eagle soaring beside us (cool), a mountain
goat, and 8 bighorn sheep, and several mule deer. It was really
a fun ride and the scenery was breathtaking!
We left the Elko airport and drove north to Boise, ID. On the
way we saw a total of 6 Golden Eagles!!! Black-billed Magpies
were fairly common, too as were ravens. We got to Boise before
dark and ticked Gray Partridge for Al (#701) and drove back to
Salt Lake City Monday morning. I caught an early afternoon flight
out and was delayed in Chicago because they couldn't open the
front door! We switched planes (after they took the door apart)
and I arrived home around midnight.
Ahhh. Another fun and successful weekend!
-Greg Miller
Lusby, MD