B
Saturday, February 8, 2020
The Observer & Baker City Herald
THE JOY OF ORIENTEERING
Map + compass
= fun in forest
My son Max was so
focused on following
the heading on his
new compass that he
didn’t notice he had
dropped one of his
black ski gloves.
Neither did I.
This was a problem.
Max, who is about a month
shy of his 9th birthday, tends
to develop an instant, and
intense, affection for objects
which don’t normally carry
much sentimental value.
Black ski gloves, for in-
stance.
(They were, to be fair, a
Christmas gift.)
He has misplaced items as
ordinary as a bookmark and
thrust our household into the
sort of search more typically
associated with lost nuclear
codes or vast fortunes in
Spanish doubloons.
As we stood in a snow-
bound ponderosa pine forest
near Phillips Lake on a re-
cent Saturday morning, Max
clutching his one remaining
glove lest it too get loose, I
deployed one of the parent’s
most versatile tools — dis-
traction.
I pointed out to Max that at
least he hadn’t lost his newest
possession, the compass.
(It, unlike the glove, came
attached to a handy loop of
cord. Ever mindful of epi-
sodes such as the bookmark
debacle, I had insisted he slip
the loop around his neck.)
I also pointed out that if we
retraced our route, looking for
the glove, we’d have to climb
the steep slope we had just
descended. Also, we were less
than half a mile from where
we had parked.
The tactic was marginally
ON THE TRAIL
JAYSON JACOBY
successful.
Max went along, albeit
grudgingly. I had to reassure
him several times that his
mom and I would buy him
a new pair of gloves. He ac-
cepted the offer but continued
to mourn the missing gar-
ment, saying, with a rather
touching wistfulness, that
the remaining glove would
forever be without its mate.
Dropped glove notwith-
standing, our modest excur-
sion through the pines served
to introduce Max to orienteer-
ing.
And it rekindled my enthu-
siasm for the hobby.
I’ve never been especially
devoted to orienteering. I hike
most of my miles on trails or
roads; and when I head off
cross-country it’s usually in
an area where I’m intimately
familiar with the topography.
Still and all, I think it’s a
worthwhile skill — to be able
to use a compass and map to
plot a route and then follow
it and end up approximately
where you expected to.
The ubiquity of GPS has of
course made traditional ori-
enteering if not obsolete then
at least quaintly nostalgic.
But batteries die.
And electronic devices fail.
Besides which there is
a certain satisfaction that
comes with properly employ-
ing decidedly analog items
such as a paper map and a
compass in a largely digital
world.
Most importantly, Max had
that new compass and he was
keen to try it somewhere
other than his bedroom.
It’s a fi ne instrument,
made mostly of metal
rather than the plastic I
expected based on its $8 price,
and with a fetching camou-
fl age pattern on the case.
Max, who bought the com-
pass with a gift card (another
Christmas present) picked
a lensatic compass, a type I
don’t have much experience
with.
I told him I would bring
along my orienteering com-
pass, a Silva I’ve owned for
close to 30 years, because I
was more familiar with how
to use its baseplate to plot a
course on a map.
After we strapped on our
snowshoes I calculated the
bearing on my compass, set
the same number on his com-
pass, and off we went.
As I hoped, Max was
fascinated with the procedure
— lay the compass on the
map, twist the rotating dial
to align its vertical lines with
those on the map, then adjust
the bearing to account for
declination (the difference be-
tween magnetic north, which
the compass needle points to,
and true, or geographic, north
on the map).
He seemed relieved that
both my compass and his
aimed us in the same direc-
tion.
After a week or so of gener-
ally benign weather the snow
was spring fi rm, and our
snowshoes in places scarcely
scratched the icy crust.
This makes for easy walk-
ing but hard talking, as the
shoes with every stride make
the sort of crunch you might
get if you stepped on a pile
Jayson Jacoby / Baker City Herald
Max Jacoby checks a bearing on his compass near Phillips Reservoir.
of corn fl akes. An unlikely
scenario, to be sure, but you
get the point.
Because the terrain near
the reservoir is relatively
gentle, lacking prominent
peaks that would be ideal
destinations when navigat-
ing by map and compass,
we had to settle for a nearby
power line, and then a modest
ridgetop barely tall enough
to be depicted on the topo-
graphic map.
From there I plotted a
course back to the car.
The key to navigating,
I told Max, is to pick out a
landmark that’s on the proper
heading, walk to that, recheck
the bearing and choose anoth-
er landmark.
In the forest, naturally,
these intermediate goals tend
to be particularly tall trees.
Max enjoyed this selection
process — he seemed espe-
cially pleased when I had the
good sense to agree with his
preferred tree.
We were getting close to
the road when Max, who was
walking about 10 feet behind
me, uttered a sort of half cry,
half moan.
I turned around and, see-
ing the crestfallen look on
his face, assumed that only
the loss of his compass could
provoke such anguish.
My immediate thought was
that the snow crust was so
fi rm that at least the compass
probably hadn’t plunged out
of sight.
When he told me the
missing item was a glove I
was relieved. And after just a
few minutes I glimpsed our
Toyota through the pines.
Max’s sorrow turned to en-
thusiasm as he realized that
the compass really worked.
A few days later I drove
back to the reservoir, followed
our backtrail and within 15
minutes I came across the
glove, dusted with snow. I
took a photo of the glove and
texted it to my wife, Lisa,
so she could let Max know
his gloves would soon be
reunited.
The next day a major storm
dropped more than a foot of
snow — more than enough
to have buried the glove,
making that reunion all but
impossible.
Results from Northeastern Oregon Christmas bird counts
The annual Christmas bird
count in Baker County yielded
71 species and thousands of
individual birds.
Twelve volunteers fol-
lowed a route near Salisbury
Junction, south of Baker City,
on Dec. 21, and 14 people con-
ducted the Baker Valley count
Jan. 4, said Bruce Raffety, who
helps organize the count.
The routes are within
15-square-mile circles set by
the National Audubon Society.
Raffety said that although
searchers didn’t see any gray-
crowned rosy fi nches during
the offi cial counts, he and his
wife, Wanda, saw a fl ock of
more than 100 of the fi nches
the day after the Baker Valley
count, in the northeast part of
the valley.
“It was truly amazing,” he
said.
Following are lists of species
and individual birds tallied
during three Baker County
counts, as well as counts in
Union and Wallowa counties.
Baker Valley
Canada geese, 551; American
wigeon, 2; mallard, 241; Northern
pintail, 4; ring-necked duck, 5;
common goldeneye, 7; California
quail, 70; wild turkey, 11; pied-billed
grebe, 2; bald eagle, 9; Northern
harrier, 3; sharp-shinned hawk, 2;
Cooper’s hawk, 2; red-tailed hawk,
34; rough-legged hawk, 15; Ameri-
can kestrel, 4; rock pigeon, 115;
Eurasian collared dove, 540; great
horned owl, 6; downy woodpecker,
4; hairy woodpecker, 2; Northern
fl icker, 16; Steller’s jay, 6; California
scrub jay, 1; black-billed magpie,
75; American crow, 15; common
raven, 211; black-capped chickadee,
27; mountain chickadee, 16; pygmy
nuthatch, 3; brown creeper, 2;
Townsend’s solitaire, 6; American
robin, 9; European starling, 1,231;
song sparrow, 6; white-crowned
sparrow, 1; dark-eyed junco, 104;
house fi nch, 44; house sparrow,
1,066; cedar waxwing, 12
Salisbury
Mallard, 24; common mergan-
ser, 156; California quail, 145; wild
turkey, 154; great blue heron, 2;
bald eagle, 7; Northern harrier, 2;
red-tailed hawk, 9; rough-legged
hawk, 1; golden eagle, 2; American
kestrel, 3; Eurasian collared dove,
51; great horned owl, 2; downy
woodpecker, 4; hairy woodpecker,
1; Northern fl icker, 3; Steller’s
jay, 11; black-billed magpie,73;
common raven, 35; black-capped
chickadee, 9; mountain chickadee,
17; brown creeper, 5; Townsend’s
solitaire, 15; American robin, 8;
European starling, 39; spotted
towhee, 1; dark-eyed junco, 102
A Fast-Growing Hobby
Photo and caption by Jim Ward
Birdwatching is one of the fastest growing outdoor
activities in the nation. More than 51 million Ameri-
cans — one in six of us — participate. A study by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows that bird-
watching-related activities added over $80 billion
annually to the U.S. economy and employs over
666,000. Like our own Bird-a-thon at Ladd Marsh,
birdwatching festivals are conducted at thousands
of communities across the nation. E-Bird.com, an
online birding website, gives updated bird observa-
tions from thousands of hotspots. The photo depicts
a male wood duck showing off his gaudy plumage
to a nearby mate. Although not common, the birds
are present in many sloughs and backwaters of
Northeast Oregon.
shinned hawk, 2; Cooper’s hawk, 5;
Northern goshawk, 1; bald eagle,
17; red-tailed hawk, 165; rough-
legged hawk, 34; ferruginous hawk,
2; buteo species, 1; Virginia rail, 3;
killdeer, 1; Wilson’s snipe, 1; rock
pigeon, 828; Eurasian collared
dove, 315; mourning dove, 35;
barn owl, 1; Western screech owl,
2; great horned owl, 14; Northern
pygmy owl, 4; Northern saw-whet
owl, 1; belted kingfi sher, 3; downy
woodpecker, 9; hairy woodpecker,
4; white-headed woodpecker, 1;
Northern fl icker (red-shafted), 43;
American kestrel, 21; prairie falcon,
8; Northern shrike, 4; Steller’s jay,
17; black-billed magpie, 674; Ameri-
can crow, 18; common raven,
66; horned lark, 53; black-capped
chickadee, 111; mountain chicka-
dee, 13; red-breasted nuthatch, 7;
white-breasted nuthatch, 5; brown
creeper, 2; Pacifi c wren, 3; marsh
wren, 24; Bewick’s wren, 42; Ameri-
can dipper, 1; golden-crowned
kinglet, 5; Townsend’s solitaire,
7; American robin, 82; European
starling, 2,272; American pipit, 10;
cedar waxwing, 18; yellow-rumped
warbler, 1; American tree sparrow,
25; dark-eyed junco (slate-colored),
6; dark-eyed junco (Oregon), 357;
white-crowned sparrow, 85; Harris’
sparrow, 1; song sparrow, 313;
spotted towhee, 1; red-winged
Union County, Dec. 15
Snow goose, 3; cackling goose, blackbird, 581; western meadow-
lark, 21; Brewer’s blackbird, 88;
1; Canada goose, 919; tundra
pine grosbeak, 3; house fi nch, 398;
swan, 93; wood duck, 1, gadwall,
pine siskin, 14; lesser goldfi nch, 8;
7; American wigeon, 14; mallard,
5,713; Northern shoveler, 40; North- American goldfi nch, 256; evening
grosbeak, 4; house sparrow, 752
ern pintail, 1; green-winged teal,
11; redhead, 6; ring-necked duck,
140; lesser scaup, 6; buffl ehead, 6; Wallowa County, Dec. 22
Snow goose, 3; cackling goose,
common goldeneye, 7; Barrow’s
goldeneye, 2; common merganser, 1; Canada goose, 595; mute swan,
1; wood duck, 31; gadwall, 4;
25; ruddy duck, 6; California quail,
American wigeon, 50; mallard,
344; ring-necked pheasant, 39;
630; Northern shoveler, 1; Northern
gray partridge, 5; wild turkeys, 88;
pintail, 8; green-winged teal, 22;
great blue heron, 6; golden eagle,
redhead, 1; ring-necked duck, 60;
7; Northern harrier, 19; sharp-
Halfway area, Dec. 28
Canada goose, 73; American
wigeon, 2; mallard, 116; green-
winged teal, 54; ring-necked duck,
4; hooded merganser, 2; California
quail, 754; ring-necked pheas-
ant, 13; wild turkey, 225; great
blue heron, 5; golden eagle, 1;
sharp-shinned hawk, 1; Cooper’s
hawk, 8; bald eagle, 20; red-tailed
hawk, 16; rough-legged hawk,
11; Eurasian collared dove, 81;
mourning dove, 4; great horned
owl, 6; belted kingfi sher, 3; downy
woodpecker, 8; hairy woodpecker,
3; Northern fl icker (red-shafted), 21;
pileated woodpecker, 2; American
kestrel, 6; merlin, 1; Steller’s jay,
18; blue jay, 7; black-billed magpie,
155; American crow, 14; common
raven, 32; black-capped chicka-
dee, 159; mountain chickadee, 23;
red-breasted nuthatch, 12; brown
creeper, 4; Pacifi c wren, 2; golden-
crowned kinglet, 3; Townsend’s
solitaire, 1; American robin, 92;
European starling, 286; American
tree sparrow, 4; chipping sparrow,
23; dark-eyed junco, 572; song
sparrow, 5; red-winged blackbird,
5; house fi nch, 32; Cassin’s fi nch, 2;
pine siskin, 67; American goldfi nch,
43; evening grosbeak, 7; house
sparrow, 42
buffl head, 30; common golden-
eye, 10; Barrow’s goldeneye, 3;
hooded merganser, 2; common
merganser, 8; California quail,
125; ring-necked pheasant, 18;
gray partridge, 15; wild turkey, 31;
pied-billed grebe, 1; great blue
heron, 6; golden eagle, 7; Northern
harrier, 5; sharp-shinned hawk, 2;
Cooper’s hawk, 4; bald eagle, 38;
red-tailed hawk, 116; red-tailed
hawk (Harlan’s), 2; rough-legged
hawk, 24; buteo species, 3; eagle
species, 1; Virginia rail 1; American
coot, 5; rock pigeon, 73; Eurasian
collared dove, 200; mourning dove,
31; barn owl, 2; Western screech
owl, 1; great horned owl, 7; Anna’s
hummingbird, 1; belted kingfi sher,
3; downy woodpecker, 11; hairy
woodpecker, 2; Northern fl icker, 14;
Northern fl icker (red-shafted), 5;
pileated woodpecker, 4; American
kestrel, 4; merlin, 2; gyrfalcon, 1;
prairie falcon, 6; Northern shrike,
2; Steller’s jay, 11; black-billed
magpie, 266; Clark’s nutcracker, 1;
American crow, 8: common raven,
89; black-capped chickadee, 51;
mountain chickadee, 39; chestnut-
backed chickadee, 4; red-breasted
nuthatch, 23; white-breasted nut-
hatch, 6; pygmy nuthatch, 3; brown
creeper, 14; Pacifi c wren, 1; marsh
wren, 1; Bewick’s wren, 1; Ameri-
can dipper, 8; golden-crowned
kinglet, 2; Townsend’s solitaire, 32;
American robin, 159: European
starling, 517; Bohemian waxwing,
1; cedar waxwing, 66; snow
bunting, 7; American tree sparrow,
3; dark-eyed junco, 30; dark-eyed
junco (slate-colored), 1; dark-eyed
junco (cismontanus), 5; dark-eyed
junco (Oregon), 34; Harris’ sparrow,
1; white-throated sparrow, 1; song
sparrow, 17; red-winged blackbird,
32; pine brosbeak, 1; house fi nch,
306; common redpoll, 4; American
goldfi nch, 53; evening grosbeak,
51; house sparrow, 457.