The Pelican-- A Mentor, 20 Years Gone, Not Forgotten

By Don Molde

A few decades ago, my wife and I were standing on Deadman’s Gulch trail (just east of Washoe Lake) looking at a bird we thought was a flycatcher. Being casual birders at the time, we were engaged in one of those embarrassing moments that all birders must endure, thumbing through a couple of bird books hoping (against hope) to find the answer to the identity of the bird while not looking like rank amateurs if anybody sees us.


We thought we were alone, but almost like magic, a man dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt suddenly appeared alongside us, binoculars at the ready. He asked if he could help. We pointed out the bird and got an answer. He invited us to join other birders on one of his regular birding outings the next weekend along Steamboat Creek which we did. I’ve long forgotten which flycatcher shared that moment with us, but I’ll never forget the man’s name: Jack Walters. In fact, we became friends and birding companions.  


Jack was a pioneer of Nevada birding. As a master electrician, he worked on big construction projects around the state. During evenings and weekends, he’d prowl the back country from the highest peaks to the low desert, relentlessly, persistently and fearlessly tackling some terrible access roads looking for birds.


His knowledge of back country roads, water sources, birding habitat, and high probability locations to see certain species was impressive. Much of his wisdom he put into a two-volume self-published book set that he completed shortly before his death in 2005. His books are a must-have reference for birders who like to get dust on their 4x4 while looking for birds in some of Nevada’s remote locations.


One day, not long after I retired in 2000, Jack called. “Do you want to do some Nevada birding?”  “Absolutely” “Ok.  Meet me at Circle L ranch in Fish Lake Valley at 9 a.m. tomorrow.  And bring your sleeping bag. You may need it.”  That was it, nothing further.


I was at Circle L ranch the next day at the appointed time after a 4-hour drive from Reno. Jack showed up a bit late.  He’d stopped to bird at a cemetery somewhere. “Never pass up a cemetery,” he said. We started at Circle L ranch, legendary for its usually ample supply of warblers, vireos and all sorts of other migrants.  We were not disappointed.  Then, after a look at Dyer pond and fruit orchards in Lida, we arrived in Tonopah about 2 p.m. for gas and a snack.


We headed eastward along Hwy 6 to Warm Springs, then south on 375 past Rachel on the Extraterrestrial Hwy to an obscure dirt access road into the Tempiute Range where, after 15 miles of very rough and dusty driving, we reached a stock watering tank in a small clearing. Jack knew of a Western Screech Owl which tended to be a regular there and was present again. After dark, we put a light source on a plank floating in the water tank and watched nighthawks swoop through the light beam to catch insects.


By now, it was 9 p.m, pitch dark. I’m thinking we’ll spend the night there. Jack opined that he always liked to get the next birding spot before he quit for the day.  So, we bounced back down the 15 miles to the highway, turned left, stopped at Ash Springs for gas, drove to Caliente, then south into Meadow Valley Wash about 30 miles to a spot he knew.


When I checked my odometer before going to sleep, I’d driven 600 miles.


The next morning, we were up at 5:30 and, just as predicted by Jack, there were two Summer Tanagers in the cottonwood trees above us.


When I got home four days later, with 1500 more miles on my truck, I had indeed done some real Nevada birding at some of the best birding sites in the state, with one of Nevada’s greatest birders.


What a treat!


RIP, Jack. You were one of a kind.