It's a Great Day to Bird

California’s Central Valley

December 2, 2016

We woke up to a quiet campground (Buckhorn).   The campground is located overlooking a reservoir amidst scenic rolling hills.  Again, we were the only campers in the campground, with the exception of the campground hosts.  The hosts were in a closed section of the campground however.

thumb_img_2708_1024

This is oak savanna habitat with lots of rolling hills and oaks interspersed throughout the habitat. One of my favorites.

We decided to take a hike and check out the birds in the campground.  Wow, what a pleasant surprise.  We had 21 different species in the campground area.  In addition to the birds we got to see California Ground Squirrels and Black-tailed Deer.

thumb_img_2732_1024

Northern Flicker

thumb_img_2740_1024

Say’s Phoebe (these guys are everywhere and so accommodating for photographs – you will see lots of them throughout my blog)

thumb_img_2742_1024

All I want to do in the morning is hear you sing, Savannah, Savannah. Never knew that a bird like you could ever sound so sweet Savannah (sung to Rosanna).

thumb_img_2750_1024

Acorn Woodpecker – what you would expect to see in Oak Savannah habitat.

thumb_img_2769_1024

Oh deer!!!

The area is beautiful, with Live Oak trees spread throughout the campground and a wonderful trail system.  I would definitely recommend a day visit, if not overnight camping.

thumb_img_2717_1024

thumb_img_2718_1024

thumb_img_2720_1024

thumb_img_2745_1024

thumb_img_2753_1024

thumb_img_2754_1024

thumb_img_2755_1024

thumb_img_2758_1024

thumb_img_2760_1024

Birds Species Observed or Heard at Buckhorn Campground

  • Great Horned Owl (heart two hooting just before dawn)
  • Acorn Woodpecker (chasing off Oak Titmice)
  • Oak Titmouse
  • Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon juncos)
  • Western Bluebird
  • Northern Flicker
  • Great Egret
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Black Phoebe
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler
  • White-breasted Nuthatch
  • Ruby-crowned Kinglet
  • Horned Lark (large flock of 20 or more)
  • Northern Harrier
  • Common Raven
  • Savannah Sparrow
  • House Finch
  • Common Merganser
  • Common Raven
  • Turkey Vulture
  • Western Meadowlark

After a morning of birding,  we  southeast towards our destination for the night – Acorn Campground at Hogan Reservoir.  This Corp of Engineer’s campground is located southeast of Sacramento.

We generally take the roads less traveled as we tend to see more that way.  We don’t enjoy speeding down the highway with everyone else on the freeways.   It is amazing what you can see when you take these back roads.

thumb_img_2794_1024

We suspect this is a Wild Turkey.  We don’t know how it ended up on this road sign or why no one has bothered to remove it.  Well we didn’t either.  Poor thing.

Along the way we stopped off at Gray Lodge Wildlife Area – managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.  At first we didn’t think this area had much in the way of waterfowl, but we soon realized, once we were on the auto route, there were indeed thousands of geese and ducks making use of the ponds within the wildlife area.

There is a charge of $4.00 per person to drive the auto route, but no envelopes present in which to put our money.  We, along with other drivers, went on the auto route anyway.

thumb_img_2802_1024

Just a few Snow Geese

thumb_img_2806_1024

thumb_img_2807_1024

thumb_img_2808_1024

thumb_img_2810_1024

thumb_img_2815_1024

thumb_img_2816_1024

thumb_img_2821_1024

These levees are a great place for loafing

thumb_img_2825_1024

waterway covered in vegetation

thumb_img_2826_1024

Close up of the invasive plant species in the waterway – nasty stuff

thumb_img_2830_1024

Eurasian Wigeon

thumb_img_2836_1024

The auto tour road

thumb_img_2838_1024

thumb_img_2849_1024

Yellow-rumped Warblers were EVERYWHERE

thumb_img_2856_1024

Killdeer

thumb_img_2860_1024

Black-necked Stilt …

thumb_img_2861_1024

thumb_img_2862_1024

thumb_img_2866_1024

… with a Greater Yellowlegs. The stilts didn’t like sharing with the yellowlegs and kept chasing them off.

Bird Species Observed or Heard at Gray Lodge Wildlife Area

  • Turkey Vulture
  • Snow Goose
  • Red-necked Stilt
  • Western Meadowlark
  • American Pipit
  • Nuttall’s Woodpecker
  • Black Phoebe
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Great Egret
  • American Coot
  • Cinnamon Teal
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Ruby-crowned Kinglet
  • Gadwall
  • Mallard
  • Northern Shoveler
  • American Wigeon
  • Northern Pintail
  • Common Gallinule
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • Ross’ Goose
  • Bufflehead
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Eurasian Wigeon
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Herring Gull
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • Marsh Wren
  • Black-crowned Night-heron
  • White-faced Ibis
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Killdeer
  • Tree Swallow
  • Greater Yellowlegs (being chased by the Red-necked Stilts)
  • California Scrub Jay
  • Peep sp.
  • American Kestrel
  • Belted Kingfisher

Not a bad day of birding.  I did find a great map on the internet showing birding hotspots and routes in the Sacramento Valley.

(see: https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Region_8/NWRS/Zone_1/Sacramento_Complex/Sacramento/Uploaded_Files/Maps_and_Brochures/Visitor_Services/Birding_Maps/SacValley%20Birding%20Map%202012.pdf)

December 3, 2016

We wanted to get to two refuges today, and we had a two-hour drive from our campground to the first refuge, so we got an early start.   The first refuge we stopped at was the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge.  We have visited this refuge several times in previous years.

San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

This refuge, established in 1966, encompasses 26,800 acres of wetlands, riparian forest, native grassland, and vernal pool habitat.  A population of the endemic tule elk can be observed along one of the three auto-tour routes.  We actually saw the elk from our vehicle and at the visitor center.

We chose to take an 8.5-mile auto tour route and one of several hiking trails.  The auto tour route took us about 3 hours to complete.  So what’s that – almost 3-miles per hour.  Okay we did drive a little faster, but made frequent stops to check out the birds.  Luckily it wasn’t a busy day even thought it was Saturday.  Lots of great birds along the way, plus we did a 1.0+ loop trail hike on the Sousa trail.

thumb_img_2877_1024

thumb_img_2987_1024

Well used sign

thumb_img_3009_1024

The auto tour road

In previous years this refuge has been very dry – not much water.  Not surprisingly considering the drought California has been experiencing.  However, this year there seemed to be plenty of water making great habitat for the birds.  We saw several hundred Lesser Sandhill Cranes, some of which may be Homer birds.  But alas, they were too far away for decent photos.

thumb_img_2898_1024

thumb_img_2906_1024

thumb_img_2910_1024

thumb_img_3007_1024

thumb_img_2982_1024

Good – doing prescribed burns

thumb_img_2988_1024

thumb_img_3000_1024

Red-tailed Hawk – Juvenile

thumb_img_3050_1024

Oh Daddy…

thumb_img_3054_1024

California Towhee

thumb_img_3059_1024

thumb_img_2912_1024

thumb_img_2889_1024

Cottontail Rabbit

thumb_img_2897_1024

thumb_img_2887_1024

thumb_img_2883_1024

Northern Mockingbird

thumb_img_2878_1024

Jack spotted three Great Horned Owls along the auto route, which was a treat.  And we got to see 9 Wilson’s Snipe, one of which was just off the road feeding.  The Wilson’s Snipe is one of my favorite birds (I know you hear and read that a lot right?).

thumb_img_2969_1024

“HOO” you looking at?

thumb_img_2976_1024

thumb_img_2941_1024

Wilson’s Snipe

We stopped a hiked the Sousa Marsh Nature Trail.  Lots of great birds and beautiful habitat along the way.  They have a nice observation platform where you can check out a large pond, which was loaded with ducks and a few shorebirds.

thumb_img_3046_1024

thumb_img_3047_1024

Didn’t see this sign until after we finished walking the trail. Yikes!!!

thumb_img_3010_1024

thumb_img_3012_1024

thumb_img_3014_1024

Nest box for a duck, I presume

thumb_img_3015_1024

thumb_img_3017_1024

thumb_img_3024_1024

thumb_img_3027_1024

thumb_img_3029_1024

Greater Yellowlegs. This bird was feeding along side Long-billed Dowitchers and Black-necked Stilts.

thumb_img_2899_1024

Black-necked Stilt with lunch

thumb_img_3039_1024

American Pipit

thumb_img_3043_1024

Kept hoping to see a Wood Duck – no luck.

thumb_img_3044_1024

Bird Species Observed or Heard at San Luis NWR

  • Great Blue Heron
  • Ruby-crowned Kinglet
  • Black Phoebe
  • Red-tailed Hawk
  • Northern Mockingbird
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Northern Harrier
  • California Scrub Jay
  • American Kestrel
  • Greater Yellowleg
  • Long-billed Curlew
  • Western Meadowlark
  • Great Egret
  • American Coot
  • Northern Shoveler
  • Mallard
  • Savannah Sparrow
  • Song Sparrow
  • Killdeer
  • Red-necked Stilt
  • American Pipit
  • Least Sandpiper
  • White-crowned Sparrow
  • Yellow-rumped Warbler
  • Greater White-fronted Goose
  • Loggerhead Shrike
  • White-faced Ibis
  • Pied-billed Grebe
  • Northern Flicker
  • Turkey Vulture
  • Nuttall’s Woodpecker
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Wilson’s Snipe
  • Great Horned Owl
  • Northern Pintail
  • American Widgeon
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Redhead (one)
  • Gadwall
  • Swainson’s Thrush
  • Say’s Phoebe
  • Tundra Swan
  • Mourning Dove
  • Golden-crowned Sparrow
  • Spotted Towhee
  • Downy Woodpecker
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Tricolored Blackbird
  • Snowy Egret
  • California Towhee

It truly was a great day to bird.  So much so we didn’t get to the second refuge we had planned to visit today – Merced National Wildlife Refuge.  We have been to this refuge in the past too.

Next stop (after a short visit with my sister in Clovis California) is the Salton Sea.

It’s A Great Day to Bird

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Comment

  1. Nina Faust

    So what is that nasty invasive plant? Nina >

Leave a Reply

© 2024 alaskabirder

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑

%d bloggers like this: