I got up about 5:30 this morning — (Ugh!) — and was ready to head out the door with my dog Esteban to drive over to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge and Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. As I mentioned before, I wanted to take the car on a long jog to see how well it ran after its repairs last week, and I wanted to see how things were going at the refuge.

Esteban usually fusses in the car. The last time I took him with us to the refuge, he whined all the way (wanting to get up in the front seat with me). This time, he whined for about a half an hour, then settled down on my coat in the back seat and fell asleep. He was great for the rest of the trip. I was so proud of him. Occasionally, he’d stand up with his paws on the arm rest and look out the window. I wonder how his little brain processes what he sees…

I stopped off in Woodland to get a coffee before going further, and there were so many blackbirds singing in one of the trees that their sound was almost deafening.

It was about 46° when I headed out, and was a lot windier during the day than I was expecting. Rough winds interfere with birding — everyone tends to hunker down. But I did okay in that department — even though I totally missed getting close up photos of an American White Pelican and a Bald Eagle. (They flew off before I could get near enough. *Sigh*)

I decided to go first to the Colusa refuge first, and the first thing I saw were small flocks of Greater White-Fronted Geese and Snow Geese. There was also a Red-Tailed Hawk sitting in a nearby tree and a White-Tailed Kite kiting in the air over the field.           

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I was the only person on the refuge for about the first hour or so, so I had the whole place to myself and could go at whatever speed I wanted along the auto tour route. Several of the wetland areas were still dry, which kind of surprised me. I thought it would be all full with a least some measure of water everywhere. There weren’t very many birds near the viewing platform, which was also kind of a surprise. There are usually lots of geese and ducks around there.

At the beginning of the route, there  were Wild Turkeys jogging along. They ran out into the field and I could see the males were doing their strutting thing for the females. In another area, I saw a flock of female turkeys all gathered together (avoiding the boys).

There were Coots were everywhere, and Marsh Wrens were teasing me from the tules. I could see of their nests; the males are working hard to impress the females with their construction work.

 There were lots and lots of Ibises. Some of the adults are getting their full breeding colors now and are so handsome. I didn’t see any with their white faces yet, however.

There weren’t any more large flocks of ducks, but I did see a wide variety of species: American Wigeons, Northern Shovelers, Gadwalls, Cinnamon and Green-Winged Teals, and Buffleheads. I was surprised to see a little female Hooded Merganser in one of the ponds. I couldn’t see any male around, though.

There were handfuls of Snowy Egrets and the occasional Great Egret, and of course there was the huge flock of Black-Crowned Night Herons day-roosting in the trees at the end of the route.

The sightings of the day were two different Great Horned Owls hunkered down in their nesting spots. There was also supposed to be a Barn Owl out there, but I didn’t see that one. What I DID see was owl poop around the informational kiosk — along with a few pellets.  Yay!

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I then headed over to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, and the first thing I saw there was a Black-Tailed Jackrabbit. This is baby season for the jack’s and I saw a lot of the adults around, chasing one another.

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The wildflowers are just starting to pop up around there even though the vernal pools are empty. It seemed all the “yellows” are coming out first. I saw outcrops of Fiddlenecks, Bird’s-foot Trefoil, amid Brass Buttons, along with fields of Goldfields.

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The extra loop to the permanent wetland area is now open, and they’ve done a lot of “remodeling” around it. Most of the taller tules and weeds have been mowed down, so areas around the main pond are more visible. I was hoping to see some Bitterns around here, but had no luck. Of course, I’d gotten here “late” in the morning today (it was a little after 10:00 am. When I usually go here, I go around 6:30 or 7:00 when the sun is coming up.) Here, too, there are huge areas that have no water in them… which alters the kind of species you see (from “wet” to “dry”).

CLICK HERE for the full album of photos.

There was the normal cadre of sparrows everywhere, and a smattering of Western Meadowlarks. One let me get close enough to photograph it and video it singing.

There were lots and lots of Ibises here, too, many of them fishing for crayfish. I was getting some cool video of one of them, just as the battery died in the camera. By the time I got it reloaded and focused on the bird again, the Ibis was swallowing down its meal. Dang it!

I watched some male Northern Shoveler ducks trying to do some of their courtship movements for a female. There was the “Head Dip and Up-end” that looked like a mini-bath, the “Wing Flap” and “Precopulatory Head Pumping”… but the gal just wasn’t into them. D’oh! She just swam by with her face in the water looking for food.

I also watched a male Canvasback as he was feeding. They’re actually diving ducks, but here the water was exceedingly shallow, so the male rose up and stirred up the bottom of the marsh with his feet, then dipped forward to eat what he’d kicked up.

When a female Mallard got too close to him and his meal, he attacked her and chased her until her boyfriend showed up. The Canvasback turned away then, and let the Mallards depart together.

In that same pond area there were Clark’s and Western Grebes checking out spots to build their nests (which they’ll be sitting on in the summer). There were also some Pied-Billed Grebes singing to one another.

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Along the end of the auto tour route, several Ground Squirrels popped up, and one came out onto the road and gave itself a dust bath right next to the car. Hah! They’re such cute little things. I’d love to have a colony of them in the yard just so I could watch them.

Around this same area, I saw another Great Horned Owl sitting on a nest in a tree. It was pretty distant, so I couldn’t get any close ups.

All together Esteban and I were in the car for about 10 hours! The walking I did at each of the refuges combined counted as the 29^th hike in my #52HikeChallenge. Woot!

Species List:

1. American Coot, Fulica americana
2. American Elm Tree, Ulmus americana
3. American Pipit, Anthus rubesce
4. American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
5. American Wigeon, Anas americana
6. Arundo, Giant Reed, Arundo donax
7. Audubon’s Warbler, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Setophaga coronata auduboni
8. Bald Eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus
9. Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus
10. Black Mustard, Common Wild Mustard, Brassica nigra
11. Black Phoebe, Sayornis nigricans
12. Black-Crowned Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax
13. Black-Necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus
14. Black-Tailed Jackrabbit, Lepus californicus
15. Blessed Milk Thistle, Silybum marianum
16. Boxelder, Box Elder Tree, Acer negundo
17. Brass Buttons, Cotula coronopifolia
18. Brewer’s Blackbird, Euphagus cyanocephalus
19. Bristly Oxtongue, Helminthotheca echioides
20. Bufflehead Duck, Bucephala albeola
21. Cackling Goose, Branta hutchinsii
22. California Ground Squirrel, Otospermophilus beecheyi
23. California Towhee, Melozone crissalis
24. Canada Goose, Branta canadensis
25. Canvasback Duck, Aythya valisineria
26. Cinnamon Teal, Anas cyanoptera
27. Clark’s Grebe, Aechmophorus clarkii [black above the eye]
28. Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus
29. Common Fiddleneck, Amsinckia menziesii
30. Crow, American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos
31. Double-Crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auratus
32. Floating Water Primrose, Ludwigia peploides ssp. Peploides
33. Fremont’s Cottonwood, Populus fremontii
34. Gadwall Duck, Mareca strepera
35. Goldfields, California Goldfields, Lasthenia californica [6-8 petals, rounded mound-like center]
36. Goodding’s Black Willow, Salix gooddingii
37. Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias
38. Great Egret, Ardea alba
39. Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus
40. Greater White-Fronted Goose, Anser albifrons
41. Greater Yellowlegs, Tringa melanoleuca
42. Green-Winged Teal, Anas carolinensis
43. Himalayan Blackberry, Rubus bifrons [white flowers]
44. Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus
45. House Sparrow, Passer domesticus
46. Interior Sandbar Willow, Salix interior
47. Killdeer, Charadrius vociferous
48. Mallard Duck, Anas platyrhynchos
49. Marsh Wren, Cistothorus palustris
50. Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura
51. Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus
52. Northern Harrier, Marsh Hawk, Circus hudsonius
53. Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos
54. Northern Shoveler, Anas clypeata
55. Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Picoides nuttallii [heard]
56. Oregon Ash, Fraxinus latifolia
57. Pacific Pond Turtle, Western Pond Turtle, Actinemys marorata
58. Pied-Billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps
59. Poison Hemlock, Conium maculatum
60. Poison Oak, Pacific Poison Oak, Western Poison Oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum
61. Prickly Sowthistle, Pigweed, Sonchus asper
62. Red Swamp Crayfish, Crawdad, Procambarus clarkii
63. Red-Tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis
64. Red-Winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus
65. Ring-Necked Duck, Aythya collaris
66. Ring-Necked Pheasant, Phasianus colchicus
67. Rio Grande Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo intermedia
68. Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula
69. Ruddy Duck, Oxyura jamaicensis
70. Savannah Sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis
71. Snow Goose, Chen caerulescens
72. Snowy Egret, Egretta thula
73. Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia
74. Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor
75. Tule, Common Tule, Schoenoplectus acutus
76. Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura
77. Valley Oak, Quercus lobata
78. Western Fence Lizard, Blue Belly, Sceloporus occidentalis
79. Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis [black below the eye]
80. Western Kingbird, Tyrant Flycatcher, Tyrannus verticalis [nest]
81. Western Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta
82. White Horehound, Marrubium vulgare
83. White Tailed Kite, Elanus leucurus
84. White-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys
85. White-Faced Ibis, Plegadis chihi

As an Aside

Wow. Some bee-otch on the Birding California group complained about my adding scientific names to the species photos I post. (Which I do as a naturalist to be specific with my IDs and to help others learn.) She wrote: “Does listing the ‘official name’ of each bird make you feel superior? No just egotistical.”

Geez, cranky much? I consider this harassment (as it’s personally denigrating and inaccurate.) I reported her to the admin of the group, reported her to Facebook, and blocked her. No one has to take harassment and bullying from any troll — ever, anywhere.

It was nice to see others in the group stand up for me. One person wrote: “…Keep doing it. Great photos. Ignore the trolls.” and another wrote: “Great posting for us newbies. I used your photos as “flash cards” to see if I could correctly identify each bird before reading your label. Thanks teach!”