A Brit abroad

Central Valley Quest

As the end of the Central Valley Big Year looms, 5 hardy souls (Daryl Coldren, Chris Conard, Karen Hochgraf, Sami LaRocca and I) gathered bleary-eyed at 4:30am in Woodland to search less-visited locations in the north valley for surprises. We weren't disappointed; over the next 15 hours each of us added at least 2 species to our Big Year lists, and saw an excellent selection of interesting species besides.

A pre-dawn drive up Sand Creek Road failed to produce Northern Pygmy-Owl (where did they all go?), but we did get a fly-by Common Poorwill for our efforts. After two Roadrunners eventually gave us good looks, we headed back to the creek crossing to watch the bathing birds. Lawrence's Goldfinches were still present in good numbers....

... but were joined by a surprising number of Purple Finches.

Most of the bathing was taking place under a tangle of branches, making digiscoping difficult, but I managed a couple of shots of a Purple Finch...

... and Golden-crowned Sparrow.

This Bewick's Wren was more obliging, taking a dust bath at the edge of the road.

Our next birding stop was scenic Black Butte Reservoir.

We saw no unusual waterbirds (save for good numbers of Aechmorphorus grebes), but were entertained by several Rock Wrens.

Many active Lewis's Woodpeckers and a fine adult Bald Eagle were an added bonus at this site.

Upon entering Bidwell Park in Chico, we came across a flurry of bird activity including a Brown Creeper and Red-breasted Sapsucker, but the highlight was an American Dipper found by Karen along Big Chico Creek. Uncharacteristically, the bird stayed put for several minutes, and I managed to grab a couple of photos (albeit in difficult light). I think this is the first Dipper seen in the Central Valley in the last 12 months!

Our last stop of the day was Thermalito Forebay, where sifting through the masses of Coot produced a single Common Goldeneye, two Greater Scaup, and an impressive 5 Common Loons. This photo of 2 of the loons was taken practically in the dark!

In the very last of the light, a Burrowing Owl perched on the rocks was a fitting end to a bird-filled day.

Posted by rjhall at October 23, 2005 9:25 PM