January is prime-time to go birding in the Upper Sacramento Valley with migrating birds wintering in the refuges and flooded fields and ponds of Butte and Colusa Counties. Today we visited Sacramento National, Greylodge and Colusa Wildlife Refuges and wetland fields north of Marysville and Yuba City.Note: To view enlarged photo, click on pic
An unseasonably warm day in the Big Valley was a perfect day for birding . Dick at a viewing platform at Sac National.
The snow-capped Snow Mountain Range bordering the valley to the west. I hiked these mountains last summer.
Islands in the Sky . . . Sutter Buttes, an odd geologic formation, lies in the middle of the central valley near the refuges
A couple great views of the Buttes (above and below)
Firestorm! . . . appears like early rice fields burning in January!Signs of a bad drought year.
White-faced Ibis and brewers blackbirds
More ibis's
Solo Ibis
Western Meadowlark
Lark Sparrow
Tundra Swans
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Pintail Ducks
Two flying shovelers and ibis
Shoveler butts
Great Blue Heron
Ring-neck duck
Juvenile red-shouldered hawk
Ruddy Ducks
Mostly Ross' Geese
Mostly Snow Geese
Lotsa' snow geese
More snow geese
Snow geese
Snow geese and Mt. Lassen
Greater white-fronted geese and Mt. Lassen
Greater white-fronted geese
Totally Awesome!! . . .this peregrine falcon was sharing the same tree with the bald eagle below
SOARING!!
Bald eagle putting on a great air show
A family of four bald eagles - two adults (top L & R) and two immatures
Scruffy deer
3 comments:
wow wish we were on that birdie trip with you guys! Great stuff seen...and those eagles..Great photos!
Oh and cute monster ears on the scruffy deer.
Geno,
You seem to be getting the hang of this blogging thing! Great pics and commentary. Keep it coming. I check in often.
Robin
HiGeno - I've been enjoying your hiking and cycling tales the last couple of days. I'm looking for hiking companions, and tried Googling Sacramento Valley
Hikers with no luck - perhaps it is a private group. But if you might be accepting another member, you can learn more about me at www.tonymindling.com, and email me at mindling@comcast.net. Cheers, and keep the tales coming!
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