Birding the Sacramento Valley

For Presidents' Day weekend, Jonathan and I went on a birding trip to one of the Fifty Places to go Birding Before You Die (I got this book as a Christmas present from one of my wonderful students). We went to destination 13: The Sacramento Valley. Jonathan has put pictures up on facebook.

We drove up Saturday morning, leaving at 5:45 am to get a good start. By lunch time, we were in Sacramento. We stopped at Sutter's Fort, had a picnic lunch and walked around. From there we went to the Capitol. It's a beautiful building on the inside and outside. No luck seeing the Governator, though.

Saturday evening we went looking for Short-eared Owls in a well-known hot spot, and had great success. They put on a good show along with Northern Harriers, a White-tailed Kite, and Red-tailed, Ferruginous, and Rough-legged Hawks all in one big field. And Burrowing Owls were abundant in the next field over. We weren't the only ones there. There were probably 12 or 14 birders total, standing on the side of the road, watching and photographing the scene. Jonathan had a funny idea: What if the way birders greeted one another was to give 'em the bird? I thought we should try it and see what would happen. However, he was not committed enough for this. I sure called his bluff.

After the owls, we still had about an hour drive further North to Willows where we would spend both nights. We passed the time in the car singing Anyone Else But You by the Moldy Peaches, and making up our own silly verses about each other.

All day Sunday, and also Monday morning, we birded all over the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. We encountered many other birders as we explored the area. And about 50% of them drove a Subaru. No kidding. I guess it's "the official car of birders" or something. I had no idea! But now I have to have one.

We had three target birds that we studied before the trip: Tundra Swan, Rough-legged Hawk, and Short-eared Owl. We ended up getting all of them. Here's the final trip list:

(in taxonomic order)
1. Pied-billed Grebe
2. Eared Grebe
3. American White Pelican
4. Double-crested Cormorant
5. Great Blue Heron
6. Great Egret
7. White-faced Ibis
8. Turkey Vulture
9. Greater White-fronted Goose
10. Snow Goose
11. Ross' Goose
12. Canada Goose
13. Cackling Goose
14. Tundra Swan*
15. Wood Duck
16. Gadwall
17. Eurasian Wigeon
18. American Wigeon
19. Mallard
20. Cinnamon Teal
21. Northern Shoveler
22. Northern Pintail
23. Green-winged Teal
24. Ring-necked Duck
25. Lesser Scaup
26. Bufflehead
27. Common Goldeneye
28. Ruddy Duck
29. White-tailed Kite
30. Bald Eagle
31. Northern Harrier
32. Red-shouldered Hawk
33. Red-tailed Hawk
34. Ferruginous Hawk
35. Rough-legged Hawk*
36. American Kestrel
37. Peregrine Falcon
38. Chukar* (We don't know if we can technically count this one, since they might not be from an established population.)
39. Ring-necked Pheasant*
40. California Quail
41. Common Moorhen
42. American Coot
43. Sandhill Crane
44. Killdeer
45. Black-necked Stilt
46. American Avocet
47. Greater Yellowlegs
48. Long-billed Curlew
49. Dunlin
50. Long-billed Dowitcher
51. Wilson's Snipe
52. Ring-billed Gull
53. Herring Gull
54. Rock Dove
55. Mourning Dove
56. Great Horned Owl
57. Burrowing Owl
58. Short-eared Owl*
59. White-throated Swift
60. Anna's Hummingbird
61. Belted Kingfisher
62. Nuttall's Woodpecker
63. Northern Flicker
64. Black Phoebe
65. Loggerhead Shrike
66. Western Scrub-Jay
67. Yellow-billed Magpie
68. American Crow
69. Common Raven
70. Tree Swallow
71. Cliff Swallow
72. Bushtit
73. Marsh Wren
74. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
75. American Robin
76. Northern Mockingbird
77. European Starling
78. American Pipit
79. Yellow-rumped Warbler
80. Spotted Towhee
81. California Towhee
82. Chipping Sparrow
83. Savannah Sparrow
84. Fox Sparrow
85. Song Sparrow
86. Lincoln's Sparrow
87. White-crowned Sparrow
88. Golden-crowned Sparrow
89. Dark-eyed Junco
90. Red-winged Blackbird
91. Tricolored Blackbird
92. Western Meadowlark
93. Brewer's Blackbird
94. House Finch
95. House Sparrow