Friday 10 April 2015

California 17th February 2015 Part 1

It's been a while since I updated the blog. I've busy with work lately and it's going to get a hell of a lot more busy in a week or so...

Wildfowl was the main target for the first half of the day namely the returning male Falcated Duck at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. I picked up the bird first thing in the morning right beside the main road. It is usually seen at long range so I was lucky to get relative good views. It really was a stunning looking bird and well worth heading up north for. The same bird has returned for a few winters now here and has been accepted as a Category A bird. I spend the rest of my time in the refuge along the "auto-tour" which is basically drive-through birding driving experience around freshwater pools. Everything showed exceptionally well as the birds were well accustomed to cars. The commonest wintering wildfowl here were the White-fronted Geese of the sponsa race (formerly frontalis race). I only one small flock Cackling Geese fly over which was a little disappointing. They seemed to the leucoparia race. Nearly the entire population of this race winter in the Sacramento Valley. There were a few Ross's and Snow Geese dotted around the refuge also although there were no Tundra Swan about.
One of the highlights here was finally managing to catch up with a Virginia Rail. I parked up by a drainage channel edged on both sides by reeds. I thought that this was as good a spot as any for a rail. After a few minutes I could hear one calling from one side of the channel and could make out a rail sized bird moving within the thick vegetation. It then quickly swam across the channel but I was too slow with the camera. Thankfully a few minutes it swam back across again and managed a shot or two. There was an amazing roost of at least 70 Black-crowned Night Herons which were overlooked by a fourth year Bald Eagle.

I moved on down the road to the Sacramento NWR which had a similar set-up and line-up of mostly wildfowl which I really enjoyed although it was possibly a little quieter than Colusa.

I'll post the second half of the day as I took far too many shots on the day.

Cackling Goose with White-fronted Geese

Cackling Geese

Cackling Geese

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Goose

White-fronted Goose

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Geese

Snow and Ross's Goose

Ross's Goose

Ross's and Snow Geese
Falcated Duck

Falcated Duck

Falcated Duck

Gadwall

Pintail

Pintail


Pintail
Pintail

Shoveler
American Wigeon

Eurasian Wigeon pair
American Bittern

Black-crowned Night Heron

White-faced Ibis

White-faced Ibis

White-faced Ibis
 
Double-crested Cormorant

Common Gallinule

Virginia Rail

Virginia Rail

Fourth year Bald Eagle

Adult Bald Eagle

Adult Bald Eagle

Adult Bald Eagle

Second year Northern Harrier

Second year Northern Harrier

Second year Northern Harrier

Red-tailed Hawk

Dark Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk
 

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