Sutter Buttes/Peace Valley - March 27, 2005.  We were lucky enough to get in our hike before the rain started.  The Buttes were very green and displayed a variety of wildflowers.  This hike started in the interior of the Buttes at the site of an old ranch.  We hiked up to an old pioneer cemetery, then onto the site of an Indian village full of bedrock mortar holes.  From there, we continued on up an old road at the base of North Butte to the end of the State-owned property. Some of the birds sighted were:  Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Brewer's and Red-winged Blackbirds, Western Kingbird, Western Meadowlark, Mallard, House Finch, Lark Sparrow, White-breasted Nuthatch, Nuttall's and Acorn Woodpecker, Oak Titmouse, Bushtit, Phainopepla, Anna's Hummingbird, Swallow sp. and Killdeer.  We found the Killdeer's nest depression on a gravel road with four spotted eggs.  Other sightings include one large Horsehair worm in a puddle, and extensive soil uprooting by wild boar.

Honey Lake/Sage Grouse Trip - April 2-3, 2005   We were fortunate to have good weather for this annual trip to the Great Basin region of California.  Six of us left Chico on Saturday and birded our way up highway 32 and 36 toward the Susanville basin.  Our first stop at Potato Patch campground gave us great looks at Red Crossbills and Red-breasted Nuthatches.  Next, we stopped at the Lake Almanor causeway for looks at Bald Eagles feeding on carrion at the lake shore, along with several duck species.  We had a great look at Eurasian Widgeon here as well.  We then continued on to the Susanville area, where we first stopped to explore a rock outcropping filled with Native American petroglyph art etched into the weathered rock bluffs.  A Golden Eagle was seen close by.  We then visited the Daiken unit of Honey Lake Wildlife Area and saw American White Pelicans, White-faced Ibis, Snowy Plovers, and thousands of Snow Geese.  Late that evening we hiked some foothill country and found Chuckar in the Sage brush.  Early Sunday morning, we departed for the Sage Grouse lekking grounds and saw 24 males actively going about their mating displays (oddly, no females were to be seen – we theorized that perhaps this late in the season they were all nesting).  Two Pronghorn Antelope were seen on the surrounding ridges.  Next, we walked around the Honey Lake tufa formations and then headed out to bird a small section of the Biz Johnson trial in Susanville.  One hundred species were seen on this trip.