(If you have any interesting sightings during the month, you can send them to the Newsletter Editor at tim.ruckle@sbcglobal.net by the 20th for possible inclusion in the next newsletter.)

November 1 - Renee Margolin of Butte Valley had a White-throated Sparrow at a feeder.

November 6 – Phil Johnson saw a Winter Wren on Little Chico Creek.

November 9 – Kathryn Hood, on her way from Chico to Willows on 162 going west saw about 2,000 Greater White-fronted Geese in a harvested, flooded rice field.

November 9 – Phil Johnson saw a Ring-tailed Cat roadkill on River Rd. by one of the orchards.

November 11 – Phil Johnson saw a Townsend's Solitaire near the cliffs in Upper Bidwell Park.

November 11 - Jackson Shedd, his sister, and his wife, Mela Garcia, while looking at Sandhill Cranes on Grainland Rd. adjacent to Llano Seco, saw Ring-billed Gulls pirating crayfish from Long-billed Curlews. The most interesting part of the behavior was the gulls flying up and dropping the crayfish from the air, killing their victims upon impact, perhaps to make it easier to deal with the pincers.  Previously, he was aware of only corvids and raptors exhibiting that kind of behavior.

November 13 – On an Altacal field trip to the Gray Lodge Wildlife Refuge near Gridley led by Skip Augur, the group saw a total of three Eurasian Wigeons on the auto loop.

November 16 - Warren and Jennifer Patten saw a female Phainopepla in Lower Bidwell Park perched on top of a walnut tree.

November 19 – At the 9^th Annual Central Valley Bird Club Symposium (November 17-20, Stockton, CA) Altacal members Mike Skram, Mike Fisher and others saw a Harlequin Duck at the Stockton Sewer Ponds.  It is reported to be only the 5th sighting of a Harlequin Duck in the central valley and the 2nd San Joaquin County record.  Subsequently, the Central Valley Birds mailing list on the web (central_valley_birds-subscribe@yahoogroups.com) was alive with controversy and very informative identification discussions regarding whether the bird was a Harlequin Duck or a Scoter.

November 19 – Chris Hall of Chico saw three Hooded Mergansers (two females, one male) in a pond on the Canyon Oaks golf course.  According to someone on the course, this is the second year they have stopped for a visit.

November 26 – Folks led by Phil Johnson on an Altacal field trip saw three Hooded Mergansers at Chico’s Oxidation Ponds and a Bald Eagle flying from a tree on the “jungle” path to the gravel bar at the Washout by the Sacramento River.