February 25-26 - Honey Lake Field Trip - Ten birders showed up to witness the incredible breeding ritual of the Greater Sage Grouse, and take in the beautiful diversity of the Honey Lake habitats. A total of 74 species were seen. Our first stop at Lake Almanor was very productive. Two adult Bald Eagles were perched in a far-off snag overlooking a lake populated with Tundra Swans, American Widgeon, Canvasbacks, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Mergansers, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Ducks, and many other species of waterfowl. While scoping the lake, a birder came by and said "Tufted Ducks over there". Sure enough, we headed down a little ways and got a beautiful (and quite rare) male Tufted Duck in our glasses. We could have gone home happy at this point, but we proceeded on to the Honey Lake area to the Janesville cemetery. Many Lewis's Woodpeckers were seen flying about the deciduous/conifer foothills. On the way to the Daiken unit of Honey Lake National Wildlife Area (NWA), we saw an immature Ferruginous Hawk. We walked the Daiken unit and saw many different species of waterfowl, including a ritual head bobbing courtship display of some breeding plumage Ruddy Ducks. At the end of our walk, the Snow Geese decided that it was time to fly out from their daytime resting area and head for their feeding grounds. We stood there and watched thousands and thousands of Snow Geese flying past us, creating a huge white line of geese across the vast, open skies of the valley. The final stop for the day was the Fleming unit of the Honey Lake NWA. We were on a mission to find Short-eared Owls, but found many Northern Harriers instead. A large flock of Sandhill Cranes were hanging out in the freshly plowed fields. While we were setting up our tents, a Great Horned Owl flew into a nest very close by. A pair of them hooted directly above our tents periodically through the night.
Early Sunday morning, we headed up to the lek site and were blessed to find 15 male Greater Sage Grouse flamboyantly strutting their stuff for four half-interested females. Eleven grouse, presumably females, later flew into the site. Horned Larks were seen nearby in the sage brush flats. We then made a quick stop at the Honey Lake Tufa formations. We found no birds here, but our trip archaeologist, John Burge, found some artifacts such as obsidian flakes and rounded hand stones. Next stop was the Skedaddle Mountain foothills where we found Chukar in the rocky outcrops and Sage Sparrow in the flats. From there, we headed to the Rice Canyon petroglyphs and wandered about a rock outcrop finding many Native American petroglyph panels and a few circular stacked-stone structures, believed to be prehistoric hunting blinds. The last stop was the Susan River gorge/old railway trail in town. We found a Black-backed Woodpecker and a Hairy Woodpecker side-by-side in a burned forest. A Winter Wren was seen mousing about the underbrush. Pygmy Nuthatches were seen in the trees near the Susanville cemetery.
March 11 - Birding Gray Lodge in March has a special appeal. The hunters are gone, the roads are deserted, the entire complex is open to the public and the birds abound. We certainly had some luck with the weather for our field trip on March 11th. Many folks may have woken up that morning to find it raining and decided not to go, but six hardy souls took the chance, and ended up having a beautiful day. This one day of sunshine decided to appear between storms and we took full advantage. With the air crisp and clear the viewing of the birds at Gray Lodge was exceptional and to see all the male birds in full breeding plumage was certainly a treat.
Exploring the seldom-visited east side of Gray Lodge we had good views of Pied-billed Grebes, Double-crested Cormorants, Northern Shovelers, Ring-necked Ducks, Mallards, American Coots, Common Moorhens, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Cinnamon Teals and Black-crowned Night Herons in the freshwater marshes and a large flock of American White Pelicans as they soared high above us. We saw four different species of swallows, Barn, Northern Rough-winged, Violet-green and Tree. Parking lot seven produced an Orange-crowned Warbler, Anna’s Hummingbird and several Yellow-rumped Warblers in the eucalyptus trees. Northern Harriers and Red-tailed Hawks were numerous and we all got a great view of an American Bittern in flight, right next to the road. Still present and flying overhead were several flocks of Snow Geese and Greater White-fronted Geese. Singing in the blackberry bushes was a Common Yellowthroat. Next, we walked right beneath the cottonwood trees where a heron/egret rookery is located. Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets occupied at least twenty to thirty nests high up in the trees. Our next stop was at some riparian wooded ponds on the extreme northeast side of the complex. These ponds have stands of willows and cottonwoods towering over lower shrubs. This is perfect habitat for Wood Ducks, of which we saw several.
On to the west side we met up with Lori Dieter, the naturalist at Gray Lodge, who talked to us about the Wood Duck program. This is the largest such program in the country. There are over three hundred nesting boxes at the refuge which last year hatched over 2000 ducklings. Lori brought a ladder and we climbed up to view these nesting boxes, checking to see if there was any activity. After lunch we took an easy stroll to the viewing platform. Along the way Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Nuttall’s Woodpeckers and White- and Golden-crowned Sparrows were seen. At the platform we had some great views of several Green-winged Teals, Buffleheads, American Wigeon, Ruddy, Northern Pintail and Gadwall Ducks. The auto loop produced most of the ducks we had seen on the eastside and at the viewing platform. But we did stop at the new viewing hide near the end of the auto loop. There in a secluded pond we saw the incredible iridescent colors of White-faced Ibis as they settled in for the evening in the late afternoon sun. On the way home a stop at the Afterbay near Oroville added Eared, Western and Clark’s grebes as well as Canvasback Ducks. In all, 87 species were seen, and six people had a day to remember.
March 19, Sunday - Nine people participated in the Chico State Birding Club-sponsored (and Altacal-Audubon-Society- member attended) "Big Day" field trip (not a true Big Day but sort of a "have-a-lot-of-fun-while-birding-longer-than-usual" day). It was windy-cold at times but otherwise beautifully sunny. Four of the nine began at 3 a.m. by participating in owl-banding at the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve (BCCER) (oak/pine woodland and star thistle field, oak savanna, ~1500 meters above sea level). At 7 a.m. the whole group took off for the Llano Seco Unit of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (restored wetlands) and then on to the Gray Lodge Wildlife Area (restored wetlands), Bedrock Park on the Feather River (riparian forest), the Thermalito Afterbay (open water reservoir) and Nelson and Cottonwood Roads (arid grasslands [but green right then]). For some it was a "glorious" 16 hours of birding with 116 species identified. For others of the group it was 13 such hours with 108 species identified. Among the birds seen was a Red-throated Loon at the Afterbay, a pair of male Barrow's Goldeneyes and five Green Herons at Bedrock Park, Blue-winged Teals at Gray Lodge, Wild Turkeys (including a displaying male) roosting in trees at the BCCER, and a Great Blue Heron at Gray Lodge flying away carrying a huge bullfrog meal-to-be. The group had a good time, enjoyed the cooperative, learning nature of the trip, and agreed to do it again sometime.