Chasing a Common Crane

Recently a Common Crane was reported up in Modoc County and Patrick mentioned that he’d like to do at least one more camping trip before he went off to college. Well, those two things converged into another adventure and we were off on a two-day whirlwind tour. Leaving Napa very early we managed to arrive in Modoc by 10 am to find a number of birders looking about a mile across a lake and farmland at what they said was the crane.

The Birding Show

It was too far away for me to be able to say what I was looking at. We stayed for a while then decided to go off on a tour over the Warner Mtns. and then return later in the day in the hopes of a better look at the Crane. We crossed over into Surprise Valley and then back over to the west side and Alturas for lunch and then headed back to the stakeout. After a few more hours without luck we headed south and then up into Jess Valley where we had found ourselves in a snow storm a month ago. We happened to meet the rancher who has lived up there for 67 years. Keeping our social distance he told us a bit about his life and his operation there, what an interesting guy. From Jess Valley Pat and I drove the forest road on the west flank of the Warners and found a great place to rough camp.

Jess Valley

The next morning it was back to the crane stakeout. As we arrived a group of birders pointed to the Common Crane flying away with two Sandhills after having seen them a stone’s throw away in a field right in front of them. If we had only arrived 1 minute sooner! We spent the next two hours chasing them back and forth. I was able to see the distinguishing darker wing tips and lighter body color to make the id but never had really satisfying looks. We packed our things and headed south on 395 taking the cutoff into Sierra Valley on our way to Hwy. 80. We had a really cooperative American Bittern at the bridge and a curious very small, very black rail that darted across the marsh between the reeds. Earlier in the month a birder had reported a possible Black Rail here. What I saw could have been that or maybe a Virginia Rail chick, I didn’t see it well enough but it would be very interesting to find out if they are present there. On this trip we didn’t get a chance to do much hiking so we are planning one more trip out to Point Reyes for that before Pat heads off to school.

American Bittern

The Great Northern California Birding Circle

After sharing the details of my earlier trip in May with my friend Jeff Manker I dangled the possibility of another trip in early June. I called this one the Great Northern California Birding Circle as the plan was to make a large circle through Northern California over the Sierra, north to Modoc, west to Tule Lake, continuing west to the coast and then south back to Napa.

Birding in the Pandemic - My Annual Visit to Butterbredt Spring

Every year as the spring migration approaches I get the itch to travel to places where this spectacle can be enjoyed as well as reveling in the beauty that surrounds me in such places. Last year Jeff Manker and I did a big day during this time and this year we had hoped to repeat the fun and adventure we had.