Rancheria Road - Kern County

While visiting my mother-in-law in Bakersfield, Pat and I took run to the east up a road I have wanted to travel for sometime. Rancheria Road connects with Highway 178 just before it enters into the Kern River Canyon and winds and twists its way up several different ridges before joining Highway 155 in Alta Sierra at Greenhorn Summit.

A Grand Lassen Loop

Being a birder I am constantly reminded that California has something for everybody. Of all the world’s major biomes it seems that all we lack here is a tropical one. This is one of the reasons why you can possibly see 673 different species of birds here. We have the luxury of deciding what kind of birds we want to find and then choosing that part of the state to plan a trip to. This past week it was the western slope of the extreme north end of the Sierra and the edge of the Modoc Plateau.

Another Big Day With Jeff Manker

Thirty six years is a long time. A whole lot can change in the world in that wide expanse of time. Empires can rise and then fall, Sports teams can go from also-rans to dynasties and back again - 3 times, a millennial can already have had five different careers, Donald Trump can actually have made at least one truthful statement - or not. Thirty six years is a long time, it’s the number of years that have passed since Jeff Manker and I have done a big day together.

High School Ornithology With Jeff Manker

My college roommate Jeff Manker has reached a milestone in his life - retirement from teaching. Along the way he has created something amazing enough to be written about in the American Birding Association blog written by Nate Swick. In his post Swick suggests that Jeff's model of a High School Ornithology class can be replicated across the country and that Jeff's article might in fact serve as the spartk. Click this link to read Jeff's opinion piece in Birding Magazine.

The M-10 Transect

For some years now there has been a growing movement in Northern California to provide better management and protection to a large tract of land that stretches from Mendocino County in the north to Napa County in the south and encloses a large portion of the Coastal Range in this part of the state. Several bills have been introduced in Congress calling for the creation of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, the most recent of which, sponsored by our local congressman Rep. Mike Thompson and others, in Feb. 2015.

A Rare Shrike - Brown or Red-backed?

In early March a wildlife biologist for the California State Parks found and photographed what she originally thought to be a Loggerheaded Shrike at the mouth of Alder Creek in Manchester Beach State Park. Her photos were subsequently seen by others who determined that this bird was a Brown Shrike (this would be the 5th CA record).

Fall 2013 Notes

Somehow I never managed to get these notes posted. Oh well, better late than never . . . .

This fall has had its share of interesting birds around Northern California. In Napa County we had a first ever record of a Hudsonian Godwit while all along the coast of California, including here in the north, there's been an eruption of Blue-footed Boobies who have wandered far from their normal range in the Gulf of California.  These spectacular airborne diving sea birds have come some distance in search of food that is apparently not as abundant in their home waters. Other Booby species are also being found with regularity in the waters of Southern California, probably extending their ranges for better food supplies as well.

The Hudsonian Godwit made his appearance at Huichica Creek mid-week of the second week of September. This was the first record for this species in Napa County and is not a regular visitor anywhere in California, so this bird caused quite a stir. For the next week and a half there was a regular stream of birders looking for this guy at Huichica Creek, a spot many of them had not visited before. On several occasions I had a chance to educate these visitors on our ongoing marsh restoration work in the Napa marshes.

I was able to get a few other excursions in around our area but did not have any noteworthy sightings. Over the Christmas I did chase a rare bird up in Mckinleyville, a town in which I once lived. This unusual Asian visitor was a Little Bunting and I missed him by a day and a half. Always nice to get up to Humboldt county but it was a lot of driving for one day.

In Search of the Black-backed Woodpecker

The summer of 2013 will be remembered as my search for the Black-backed woodpecker. This elusive bird was the focus of our earlier trip to northeastern California and the Warner Mountains. While the trip was an unqualified success, we did not see the woodpecker. Over my many years as a birder I have been in plenty of prime habitat for this species but for whatever reason have not seen any so when I read on the listserv of a nesting pair on a creek in the Desolation Wilderness I thought this might be my best chance yet. I couldn't drop everything and make the trip so I had to wait a few days for the chance and I also convinced Pat that a little creek exploring would be a fun adventure.