Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!

We started the new year off right with a spectacular day of birding at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (mainly at the Sacramento Unit, but with a stop at Colusa) with our friends Kevin and Susan.  Yes, we dragged out butts out of bed at 3:30 a.m. on New Year's Day in order to be there before dawn, but it was worth it.  We saw a gorgeous sunrise and many thousands of birds on a beautifully sunny, clear and cold day, and even managed breakfast at the Black Bear Diner in Willows. Here's our list for the day (all seen at the Sacramento Unit unless otherwise noted, many were seen at both locations): 

Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron (at Colusa)
Black-crowned Night Heron (at Colusa)
Turkey Vulture
Greater White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-necked Pheasant
Black-necked Stilt
Long-Billed Curlew
Great Horned Owl (at Colusa)
Northern Flicker (at Colusa)
Black Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
Western Scrub Jay (heard only, at Colusa)
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow (at Colusa)
Bushtit
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Pipit (at Colusa)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
California Towhee
Song Sparrow (at Colusa)
White-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark (at Colusa)