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Clear Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant

By on August 15, 2022 in

We are again scheduling a visit to the ponds targeting waterfowl, shorebirds and migrating warblers. Assemble at the Treatment Plant’s Administration Building at the end of Metz Road at 7:30 am sharp to meet your leader, Larry Jordan. This is a 1/2-day trip that may end in the early afternoon if the birding is good. Directions to the Clear Creek Plant: Take Hwy 273 south, after crossing Clear Creek and past the Win-River Casino, take the second left turn at River Ranch Road and cross over the railroad tracks. Turn left on Eastside Rd. Entrance is at 2200 Metz Road on the right.

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Gold Dredge Field Trip

By on August 15, 2022 in
Nashville Warbler
We will do a hike in and out trip to the clear Creek Greenway via the Gold Dredge Tailhead located on the south side of Clear Creek Road, approximately 2.5 miles west of Highway 273 just south of the City of Redding. The Greenway is a model example of habitat restoration both aquatic and upland. It is managed by the BLM and extends west from the Gold Dredge Tailhead 12 miles to Horsetown Clear Creek Preserve. We will target Fall Migrants and perhaps some early Fall Chinook in the Creek. There are pit toilets at the trailhead. Meet your trip leader Tim Kashuba at 7:00 am. Bring water, snacks, hiking boots and wear layers.
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John Reginato River Access Trail

By on August 15, 2022 in

Peregrine Falcon

Join us for a walk in the shade of the big oaks along this Sacramento River trail. It is a haven for wildlife near the big development going on at the new Costco shopping area. This is a great place to see a large variety of the year round resident birds like wrens and towhees in the dense, shrubby vegetation, various woodpeckers in the oaks and birds of prey on the open river – eagles, osprey, and if we’re lucky, maybe a Peregrine Falcon.

Meet at 8am Saturday morning, September 10th, at the canoe, kayak and raft launch at the John Reginato River Access at 3810 South Bonnyview Road.  This area is also known as the South Bonnyview boat ramp.  We will spend about two hours walking less than two miles on a rocky path with river cobblestones.  Hiking boots are recommended.  There is a port-a-potty at the boat ramp.

Contact trip leader Tricia Ford at triciathebirdnerd@gmail.com or 530-246-4404 for more information.

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World Migratory Bird Day Outing to Gray Lodge

By on August 15, 2022 in

Blue-winged Teal Drake

Gray Lodge’s diversity and location along the Pacific Flyway make it a haven for wildlife. Surrounded by miles of rich agricultural lands, the approximately 9,100-acre area is managed for the wildlife that call Gray Lodge home for all or part of the year. Reflective ponds, grassy fields and wooded riparian areas provide food, water and shelter for more than 300 species of resident and migrant birds and mammals. We will look for Sandhill Cranes in the flooded fields along the highway during the two hour drive to the refuge. Meet at the Kutras Park parking lot at 6:30am to carpool or at parking area 14 at the refuge at 8:30am. Bring a lunch and water as it looks to be in the high 80’s by the afternoon.

Gray Lodge Public Access Map

A CDFW Lands Pass must be in possession by each visitor who is 16 years of age or older, however, visitors who are in possession of a valid California hunting or fishing license in their name are exempt from this requirement. Lands passes may be purchased on-line, by phone at (800) 565-1458, or in-person at locations wherever hunting and fishing licenses are sold. They are also available in the parking area at Gray Lodge for $4.50.

All participants, ages 5 and older, must provide proof that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to the field trip.

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Songster of the Conifers–beautiful but invisible?

By on July 31, 2022 in BirdWords
Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

If you have entered the world of the conifers above the Central Valley, or throughout most of North America for that matter, you stand a good chance of having heard an ongoing, nasal ankh, ankh, ankh, ankh. It is the song of the red-breasted nuthatches, elfin birds of our pines and firs.

 

They are harder to see than hear; they don’t seem shy, but they are small, and much of their living happens far over our heads. Nuthatches are built for prying insects from the bark of trees. Their bill is slightly dished up and stout enough to shovel bugs from crevice hide-aways. Their shoulders are broad, relatively speaking, and provide the heft to wield their strong bills. Their long hind toe is used, uniquely in the bird world, to hold them in place while they hunt face-down on a tree trunk or branch. Their tails are stiff, allowing them to prop against a tree as they pound against it.

And what do they pound? In addition to picking insects from cracks in tree trunks, these nuthatches gather seeds from cones at branch-tips. They often wedge hard pine-nuts into crannies in the bark and then crack them open with hammer blows from their bills. Also, these versatile gymnasts, like woodpeckers, carve out their own cavities for nesting. No fools, they prefer the softer wood of dead limbs and snags for their home-building.

Males often begin several nesting holes as part of their courting. A female takes over and shapes the chosen cavity to her liking, taking about two weeks to complete the excavation. Both adults apply sap to the hole entrance–he on the exterior, she on the interior. The tiny nuthatches dive right through the hole without getting gummed up, but predators, from owls to ants, can be deterred by the sticky goo.

He begins feeding the female, and she lays a handful of eggs in their nest. The young hatch, naked and blind, after two weeks of incubation. Another two weeks and, having been fed and protected by both parents, the young fledge into the world.

There, if you enter that world of the conifers, you may be able to see them. A little luck and a decent pair of binoculars will let you enjoy the red-breasted nuthatch’s gray-blue back, chestnut underside, and black eyeline under a white eyebrow. Otherwise, at least you may enjoy their ubiquitous song–ankh, ankh, ankh…

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