Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

For our morning bird walk today we choose Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.  Conveniently located next to I-5 on our route south, and a place we have stopped several times in years past.  In fact if you have any interest in watching birds, and in particular observing an astonishing number migrating waterfowl then you should plan a stop her at the visitors center.

Today we choose to take the Wetland Walk Trail, which makes an easily managed loop of just over a mile and a half, and purposely skipped the large ponds with the thousand upon thousands of migrating ducks and geese, which can drive you crazy trying to count.

We had a great time, enjoyed the sun and the challenge of identifying a number of birds.  You can see our check list here.

A Dry Day

Red Bluff Recreation Area

For our second day of travel we had a dry day.  An entire day with out any rain. Which played well with our plans of climbing over the Siskyous and into Northern California with out the threat of moistuer leading to snow.  We left our overnight parking spot at Henderson's Alignment at 6:00 AM, stopped for breakfast at Shari's, and in Central Point for diesel and propane.  Lunch was at Lake Shasta and then on to Red Bluff to Red Bluff Recreation Area and  the Sycamore Grove Campground our intended camp site. Here is where we had our first disappointment of the day.  We discovered that Reservations are now required.  We have been coming to this campground for a decade now, and the campground has never been full, always lots of sites to choose from.  Checking with the camp host he verified the signage, and added that it was ten dollars for a registration fee plus the camping fee. Additional registration fees do not set well with us, and apparently not with others as the campground was empty.   Welcome to Walmart folks --- our parking site for tonight.

We did spend the rest of the afternoon at the Red Bluff Recreation Area for a two hour bird walk, enjoying the warm temps and dry weather.  Click here to see our checklist.

Winter Migration

I-5

This morning we took off on our annual winter migration to sunny California and Arizona.  Mother nature gave us a royal send off with a day where the tempature stayed at 43 degrees and the rain continued all day long.

If you know anything about us, you know that our travels are as much or about birding as it chasing good weather.  Our first stop of the day for birding was at Cottage Grove at the Row River Nature Park.  We really were not without rain, just a short period with less rain.

Row River Nature Park

For our complete observation list for Row River Nature Park click here.

Black Phoebe

After lunch at Burger King in Cottage Grove we traveled on south via I-5 to Grants Pass.  We spent the afternoon and early evening parked at Tussing Park on the Rouge River where we birded, rested, and had dinner. So nice to have a RV to stay warm and dry out of the elements. Click here for our bird list.

We plan to park for the night at Herderson's Alignment, only a few blocks away. Tomorrow is supposed to be dryer, which we will take advange of to climb over the Siskyous with a overnight stay at Sycamore Grove in Red Bluff.

Fall Colors

Yesterday we went back to Lyons City Park to take advantage of the warm sunny weather and look for some ducks.  We were here on the first of the month and did not see any migrating ducks, but with the recent heavy rains I felt that we might have some new arrivals, and we did.  Fresh in for the season were a pair of Gadwalls, and a lone male Ring-necked Duck, not many but a start. The biggest bonus was the strikingly beautiful fall colors, giving rich reflections on the pond waters.

Gadwalls

Ring-necked Duck

Canada Goose

Here is the link for our eBird observation  list with additional photos.

Greater Yellowlegs

Yesterday we made a trip to Fairview Drive Wetlands near the Salem Airport for a birdwalk.  I was hoping for some water and some new migrating water fowl or shore birds after a long dry summer.  There wasn't much water, but to my great suprise I did get the one bird I was hoping the most to see, a Greater Yellowlegs.  Jeanette and I have been birding at Fairview Wetlands for 19 years now.  We started walking there from our house on Reed Court in 1998.  Birding was mainly an excuse to get in a good walk.  For fun we started making a list of the birds we would see between our house and the wetlands.  In October of that year we spotted four to six birds we weren't sure of with long yellow legs and a strange high pitched cry.  I spent a lot of time looking at bird books before I could conclude that they were Greater Yellowlegs.  Now all these years later when ever we think of birding at Fairview Wetlands, it brings a smile to our faces as we recall the Greater Yellowlegs and their piercing call.

Ducks in a Row

I'm the kind of a guy that likes to have all my ducks in a row, possibly that's one reason I like this photo taken a couple of days ago at Lyons City Park of these ducks all standing in a row on a log.  What initially caught my attention were the two spectacular males shown in the middle. They are a Wood Duck on the left, and a Mallard on the right. I can't remember ever seeing these two different species sharing a log at the same time.  To add to the uniqueness  of this photo,  flanking the male Mallard on the far right is a female Wood Duck, and flanking the male Wood Duck on the left is a female Mallard.  All the ducks may be in a row, but they are certainly not in order, and to a guy that likes order---well what can I say. I like the photo, and they all seem to be getting along, maybe diversity is a good kind of thing.

Revisiting Waxmytle Campground

Truth be told, this trip was just an excuse to spend time in our motor home, Serenity.  We love the sense of freedom and adventure it provides.  We had had a rainy week, so our first thought was to head for a drier area like the east end of the Columbia Gorge.  But as we were packing-up we discovered that I-84 East Bound was still closed between Troutdale and Hood River because of the Eagle Creek Fire.  How about the Washington side?  Highway 14 was open, but closed to all vehicles of 10,000 lbs, we are 11,030.  How about Summer Lake?  A look at Trip Check showed snow on the Willamette Pass.  That left us with some area on the Oregon Coast, which we had already visited a good deal this summer.  We settled on camping at Waxmytle Campground, a long time favorite of ours.  It's a place we have enjoyed camping, hiking, birding, and volunteering.  The additional appeal for us is that our good friend Glenn is the current campground host.  

Eight o'clock the next morning Glenn, Jeanette, myself, and Buster headed out on the Waxmyrtle Trail for a morning of birding.  Although not the birdiest, we did eventually get a good list of birds which you can see here.

Glenn is finishing up on two and a half years as serving as a volunteer on bird surveys, plover patrol, campground maintence, and campground host.  He takes off the end of the month for parts unknown in the southern direction. We hope to catch up with him this winter and get to do more birding together.