My First Phoebe

This adorable bird landed on the birdfeeder hook and I instantly fell in love.

After some looking, I found him in the field guide and it turns out he is a Black Phoebe.

He sat long enough for me to snap a few quick photos and was twitching his tail the whole time like he wasn't too sure if he was supposed to be hanging out in my backyard.
 

 I love the V on his chest!

Thanks for stopping by, you cute little fluffy-looking bird!

In Flight

A few more photos from SNWR...

Colusa Part Deux

Here are a few more photos from our trip to the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. Every time we go we see a lot of herons and egrets, but that doesn't make them any less special. These magnificent birds are so beautiful that I could never get tired of seeing them and photographing them!

Once again, I'm counting the days until we return...

Colusa

The amount of birds we saw at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge on our visit last week was staggering. I'm glad we drove the few extra miles from the Sacramento NWR to see the beauty of this place and the wildlife here.

This spot is right at the bridge and we call it "Nigh Heron Alley" because this is where the Black-crowned Night Herons live year round. It's an incredible sight to see this many in one place!

The photo below is a close-up of the Great Egret and Great Blue Heron that are in the bottom left corner of the photo above.

Here are some close-ups of the slumbering Black-crowned Night Herons...

We also saw a flock of White-faced Ibis (what's the plural of Ibis? Ibises?)

Their feathers are incredible in the sunlight and reflect every color in the rainbow...

This Snowy Egret was hanging out with the Ibis flock...

Northern Pintails are so beautiful and elegant!

A flock of Northern Shovelers...

I'd say we had a very successful trip!

More Egret and Blue Heron photos to come...

The Beauty of Colusa NWR

Our recent visit to the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge was wonderful as always. Unlike the last time we went in January, this time it was an incredibly sunny day without a cloud in the sky.

My photos turned out a little differently without the cloud cover and I decided to have a little fun with the sunlight as it glittered on the water.

Colusa NWR isn't as big as Sacramento NWR, but I think I like it even better. It's a little off the beaten path (SNWR is right off Intersate 5) and doesn't seem to be as busy. They don't even charge a fee at Colusa! The combination of surrounding mountains, birds, and beautiful water makes it a little piece of heaven on earth.

The Ultimate Birding Experience

We made it back to the refuge on the first of the month and I'm just now getting around to sorting through the photos!

I ended up with so many great photos that I'm going to split them up into a few different posts.

Here are the ones from the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge:

American Wigeons

Red-tailed Hawk

Western Meadowlark

This raccoon was next to the auto tour and he even snarled at us when we drove by!

A Gadwall in with some Coots (his hair-do shows just how windy it was that day!)

Great Blue Heron

Mallards sleeping on a log

Great Egret posing in the wind

Northern Pintails are one of my favorites - so elegant!

Great Egret

Pied-billed Grebe

Pied-billed Grebe - one of the best photos of the day

Northern Shoveler

Stay tuned for the next group of photos from our visit to the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge...