Avian Hitchhiker

As I mentioned a few days ago, we've been having some amazing luck spotting American Bitterns recently. The only reason we saw this one at the Sacramento NWR was because it ran alongside the car on the auto tour!

When it ran up into the grass, we were able to get a few close-up photos...

Such an awesome bird!

Cloudy Skies

During our visit to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, the wind pushed the clouds around in the sky and created some interesting photo ops.

A few snow geese were still hanging around...

 It's been a day or two since I've posted a blue heron photo, so that means I'm overdue!

This one was fishing near the observation platform on the auto tour.

We usually see ducks or pond turtles on this log and this time a pair of Cinnamon Teals were taking a nap there...

Savannah Sparrow

Tomorrow I have some more American Bittern photos to share with you!

Finding Refuge

Birding in the wind and rain is somewhat of a challenge, but we still managed to get some decent photos at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. 

How nice to finally see some white-faced ibises with white on their faces for breeding season!

Birds aren't the only wildlife that find refuge here...

Rain didn't keep us away...

Here are some more pics from our rainy day birding trip to the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge...

It's been nice seeing the birds in their flashy breeding plumage!

American Bittern

Can you spot the bittern?

We've been having amazing luck with seeing bitterns lately. Everything I read about them says how elusive and difficult they are to spot, but we've seen four in the last two times of birding.

They really are amazing birds and I'm so glad we've been fortunate enough to have them pose for us in their "freeze" position so we can get some photos (and proof!)...

This is the bittern we saw as we were driving into the parking lot at the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. He was long gone by the time we did the auto tour and drove back out. I'm so glad we were there at the right time!

Sprinkles

We've yet to go birding in the rain, but by the time we arrived at the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge (the auto tour is finally open again after all the flooding!), the wind had blown in some showers.

Before we even made it to the parking lot, we spotted about a dozen kingbirds hanging out in the front field. Up until a few weeks ago, we'd never seen them at the refuge and now they're popping up everywhere!

Luckily, birds aren't bothered by a little precipitation, and we saw quite a few birds and even a flock of egrets and cormorants...

The wind played havoc with this golden-crowned sparrow's hairdo...

Tomorrow, I'll post photos of the bittern that greeted us on the way in...