2017 Top Moments

As the year comes to an end, I'm looking back at all of the wonderful birding moments we had in 2017. And, boy, are there a lot of them!

Gosh, I really shouldn't have limited myself to just 10! This year was such an incredible birding year for us that it's tough to narrow down all the wonderful experiences we had.

I probably should have formatted this list as a countdown, but our number one moment is just too darn wonderful to put down at the bottom! Here it is...

1. Hands down, our number one birding moment of 2017 was seeing a Vermilion Flycatcher. At a cemetery...in Northern California. Talk about starting the year off with a bang! (January 26th.)

Read the original Vermilion Flycatcher post here.

2. Watching a Ruddy Duck perform his awesome courtship display at the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge.  (May 18th)

Read the original Ruddy Duck post and watch the video here.

3. Spotting a Burrowing Owl on the side of the road...on the same day we got to see the Vermilion Flycatcher! (January 26.)

Read the original Burrowing Owl post here.

4. Finally seeing our very first Wood Ducks (yay!) at the Gray Lodge Wildlife Area. (February 1)

Read the original Wood Duck post here.

5. Birding at sunrise at Llano Seco. It might be teeth-chatteringly chilly at 6 a.m., but experiencing the sun come up and bathe the landscape in color is something we'll never forget!

Read about our March 9th visit here.

More pics from the magic hour on November 6th are here.

6. Seeing TWO American Bitterns, one right after the other, on the auto tour at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. (April 10)

Read the original Bittern post here.

7. Hiking the Sheepy Ridge Wildlife Trail at the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Complex. I don't know if I've ever seen such an ah-mazing view before! (November 6th)

Read about our Adventure with a capital A here.

8. Finally seeing a Cattle Egret...and he was on a cow no less! (September 20th)

Read the original Cattle Egret post here.

9. Seeing a Great Horned Owl and then a coyote (our first!) at the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. (March 14)

Read the original post about the owl here.

Read the original post about the camouflaged coyote here.

10. Adding 11 new birds to our Big Year list in beautiful Fort Bragg. (May 4th)

See all the birds we spotted ot the coast here.

And, because we had many more memorable birding moments, here are a few honorable mentions...

* All the times we spotted Kestrels on Road P... (and there were A LOT of them!)

Find all of my American Kestrel posts right here.

* After waiting at least a decade, we finally spotted a Yellow-headed Blackbird (at Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge).

Read the original Tule Lake NWR post here.

* Seeing our first Yellow-billed Magpies in 15 years!

Find out where we found these striking birds here.

* And finally, because they are my favorite, I have to mention all the gorgeous Great Blue Herons that graced us with their regal presence throughout the year...

I've rounded up all the times I've posted Blue Heron pics here.

All right, I'd better wrap up this list or else I'll never stop meandering down memory lane!

In total we saw 168 birds this year and brought our lifelist up to 180. I'd say that's a pretty successful birding year! I look forward to the new year and to hopefully adding a White-tailed Kite and Horned Lark to that list. Those are my wishlist birds and you never know...2018 might be the year I finally see one (or both!)

Here's wishing you a happy and healthy new year!

Happy birding,
Rachelle Vaughn

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It's still raining...

Last year we experienced one of the most severe droughts California's ever seen. And now, fast forward a few months, and my birding expeditions have been put on hold due to the extreme flooding. All of our local refuges are closed (or at least the roads leading to them are), the Oroville Dam is threatening to overflow, and the I-5 freeway is flooded. Even Maxwell, the little town where we saw the Vermilion Flycatcher, is underwater :(

We've been on such a roll with our Big Year that it's hard not to be a little disappointed. Which sounds a little strange coming from me because I love the rain. Well, usually I do. Now that we don't need it anymore and it's causing so much havoc, I want it to stop so I can go out and spot some more birds!

Nature (and life in general!) sure have a way of going from one extreme to the other!

While we wait for clear skies and dry roads, I'll be curled up with a book, or in my writing cave working on my new novel...

Bye Bye Big Year

As my Big Year comes to a close, I can now take a moment to look back at all of the beautiful, different birds I saw this year. All I can say now that it's over is I want to do it again! (Hear that, 2017? This is your year to shine!)

When I first started the year, I mentioned that I hoped to visit the Humboldt and Klamath NWR's and Crater Lake. We managed to make it up to Lower Klamath, but didn't end up going to Humboldt or anywhere in Oregon. Which was perfectly okay! Instead, we ended up going to San Francisco as well as the Botanical Gardens at Fort Bragg on the coast and they were wonderful in their own unique ways.

Back in January I didn't set a goal for the year, but I had hoped to see about 50 different species of birds. That's the great thing about setting (low) realistic goals, because we actually ended up seeing 123 and were really excited when we reached 100.

All in all, we ended up visiting our local "bird places" (the Sacramento NWR, Colusa NWR and Llano Seco NWA) A LOT, along with a few other unexpected places. We never even left the state of California.

Here's a list of all the places we went to to look for birds:

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge
Lake Siskiyou
Colusa National Wildlife Refuge
Lassen Volcanic National Park
Llano Seco Unit (part of the North Central Valley Wildlife Management Area)
Burney Falls
Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens
Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge
Lake Almanor
Lema Ranch
Paynes Creek Wetlands
San Francisco
Shasta Dam
Woodson Bridge
Gray Lodge Wildlife Area
Sacramento River National Wildlife Refuge (Codora Unit and Packer Unit)
Chico Oxidation Ponds

My hubby and I had so much fun looking for new birds and keeping track of the ones we saw! We took thousands of photos and made many fantastic memories! We learned a lot about birds, ourselves, and that you don't have to venture far from home to find some amazing things in nature.

Thanks for coming along for my 2016 adventure! Here's to a Happy New Year and many more bird sightings!

Rachelle Vaughn

Birding Lessons

Man, oh, man! Every time we go out birding I learn something new!

I learned to take photos of EVERYTHING because what looks like a sparrow in the shadows might actually be your first Kestrel sighting.

I never realized how small Kestrels were until I saw one!

And, once again, I learned to take photos of anything and everything that catches your eye because when you get home and look at them on the computer you might find some shorebirds mixed in with a flock of cormorants that you didn't spot with the naked eye...

Or a pair of birds in a tree when you were taking a photo of just the one.

When I took this photo I had no idea there was a pair of doves in this tree until I got home... (I should have known. They are almost always in pairs!)

And I had no idea there was a male Robin with this female. They were moving around so much in the tree and I was just trying to get a photo so I could identify later what turned out to be a female robin...

So, as I wrap up my Big Year, I decided to post some things to keep in mind for my future birding adventures.

Things I Learned during my Big Year 2016:

1. Differences between adult and juvenile birds
Sometimes there is a HUGE difference between juvenile and immature birds and what they will look like when they become an adult. Part of why I had such a difficult time identifying new birds was because I didn't realize this in the beginning of my Big Year.

Here is an example:

These Black-crowned Night Herons are like night and day!

There are also different "morphs" and "forms" and I read that even experts have a difficult time differentiating between hawks. (That little tidbit makes this amateur feel so much better!)

2. You don't have to go far off the beaten path to find birds
Some of our most unexpected (and delightful) bird sightings were from the side of the road. And even in the parking lot.

I love how you can drive down a country road and BOOM there's a Kingfisher on a telephone wire right above your car!

 Or a hawk (airing out his wings?) on a High Voltage sign:

3. Mating season plumage can be WAY different from winter plumage

April 26th

November 1st

And sometimes it's a subtle change of coloring near the eye...

April 26th

November 1st

When I'm 80, standing out at the refuge with my binoculars and camera in hand, I still don't think I'll have learned everything there is to know about birds. And that's okay. It's fun to have a hobby that keeps you on your toes and keeps you guessing!

One of my "classrooms"
Colusa National Wildlife Refuge

The Little Big Year

We watched the The Big Year the other night and once again I was delighted by this wonderful movie. I love everything about it, especially how they managed to weave in a little romance, too!

When the final credits started rolling, I couldn't help but laugh at my little list of 70 birds I've compiled for my own big year. It's already June and I know my list probably won't even reach into the hundreds, but I've enjoyed every second of it nonetheless.

Some of the birds I've seen might seem ordinary to some, but to me they are gems, each and every one. I'm particularly proud of the Bald Eagles, Osprey, and the three different woodpeckers I've seen, and I know there will be a few more to come in the last six months that are left.

I don't have the luxury of hopping on a plane and zooming across the country chasing sightings of rare (and not so rare) birds, but that's okay. I'm content to record what I see in my own backyard and to take a road trip every so often with my hubby to discover new birds for my list. Plus, our annual pass to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge doesn't expire for a while!

Even if I don't reach 100 birds, 2016 will still be a big year to me.

Where to next?

I'm looking forward to adding to my collection this year...

Rachelle's Big Year

I was so inspired by reading about Noah Strycker's big year that I decided to venture out on my own next year. I won't be flying around the world and visiting dozens of countries, but that doesn't mean it will be any less "big" for me. It just means that I'll be more diligent in keeping track of what I see in 2016. Luckily, I have a pretty new journal for just that sort of thing.

(Here is the link to buy the Marjolein Bastin 2016 Planner)

We have plans to visit Klamath and Humboldt refuges again and hopefully Crater Lake. My big year will be confined to the NorCal area (and maybe into Oregon, fingers crossed), but that won't make it any less fun.

Wish me luck!

Let it be writ down...

 I'm so excited about my new 2016 Bird Journal!

It was designed by the amazingly talented Marjolein Bastin (you can find her website here) and is absolutely beautiful. Here is the link to buy the planner on Amazon.

It's almost too pretty to write in, but next year I know I'd rather look back at sightings and descriptions than blank pages.

Sure, I could easily keep my bird discoveries on my computer, but there's something so lovely about a handwritten journal. The textured paper and smell of fresh ink makes me so happy :)