Take Me Birding, Country Roads

Somewhere in Northern California, there is a road so beautiful that you can find colorful wildflowers blooming in the springtime and a diverse array of birds soaking up the warm sunshine.

Let's take a ride and see what we can see...

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Bird Encounters in the California Countryside

Birding on the rural backroads is my favorite place to find birds! This time, we spotted a vibrant male American Kestrel, Black Phoebes, and more. I'm convinced those two Turkey Vultures are up to no good...

Plus, I never thought we'd encounter the second-largest living rodent during our birding adventure!

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Sutter National Wildlife Refuge

We finally walked the trails at the Sutter National Wildlife Refuge! It's a birdwatching destination that's been on our list for years and I'm so glad we made the drive to see this beautiful refuge.

We saw lots of Double-crested Cormorants, Snowy Egrets, and many other wetland birds. There were beautiful wildflowers in bloom, a cute little Lark Sparrow that hopped along on the walking trail in front of us, and the most adorable Sierran Tree Frog nestled in a hole in the path.

Another refuge checked off the to-do list!

Hmmm...wonder where we'll end up next...

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Birding During a Full Moon

Don't you just love a full moon during the daytime? We enjoyed a lovely morning at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge in Northern California while the moon was full and glowing in the chilly morning sky.

When is your favorite time to go birding?

🌕

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Wetland Birds of the Sacramento Valley ~ National Wildlife Refuge Birding

This relaxing montage shows a few of the bird species that can be found at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge in Northern California...

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Black Phoebe Fun Facts

Let's celebrate the beauty of the

Black Phoebe...

The Black Phoebe is a medium-sized flycatcher.

They live year-round in the western United States and down through Central and South America.

Phoebe (pronounced “fee-bee”) comes from the short, high-pitched, whistled call they make.

Their song consists of two alternating phrases and can be heard from both sexes, but is more commonly sung by males.

They are usually found near near a water source because they use mud to build their nests and water attracts the insects they eat.

It frequently flicks its tail up and down, a characteristic of the flycatcher family.

They dart out from their perch to catch insects in mid-air.

Males and females look the same. Their plumage does not vary seasonally.

Juveniles have brown feathers that darken as they age.

In Greek mythology, Phoebe is the Titan goddess of intellect and prophecy.

The oldest Black Phoebe on record was at least 8 years old.

Black Phoebes are territorial, monogamous, and pairing may last for up to five years.

I treasure all of my Black Phoebe sightings!

Do you have Black Phoebes in your area?

Let's go birding!

 

The Black Phoebe

Let's celebrate the beauty of the Black Phoebe...

Happy birding!

 

Birdwatching at Gray Lodge Wildlife Area

A variety of birds can be found at the Gray Lodge Wildlife Area in Gridley, California...

Let's go birding!

One of my favorite flycatchers... Black Phoebe

Black Phoebes can be tough to get photos of because they are always on the move, but I managed to put together a little slideshow of my favorite Black Phoebe photos...

📷 All photos were taken in northern California with my little Canon SX530 and have not been filtered or altered in any way. 

Summer Birding ☼ Colusa National Wildlife Refuge

We usually don't make many visits to our local wildlife refuges in the summer because the triple-digit temps here in the Sacramento Valley can be brutal. Luckily, we had a cooler day (yes, we consider 95 "cool") and decided to take a drive through the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge.

I'm so glad we did! There was much more water than I thought there'd be and everything was green, green, green!

We saw Black Phoebe, Western Kingbird, Mourning Dove, Wild Turkey, Ring-necked Pheasant and the biggest gathering of herons we've ever seen...

The birds were extremely cooperative with having their picture taken on this particular day and that's always a big plus!

We had such a nice drive through the auto tour that we decided not to let the heat keep us away from our favorite places from here on out.

I usually don't take photos of Turkey Vultures because they kind of creep me out, but we spotted this juvenile and he was actually kind of cool looking!

So, the moral of the story is to not let the blazing, unrelenting sun keep you from doing the things you love!

P.S. There were A TON of wildflowers blooming all over the refuge, too! I'll be posting more picks of the colorful flowers we saw in Colusa over on my travel blog Vaughn the Road Again...

Let's go birding!