Birds and Barbed Wire ☼ Rural Birding ☼ Glenn County, California

As you've probably noticed by now, some of our best (and most memorable) bird sightings have been on the country backroads around the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. So, I just had to put together a little tribute video in honor of my favorite road...

Some of the birds in this video include: Red-tailed Hawk, Western Kingbird, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Great Egret, Belted Kingfisher, American Kestrel, Sandhill Crane, and Cattle Egret.

Let's go birding!

Bovine Birds

We spotted some Cattle Egrets on Road P in Willows!

You might remember from last year that I was absolutely thrilled to spot our first Cattle Egret (on County Rd 33 in Willows) and he just happened to be sitting on a cow. (Read that post here.)

So today, during our second-ever sighting, I wasn't surprised to find them hanging out in a pasture with, you guessed it, a bunch of cows. 🐄 🐄 🐄

This is one of the photos of Road P I posted yesterday, and if you look closely, you can see two Cattle Egrets off to the side on the left...

Tomorrow, we're headed to the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge...

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

A Birding First

Western Meadowlark

Great Blue Heron

We've never seen Sandhill Cranes at the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge before (we've only ever seen them at Llano Seco)...and there they were on the auto tour during our last visit!

The one below is definitely a juvenile because he doesn't have the red crown yet...

How nice to see these magnificent birds in more than one place!

They were mixed in with some Great Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Black-necked Stilts and White-faced Ibises...

What a thrill to see all of them in one spot!

😊

Not everyone at the refuge has feathers...

Bird on a Cow

Last year during our Big Year, I wanted so badly to spot a Cattle Egret to add to the list. This year, I finally spotted one during one of our drives to the refuge, along a country road in Willows.

And he was sitting on a cow!

It seems like an appropriate enough thing for a Cattle Egret to be doing, but it was pretty cool to seen in person...

They aren't a very common bird in our area and I'm happy to finally add one to the list!