Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge - Part 5

The kiosk wasn't the only place we saw Cliff Swallows at the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge!

There were a whole bunch hanging out on the auto tour, too!

What a gorgeous day to go birding!

And who's that hiding in the greenery?

 A black-crowned night heron!

 I'll be posting more photos from our visit tomorrow!

Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge - Part 3

Our drive through the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge auto tour continues with the cliff swallow nests at the kiosk...

(Here's the post from last year that shows them building the nests with mud.) This time they were already built and the adults were frantically flying in food...

We saw lots of other birds, including red-winged blackbirds...

 ...a camouflaged Savannah sparrow..

 ...and a tricolored blackbird...

There's a great egret flying away...

I'll post more pics tomorrow...

Stages of Adulthood

About halfway through the auto tour at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, we spotted a flock of Cliff Swallows taking a break in the middle of the road.

 This one is an adult with its dark coloring and contrasting white forehead...

 And these are juveniles!

 Their foreheads haven't filled in all the way yet...

...and they are stocky, duller in color, and have whitish throats...

How nice of them to sit still for us!

The Sheepy Ridge Wildlife Trail

(Or as I could have titled this post: Way Up Here)

When I say birding is an adventure, I mean birding is an Adventure with a capital A. Ready to go on one with me?

Okay, here we go...

Even though we've been to the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Complex a few times before, we've never walked the Sheepy Ridge Wildlife Trail that is directly behind the visitor center. This time we did.

The brochure describes the trail as "a very steep, 0-3-mile foot trail near the visitor center at Tule Lake Refuge" that "provides a spectacular view of the surrounding area from 150 feet above the basin." (Keep in mind that I didn't read the brochure before we started on the hike and thought a 0.3 mile trail sounded like a walk in the park.)

Looking up at the cliff from the trailhead you can see a little building at the very top on the left...

And there's the moon making an appearance too!

As we were trudging up the trail (hey, what happened to that walk in the park?), my hubby points out the building and says to me "I hope that's not where this trail is taking us." I stopped in my tracks, looked up (my eyes were on my feet because the trail was so steep that I was afraid to lose my footing and fall to my untimely death), and laughed between big panting breaths of air. "There's no way the trail is taking us all the way up there," I replied confidently.

Sure enough, the trail veered left and that's exactly where it was leading us. Meanwhile, I'm thinking to myself that this is some dilapidated old shack and why would anyone build a trail to it.

With my calves on fire and my hubby's fear of heights kicking into full gear, we trekked on. There was no way these birders were going to turn back now!

Did I mention that this trail is on the side of a cliff? Yep, here's looking back at the trail after I hugged my way around the rocks to get by...

*I think it's worth noting that Adventure to us means cruising new-to-us backroads to look for birds and following a sighting tip and going to a town we've never been to to see a South American bird that went waaay off course and somehow ended up in Northern California. (Read more about that particular adventure here.)

Okay, back to Sheepy Ridge. By this point, my calves are on fire and I can't believe I'm clinging to the side of a cliff. What's that up ahead? Oh, it's the shack we'd joked about!

We've reached our destination and now we've got one heck of a story to talk about for the next twenty years or so.

They weren't kidding when they said this trail has a spectacular view!

There's the parking lot for the Discovery Marsh Trail there at the bottom... 

And here's the view to the right. In the distance you can see the water of the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge...

Yay! I made it to the top!

Sometimes--okay most of the time, it pays off to keep climbing that hill even when you're not sure what lies at the top. Because it might just be a stunning view that leaves you breathless--not because you just climbed 150 feet up a cliff, but because it's so incredibly beautiful.

Driving away from the refuge, laughing about how we couldn't believe what we'd just done, I looked back at the cliff and had to have hubby stop the car so I could take a picture so you could see just how freaking high up it is.

Until we meet again, Sheepy Ridge. Until we meet again. (Oh yeah, I'm definitely climbing that mountain again next time!)

We need more mud!!!

There is some serious nest building going on in the Klamath Basin!

Here are some Cliff Swallows frantically gathering mud for their nests under the cliffs at the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge:

 But wait, there's more!

At the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, the same thing was going on. Except these swallows were building their nests right under the sign!

Some nests were further along than others...

Boy, that sure looks like a lot of work!

To get the full effect (and hear how noisy they were), I've uploaded a short video: