Birding at Gray Lodge Wildlife Area ☼ Gridley, California

The Gray Lodge Wildlife Area is one of my favorite places to go birding in northern California. Between the wide variety of birds and the picturesque views of the Sutter Buttes, this area definitely makes my short list of birding hotspots.

Birds featured in the video from our recent visit include American White Pelicans, Bewick's Wren, Black Phoebe, Spotted Towhee, Greater Yellowlegs, White-faced Ibis, American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Phainopepla, Brewer's Blackbird, Western Scrub-Jay, Cinnamon Teal, Marsh Wren, Tri-colored Blackbird, Western Kingbird, Killdeer, Golden-crowned Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, and Turkey Vultures. Phew! That's a lot of birds!

You can find all of my posts about Gray Lodge HERE.

Lema Ranch

We finally made it back to Lema Ranch! When we went last summer, I knew it was a special place that I'd like to revisit in every season.

This time we saw dozens of bird and duck species! There were coots, ruddy ducks, ring-necked ducks, redheads, grebes, wigeons and mallards on the pond. And along the path we saw (and heard) starlings, robins, mourning doves, spotted towhees, and several different woodpeckers.

Here are some of the best pics of the day:

Our first Spotted Towhee EVER!

These Redheads were the reason for our visit!

I'd seen in a birding forum online that someone had spotted redheads on the pond

and I've never seen one.

One more species for our Big Year 2017!

Tomorrow, the Acorn Woodpeckers we saw are getting their very own post!