Birds and Barbed Wire ~ Rural Birding Adventures on the Country Roads of California

Take a ride through the country with me, where we'll see a variety of birds, colorful wildflowers, and beautiful views of the foothills...

Horned Lark, Western Bluebirds, Brewer's Blackbirds, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Kingbird, Sandhill Cranes, Killdeer, Savannah Sparrow, California Quail, and many more!

Follow my birding adventures!

 

Birding from Home ☼ Backyard Birdbath Video

I hope you are all staying home and staying safe!

Here are a few of my backyard bird friends enjoying the birdbath...

Moment of Zen ☼ Female Western Bluebird

Today's relaxing Moment of Zen is brought to you by a beautiful female Western Bluebird at the Pine Creek Unit of the Sacramento River National Wildlife Refuge...

Sacramento River National Wildlife Refuge ☼ Pine Creek Unit

The Pine Creek Unit of the Sacramento River National Wildlife Refuge is a great place to hear songbirds while you walk the beautiful trail loop. We spotted a pair of Western Bluebirds, California Towhee, Golden-crowned Sparrows, an Osprey in its nest and much more!

Let's go birding!

Land Right Here!

This spot in my backyard is getting some serious bird action!

Besides the Sharp-shinned Hawk that landed here last week, I've spotted quite a few backyard bird visitors in this very same spot...

Western Meadowlark

(Keep in mind that these photos were taken through my tinted sliding glass door!)

Male Western Bluebird

And he even brought his girlfriend along!

Female Western Bluebird

These adorable little guys are one of my favorites and I always have a tough time getting photos of them in the wild because they are so quick. And here I'm taking pictures of him from my couch!

Yellow-rumped Warbler

And, because it's always nice to see birds in motion, I took some video...

Honey Lake Wildlife Area

On our way home from the Modoc NWR, we came across the Honey Lake Wildlife Area near Susanville and saw a couple of interesting birds...

Male American Kestrel

Female Western Bluebird

I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo of the sign, but there were tons of people (and hunters) everywhere and we just did a drive-thru to check out the area. There's always next time!


This week on my blog, we'll be heading back to our old stomping grounds...

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!

Pond Hopping

It's been a while since we've been back to the Chico Oxidation Ponds. This time there weren't as many birds and it was cold and windy, but we got to see a kingfisher right away, up on the telephone wire above the walking trail.

 The female is above and there's a male below...

And these cute little bluebirds were totally worth going for...

We also got photos of a killdeer and our first ever American Pipit...

I never would have known this was an American Pipit if it wasn't for the Merlin Bird ID app. Get it if you don't already have it because it's ah-mazing!

Down by the river...

We didn't hike the trail at the Sacramento River National Wildlife Refuge, but we did see (and hear!) a bunch of birds a few feet from the parking area, all in the same tree!

 Western Bluebird

 Western Scrub-Jay

 Black Phoebe