Towheeblog

Chico’s annual goose fest is underway.  I lead my first field trip tomorrow and today my wife and I did some scouting after we arrived mid-afternoon.  An hour or so at Llano Seco along Seven Mile Lane was bird-jammed.  First we went south on Hwy 99 a few miles from Chico to watch cranes dancing afield.  Then at Llano Seco the sun was lower in the sky and looking east the colors of dusk began to glow.  Then a flock of at least 100 peeps–I suspect western Sandpipers–began to perform a swirling murmuration against dark blue hills and gray sky.  They shown brightly, silver splinters, as they performed their synchronized swim through the air.Sacramento River NWR–Llano Seco Unit, Butte, California, US
Jan 22, 2020
33 species in less than two hours

Snow Goose  X
Ross’s Goose  X
Greater White-fronted Goose  X
Cackling Goose  X
Canada Goose  X
Northern Shoveler  X
American Wigeon  X
Northern Pintail  X
American Coot  X
Sandhill Crane  X
Black-necked Stilt  X
Killdeer  X
Western Sandpiper  X
Greater Yellowlegs  2
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Great Egret  1
Turkey Vulture  30
Cooper’s Hawk  1
Northern Harrier  2
Bald Eagle  2
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
American Kestrel  1
Black Phoebe  1
Loggerhead Shrike  1
American Pipit  2
White-crowned Sparrow  20
Golden-crowned Sparrow  10
Savannah Sparrow  40
Western Meadowlark  8
Red-winged Blackbird  X
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
Brewer’s Blackbird  X