Happy New Year, all. To live up to last year's list, I knew I had to start birding on New Years Day. Although after a long night on New Years Eve, the other interns and I didn't leave until 12 o'clock! Pretty pathetic. Still, we made good use of the rest of our day off. Rather than trying to get as many species as possible, Cory, Frenchie, and I headed to Colusa National Wildlife Refuge (3+ hrs away) to chase the Falcated Duck, which has been seen there for a few weeks now. On the drive out we picked up lots of species including
American Kestrel, Black Phoebe, Willet, Long-billed Curlew, Bufflehead, American Avocet, Belted Kingfisher, American White Pelican, Red-shouldered Hawk, Yellow-billed Magpie, Great Blue Heron, and
Common Goldeneye to name a few.
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| American Wigeon, Colusa NWR, Colusa County, CA. 01/01/2012 [Photo by Lukas Musher] |
The refuge was loaded with waterfowl including hundreds of
Greater White-fronted, Cackling, Snow and
Ross' Geese, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, a few
Cinnamon and Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, and of course a lone
FALCATED DUCK, our target species for the day (only two previous accepted records for California). It was one of the first birds we saw at the refuge thanks to its close proximity to the refuge observation deck and the half-dozen or so other birders and photographers watching it when we arrived. We had great looks in the scope, and even with binoculars. I was able to get some photos, but the lighting wasn't optimal, and the bird was fairly distant for my 400mm lens (photos of the Falcated Duck below have been cropped).
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| Northern Pintail, Colusa NWR, Colusa County, CA. 01/01/2012. [Photo by Lukas Musher] |
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| Northern Pintail, Colusa NWR, Colusa County, CA. 01/01/2012. [Photo by Lukas Musher] |
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| Falcated Duck, Colusa NWR, Colusa County, CA. 01/01/2012. [Photo by Lukas Musher] |
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| Greater White-fronted Goose, Colusa NWR, Colusa County, CA. 01/01/2012. [Photo by Lukas Musher] |
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| Falcated Duck, Colusa NWR, Colusa County, CA. 01/01/2012. [Photo by Lukas Musher] |
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| Northern Pintail, Colusa NWR, Colusa County, CA. 01/01/2012. [Photo by Lukas Musher] |
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| Northern Shoveler, Colusa NWR, Colusa County, CA. 01/01/2012. [Photo by Lukas Musher] |
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| Greater White-fronted Goose, Colusa NWR, Colusa County, CA. 01/01/2012. [Photo by Lukas Musher] |
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| Falcated Duck, Colusa NWR, Colusa County, CA. 01/01/2012. [Photo by Lukas Musher] |
Other species added here include
Merlin, Marsh Wren, Western Meadowlark, Savannah Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and
Prairie Falcon among others.
By Luke Musher and Cory Ritter
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