Poised for Flight: Pretty much all I do is look at birds!!!

This was a busy week for the banding team as we visited 4 sites in northern California. We headed out of Arcata on Monday for a five hour drive across the central valley and up to a site called Burney Falls. The site is actually about 5 miles from the falls in a beautiful isolated meadow surrounded by mountains. The site was pretty birdy with loads of purple finches and warblers. Olive sided flycatchers, Nutall's and Acorn woodpeckers, and a bald eagle were also good sights. From here we headed out to the falls, one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Nesting behind the falls were a colony of black swifts, the largest US swift that primarily nests behind (are you ready?) waterfalls. The next morning we banded at Big Springs in Lassen National Forest about an hour from the falls. After a bout of rain early in the morning we were able to open the nets and band. Highlights were willow flycatcher in the net and a pygmy nuthatch nest near the banding station. We headed back across the valley and south east the next morning to Indian Valley, a beautiful isolated creek surrounded by willow thickets and rich with bird life. Birds of interest that we banded were a western tanager and 2 epidonax species of flycatcher Dusky, and Hammon's. We flushed a Northern Pygmy owl while checking the nets and a Great Horned owl sang us to sleep. The last site brought us down out of the mountains to the Trinity River to a place called Burney Road. This site was beautiful but with few birds. We were all tired from camping out for the last 4 nights and the heat and swampy trails were getting to us. The following is a list of all birds banded by the team this week as well as some photos. Enjoy!!

Big Springs
song sparrow 6
yellow warbler 2
fox sparrow (thick billed) 1
dark-eyed junco (Oregon) 1
orange-crowned warbler 2
yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon's) 1
pine siskin 2
lazuli bunting 1
red-breasted sapsucker 1
Brewer's blackbird 2
American robin 1
Allan's hummingbird 1
willow flycatcher 1

Burney Falls
spotted towhee 4
western wood peewee 2
song sparrow 3
purple finch 17
bushtit 1
Nashville warbler 1
black-throated grey warbler 2
lesser goldfinch 1
oak titmouse 1
lazuli bunting 1
black-headed grosbeak 2
hairy woodpecker 1
red-winged blackbird 1
orange-crowned warbler 1

Indian Valley
purple finch 3
yellow warbler 3
fox sparrow (thick billed) 5
Nashville warbler 3
hermit warbler 4
pine siskin 2
lazuli bunting 3
Macgillivray's warbler 1
western tanager 1
black-headed grosbeak 1
spotted towhee 1
American robin 1
dusky flycatcher 4
Hammon's flycatcher 1
Anna's hummingbird 1

Hawker Road
downy woodpecker 1
song sparrow 5
Macgillivray's warbler 3
spotted towhee 1
yellow-breasted chat 1
wrentit 1

black-throated grey warbler at Burney Falls (Photo taken by Lucy Rowe)

pygmy nuthatch at Big Springs (notice this bird has a band on its leg)

hermit warbler at Big Springs

Nashville warbler at Burney Falls

Lazuli Bunting at Indian Valley

On my days off earlier this week I headed out to Clam Beach to try and find the Snowy Plovers. Snowy Plovers are federally endangered and are threatened by loss of habitat. They are also in danger of being struck by vehicles that ride on the beach of which there are many (Can't we keep our cars on the roads?). They build their nests right in front of the dunes and are very hard to see due to their cryptic coloration. I was also able to photograph these birds:

California Gulls at Clam Beach, CA