Sandhill Cranes by Cecelia Sheeter

Join trip leader Judy Johnson for a different kind of Wednesday Walk. We will visit Merced National Wildlife Refuge late in the day, touring the refuge when the light is best for photography, and then stay for the sandhill crane fly-in. Expect to see thousands of geese and cranes, several species of ducks, tundra swans, pelicans, and numerous raptors. The sandhill crane fly-in at dusk is a magical experience as you watch flight after flight of cooing cranes come to roost. We will meet in front of the River Park Target at 11:45 am for a 12:00 pm departure. We expect to leave the refuge no later than 7:00 pm.

Registration: Please register here.

Checklist: binoculars, spotting scopes, cameras, jackets, snacks, water, insect repellent, and radios.

Trip Leader: Judy Johnson jajohn1@comcast.net, (559)977-2787

Map to meeting place:

Lost Lake CBC Circle

The 2019 Lost Lake Christmas Bird Count (CBC) will take place on Saturday, De­cember 14. We will meet at the Lost Lake Park nature trail parking lot at 7:00 a.m.

The Lost Lake CBC is one of sev­eral hundred counts that will take place in North America and beyond during December and January. These events contrib­ute important bird abundance data to an international database. Over the years this data has provided research­ers with much important informa­tion about the health of bird species in North American and beyond. You can learn more about the Christ­mas Bird Count program at http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count.

The Lost CBC circle (pictured above) includes Lost Lake Park, Millerton Lake State Park, Friant Bridge, grassland areas of southern Madera County, Rank Island, Ball Ranch parts of the McKenzie Table Mountain Preserve, Woodward Park, Jensen River Ranch, Woodward Lakes, Dry Creek Reservoir, and the northern reaches of Fresno/Clovis.

Participants will be divided into small groups, each responsible for counting in a designated area within the count circle. Checklists will be provided, on which numbers of indi­vidual birds and species are marked.

You needn’t be an expert birder to participant in this event. Anyone with a basic knowledge of bird species is encouraged to partici­pate. The more eyes we have in each group, the more birds we are likely to count.

Some groups will be out for the entire day, while others will finish earlier than that. Feel free to join us even if you can only do so for part of the day. Most participants will submit eBird lists of their sightings, but for those who wish to submit paper lists, please meet the compiler (Rachel Clark) at 5:30 p.m. at Denny’s on Blackstone and Herndon. If enough people are interested, we might sit down for a post-count meal.

For more information about this event or to confirm that you will par­ticipate, please contact Rachel Clark at 515-357-0122 or tanagergirl@gmail.com.

Registration: Please also register for the event here.

Map to meeting place:

Swainson’s Hawk by Nina Jones

Sycamore Island in Madera County, just across the river from Fresno, has excellent bird habitat.  Uplands, wetlands, ponds, riparian areas and oak groves are found on this preserve of several hundred acres. It is a part of the San Joaquin River Parkway. Cormorants, ducks, mergansers, grebes, raptors, sparrows, finches, quail, gnatcatchers, and many others can be found there.

There are restrooms and picnic tables on this property. We will walk a mile or more on dirt roads, but most of the area is drivable for those who prefer driving. We will meet at the gate to the property. The gate to the property automatically opens when you exit so those who want to leave early can do so. Take H-41 to Children’s Blvd off-ramp north of the San Joaquin River and drive past Children’s Hospital as it becomes Ave 9. Continue on Ave 9 to Rd 40 and turn left. Rd 40 will end at Ave 7 1/2. Go right on 7 1/2 for a few hundred feet, turn left at an open gate and drive toward the river. You will come to another gate where we will assemble.

Registration: Please register for the field trip here.

Checklist: binoculars, scope, field guide, snacks, lunch, water, sunscreen, hat, radios

Trip leader: George Folsom geofolsom@gmail.com, (559)351-7192

Please join Fresno Audubon on Wednesday, January 8 as we explore the Madera County side of Millerton Lake State Recreation Area. With its array of habitat types, this locally renowned birding destination is an excellent place to find such species as Western Grebe, Clark’s Grebe, Bald Eagle, California Gull, California Quail, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Canyon Wren, Rock Wren, and so many more! As there is a $10 day-use fee per vehicle to enter Millerton Lake SRA, we will be carpooling as much as possible to reduce costs. Once inside the gates, we will drive along the road, stopping at turn-outs and campgrounds to explore the habitat (these will be very short hikes). Once we have finished birding at Millerton Lake, if there is interest and time, we will head to another local birding hot-spot: Road 208 between Highway 41 and Road 211. Road 208 boasts open grassland and oak savannah habitats, and is a great place to find Ferruginous Hawk, Golden Eagle, American Kestrel, Acorn Woodpecker, Western Meadowlark, American Pipit, Vesper Sparrow, and too many others to list! This field trip should last until approximately 2:00 PM. Be sure to dress in layered clothing, and to bring a hat, sunscreen (just in case), water, snacks, and a lunch. Please meet at 7:45 AM in the Walmart parking lot on Blackstone and Ashlan.

Register for this trip is here

Directrions to the assembly point are here

Trip leader: Rachel Clark, 515-357-0122, tanagergirl@gmail.com

Nuttall’s Woodpecker by Larry Cusick

Jeff Seay will lead this trip through the Merced Grasslands Important Bird Area finishing at Merced National Wildlife Refuge. Meet at that Walmart parking lot at Ashlan and Blackstone at 6:45 am for a 7 am departure. The trip will cover the Madera County’s foothill Grasslands on the way to the Merced Wildlife Refuge. We expect to see wintering raptors and other birds of the low foothills and grasslands. We will mostly be driving and getting out of the car periodically with possible small walks. At the end of the trip we will enjoy the spectacle of sandhill cranes, snow and Ross’s geese, and other waterfowl. It will last most of the day, ending about 5:45 at the refuge.

Checklist: binoculars, spotting scopes, cameras, radios, jackets, lunch/snacks, water, and insect repellent.

Registration for this trip is here.

Directions to the assembly point are here.

Trip leader: Jeff Seay, ‭(559) 960-0849‬, jeffseay@sbcglobal.net

Join Larry Parmeter for a morning of urban birding in Clovis. We will meet at the parking lot of the Clovis Botanical Garden, on Clovis Avenue just north of Alluvial Avenue, at 8:30 am, and will bird the Garden and the Dry Creek Park area around it. Then we will go across the street to the ponding basins to the east of Dry Creek, along Alluvial Ave. Finally, we will head back to the intersection of Clovis and Alluvial and check out Cottonwood Park. Lots of waterfowl in the winter, riperian and woodland birds, hawks and even occasional Bald Eagles show up here. We often don’t think of the great birding areas in our own backyards, and we have many such areas right in the middle of the Fresno-Clovis area.

Registration for this trip is here

Directions to the assembly point are here

Checklist: binoculars, scope, field guide, snacks, lunch, water, sunscreen, hat

Trip Leader: Larry Parmeter, lanpar362@gmail.com, (559)288-3456

Join a tour of one of the great remnants of the historically bountiful wintering grounds for migratory waterfowl on the Pacific Flyway located in the Bear Creek, Salt Slough, and San Joaquin River floodplain.  It hosts a myriad of tree-lined channels, wetlands and native grasslands.  There is a good chance of seeing Tundra Swans, several species of geese, numerous species of ducks, raptors, shorebirds, sparrows and many other wetland and grassland species.  Along the way we will keep an eye out for the native Tule Elk that once numbered in the millions in the Central Valley.  We will stop at the visitors center and view the wildlife and history exhibits before starting the auto-loop drive.  This is an all day trip so plan accordingly.  We will meet at Target near Herndon and highway 99 at 7:45 am for an 8:00 am departure.

Checklist: binoculars, scope, field guide, snacks, lunch, water, sunscreen, hat, radios

Register for this walk here

Northern Pintail by Dan Cobb, Merced NWR, 19 November 2019

Meeting location

Pectoral Sandpiper by Gary Woods

Join us for an exciting field trip to the Stevens Ranch in Moss Landing. This unique property was originally purchased by David Packard to stop the development of the northern side of Elkhorn Slough. His son-in-law Robert Stevens continues to run the ranch as a haven for birdlife. Expect to see numerous species of upland birds as well as shorebirds in the multi-thousands.

This is an out of town trip starting at 8:00 am, so you can either stay the night before nearby (Watsonville is the most economical) or leave Fresno at 5:30 am to arrive by 8:00. After birding we will eat lunch and then return home, so expect the day to end around 4:00 pm.

Meeting place for carpooling from Fresno is the Target Parking lot at 6655 N Riverside Dr, Fresno, CA 93722. We will meet at 5:15 am for a 5:30 departure.

Register for this walk here

Checklist: binoculars, bird guide, water, sun protection and lunch.

Leader: Robert Snow, (650)483-2347, rsnow@fresnoaudubon.org.

Directions to the Stephens Ranch: You can navigate to the Elkhorn Native Plant Nursery (now closed) in Moss Landing, then turn east on Struve road. Proceed towards the former nursery, and you will see the ranch house on your right. The coordinates are Struve Rd, Moss Landing, CA 95039, 36.831258, -121.758357.

Ball Ranch, on the San Joaquin River Parkway, offers various habitats including grasslands, wetlands, ponds, riparian areas and oak groves. Cormorants, ducks, mergansers, grebes, raptors, sparrows, finches, quail, gnatcatchers, woodpeckers and many others can be found there. Occasionally we have found Lewis’s Woodpeckers.

There are no restrooms on this property. We will walk a mile or more on dirt roads, but most of the area can be driven for those who prefer driving. Please meet at Target in the River Park Shopping Center near Highway 41 and East El Paso Ave at 6:45 am. We plan to be finished by noon. The gate to the property must be locked while we are on the property so plan to stay until noon

Checklist:  binoculars, scope, field guide, snacks, lunch, water, sunscreen, hat, radios

Register for the walk here.

Green Heron by Clayton Dahlen