My Big Year Blog
Jim Gain

Jan 21, 2006

Maria and I took a little birding route through eastern Stanislaus County yesterday. Not anything to get too excited about, but we ended up with 80 species for a mornings work. We started going up Davis Rd from Lake Rd. which is east of Turlock Lake. There were lots of Common Goldeneye (24) and Common Mergansers (4) and Greater Yellowlegs along the canal. Farther out Davis Rd. were three Ferruginous Hawks, Horned Larks, Long-billed Curlews (25) and an American Merlin. (What's an American Merlin you ask??? That's an American Kestrel that I tried unsuccessfully to make into a Merlin.) We bought a year pass for the state parks and parked in the Turlock Lake Campground AFTER talking with the ranger and buying the pass. We only stayed there for about an hour and had a HUTTON'S VIREO, large numbers of Bushtits, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS (9), Bewick's Wrens (3), Orange-crowned Warblers (4) and one TOWNSEND'S WARBLER. We stopped briefly (restroom stop) at Basso Bridge at the intersection of Lake Rd. and Hwy 132 where we added lots of White-throated Swifts and a Phainopepla.

Our next stop was Dawson Lake on Hwy 59, just south of Hwy 132 near LaGrange where we scoped out a cute flotilla of HOODED MERGANSERS (6), a nice adult Bald Eagle and two MUTE SWANS. We turned around and headed north on Hwy 59, over the Tuolumne River to Cooperstown Rd. Along Cooperstown Rd. we had lots of LEWIS' WOODPECKERS (8) and a Rock Wren on the railroad tracks about 1 mile east of the intersection of Willms Rd. Along Willms Rd. we had MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS (9) out in a field just south of the pond. We finished up at the Knight's Ferry Recreation Area for a restroom stop (theses have to be carefully planned out when my wife comes along, lol) where we added nothing new, but there were lots of White-throated Swifts and an Osprey.

Jan 15, 2006
Maria, Jonathon and I did a swing around the east side of Stanislaus County last weekend driving from Oakdale to Knight's Ferry, south on Willms and Crabtree Rds. to Hwy 132 and then around Basso Bridge and a brief look along Turlock Lake. We added Prairie Falcon, Burrowing Owl and Golden Eagle along Crabtree Rd; and White-throated Swift and Phainopepla at Basso Bridge.

Last night we had a Barn Owl screech right over our house as we were getting out of our car.

Jan 1, 2006
Well the BY started off with a very wet and wild Caswell/Westley Christmas Bird Count. We met up at Denny's at 6:00 and talked up the CBC and the BY while enjoying the most excellent cuisine. I had called the Modesto Sewage Ponds (MSP) last Friday and was told that I couldn't go out there today for the count. I called the onsite worker this morning however and he said I could go ahead and stop by. On my way to the ponds I saw my first species of the BY, a YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE. It was extremely stormy, dark and windy (gusts well over 50 mph). To my surprise, there were huge numbers of birds at the ponds. Many more than I could possibly count. I gave it a shot though. I had high numbers (5) of PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER, a flyby Ferrari MERLIN and a BARN SWALLOW (second time for the ponds on the CBC). I have added photos of a couple of the concentrations of waterfowl. See if you want to try and count them! I tallied 78 species by the time I left the ponds.

After I left the ponds I quickly did part of area 6 and then headed up to the refuge in hopes of adding something new. I bumped into Eric Caine who promptly took me into the Faith Ranch to show me a EURASIAN WIGEON. It was the best bird of the day for me. At the end of the day I had 93 species and 100 points.