- Date: 03/03/2012
- Time: 06:00:00 AM
Panoche Valley
Field Trip
Winter raptors and sparrows are some of the
birds that we will be looking for on this trip. This
area is particularly good for Prairie Falcon and Golden
Eagle. Merlin is less common, but also possible. Some
of the specialty birds that we might see include Greater
Roadrunner, Costa’s Hummingbird, Cassin’s Kingbird,
Chukar and Mountain Plover.
Mercey Hot Springs hosts a wintering population of
Long-eared Owls and we will stop there to look for them.
Please note that there is a $5/person fee to go into
the resort and observe the owls.
We will meet at 6:00 AM at the Park-N-Ride lot by the Ikeda
Market (off of the Mace Boulevard Exit from I-80). We will
plan to be back in Davis between 7:00 and 8:00 PM. Please
bring lunch, plenty of liquids and be sure to dress in layers
(be prepared for possible rain and a full day of birding). A
major storm will cancel this trip.
Please contact the leader, Kevin Guse, for more information
(916-514-0685, harpy12@comcast.net).
**************************TRIP HIGHLIGHTS**********************
Panoche Valley
We enjoyed an early morning fly out of Greater White-fronted Geese and Sandhill Cranes standing eerily in the ground fog enroute along I-5.
During the day in Panoche Valley we enjoyed the following highlights:
Golden Eagles ( 5 different individuals, including one adult)
Ferruginous Hawk (3 different individuals)
Prairie Falcon (3 different individuals)
Long-eared Owls (17+ at Mercey Hot Springs)
Rock Wren (3 different individuals)
Greater Roadrunner (3 different individuals)
Tricolored Blackbird (flock of 400-500 individuals on Panoche road)
Mountain Bluebird (6-8 individuals on Panoche Road)
Vesper Sparrow (1 individual)
Sage Thrasher (1 individual)
Cassin’s Kingbird (2 individuals)
The best sighting of the day for me was an adult Bobcat running across a long field in broad daylight! It stopped to look at us then disappeared down a ravine.
Participants:11
Total species: 61