Modoc National Wildlife Refuge

Henry and I have found that visiting national wildlife refuges along our journeys enhances our experiences.  I am actively searching for nearby refuges along our route.  US HWY 395 goes right by Modoc National Wildlife Refuge and our first looks were from the highway.  A friendly police officer told us about the refuge roads. The next couple of hours were spent driving, stopping, and photographing refuge inhabitants. 

The Modoc Refuge is 7021 acres with wetland, reservoir, riparian, sagebrush-steppe, and cropland habitats.  It is both a migration and staging area for wetland birds during migration and a nesting area for ducks, geese, sandhill cranes, and several species of marsh birds.

The land was owned by the Dorris family from 1870 acquired ruing the U.S. Homestead Act.  In the 1930's they created a reservoir to provide water storage for their ranch.  The family operated the land for 90 years when it was acquired by the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission in 1959 and became a National Wildlife Refuge to manage, protect, and produce migratory waterfowl.  Originally 5,360 acres, more land was acquired over time to reach the current 7021 acres. 

Highlights were the Marsh Wren at its nest and the Virginia Rails. 

Much of my photography these days is documentary work - how many of the species I see can I document - even if they are far away.  I am currently using a Canon Powershot SX540 with its 1200mm optical zoom.  Eventually I hope to replace my Nikon P900.  

Western Pond Turtle

Virginia Rail, another life bird for me

Marsh wren with her nest

Canada goose and goslings

The Canada Goose Family

America Avocet

American Coot

Black-billed Magpie

Mr. & Mrs. Northern Shoveler

Mr. & Mrs. Mallard

Red-winged Blackbird

Mr. & Mrs. Gadwall

Cinnamon Teal

Ring-necked Duci

Pied-bill Grebe

Wilson's Phalaropes

Sandhill Crane

Lupines

Wild Teasel

The Animals at Mono Lake - June 8, 2021

There were not a lot of birds at Mono Lake - other times of year have many more nesting birds.  But I had never seen a Violet Green Swallow . . . I think that there were also two different kinds of Canada Geese - one may be a subspecies Lesser Canada Goose - shorter neck. 

Violet Green Swallow, A Life Bird for me!

 Brewer's Blackbird

Canada Geese

Canada Geese

Nesting Osprey

California Gull

Common Sagebrush Lizard

Paton Center for Hummingbirds

For years I had known that southern Arizona south of Tucson was a place to see hummingbirds.  We try to do something fun each day of our trips, so when I saw how close we were going to be to the Paton Center for Hummingbirds, we decided to take a detour.  There was certainly the possibility for life birds there. For my non birder friends, a life bird is a bird species that you have never seen before.  There are hummingbird species in this most southern part of Arizona that can be seen no where else in the United States.  I had an evening and a morning.  When I entered the property, I knew it was going to be glorious. It reminded me of Salineno in south Texas - feeding stations, water stations, and chairs for comfortable viewing.  This was originally owned by Wally and Marion Paton.  They opened their yard for birders beginning in 1973.  The property is now managed by the Tuscon Audubon.  

I did not wander much that evening, so I did not see some other parts until the next morning.  

That evening the most common hummingbird was the Broad-billed Hummingbird. While I HAD seen it at the Tucson Desert Museum in a hummingbird house, I had never seen it in the wild!  The males are really striking with their bluish purple throat and red bil

Other birds seen that evening were White-winged doves, Ladder-backed Woodpecker family, Lesser Goldfinch and Blue Grosbeak.

Costa's Hummingbird was another delight.

We drove to Nogales to spend the night.  There IS a hotel in Patagonia, but we were trying to mimimize our expenses so Nogales was significantly cheaper.  The hotel in Patagonia looks great, perhaps I can stay there another time when I come back to spend more days at the Paton Center.

The next morning I set about exploring the trails.  WOW!  There is a big hummingbird/butterfly garden. I saw my first Butterfly Weed Milkweed in bloom.  There was a small pond with a mulberry tree that the birds were coming in to eat the mulberries.  I spent at least an hour on the bench there watching a hummingbird feeder and the other birds coming in. 

Then I moved farther along the trail towards the residence.  A lovely covered seating area with all sorts of feeders: hummingbird feeders, seed feeders, oranges, etc.  Another birder and I started chatting.  Hummingbirds seen Black-chinned hummingbird, Rivoli Hummingbird (Magnificent), Violet-crowned Hummingbird, and lots of Broad-billed hummingbirds.  At one point I thought we might have had White-eared Hummingbird, but iNaturalist did not confirm it.  

Violet Crowned hummingbirds were the third life birds for me at this place.  

The last hummingbird species I saw there is the one that is my summer guest: the Black-chinnned Hummingbird 

Another bird showed up and gave me a good look but NOT a photo was the Yellow breasted chat.  I think I had seen it during the City Nature Challenge in Austin, but not a good looks wee.  So this was also a life bird.  Albert’s Towhee was a new bird species for me, as was the Brown-crested Flycatcher.  There were Pine Siskin - not as exciting this year because I had so many at my house during the irruption.  In addition there were Gambel’s qual, White-winged doves, a woodpecker, (probably Gila), Phainopepla, House finches (eating oranges), Scott’s Oriole, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Blue Grosbeak.

This is really only a 2 day drive from where I live.  I hope to go back. 

Side note - a week or so later their Facebook page noted that they had to take down their feeders temporarily because of bear sightings.  So glad I was there while the feeders were going. 

Franklin Mountains State Park

We made it to El Paso the first day’s drive.  I have been wanting to bird there for a long time, so we stopped at the Franklin Mountains State Park that morning.  The Franklin Mountains are surrounded by the city of El Paso and I think the entire park is within the city limits.  Before the park was created, developers were eyeing the land for residential development.  A group formed to “Save the Franklin Mountains.”  They were successful in getting a state park created and saving a special habit and beautiful area.  We saw joggers running in the cool of the desert morning. 

The park has a bird blind and feeding station.  I spent maybe an hour at the feeding station.  

 

I loved getting close looks at Scaled Quail coming in both to the feeders and the water feature.  

 

There were White-winged Doves

 

and Mourning Doves.  

There were LOTS of House Finches - with several of the color variations. 

Black-chinned hummingbirds visited the feeder that was close to the blind.  

I had a Northern Mockingbird 

and a Western Kingbird visit. 

And an oriole came to visit, probably Scott's Oriole.  

At the Visitor Center there was a bird nesting in the eaves of the porch, a closer look and photographs showed it to be Say’s Phoebe.  

And then there were the small mammals:

Texas Antelope squirrel 

Rock squirrels, adults and juveniles 

I look forward to returning to the Franklin Mountains during different seasons. 

Sully's Hill National Game Preserve

Monday, August 10

After spending the night at Devil's Lake, we chose a route to visit National Wildlife Refuges as we explored North Dakota.  

We arrived at Sully's Hill National Game Preserve  early in the morning, while it was still cool. Growing up in the Texas Panhandle, prairie dogs always delight me with their activities. 

Sully's Hill's bison are being managed to conserve their genetic diversity.

There was a beautiful wooded nature trail that seemed filled with singing birds. There were a number of yellow warblers. The trail led to a vista over the lake where there were white pelicans in the distance. I saw 12 species of birds within the preserve.

Some birds I photograph to be able to identify later. I was most pleased to identify this one finally as an American Redstart, a life bird for me. The Merlin bird App was very helpful in this identification process.

A thirteen lined ground squirrel was also out and about. He ran right past me at one point.

Sully's Hill was created as a National Park under Theodore Roosevelt in 1904.  During the Great Depression it was transferred to Fish and Wildlife Service.  Interestingly it is one of seven National parks to be be disbanded. Some were turned into National Monuments or merged with other national parks. One, Mackinak National Park, became a state park.