Merced NWR is a gem. This time of year is also amorous
owl season -- lovestruck Great Horned Owl are out in
the daytime on cloudy days, especially in Los Banos
Wildlife area. To end the day perfectly, go to one of
the Basque restaurants in Los Banos for dinner.

Watch out for the Tule fog.

Dick

--- tweeters at innerlodge.com wrote:

> Oops! Please bear with me and let me do this again.
> As a new poster to
> Tweeters, I seem to have made a mistake and sent
> that post to the fellow
> that posted it. Sorry 'bout that!
>
> Dusty - Everett, Wa.
>
>
=================================================================
>
>
> Good morning Tweeters!
>
> There are lots of opportunities for good birding
> most anywhere along the San
> Joaquin Valley in California. While the SLNRA
> described below is a great
> place to visit, at this time of year the "must see"
> place to stop is the
> Merced National Wildlife Refuge pretty well in the
> center of the state.
> >From highway 99, the MNWR can be reached by driving
> 8 miles south of Merced
> on State Highway 59 and then 8 miles west on Sandy
> Mush Road. From I-5 (or
> if you're staying at San Louis), take 152 East past
> Los Banos, turn North
> (left) on Turner Island Road, which will turn east
> and becomes Sandy Mush
> Road. The refuge is about 4-miles ahead on the
> right (south side of Sandy
> Mush road).
>
> >From early November to mid-March it is *the* place
> to visit. And the best
> time to visit is from about 2-hours before sunset to
> just after dark.
> Although the refuge closes at sundown, it has an
> automatic gate that will
> let late visitors out.
>
> Each evening Sandhill Cranes (SACR) will be coming
> back to the refuge for
> the night. You'll be able to see thousands upon
> thousands of them coming at
> you from all points of the compass looking like
> waves in the air, seemingly
> without end. The honking as they wheel overhead to
> find their "units" is
> astounding. The recognition "dances" and ritual
> displays they do upon
> arrival is a thing of beauty to behold.
>
> Just a bit after they begin to arrive, 10's of
> thousands of Snow and other
> geese begin to depart. This process begins with a
> rising cacophony of
> sound, culminating in a roar as they leap into the
> air by the tens of
> thousands, wheeling and forming up to head out for
> places unknown. The din
> is deafening, and the sky will rain white feathers
> like snow.
>
> There is an easily driven ("regular" cars are fine),
> one-way gravel track
> around the refuge. Our favorite viewing area is
> about half-way around the
> refuge, about opposite the entrance drive. From
> there, the SACR arrivals
> usually circle overhead as they lose altitude while
> honking back and forth
> with those already on the ground. A truly awesome
> spectacle. In addition,
> one can see all manor of late hunting raptors and a
> bit later owls of many
> different kinds (esp. GHOW) working the flat-lands
> to the south. Just keep
> in mind that these are birds after all, and they're
> eminently portable, so
> you may have to adjust your viewing place for best
> effect. If can and does
> change from time-to-time.
>
> If you're going to be in that area at that time of
> year, this is a must-see
> experience. You won't regret it--well, as with all
> things birding, YMMV!
> We've been going there 3-4 times/year for probably a
> dozen years or more and
> have always had this kind of experience.
>
> Also, FWIW; I've built and maintained my own version
> of birding lists for
> some of the destinations in that area. If you can
> read a Word doc, I'm more
> then happy to send you my list, such as it is...
>
>
>
> Best regards all,
> Dusty Bleher -- Everett, Wa.
>
>
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
> >
> [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu]
> On Behalf
> > Of ravenintherain
> > Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 23:34
> > To: carenp
> > Cc: Tweets
> > Subject: Re: [Tweeters] RFI: I5 / 395 corridor to
> SouthernCal
> >
> > carenp wrote:
> > > in a few days, i'm going to take a week and
> venture forth
> > to visit the
> > > parental units who have moved from what is
> clearly heaven (along the
> > > ocean) to what is clearly not heaven (banning /
> palm
> > springs)... i'm
> > > driving, so if someone could take time to point
> out some of
> > the nicer
> > > birding sights along the way (or in the banning
> area), i'd
> > appreciate
> > > it...
> > >
> > > i honestly don't recall insanity being part of
> the family
> > tree before
> > > now... :)
> > >
> > > thanks!
> > > 00 caren
> > > http://www.parkgallery.org
> <http://www.parkgallery.org/>
> > george davis
> > > creek, north fork
> > >
> > Two of my favorite places along I-5 are Ashland,
> Oregon and
> > San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area just off
> the freeway
> > about 60 miles inland from Monterey Bay.
> >
> > Stay at Ashland, see a play or two (Oregon
> Shakespearean
> > Festival), eat well and bird the area around
> Emigrant
> > Reservoir just a couple of miles east of town.
> Highlights
> > might be an oak titmouse and any number of
> woodpeckers.
> >
> > San Luis Reservoir is a large artificial lake
> three miles or
> > so west of
> > I-5 and about 15 miles west of Los Banos, CA.
> There's a nice
> > campground at the north end of the reservoir and a
> superb one
> > called Basalt Campground a couple of miles to the
> south. I
> > have birded that area twice in February. The
> reservoir will
> > have a large and varied number of waterfowl.
> There were
> > scads of ruddy ducks and a lot of merganser. I
> saw my first
> > northern mockingbird in the north campground.
> >
> > The piece de resistance, however, is Basalt
> Campground. The
> > central valley of California is the only home of
> the
> > yellow-billed magpie, of which you will see
> plenty. Take
> > peanuts! I had my first sitings of golden eagles,
> loggerhead
> > shrikes, brown-headed cowbirds and white-tailed
> kites there
> > and there are lots of other birds:
> > meadowlarks, golden- and white-crowned sparrows,
> hawks to
> > challenge your identification skills and lots of
> great
> > horned-owls that hoot at each other half the
> night. I got to
> > watch the owls mate and catch mice from the road
> and grounds.
> > Great memories. There are also plenty of rabbits
> and hares
>
=== message truncated ===


Richard Carlson
Full-time Birder, Biker and Rotarian
Part-time Economist
Tucson, AZ, Lake Tahoe, CA, & Kirkland, WA
rccarl at pacbell.net
Tucson 520-760-4935
Tahoe 530-581-0624
Kirkland 425-828-3819
Cell 650-280-2965