USA trip, day 14 - 6th February

After checking out from the Montbleu, we set off at 10:30 to drive to Sacramento through the beautifully scenic Sierra Mountains. About 2 hours later, we arrived at the Vic Fazio Yollo Wetland Preserve, adjacent to the Interstate 80 Sacramento by-pass. This is a huge restored wetland created from flooded farmland. Most of the preserve is available to hunters during part of the winter, but that season had now finished. Visitors can drive around a gravel track around a small part of the site at any time of year.

This place was fantastic with tens of thousands of waterfowl, mainly American Coots, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Ruddy Ducks, Buffleheads, Cinnamon Teal and Green-winged Teal. We notched up a reasonable list of species during the afternoon, and I won’t bore people with a full list. The key species we saw were American Bittern (cracking close views – the book describes them as ponderous, but I’d say that conveys too much urgency); a stunning Red-shouldered Hawk which seemed oblivious to us watching it from the car; several Violet Green Swallows; two Golden-crowned Sparrows among the many White-crowned, Savannah and Song Sparrows; American Pipits; Greater Yellowlegs; American White Pelican; Tricolored Blackbird; several Northern Harriers hunting incredibly close to the track; Black Phoebes and Yellow-rumped Warblers (“Budder-burts”) everywhere. The reserve is renowned for its wintering geese, but t-shirt weather for us meant geese wintering further north.

As the sun started to set and we made our way out of the reserve (we could easily have spent a lot longer there), swarms of Brewers Blackbirds were streaming across the wetland, obviously to some huge, no doubt very noisy and smelly mass roost. It was an awesome sight.

We went into Davis to find a motel. We ate at the Caffe Italia. Several times during this trip, I have thought of American friends and birds I have seen with them, or places I know they have visited. UC Davis is where Nancy Harrison studied for her Doctorate. I remember her telling me about nearby Burrowing Owls, and I hope to see them tomorrow morning in the Yolo farmlands.