Field Trip Leader: Mackenzie Hollender, sacaudubonyoungbirders@gmail.com
Supervisor: Kevin Hollender
This is a Young Birders Club field trip. Participation is limited to members of the Sacramento Valley Young Birders Club. Registration is through the young birders club Slack. Please go to www.sacramentoaudubon.org/young-birders-club to become a member.
The Sacramento Valley Young Birders Club's FIRST EVER summer day trip out of the valley!
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The Sacramento Valley Young Birders Club's FIRST EVER summer day trip out of the valley! 〰️
Please NOTE: We will meet somewhere in Sacramento at 7:30 am before making the drive as a group to Ice House Road. We expect to arrive at around 9-9:30 am. Meetup location provided upon registration.
Join us for a great full day of birding up the slope from the central valley! We are going to be exploring a few extraordinary mountain spots off of Ice House Road in the Pollock Pines Area, about an hour and a half from Sacramento. As Summer sets in, and the valley becomes increasingly hot, the number of bird species in the valley hits a low peak. Summer is a good time to venture beyond the valley and explore the ecosystems up the slope!
Our route will take us through a trail in the Aspen grove off of Ice House Road. We will bird the pine patches and open meadows for all sorts of colorful, melodic mountain specialties, including: Calliope Hummingbird, Lazuli Bunting, Green-tailed Towhee, MacGillivray's, Nashville, and Hermit Warbler, Western Wood-Pewee, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Fox Sparrow, and more! There is always a chance for something rarer, like a Northern Pygmy-Owl, or even an American Goshawk. We will likely hear Mountain Quail.
From there we will stop at the Ice House General Store for lunch. Afterwards, we will head to Crystal Basin at Access Road, a spot in the old growth forest with towering pines, to look for a pacific northwest specialty, the White-headed Woodpecker.
Overall, it will be an extraordinary, unique day where we will get to see birds we don't normally see in the valley. Please prepare for a good amount of driving and a full day of birding. Don't hesitate to reach out to sacaudubonyoungbirders@gmail.com with questions!
Hermit Warbler, Image by Daniel Lee Brown