Birds of California

I birded in two areas of Northern California on my recent vacation, the coast near Crescent City, and the Modoc Plateau (Clear Lake, Tule Lake, and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges).

I went to the coast first, so I'll show some coastal birds first. This big sea stack has 25,000 Common Murres, nesting in a colony. They're just salt and pepper specks in this photo, because the rock is offshore, to protect them from predators. The strange noise coming from that rock sounded like the Penguin colony in those BBC documentaries I watched.

The Black Oystercatcher has a vividly orange bill, and it picks and probes about near the water line looking for food.

Whimbrel. They can be seen in Idaho, but I've yet to make the distinction in Idaho between this bird and the Long-billed Curlew. Both have downcurved bills, though the Curlew bill is much longer.


Now we'll look at birds from the Modoc Plateau. There are large lakes in the area, right on the migration route of water birds, and this Marsh Wren obviously enjoys the cattail habitat.


The habitat around the lakes is mostly Juniper, with some sagebrush. This is the Sage Thrasher. You might notice some insects flying in some of these photos. It was thick with insects.

And, the Juniper Titmouse. This is the very westernmost extent of its range. Closer to the coast lives the Oak Titmouse. They look so similar, they used to be considered the same species, and were called the Plain Titmouse.

I'll show two tern species, and you can see how easy it is to tell them apart. The Forster's Tern has a long, graceful swallowtail and a relatively smaller orange bill.

The Caspian Tern, by comparison, has a more squared tail, and a thick red bill.

This is the nicest photo I've managed to obtain of the Northern Pintail.

Two American White Pelicans in flight. They seem to fly very gracefully, rarely flapping, often following a leader to take advantage of the decreased wind resistance.

Common Nighthawk ... and they do catch insects in broad daylight, not just in the evening. Their bold white markings look like some World War II aircraft.

I've been trying for a long time to get a close photo of an Eared Grebe, and I sure got my fill of opportunities on this trip. I must have seen hundreds of them. This one is wet, as it just came up for air.

I had never seen an Ash-throated Flycatcher before this trip, and now I've seen quite a few, and I even recognize their call, which sounds like "come here."

Rock Art

This is the graffiti left on rocks by humans thousands of years ago, in what is now the Lava Beds National Monument. The rock on which they are carved was long ago an island in the center of Tule Lake, accessible only by canoe. Since nobody knows for sure what they mean, I won't offer my opinions. But you can look at them and see if they stir any thoughts or seem to hold significance for you.

One day Kamookumpts was resting on the east shore of Tule Lake. Looking around, he realized that there was nothing anywhere except the lake. He decided to make land. He dug some mud from the lake bottom and made a hill. He used the mud from the hill to create land and mountains. He also created rivers, streams, plants, and animals. Creating everything was tiring work, so Kamookumpts dug a hole in which to sleep under Tule Lake. He left the hill he had made to mark the spot. As the mud dried the hill became rock and is still visible today.

-- Modoc creation story

And there it is, the smaller, lower hill on the right in this image. The sheer cliffs you see at the left side of the hill are where the petroglyphs are. Tule Lake has been reduced to about 25% of its former size. The Bureau of Reclamation has built high dikes, to keep the water in smaller areas, leaving much land to be farmed. This is rich, volcanic soil and I'm sure it produces valuable crops. But long ago, and even not so long ago, it was home to the Modoc people. Under the leadership of a young chief, they resisted settlement on a reservation and returned to this land, killed a few more than a dozen settlers and subsequently canoed across the lake to seek shelter in the rough volcanic terrain. There a band of 60 men, women and children held off 600 US Cavalry troops for five months. As you can see, it is no longer a lake. No longer do people in canoes made of native materials ply the waters to hunt and fish.