[SBB] Panoche Valley, Merced NWR

[Janna Pauser <[[email protected]]>]

Kim Blythe and I had an exciting day of birding at Panoche Valley and later 
at Merced NWR sunday. Our first stop a flock of  LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCHES in 
the orchard across from the Chevron station on SR 25 at the south edge of 
Hollister. A life bird for Kim.

One BALD EAGLE was spotted at the Paicines Reservoir with scope views, 
thanks to Tom Olson and his party. We followed Bill Bousmans latest report 
and found a GREAT HORNED OWL in a rock crevice on Panoche Road. Further on 
Tom Olson's group had found two GREATER ROAD RUNNERS. We stopped and 
watched a female GRRR in a stooped positing cooing. Suddenly the male on 
the far side of the road threw himself off the cliff, glided to the 
opposite bank and quickly approached the female. The male was boldly marked 
and larger than the female. Their courtship behavior was fascinating, with 
the male swaying his tail from side to side, and cooing. A third Road 
Runner, of undetermined sex, also glided across the cliff seeking the pair 
when we had to leave.

At m.p. 13.86 we easily found at least 6 PHAINOPEPLA in the mistletoe laden 
oak trees. Quite a few WESTERN BLUEBIRDS were seen along this road, most of 
them near farms. At Panoche Inn we found two CASSINS KINGBIRDS and a 
PRAIRIE FALCON and another PRFA a mile further on. We stopped on the BLM 
road for a look at the NORTHERN SHRIKE I saw three weeks ago. Kim and I 
noted one of the three shrikes at this location did indeed have a long 
obvious hooked bill. The black eye line extended a little further than the 
Loggerhead Shrike but did cover the eye. This shrike had a white line over 
its bill
 that did not extend over the eye. It's breast had a buffy or yellowish 
wash but we didn't see any breast or belling scaling. I understand its not 
a textbook No. Shrike, but that's what I saw. We saw 11 shrike in all and 
two SAY'S PHOEBE'S.

 A large flock of CLIFF SWALLOWS were hawking bugs past Mercey Hot 
Springs. And another G. Road Runner was also seen here.
The next oddity was when a NORTHERN BOBWHITE ran across the road before the 
Little Panoche detention dam. We followed it up the embankment and peered 
over the fence, where we found the male and three female Bobwhites, much to 
our amazement. They were obviously released for gaming, but a fun find and 
a life bird for both of us

An hour later nearing Merced NWR, Kim spotted a perched BURROWING OWL 
beside the road. Kim approached the owl cautiously and got some great 
photos. We did the 5 mile auto tour at the refuge finding an amazing number 
of water fowl in breeding plumage, including some beautiful WHITE FACED 
IBIS. Another life bird for Kim. Hundreds of SANDHILL CRANES were in the 
field, but the Snow, Ross's and Greater White fronted Geese had gathered in 
a field to the north. We could see thousand of white geese as they stirred. 
Hundreds of ROSS'S and two dozen GREATER WHITE FRONTED GEESE flew by for a 
nice look as we watched this spectacle unfold.

I should mention a juvenile Red tailed Hawk near the viewing platform. It 
was a solid chocolate brown overall with a typical juv. Red tailed breast. 
We noticed it had a spot of white feathers on the top of its head. We can't 
find anything similar in our field guide.
I believe we had 97 species for our big day.

Janna Pauser


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