Birding in Northern California's Shasta County
This website is dedicated to the memory of Phil Aldrich, our webmaster (2003 - 2008), who passed away in March 2008.
Phil constantly updated and expanded the site into a comprehensive resource for birders in Northern California and beyond.
Welcome to the Wintu Audubon Society home page !
-->Chirp N Chatter May Newsletter<--
Our newsletter is in PDF format, Adobe Acrobat required. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it free 
Important Note
New Meeting Place! -
We have changed the location of our General and Board Meetings! Construction of the new hotel at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park beginning in early September will eliminate the theatre. We are grateful to Turtle Bay for their generous use of their theatre and are sad to lose this wonderful facility. We feel fortunate, however, to have found a very useable and convenient meeting room at the United Way. The United Way is at 2280 Benton
Drive, building B, next to the Senior Citizens and River Trail parking lot North of the Diestlehorst Bridge.
News Flash
April 25th -
Bureau of Land Management Determines Bird Deaths From PVC Mining Claim Marker Pipes Widespread
May 5th -
2012 Heron Festival at Clear Lake What's Happening Around Here?
May 5th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm -
2012 Native Plant Garden Tour May 5th @ 8:00 am -
Bear Creek Watershed Outing May 8th @ 7:00 pm -
Scenes from an Australian Tour Note that there are two Second Saturday Bird Walks this month!
May 12th @ 8:00 am -
2nd Saturday Bird Walk at Turtle Bay May 12th @ 8:00 am -
2nd Saturday Bird Walk at Shasta College May 17th @ 8:00 am -
Local Weekday Bird Walk at Lema Ranch June 12th @ 6:00 pm
Annual June Picnic August 17th thru 19th -
Annual August Camp Out at Lassen Park
Shasta Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, a non profit volunteer organization dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of injured and orphaned wildlife, is located in Anderson River Park. Taking in a wide variety of birds and animals each year, Shasta Wildlife Rescue has released thousands back to the wild, most after man made altercations.
Our Latest Trip Report
Seven birders enjoyed a beautiful morning at Reading Island. We managed to find 53 species...
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS Northern California birding
BIRDS IN THE NEWS Help Audubon with conservation efforts through AudubonAction and get the latest bird news from American Bird Conservancy.
BIRDING FACTS Your gateway to a lifetime
of learning about birds. Keep your birding education up to date with knowledge
from science and
ornithological research,
answers to
Frequently Asked Questions about birds and birding, and up to date
West Nile Virus and
Avian Flu information.
MEMBERSHIP How to join Wintu Audubon Society
LINKS TO THE WORLD OF BIRDING
Your worldwide
Birding Resource on the Web. Includes Birding
Organizations, Checklists of Wild Birds, Conservation and Education, Government
and International sites, Nature Refuges and Sanctuaries,
Optics and Field
Guides, and Other Birding Resources.
SHASTA COUNTY BIRD LIST Local birds to know and
look for. Seasons and habitats are included. Conforms in arrangement and
nomenclature to the American Ornithologists Union checklist.
(New Bird List)
You may also get a free copy of the checklist at our
general meetings or by sending a
self-addressed stamped envelope to:
Wintu Audubon Society bird list, P. O. Box 994533, Redding, CA 96099. ATTRACTING BIRDS Inviting wild birds to your
home, church, or business. Contains a wealth of information about
Feeding Birds,
Landscaping for Birds, and building or buying a Bird House.
BIRD SIGHTINGS Local, Statewide, and Regional
sightings of special interest. Includes Rare Bird Alert telephone numbers,
Official California and world bird lists, Bird Banding and
Bird Identification information. Bird
sightings are updated daily.
PLACES TO BIRD Shasta County's favorite
birding destinations contributed by local birders. Includes additional
northern
California birding hotspots. Includes a collection of
bird lists for Shasta County and
the adjacent region.
PODCASTS Listen to or download podcasts on many bird and birding related subjects.
Please join us at our GENERAL
MEETINGS which are held the second Tuesday of the month at the United Way meeting room at 7 p.m. from September through May. The United Way is at 2280 Benton
Drive, building B, next to the Senior Citizens and River Trail parking lot North of the Diestlehorst Bridge. Please see our "Calendar
of Events" page for more information or contact us by email here:
webmaster@wintuaudubon.org Youre invited to join us on our
SECOND SATURDAY BIRD WALKS which are held the second Saturday of the month at 8
a.m. from September through May. Second Saturday Bird Walks are open to the
public and are designed for youth, grades 4-8 and up, and beginners of all ages. We have binoculars to share. Meet at the concrete monolith at Turtle Bay to learn the birds of our home town. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Please explore our website and return often ! New features and resources of interest to
birders are added regularly.
Copyright 2012 Wintu Audubon Society, All rights reserved.
This page updated April 29th, 2012. This
web site is maintained by Larry Jordan.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S.D.A. Forest Service (FS), and American Bird Conservancy (ABC) have begun identifying and implementing solutions to solve a widespread and potentially enormous bird mortality threat that is associated with 3.4 million mining claims on public lands, mainly in the West.
Small birds apparently see the opening of PVC pipes used to mark mining claims as a hollow suitable for roosting or nesting or possibly gathering to pool body heat during migration. The birds may enter the holes, only to become trapped because the walls are too smooth to allow them to grapple their way up the sides and the pipes are too narrow for the birds to extend their wings and fly out. Death from dehydration or starvation follows. Read the full story. You can get all the current bird news on our "Birds In The News" page.
The Heron Festival, presented by Redbud Audubon, is returning to the south end of Clear Lake to Redbud Park in the city of Clearlake. As in the festival's first nine years, the pontoon boat tours will leave from Redbud Park to visit the heron rookery in Anderson Marsh. All the other festival activities that have made this event so special will also be at Redbud Park. For this transition year, the Heron Festival will be one day only.
Because the festival is only one day, we encourage you to make your boat reservations as soon as possible, as the available tickets for some of the most popular tour times may sell out quickly.
The Keynote Speaker is internationally-honored nature photographer Philip L. Greene from Point Reyes. Greene has studied and photographed herons and egrets for over two decades. His spectacular photos and delightful lecture focus on the nesting cycle of herons and egrets, with special emphasis on mating behaviors, nest building, and fledging. More information available here.
The Shasta Chapter of the California Native Plant Society is having their 4th biennial tour of private gardens from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday, May 5th and Wintu Audubon will be there! We will have a table at one of the gardens with information on native plants that will attract wildlife to home gardens as well as bird- friendly gardening practices and other materials. If you would like to assist at the table for either the morning or the afternoon, please contact Linda Aldrich at 223-5341. If you're taking the tour, come on by and see us!
A rare chance to bird on private property! Wintu Audubon vice-president Esther Cox also belongs to this watershed organization and has interested property owners wanting to learn the bird species that live on their land. We will visit several of these private acreages. Meet at the Redding Convention Center at 7:30 am to carpool or join Esther at the Share-A-Ride parking at the intersection of Hwy. 44 and Black Butte Road at 8:00 am. This will be a full day trip, so bring a lunch and water and wear sturdy shoes for hiking.
Carl and Marti Weidert crisscrossed Australia in a 6-week trip that started in the Melbourne area. They saw the regrowth from the big Victoria fires and Hanging Rock, famous as the setting for the movie "Picnic at Hanging Rock". Also in the same Territory they saw a big mob of kangaroos near the ranch house that appeared in "Man from Snowy Mountain". Driving along the coast to Adelaide they saw the most important nesting area in Australia which has sand dunes, marshes and lakes; unfortunately, it wasn't during nesting season. They traveled from Adelaide to Darwin, also Western Australia, including several national parks. They flew to Cairns and took a train and cable car through the rain forest, then went up to the Daintree area for tropical rain forest. The trip included a cross section of many habitat types, and the sighting of 225 species of birds.
We will return to Turtle Bay and Kutras Lake for its great cross section of waders, raptors, waterfowl, gulls, and winter resident passerines. This half day walk with Dan Greaney is open to the public and designed for youth, grades 4-8 and up, and beginners of all ages. We have binoculars to share. Meet at the concrete monolith at Turtle Bay to learn the birds of our home town. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
The Shasta College campus includes a variety of habitats, so attracts a number of species of birds Possibilities include migrating warblers such as Common Yellowthroat, Western Kingbird, Say's Phoebe, Lewis's Woodpecker, Western Bluebird and Wild Turkey. This outing is open to birders of all skill levels and beginners are encouraged to attend. We will meet at the north parking lot. Connie Word and Linda Aldrich will lead.
The ponds, open fields and oak woodlands of the McConnell Foundation Headquarters attract a wide variety of bird species. Local "specialties" include Common Gallinules, Great- tailed Grackles, Lark Sparrows and Western Bluebirds. Sora, Virginia Rail and American Bittern are possible. Some ducks will probably still be present such as Ruddy and Northern Shoveler. There may be warblers. Many birds will be nesting, so we'll probably see chicks and/or nests. Meet leader Linda Aldrich at the parking lot off of Hemingway Street, across from Mountain View School on Shasta View Drive.
We will meet at the Whiskeytown Historic District for our annual picnic (not a potluck, bring your own food). After eating, we will bird the area where species seen in the past include American Dippers, Lawrence's Goldfinch, Yellow- breasted Chat, Warbling Vireo and nesting Bullock's Orioles. Note: remember to display your park pass, or buy a day pass if you don't have a long-term pass.
We have enjoyed the birding, camping and camaraderie at the Lost Creek Group Campground the last three years so we are again planning a repeat. Group Camp Site 3 has been reserved for the nights of Friday, August 17 and Saturday, August 18. Altacal Audubon Society has also scheduled a camp-out that same weekend and has reserved the adjacent Site 4. We will again invite the Redwood Region Audubon Society and Redbud Audubon to join us. Wintu Audubon Society folks can either camp at Lost Creek Group Site 3 or drive up for either or both Saturday and Sunday activities. Campers can arrive at the group camp site anytime after 1300 hrs on Friday and must check out no later than noon on Sunday but campers will still have the opportunity to utilize the park the remainder of Sunday afternoon.
Saturday day trippers should meet at the Redding Convention Center parking lot at 0730 Saturday morning to car pool. We will bird Manzanita Lake and vicinity on Saturday morning. The rest of the itinerary is open and will depend on the interests of the participants. Day trippers for Sunday will meet at the group campground at 0830 hrs. The Lost Creek Group Campground has primitive facilities: pit toilets and no electricity, but potable water is available. Contact Gary Stacey (home 530-241-5586, cell 530-921-3390 or E-mail at gbstacey@snowcrest.net) if you have any questions.
The Education program consists of non releasable birds and animals that have come into the wildlife center and for some reason would not survive in the wild. These animals are on the education team through a special permit from California Fish and Game and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Lynda Flaherty gave me a tour of the facility last year. You can read all about it here. Please support your local wildlife rehabber. You can find the rehabber nearest you, listed by state here.
For more information about Shasta Wildlife Rescue visit their web page at www.shastawildliferescue.com
We'll meet in the North parking lot of Shasta College for the month of
September. Shasta College is located northeast of Redding near the intersection
of Highway 299 East and Old Oregon Trail. Continue driving north on Old Oregon
Trail past the main entrance to the college and follow the signs to the North
parking lot. Our Second Saturday bird walks will be held at Turtle Bay starting
in October. Rain cancels the bird walk.
Please email any broken links to webmaster@wintuaudubon.org