Most of the time, the Colusa NWR isn’t quite as impressive as the larger Sacramento NWR, but it proved to be just the opposite on our recent visit. There may have been larger numbers of birds at the Sacramento NWR, but the birds were much closer at Colusa because there was more water near the auto route.
Leslie managed to get some great shots of Black-Necked Stilts; this shot took up the full frame and wasn’t cropped at all:
Leslie seemed to see very different birds than I did from the driver’s seat. For instance, I didn’t see a single Long-billed Dowitcher,
and, as usual, I couldn’t even see the Night Heron Rookery from my side of the car, though it’s questionable if it is still a rookery because Leslie could only spot a single juvenile Night Heron.
We both saw a lot of Yellowlegs, but most of them were quite far away. This might be considered underexposed, but it’s my favorite shot of the day.
