Last week, we went to visit Teresa’s folks in Nevada and spent a day at nearby Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge in Churchill County. We learned early on that NWRs are right up our alley. The human-to-bird ratio is excellent: one encounters many birds and only rarely sees other humans.
We did a bit of research beforehand via eBird to see what usual suspects hang out in these parts, and it pleased us to realize there was a chance to see the Sagebrush Sparrow, a bird we’d never had the pleasure of meeting. Back in 2013, the Sage Sparrow was split into two distinct species: the Bell’s Sparrow, living mostly in California shrublands and southwest desert areas of Arizona and Nevada; and the Sagebrush Sparrow, who breeds in the Great Basin and winters a bit further south just down into Mexico. Luckily, Sagebrush Sparrows also live year-round in a small pocket near and in Churchill County. The other bird we really wanted to get good looks at was the Rough-legged Hawk who winters in the area and is not often seen back home in Sonoma County.
The day was off to an auspicious start when we pulled up to the NWR entry kiosk and spied a hawk perched in a distant tree. We could just barely make out that this bird did not have a full dark hood like a Red-tailed Hawk, but did have strong dark markings on its belly. We kept an eye on the tree while we strapped on our binoculars and pulled out our scope. As luck would have it, the bird took off and flew high over our heads displaying its dark carpal markings, dark belly, and light tail with a dark sub-terminal band. First bird of the day: Rough-legged Hawk – not bad at all! Later in they day, we got a long view of a second Rough-legged Hawk soaring above us with a female Northern Harrier and a Common Raven.
Stillwater NWR has no official visitor center, just a kiosk with a map at the end of State Route 116 east of Fallon (aka Stillwater Road).
The map suggested the Foxtail Auto Tour Route for the best wildlife viewing, so off we headed. Just up the road we stopped at the parking lot near the bathroom to poke around a little bridge. We peeked over the side and were startled to see two Wilson’s Snipes staring back at us from the rocks. Imagine that — startled by snipes, rather than the other way around!
We enjoyed looks at these goofy but charming sandpipers sitting out in the open for a nice while. A bit later they took flight to relocate, and we discovered there were at least six together. Flight photos are always a nice study:
Here’s a short recording of their flight call:
While poking around the creek and some adjacent small ponds and wetlands, we listened to several American Coots quietly discuss the finer points of cattail coverage and best way to prepare a sedge salad. You can listen in below:
After eavesdropping on the Coots, we scanned a small sagebrush field for any movement. Almost immediately, a sparrow ran across the ground and hopped up to the middle of a shrub. It held still long enough to make out a gray head, white eye-ring, white supraloral, and white throat and malar broken up by a thin dark line. That’s right – we met our first Sagebrush Sparrow! It quickly returned to the ground and scampered away with its tail cocked up, almost wren-like. Later in the day, we encountered a small flock feeding on the side of the road. As we rolled by slowly, one bold individual remained, munching on seeds:
And here’s this cutie quietly calling:
Later, a young Cooper’s Hawk burst on the scene, sending a Greater Yellowlegs high-tailing it out of the marsh loudly calling:
It’s always a treat to watch a Prairie Falcon soaring while looking for lunch. Check out those dark axillaries and strong mustache:
We don’t see Tundra Swans often in Sonoma County, so watching and listening to several small flocks fly overhead throughout the day was quite enjoyable. Here’s a pair working hard to gain some altitude:
Later we got a distant recording of their flock calls:
Loggerhead Shrikes are also uncommon back home, so imagine our delight to see three of these henchmen in one day! What a dapper, vicious, no-necked little killer! We wouldn’t want to run into this dude in a dark alley:
Along the auto route there was parking from which we accessed a boardwalk leading to pond views, as well as a quick walk to “Stillwater Point” where we had distant views of a large group of Tundra Swans. There was also a short trail to a bird blind beside the same pond.
After we completed the auto route that spit us out on Hunter Road heading back toward the entry kiosk, we came across parking and a sign for Tule Trail. We walked this flat trail and several flavors of sparrows greeted us: White-crowned, Savannah, Song, and Lincoln’s. Had we known about this trail (which wasn’t designated on the map), we may have started here before driving the auto route, since we ran out of daylight and didn’t explore as much as we wanted.
As we packed the car to leave, we heard a Virginia Rail calling from across Hunter Road. We weren’t able to resist and spent the remaining daylight waiting for the elusive rail to pop out of the reeds. Our patience paid off, rewarding us with a top-notch ending to an already-great day.
And so we bid adieu to our new friend Sagebrush Sparrow, and left Stillwater as the golden hour faded into darkness.
The elusive rail caught on camera. Very cool.