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We drove north to our favorite Colusa County hawk spot via the White Road Wildlife Refuge, drove east from a nice viewing spot on the bridge over Colusa Basin Drainage Canal, then continued north again on Poundstone Road.

On the dirt section of Poundstone we encountered a lone American bittern walking up the small slope from the irrigation ditch next to the road. It posed for many photos. The bittern has been on my wish list ever since I erroneously ID’d a green heron as a bittern (until Sibley’s woke me up). Just past our bittern photo session there were several brush fires along the edge of Poundstone. They might have been intentionally set to control the strip of grass and weeds along the road, perhaps they were “controlled burns,” but nobody was around to monitor the flames which were wafting across the roadway. We let Cal Fire know.

Further up Pounstone we stopped at the hawk spot. At first things seemed quiet, but the longer we watched, the more Swainson’s and red-tailed hawks we saw. The Swainson’s nest must still be active (we didn’t go into the weeds to view it this time) as parents made several trips back and forth…I assume this was to feed the young. The angle of the sun and sky conditions resulted in some of the best “looking upward” photographs I’ve taken of the hawks at this location. Perhaps a dozen or more were visible in the immediate area.


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