In Freeway Birding, San Francisco to Seattle Harry Fuller shows you how and where to squeeze more precious minutes of birding into your life. Ostensibly, you are driving up or down the I-5 corridor on a business or family trip. But your eyes are constantly scanning the sky, the fence posts and the open country, and your binoculars are on the back seat.
In this book, Harry Fuller describes hundreds of birding sites beside or a short distance off the freeway. Now you can snag a few minutes of birding while you stretch your legs! His route goes via I-80 (or US101 to CA37 to I-80) from San Francisco to Sacramento (including the I-505 cut off), then up I-5 all the way to Seattle, Washington. Over 100 detailed maps, an index and informative essays are included.
Why this Book?
Harry approaches birding from a new angle, taking our busy lifestyles into consideration. His book mirrors existing regional guides but will be geared for the birder on the road, including milepost data, which exit to use for which locale, driving times, seasonal information on species and road conditions. Note that even some National Wildlife Refuges have NO freeway exit warnings.
Take this exit for Maxwell Road and drive 2.6 miles east from I-5 to reach the Delevan Tract of the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge Complex, north of Maxwell Road. The entire Sacramento Valley NWR encompasses over 35,000 acres of restored wetlands. Delevan covers about 5,800 of those acres, much of it wetlands in winter. How about a small pond full of White-faced Ibis, about 30 feet from your car window? Delevan is nearly always worth the trip.
Delevan has no hiking trails and no toilets. This is roadside birding, but it can be rewarding. You’ll need to try the side roads. On the left, if you’re heading east from I-5 on Maxwell Road, is Four Mile Road (gravel). It heads north along the western edge of the refuge land. You will encounter numerous small ponds and creeks along here. It’s a good spot to find White-faced Ibis in spring and summer. Stay on Maxwell Road and 3.2 miles from I-5 you’ll come to a bridge that offers some vantage over the marsh. At 4.6 miles from I-5, you’ll have come to the eastern edge of the refuge.
Delevan has nearly all the species found in the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge complex. Most of the Cinnamon Teal counted in the entire refuge are found at Delevan. In fall and winter, it hosts thousands of several dabbling duck species, as well as good numbers of Ring-necked, Ruddy and Bufflehead. Pintail and Green-winged Teal can be especially abundant. It’s a great place for your best-ever photo of the elegant male Pintail. In fall and winter you can count on plenty of shorebirds. About 200,000 ducks and another 100,000 geese winter here every year. Wintering waterfowl attract raptors, including Northern Harrier, Peregrine and Bald Eagle.
There are usually a small number of Yellow-headed Blackbirds nesting at Delevan in summer. It’s a bird that’s uncommon west of the Sierra in California. Look for them in willows along the edges of Delevan Road or the side roads. Black Phoebe, Western Kingbird, swallows, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Common Yellowthroat and Marsh Wren are other breeding birds here. Mammals include Mule Deer, Muskrat and American Beaver.
