by Geno

On January 5 and 8, respectively, we went on birding field trips to the Gray Lodge and Sacramento National Wildlife Refuges north of the Sutter Buttes to look for fowl wintering over in the Sacramento Valley.

The January 5 trip to the Gray Lodge Refuge was with Herb and Kay, and Ron and Vicki and their dog Buddha. We spotted 42 different species in 2 hours while walking the footpaths and driving the 3-mile loop road of the refuge.

The January 8 trip to Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge was with Herb Lee. We spotted over 50 species on this trip and I took the opportunity to practice the art of digiscoping where I couple the Olympus D-520 (2.0 megapixel) digital camera with a Nikon 15x60 zoom spotting scope. The camera is handheld in front of the spotting scope eye piece so the outcome is unpredictable at best. I am in search of an adaptor so the telephoto pictures will become more precise. In spite of this crude procedure, some of the digiscope photos on this site came out fairly presentable.

The day at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge was foggy and overcast so it was not an optimum day for photography but rewarding nonetheless.