These days, Harold Reeve says he’s only running, “12 to 15 miles a week.” He runs more when he’s training for a marathon or shorter race, but no matter how often or how far he runs, he always carries a pair of binoculars. The binoculars are Reeve’s way of combining passions; he loves running, but […]
Nature
Reeve Notches another New Bird
Whenever Harold Reeve has a few minutes away from family, work, and church, he generally squeezes in a little birding. He’s been compiling lists of Stanislaus County birds for over thirty years, including lists of nesting birds, wintering raptors, and, most especially, all species ever present in the county. Late last Saturday afternoon, Reeve had […]
State Double-Feature is for the Birds
Though it’s one of the most altered landscapes in the west, the northern San Joaquin Valley still retains remnants of its marvelous natural history. The most obvious are the winter flights of waterfowl, still numbering in the hundreds of thousands. But many of the Valley’s natural treasures, even some of the most spectacular, are hidden […]
Tiny Bird Returns for Audubon Christmas Count
Last Monday morning, an ambitious birder said she had high hopes for seeing a bright red bird. Local birders of the hard core variety knew Sharon Reeve was hoping to see a Vermilion Flycatcher, a winter rarity that resides many miles south of the Valley. The species had been recorded only twice previously in Stanislaus […]
Rare Visitor from Siberia is 319 for Stanislaus County
When Harold Reeve moved to Stanislaus County in the early 1980s, he thought it would be fun to develop an official Stanislaus County bird list. Back then, local birding was in its infancy and county birding, which requires birders to keep a list of birds they see in each county they visit, was practiced by […]
Local Birders Agog Over Another Rare Gull
It could be said that Stockton’s David Yee is the pre-eminent pioneer of modern-day birding in the San Joaquin Valley. For well over thirty years, Yee has added record after record of unexpected bird sightings to our knowledge of bird distribution. A few years ago, Yee found a gull in northwestern Stanislaus County that many […]
Shorebirds in the Valley
Shorebirds occupy remnant wetlands and the mud flats around our lakes and reservoirs. The largest numbers occur during migration, when they pass through the Valley on their way to southern wintering grounds. Some also winter here. The larger species are the best known. Black-necked Stilts, American Avocets, and Greater Yellowlegs are often seen and sometimes […]
318 for Stanislaus County
Gary Zahm did a double-take when he saw an Eastern Kingbird on private pastureland west of Modesto. When he was stationed in Oklahoma and Kansas he saw plenty of these handsome flycatchers, but this was the first he’d seen in California. Though he assumed other birders had seen the species in Stanislaus County, he had […]
Seabirds in the Valley
The San Joaquin Valley has always featured great extremes in weather and landscape―everything from flood to drought, and desert to inland sea. Before it was drained for agriculture, Tulare Lake, in the southern part of the Valley, was the second largest lake in the United States. Prior to levees and flood control, seasonal wetlands often […]
Watch a Film, Learn Your Birds
People have been recording bird species in Stanislaus and Merced Counties for over a hundred years. Both counties now have bird lists of over three-hundred species. And despite the seeming improbability, almost anyone can learn a hundred local birds—it just takes a jolt of awareness and a willingness to open your eyes to the hidden […]