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Field Trip
Sandhill Crane Overnight

photo courtsy David Levasheff

Date	Saturday & Sunday February 18 & 19, 2012 This is Presidents Day Weekend
Location	Kern County This Audubon field trip will visit the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, The Atwell Island Wetlands, the Pixley National Wildlife Refuge and the Kern National Wildlife Refuge. It will be an overnight trip with camping at one of two places. Colonel Allensworth State Park has a nice campground with showers ($20/night). As a back up we can primitive camp at the Kern National Wildlife Refuge. Motels in Lost Hills include Motel 6 and Day's Inn. In Delano there is a Holiday Inn. Everyone must make their own vehicle arrangements and bring the necessary camping equipment, layers of clothes, food and drink plus birding equipment.
Target Birds	Sandhill Cranes, Burrowing Owls, Common Moorhen, Horned Larks, Loggerhead Shrike, Lark Sparrows, Blue-winged Teal, Marsh Wren, Great Horned Owls plus many other species.
Directions	We will not caravan but rather each participant will travel from SB area at approximately 6am on Sat or sooner to the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park (CASHP) campground. We will meet just outside the park at 12 noon +/- 15 minutes. It is approximately 230 miles to Colonel Allensworth SHP from SB depending upon the route you take. One way to travel there is as follows: Take Hwy 101 to Paso Robles. Take Hwy 46 east to Lost Hills. Once you cross Hwy 5 continue for 18 miles to Hwy 43. Turn left (north) on Hwy 43 for approximately 15 miles to Colonel Allensworth SHP. An alternate rout is: Take Hwy 101 south to Hwy 126. Hwy 126 to Hwy 5 Hwy 5 to Hwy 46 Take Hwy 46 east to Hwy 43 Turn north (left) on Hwy 43 to CASHP After determining where we will camp we will bird the park for a very short time looking to spot Burrowing Owls etc. At approximately 12:45pm we will travel to Atwell Island Wetlands. This is a new BLM 7000 acre restoration project that recently opened with a viewing platform overlooking the wetlands. After that (between 4pm and 5pm) we will travel to Pixley National Wildlife Refuge and view the Sandhill Cranes coming in till dark. After Sunday breakfast we will bird the Kern National Wildlife Refuge for several hours and then begin our return trip home. We will return home Sunday evening.
Trip Leader	Jack Sanford (805) 566-2191 or email: jacksanford@hotmail.com.
Other Information	Everything you need you will need to be responsible for. Binoculars a must, spotting scopes are useful.
Sponsered by	Santa Barbara Audubon Society

Santa Barbara Audubon Society Contact Information:
Chapter office address:
5679 Hollister Ave., Suite 5b
Goleta, CA 93117
805-964-1468
Chapter email: Info at SantaBarbaraAudubon.org
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Updated: January 25, 2011