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Where to Go Birding in Tulare County
Tulare County extends from the broad San Joaquin Valley on the west, through the Sierran foothills, to the Sierra Nevada high country at over 14,000 feet on its east boundary with Mt. Whitney at 14,823 the highest peak in the continental USA. Much of the valley floor is now agricultural or developed but was once a broad grassland, with many wetlands and majestic valley oaks along waterways. To the west was Tulare Lake, which once teemed with wildlife and at one time was the largest lake west of Great Salt Lake, but is now drained. On the east side of the valley rises the Sierra Nevada. The rolling foothills, covered in open oak woodlands and grasslands, lush green during winter rains, extend into the more rugged chaparral/evergreen woodland forests at mid-elevations. These grade into a variety of conifer forests which include the giant sequoias up into subalpine forests of foxtail pine. The highest elevations are sparse alpine vegetation or bare rock in a rugged glacially carved landscape. The breadth of habitats found across this elevation gradient supports and provides us an opportunity to observe a diverse array of birds and other wildlife.
Text by John Lockhart
Tulare-Kings Birds Yahoo! Groups
(
sends emails of where birds are reporting live in Tulare and Kings Counties)
Tulare County Bird Check List
Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park Bird Check List
Inyo-National Forest Cottonwood Lakes Bird Check List
Kaweah Oaks Preserve
Photo-Irene Lindsey, http://kaweahoaks.com
Luke Cole's Easy Guide to Birding in Kings County
Kern National Wildlife Refuge Bird Checklist
Checklist of Kings County Birds by Luke Cole
Pixley National Wildlife Refuge Bird Checklist
Lake Kaweah (US Army Corps of Engineers)
Lake Success, Important Bird Area (Audubon California)
Blue Grosbeak photo by Gary Lindquist
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