We’ve been reading about the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge lately, and we were curious to have a look. There are several refuges in the area, and we decided to visit Gray Lodge Wildlife Area first. That turned out to be a good call. We started out early from Wilton, arriving around dawn (2/13/21). Gray Lodge was excellent, both for the breezy sunrise auto tour and the walk in the warmer late morning.
After Gray Lodge, we drove over to Sacramento NWR. We saw a lot of waterfowl and other birds there, mostly the same species we’d seen at Gray Lodge. In the end, almost all our pictures were from Gray Lodge. The drive from Gray Lodge to Sacramento NWR, through agricultural lands, was just as good as the reserves themselves; we saw White-faced Ibises and a Burrowing Owl along the way.