Modoc National Wildlife Refuge
Alturas (Modoc Plateau) · near Alturas · Shasta Cascade
Wildlife Watching
At a glance
- Best season
- Spring (Mar-May) for courting cranes & migrants; fall for waterfowl and staging cranes
- Open year round
- Yes
What is here
- Wildlife
- birds
- Species
- Greater sandhill cranes, ducks & geese, white-faced ibis, northern harriers & other raptors
- Amenities
- Auto-tour route · Short nature trail · Quiet, intimate viewing · Warner Mountains backdrop
- Best for
- Reliable, unhurried greater sandhill crane viewing
- Features
- Dependable spring crane courtship · Solitude - often no other visitors · High-desert wetland birding · Free auto tour
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Remote - far NE corner of the state · Cold nights, muddy roads after rain · Bring your own fuel & supplies
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Wildlife Watching detail
- Viewing
- drive
- Effort
- easy
- Habitat
- wetland
- Sighting
- 4
- Viewing notes
- One of California's most reliable spots to watch greater sandhill cranes dance and bugle each spring, plus waterfowl and ibis on high-desert wetlands beneath the Warner Mountains
- Intl tip
- Go at dawn in April for sandhill crane courtship displays - and don't be surprised to have the auto tour to yourself. It's remote (Alturas is the far NE corner of California), so fuel up and bring supplies.
The guide
On the lonely Modoc Plateau outside Alturas, Modoc National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most reliable places in California to…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Modoc National Wildlife Refuge — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 41.42, -120.48