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Selasphorus hummers, Putah Creek
kuschmanfred
This year has been unusual with respect to Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbirds around my place. Typically, I see a few, often only one or two, Allen’s Hummingbirds during the last ten days of June, and Rufous hummers, always females and immature males, never adult males who take a more easterly route through the mountains on their southward migration, begin to show up in August.
However, this year Allen’s did not show up until the very last days of June and during the first few days of July, among them a very typical, green-backed male I was able to photograph and another adult male I saw only briefly. The rest were female/immature males. Surprisingly, the procession of selasphorus Hummingbirds never stopped and I had at least one or two present almost every day throughout July, making me wonder whether Rufous migration had started earlier than usual. One immature/female type had settled in for about a week defending a corner of my garden around a flowering desert willow. Fortunately, the hummingbird study team from the UCD Vet School that has been coming to my garden every Tuesday lately was able to trap and tag this individual and determined that it was an immature male Allen’s. If he sticks around more, they will be able to track him with the implanted radio frequency tag when he comes to one of two feeders equipped with an antenna. It will be interesting to see whether later on when Rufous hummers begin to show we will also find Allen’s among them although they are often not easy to trap. The first fall migrants, Wilson’s Warblers and Western Tanagers, already reported by others, have also shown up in small numbers along the creek and in my garden, all a bit early for my neighborhood. Hooded Orioles who were numerous and had excellent breeding success in my garden with many nests and fledglings this year still have at least a couple of active nests with chicks. Their numbers are, however, decreasing by now as adults who have finished nesting and their first and second broods are dispersing into the surrounding landscape, especially into the riparian woodland of Putah Creek. Second broods from two BarnSwallow nests on my house recently fledged, and it looks like the pair nesting on our back porch is set to start a third brood in the same spot as last year when their last chicks did not fledge until early September.
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NOT Tufted duck Woodland sewage ponds
Sally M. Walters
Apparently there has been a Lesser Scaup hanging out in the pond all summer per Steve Hampton. A difficult immature bird, I think. The flattened head is tricky and the juvenile imm tufted is supposed to be rounded according to Sibley.
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Swainson’s Hawks in Santa Nella
Lisa Myers
Drove out to the Central Valley today via Pacheco Pass and stopped at the San Joaquin National Cemetery/Korean War Memorial. They do say cemeteries are a great place to bird. It was 99 degrees out there and I found 60+ HORNED LARKS sitting in the lush green lawn. They seemed quite tame and not too concerned about me. The moist, cool grass provided for them an oasis and a nice place to sit (and pant) on a hot, dry day. KILLDEER, EURASIAN COLLARED DOVES and WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were also here.
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From there we went looking for hawks. Once back out onto 33 we went north and past the Anderson’s Split Pea Soup turn off. A little farther and just past the Romero Rd. exit we found over 50 SWAINSON’S HAWKS in a field on our right. There was a convenient dirt driveway right there and a stack of hay bales to the east. If you hit Marshall Rd. you went a tad too far. Several CATTLE EGRETS were also in the field. As we watched you could hear the hawks vocalizing and more were flying in. Every time you looked up you’d find more circling. It was a great study in all the different morphs. We watched several successfully grab small rodents and more than one fight took place between the hawks. Lisa Myers Campbell
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Re: Tufted duck Woodland sewage ponds
Sally M. Walters
Tufted Duck
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Tufted duck Woodland sewage ponds
Sally M. Walters
About 9-9:30am. Lesser Scaup like with tuft. Flat Head. Preening standing up right, imm/female -type plumage. White or light gray feathers at base of bill. White belly dark upper breast and lower belly. Drab dark coloring. No obvious white at Bill tip - a problem except for juvenile lacks white at bill. NO messy white patches on face as in lesser scaup. Bill like imm in “Merlin” eBird digital guide photos, as in no white on Bill tip. Wing flapping showed white” at the base of the primaries and secondaries. First noted when pruning on single small lump of dirt. Observed for 20 minutes and then paddled off.
First pond on way to building on south side, in the far center of the pond.COUNTY ROAD 24, WOODLAND US-CA 38.66199, -121.71381 CHECKLIST S71843226
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decent shorebirds at CRP; Pacific golden-plover today
Glennah Trochet
Dear Birders, The last four days have seen a good variety of shorebirds make use of what little water is out at the Cosumnes River Preserve. There are four areas now suitable for these birds. The best, and the only one publicly viewable, is the pond just east of the railroad tracks north of Desmond Road. This pond has been getting additional water the last three days, so what had been the best spot in the far northeast is now flooded, pushing birds nearer the road. Note that three different peregrine falcons have been hunting the area along Desmond, as have kites and harriers, so the birds get stirred up fairly frequently. Last Thursday I picked up these birds: black-necked stilt- 4 American avocet- 2 black-bellied plover- 3 killdeer- 45 semipalmated plover- 7 least sandpiper- 85 western sandpiper- 4 peep sp.- 35 long-billed dowitcher- 22 lesser yellowlegs- 1 greater yellowlegs- 54 Wilson's phalarope- 3 red-necked phalarope- 1 On Friday, these were the findings: black-necked stilt- 2 American avocet- 15 killdeer- 50 semipalmated plover- 12 least sandpiper- 95 western sandpiper- 18 peep sp.- 12 long-billed dowitcher- 41 lesser yellowlegs- 6 willet- 1 greater yellowlegs- 95 Wilson's phalarope- 18 red-necked phalarope- 1 And yesterday: black-necked stilt- 5 killdeer- 35 semipalmated plover- 2 least sandpiper- 35 western sandpiper- 5 long-billed dowitcher- 2 Wilson's snipe- 1 (FOS) lesser yellowlegs- 4 willet- 1 (presumably the same juvenile) greater yellowlegs- 45 Wilson's phalarope- 4 The golden-plover redeemed a poorer day today: black-necked stilt- 5 American avocet- 3 Pacific golden-plover- 1 killdeer- 40 least sandpiper- 55 peep sp.- 15 lesser yellowlegs- 2 greater yellowlegs- 45 red-necked phalarope- 1 The golden-plover flushed and flew out of sight to the south about 9:15 this morning. If you wish to check out the shorebirds along Desmond Road, I suggest that you do so early because by 10:00 the heat shimmer is pretty bad. For the first time in 10 days I had a few migrants in the trees this morning: orange-crowned warbler- 2 yellow warbler- 1 western tanager- 2 Be well and stay safe. Best, John Trochet Sacramento
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July Tundra Swan in the Afterbay Oroville
Dawn Garcia
I was kayaking yesterday in the Saddledam cove, Afterbay, Oroville checking on aechmophorus grebe nesting and saw a big white bird across the cove; it was a swan. I thought maybe a mute swan (I have been working in Concord and there are a LOT of mute swans) but no, it was a tundra. Dark bill (no light spots noticeable but I could not get that close, 10x42 bins), sloping profile. Given the time of year I figured it was an injured hold over from winter and watched it paddle all the way across the cove away from me. Later as I circled back around the tules and shore I flushed the bird and it flew low but strongly, across the bay back to the opposite cove- flighted!
Any thoughts on the presence of a tundra in July? Dawn Garcia Oroville
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early fall migrants on Putah Creek
Michael Perrone
This morning at the Putah Creek Riparian Reserve in Yolo County were a willow flycatcher and a yellow warbler, both rather early as fall migrants. They were near the first bench upstream of the traditional warbler bathing spot. Michael Perrone Davis
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100+ Swainson’s Hawks - Interstate 5 - Sacramento County
Paddlegal
A somewhat delayed message due to my misdirecting it in the first place.
This afternoon (7/23/2020) as I was zipping along on northbound I- 5 at 2:15, I saw multiple irrigated fields filled with what mainly appeared to be Swainson’s Hawks on the ground. This was on the East side of I-5 between Twin Cities Rd and Lambert Rd stretching across 3-4 fields. Keep in mind at 70 mph, I did a fast estimate and feel that I was being conservative! There was also a small kettle of Swainson’s above. Quite spectacular and I’ve had similar sightings along Franklin Blvd in the past month between those two same roads. Merely guessing but the fields seem to be alfalfa. Farley Cross Sacramento CA
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Re: Sewer Pond Birding, Elk Grove?
Sally M. Walters
Camden Park is on the other side of the river from the ponds. Someone mentioned a street view but not the street. If that is known...
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Re: Sewer Pond Birding, Elk Grove?
Andy Engilis
These ponds are part of the Sac-Yolo Mosquito Vector Control and not open for birding. They are counted each Rio Cosumnes Christmas Count.
The ponds and wetlands on Camden Park behind these ponds actually can be god birding in winter.
Andy
Andrew Engilis, Jr. Curator Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology Dept of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology One Shield Avenue University of California Davis, CA 95616 USA
Office Phone: 530-752-0364 Cell: 530-902-1881 FAX: 530-752-4154 E-mail: aengilisjr@... Website: http://mwfb.ucdavis.edu
From: centralvalleybirds@groups.io <centralvalleybirds@groups.io>
On Behalf Of Clifford Hawley via groups.io
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2020 6:22 AM To: centralvalleybirds@groups.io Subject: Re: [centralvalleybirds] Sewer Pond Birding, Elk Grove?
Hi Sally,
Google Maps says that it is Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito & Vector Control. I'm guessing they are raising mosquitofish in those ponds. From the street view you can see at least some of the ponds through the fence from the sidewalk. I doubt that other access is possible. Good birding. Cliff Hawley
On Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 6:12 AM Sally M. Walters <bajaowl@...> wrote:
Clifford Hawley
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Re: Sewer Pond Birding, Elk Grove?
naturestoc
I don't know if they are open for birding (I doubt it though). Cliff is correct, they do propagate and distribute mosquito fish there. I got a bunch for my small backyard pond.
Dan Brown,
Sacramento
-----Original Message-----
From: Sally M. Walters <bajaowl@...> To: cvbirds <centralvalleybirds@groups.io> Sent: Wed, Jul 22, 2020 11:22 pm Subject: [centralvalleybirds] Sewer Pond Birding, Elk Grove? Does anyone know what these ponds are? Looks like sewage treatment. Anyone know if they are open for birding?
Sally Walters Schmoldt
Sacramento CA
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Re: Sewer Pond Birding, Elk Grove?
Clifford Hawley
Hi Sally, Google Maps says that it is Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito & Vector Control. I'm guessing they are raising mosquitofish in those ponds. From the street view you can see at least some of the ponds through the fence from the sidewalk. I doubt that other access is possible. Good birding. Cliff Hawley Sacramento, CA
On Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 6:12 AM Sally M. Walters <bajaowl@...> wrote: Does anyone know what these ponds are? Looks like sewage treatment. Anyone know if they are open for birding? --
Clifford Hawley
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Sewer Pond Birding, Elk Grove?
Sally M. Walters
Does anyone know what these ponds are? Looks like sewage treatment. Anyone know if they are open for birding?
Sally Walters Schmoldt Sacramento CA
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Re: Yolo County migration
Steve Hampton
I'll add that, just after I sent this email, Leo Edson arrived at the Woodland WTP along with 4 Black Terns with molting white faces. It was a noddy-like plumage I've never seen before. I've posted some digi-scoped pics here:
On Wed, Jul 22, 2020 at 8:44 AM Steve Hampton via groups.io <stevechampton=gmail.com@groups.io> wrote:
--
Steve Hampton Davis, CA
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Yolo County migration
Steve Hampton
Fall migration is underway in Yolo County. Shorebird migration started, as usual, the last week of June. There is now decent habitat at both the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area and the Woodland Davis Clean Water Facility/Wastewater treatment plant. The large ponds on both sides of the road now have spits with mud flats. At both places, hundreds of Western and Least sandpipers and dozens of Semipalmated Plovers and Long-billed Dowitchers are the most common. Highlights in the past two weeks have been two adult Semipalmated Sandpipers and a Snowy Plover. To Peregrine falcons were at Yolo Bypass yesterday. There are also Bank Swallows mixed in at the Bypass. In North Davis, a trickle of Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbirds (probably the former at this point), Pac-slope Flycatchers, Western Tanagers, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Bullock’s Orioles, and Orange-cr Warblers have been the norm for the past few weeks. Yesterday I had a pair of juvenile Hermit Warblers, which is not unusual for this time of year. Good birding, Steve Hampton Davis, CA
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Cosumnes semipalmated sandpiper
Glennah Trochet
Dear Birders,
There’s an adult semipalmated sandpiper now at the Cosumnes River Preserve in southern Sacramento County. It has a nice, short, blunt-tipped bill, making for relatively easy identification. It’s at the first pond north of Desmond Road about 400 meters east of the railroad tracks. It is in molt and pretty substantially advanced into basic plumage. Best, John Trochet Sacramento
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Re: Female Rose-Breasted Grosbeak Along Deer Creek
Sorry to say that the photo shows a Black-headed Grosbeak with a pink bill.
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John Sterling VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV 26 Palm Ave Woodland, CA 95695 PO Box 1653 Woodland, CA 95776A 530 908-3836 jsterling@... www.sterlingbirds.com
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Re: Female Rose-Breasted Grosbeak Along Deer Creek
Here is my ebird checklist with pictures & a few more details if anybody is looking to try for this bird.
https://ebird.org/checklist/S71572551 Adam Panto Placerville
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Female Rose-Breasted Grosbeak Along Deer Creek
This morning around 7:45, I had an adult female Rose-Breasted Grosbeak on the El Dorado Trail along Deer Creek. White supercilium (not buffy), a very pink bill & heavily streaked underparts. The bird was west of Latrobe Road, just before you get to the high railroad trestle. It’s just under a mile walk down the tracks from the pullout on Latrobe road. I got pictures that I will upload later to Ebird. She was associating loosely with an adult male Black Headed. Good luck!
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