Dear Birders,

After a long hiatus, the public is again invited to participate in the Tall Forest bird surveys.  The next iteration is this coming Saturday, 18 June.  We will depart promptly through the locked Farm Center gate, corner of Bruceville and Desmond Roads, at 5:00 a.m.  Advanced registration is now requested by the preserve staff and may be made on the website, www.cosumnes.org.  Click on the Events button and find the bird survey on the calendar that should come up.

Mosquitoes have been moderately noisome.  Bring repellent.  The only mud is on a short stretch of the route near the Accidental Forest.  We'll be able to walk around the worst of it.  I have been cleaning up the trails the last couple of days, so most of the route is easily passable.

If coming from or through Sacramento, allow some extra time so as not to be left at the gate.  The interchange of Highway 50 and I-5 will be closed next weekend.  You may wish to take Highway 99 south from town to Twin Cities Road, then west on Twin Cities Road to the lower Preserve.

More or less recent birds of note behind the gate include persisting territorial yellow warblers at the Accidental Forest, a singing willow flycatcher today at a private inholding northeast of the equipment pad, and dwindling numbers of tricolored blackbirds (640 a week ago down to 80 this morning).  The last trickle of spring migrant Swainson's thrushes was detected on 05 June.

Best,

John Trochet

Sacramento