We started our morning at 6:45am at Farm Center Gate. We drove from Farm Center Gate to the equipment pad along the gravelled road before sunrise. 36f, no wind, high clouds. Not as many roosting water birds as last time, probably due to the extensive flooding in the area and amount of available habitat. We saw 2 Audubon’s cottontails! Birds from this stretch were:
Snow/Ross’s Goose 5000 Roosting flock. Too dim to identify
Greater White-fronted Goose 3000
American Wigeon 6
Northern Pintail 3
Green-winged Teal 1
American Coot 3
Sandhill Crane 20
Killdeer 6
Greater Yellowlegs 3
Black-crowned Night Heron 4
Sharp-shinned/Cooper’s Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Barn Owl 1 Flying around and perching by farm center
Great Horned Owl 3
Bushtit 9
White-crowned Sparrow 18
Golden-crowned Sparrow 2
Savannah Sparrow 9
Song Sparrow 8 Mamy singing in the pre-dawn
Spotted Towhee 2
At 7:09 am we walked from the equipment pad east then north to the Love Shack and Garcia’s Marsh. Cloudy then foggy, 35-40f, no wind. Flood waters were a foot deep over the road at the lowest spot just north of the levee. Rice checks were rather deep and sported decent numbers of diving ducks and modest numbers of dabbling ducks. Almost all of the shorebirds we observed were flyovers. We saw 1 spotted skunk and 1 fox squirrel!
Birds from this stretch were:
Snow/Ross’s Goose 600
Greater White-fronted Goose 400
Cackling Goose 6
Canada Goose 11
Tundra Swan 67
American Wigeon 12
Mallard 22
Northern Pintail 7
Green-winged Teal 4
Ring-necked Duck 11
Bufflehead 6
Common Goldeneye 108 Some displaying groups
Mourning Dove 1
Anna’s Hummingbird 6 All were by the flowering Eucalyptus trees at the Love Shack except one singing 200m S of there
Sandhill Crane 3
Black-necked Stilt 2
Killdeer 3
Long-billed Dowitcher 80
Wilson’s Snipe 2
Greater Yellowlegs 5
Dunlin 25
Least Sandpiper 40
American Herring Gull 1
Snowy Egret 1
Great Egret 3
Great Blue Heron 2
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Northern Harrier 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 3
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Great Horned Owl 1
Belted Kingfisher 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Nuttall’s Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 4
American Kestrel 1
Black Phoebe 3
Say’s Phoebe 1
California Scrub-Jay 2
American Crow 13
Oak Titmouse 1
Horned Lark 1
Tree Swallow 2
Bushtit 35 One flock of exactly 14
Wrentit 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 8
White-breasted Nuthatch (Pacific) 1 Tuituitui song
Northern House Wren 3
Bewick’s Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
Western Bluebird 2
Hermit Thrush 2
American Robin 17
American Pipit 6 Two perched on utility wires. Maybe because there is so little non flooded ground
House Finch 7
Lesser Goldfinch 2
American Goldfinch 8
Fox Sparrow (Sooty) 2
Dark-eyed Junco 1
White-crowned Sparrow 90
Golden-crowned Sparrow 35
White-throated Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 11
Song Sparrow (heermanni Group) 6
Lincoln’s Sparrow 14
California Towhee 4
Spotted Towhee 4
Red-winged Blackbird 2400
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Brewer’s Blackbird 60
Orange-crowned Warbler 3
Common Yellowthroat 1 Male doing long chip calls
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) 9
Around 9am we walked briefly down the road to the Accidental Forest to assess flooding and it was very clear we wouldn’t be able to access that area for our survey. Then we walked most of our usual Tall Forest loop except for the north 1/3 of the road on Wood Duck Slough and the southwest corner of the loop. Flood waters prevented access to those parts. It was foggy to start, becoming sunny, 0-2mph winds, 42-53f. Water levels had dropped nearly 2 feet since John’s visit on Friday but were still some 2′ higher than the top of the rock berm/weir on Wood Duck Slough. 7 Fox Squirrels, no Gray Squirrels or Beechey’s Squirrels, 2 bucks, 1 doe. There were still quite a few grapes hanging onto the vines though they were gray and mostly shriveled. Fox Squirrels, Hermit Thrushes, and Bushtits were still eating them off the vine.
Birds seen in the Tall Forest were:
Snow Goose 15
Greater White-fronted Goose 160
Cackling Goose 2
Wood Duck 6
Northern Pintail 10
Common Goldeneye 3
Mourning Dove 21
Anna’s Hummingbird 1 Lone female at 38.258109,-121.410654. Nothing at all flowering here or anywhere else on the flood plain.
Sandhill Crane 4
Black-necked Stilt 9
Killdeer 1
Long-billed Dowitcher 38
Greater Yellowlegs 9
Dunlin 1
Larus sp. 7
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 9
Red-shouldered Hawk 3
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Belted Kingfisher 2
Acorn Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 2
Nuttall’s Woodpecker 4
Northern Flicker 5
falcon sp. 1 Maybe Prairie Falcon?
Black Phoebe 3
Hutton’s Vireo 2 One seen only near many Bushtits and Kinglets in V Oak canopy. Another heard only, singing.
California Scrub-Jay 9
American Crow 16
Common Raven 1
Oak Titmouse 8
Tree Swallow 2
Bushtit 55
Wrentit 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 60
Golden-crowned Kinglet 3
White-breasted Nuthatch (Pacific) 12
Brown Creeper 2
Northern House Wren 8
Bewick’s Wren 16
European Starling 7
Hermit Thrush 9
American Robin 5
Cedar Waxwing 1
American Pipit 7
House Finch 4
Fox Sparrow (Sooty) 3 One sang once
Dark-eyed Junco 3
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 8
White-crowned Sparrow 24
Golden-crowned Sparrow 32
Song Sparrow 11
Lincoln’s Sparrow 10
California Towhee 2
Spotted Towhee 23
Red-winged Blackbird 4
Brewer’s Blackbird 3
Orange-crowned Warbler 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) 5
We wrapped up the day driving back to Farm Center Gate from the Equipment Pad, where we picked up a few additional species for our day. All observations were from the car, but we stopping to scan with binoculars all along the way. 53f, sunny, 3 mph wind. All checks had water in them and a few were quite shallow and muddy. 1 otter. Birds seen here were:
Greater White-fronted Goose 1440
Northern Shoveler 4
American Wigeon 2
Green-winged Teal 115
Common Goldeneye 17
American Coot 4
Sandhill Crane 6
Black-necked Stilt 6
Killdeer 71
Long-billed Dowitcher 950
Wilson’s Snipe 2
Greater Yellowlegs 8
Dunlin 180
Least Sandpiper 4
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Great Egret 3
Great Blue Heron 2
Turkey Vulture 2
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
American Kestrel 1
Black Phoebe 1
Say’s Phoebe 1
American Crow 9
Common Raven 1
Oak Titmouse 1
Tree Swallow 4
Bushtit 13
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Bewick’s Wren 1
American Robin 2
White-crowned Sparrow 6
Golden-crowned Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 2
Spotted Towhee 1
Western Meadowlark 16
Red-winged Blackbird (Red-winged) 19
Brewer’s Blackbird 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) 3
In total we saw 88 species of bird. Despite the flood waters there were still some nice patches of activity. We are looking forward to getting out there in February!
Thanks so much!
Lynette and Konshau