A Brit abroad

Around Davis, up Capay and to the Sierra

In the week following the conference, I managed a few day trips where I tried to connect with as many birds (and birders) as possible. Joan picked me up at 6am almost every day in the quest for new Yolo County birds, notably several trips to the Rumsey bridge trying to pick out an Indigo Bunting from the masses of Lazuli Buntings attracted to the birdbath there. While we were unsuccessful in this, we did manage to see a great selection of what Yolo County had to offer. Here's a recently-fledged Black Phoebe in the Cache Creek settling basin.

I was really pleased that fellow blogger Chris and wife Kimya made it over from Sacramento for an evening's birding. In the afternoon heat, bird activity in the North Davis farms area remained low, although the ripening elderberries proved attractive to Nuttall's Woodpecker...

... and Western Tanager.

We visited an old favourite spot of mine, the Pedrick Road birdbath, and sure enough, 3 or 4 Wilson's Warblers put on a great show.

Joan joined us to trawl through dowitchers at the City of Davis Wetlands, followed by generous portions of Indian food at Raja's. Kimya and I discovered a shared nerdy love of the classic Dr Who series!

Next day, Sami, Karen and I met up for a trip to the Capay Valley, picking up another drive-by Collared Dove in Capay. We failed to find any Roadrunners at the top of Road 57, but did see fresh tracks.

Sami stopped at a spot where she had previously seen Cal Thrasher, and sure enough we were able to scope a singing bird. Another big surprise here was a singing Rufous-crowned Sparrow in what looked more like wintering habitat than its chaparral breeding grounds.

At the base of the Arbuckle grade we enjoyed a mixed flock of Western Bluebirds and Lark Sparrows.

Further up in the chaparral we were entertained by close views of a Wrentit, and the last remnants of water in Sand Creek yielded many Lawrence's Goldfinches, tricky to see (and even trickier to digiscope) in the dense vegetation.

In the open country along Dry Creek we spotted a surprise Rock Wren and no less than 3 different Roadrunners. This one was fairly close to the car when Sami picked it up, but by the time I got the scope on it, it was over the hills and far away.

Driving back down into Yolo we picked up an unseasonal Oregon Junco - perhaps it bred locally? Road 78A yielded little in the midday heat save for a mixed 'flock' of Turkeys and Mule Deer making use of the shaded almond groves.

On the drive back to Davis our parting gift was a large flock of c. 130 Swainson's Hawks chasing grasshoppers in a roadside field.

Marcel has been the most amazing host for much of this trip, driving me to pelagics and to the airport, giving me a place to stay, feeding me, taking care of my laundry etc etc, for which I'm eternally grateful. Marcel, Oz birder Hugh and I managed a day trip to the Sierra, starting at Donner State Park. Even if few birds were calling, there was much activity at this site, including my only Pygmy Nuthatches and Hermit Warbler of the trip. A woodpile here held a photogenic Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel...

... and a Green-tailed Towhee.

Perazzo Meadows is the traditional spot for Willow Flycatcher, and we duly found some in the increasingly strong wind, plus Clark's Nutcracker, Hairy Woodpecker and Williamson's Sapsucker. Adult and immature Bald Eagles made the drive to a nearby reservoir worthwhile. By the time we got to Yuba Pass it was dead, and we were all surprised to see that Sierra Valley, which normally holds breeding Sandhill Cranes and Willets, was bone dry. After turning up good numbers of Vesper and Brewer's Sparrows here, we hit the road back to Davis.

Posted by rjhall at August 24, 2007 6:47 PM