Newer birders might be surprised to learn that August in Sacramento can be the best of times. It can also be the worst of times when it's hot and there are few migrants, but a birdy August morning is hard to beat. July is often great for shorebirds, and it is hard to top September for songbird migrants, but August is an excellent combination of the two. Last year we lamented how slow the songbird migration was and it was actually quite concerning. Well, this year has been much better in terms of numbers and the quality of rarities has been off the charts. The Woodland WTP continued to host Canvasbacks, Redheads, and Lesser Scaup through the summer. A Black Swift reported on 8/27 at Butte Slough near Pass Rd, west of the Sutter Buttes, was a first county record of this migrant that is rarely detected from the flats of the Valley.
Accessible shorebird habitat was hard to come by this month, but there were still a lot of interesting reports. A Snowy Plover was found and photographed (eBird Checklist S38552026) at the Granite Bay boat launch at Folsom Lake on 8/21. There were multiple Marbled Godwit reports in Yolo County, where they are expected in low numbers, and there were reports of singles at Folsom Lake, Beals Pt, on 8/2 and 8/18-8/19; two were also found along Meiss Rd on 8/12 and 8/29. There was a smattering of Solitary Sandpiper reports in the region, but more surprising were single Ruddy Turnstone finds from Folsom Lake, Beals Pt, on 8/19 (eBird Checklist S384927164) and along Varney Rd in Sutter County on 8/27. A Stilt Sandpiper was another excellent find from the same date along Varney Rd. Three Baird's Sandpipers were found at the Anatolia Vernal Pool Preserve on 8/12, with ones to twos sporadically reported in the region. There was a Pectoral Sandpiper at Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area on 8/12 and two along N Brewer Rd on 8/31. Single Semipalmated Sandpipers were reported from multiple locations throughout the region, with two at Cosumnes River Preserve on 8/22. A Laughing Gull was an excellent find at Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area on 8/2 (eBird Checklist S379362365) and it continued around Yolo County into September. This was just the second Yolo County record, and one of very few Central Valley records. The first Yolo County record, a flyby photographed this June, was possibly the same bird.
There were widespread Lewis's Woodpecker reports on either side of the Valley during the last week of the month. An influx of Red-breasted Nuthatches starting mid-month reached impressive proportions by the end of the month. A Brewer's Sparrow was photographed (eBird Checklist S379950450) on 8/4 at Sailor Bar along the American River Parkway. Green-tailed Towhee reports included one at Mace Blvd and Putah Creek on 8/21, another on 8/29 along the north side of the American River, east of Watt Ave, and one along Babel Slough on 8/30. There was quite a wave of Northern Parula reports, with one at Mace Blvd and Putah Creek on 8/15, 8/25, and 8/30, one in Folsom along Humbug Creek on 8/27, another at Lake Solano from 8/28-8/31, and one along Babel Slough on 8/30-8/31. The next two species are vying for the bird of the month, with the nod going to the male Black-throated Blue Warbler found along Babel Slough on 8/30-8/31 (https://ebird.org/checklist/S388462822) because it was seen by many people. A Yellow-throated Warbler was a stunning find at the Gristmill Access to the American River Parkway on 8/27, though only the initial group who found and photographed (https://ebird.org/checklist/S387510171) the bird were able to see it. Lastly, the male Indigo Bunting found at the Cache Creek Settling Basin, northeast of Woodland, was reported from 7/20 until 8/6.
The Sacramento Area as covered here lies between Hwy 20 to the north, Hwy 12 to the south, and the 1000-foot contour to the east and west, plus all of Sacramento and Yolo counties. Many reports first appeared on the Central Valley Bird Club listserv (groups.io/g/centralvalleybirds) and in eBird (ebird.org). It is impossible to list everyone, but we thank the following for their reports: Dan Airola, Linda Barth, Aidan Brubaker, Lynne Craft, Chris Dong, Konshau Duman, Lynette Williams Duman, Todd Easterla, Gil Ewing, Marc Fenner, Joachim Gonzalez, Joshua Greenfield, Cliff Hawley, Mackenzie Hollender, Liam Huber, Emmett Iverson, Richard Jeffers, Julian Johnson, Logan Kahle, Jeri Langham, Andrew Lee, Michele McCormick, Eric McKinley, Roger Muskat, Michael Perrone, Zane Pickus, Ron Pozzi, Samuel Schmidt, Steve Scott, Sean Smith, Gavin Stacey, Kirk Swenson, Kevin Thomas, John Trochet, Tom Uslan, Zeke VanZante, and Bart Wickel. Thanks to everyone for their reports--without them, this column would not be possible.