Yes, it is summer. It's hot. But July can be one of the best times of year for shorebirds. The last few days of the month also usually hold the first in a wave of songbird migrants. Before the calendar had turned to August, most of the regular western migrant warblers had been tallied. Summering rare and uncommon ducks continued at the Woodland WTP, a wetland birding oasis for our region. These included up to seven Canvasbacks, up to 25 Redheads, including maturing young, and up to three Lesser Scaup. A young Hooded Merganser, a rare and seemingly expanding local breeder, was seen at Mississippi Bar on 7/5.
Good numbers of common migrant shorebirds were reported where habitat could be accessed, but there were few standout rarities this month. Two to three Snowy Plovers were found and photographed (eBird Checklist S375144549) at the Woodland WTP on 7/22. Another was at Tyler Island, southern Sacramento County, on 7/31. There were reports of single Semipalmated Sandpipers from the Woodland WTP sporadically from 7/20 to 7/31, and from Tyler Island on 7/31. A Franklin's Gull was an excellent find (eBird Checklist S373328403) at Folsom Lake, reported from the Granite Bay boat launch area on 7/16-7/17 and from Beals Pt on 7/17. A Neotropic Cormorant was found during the second half of the month at Lagoon Valley Park to the southwest of Vacaville. Least Bittern reports came from Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area and private wetlands north of Zamora, Yolo County. A Little Blue Heron continued among a large rookery in the town of Williams, Colusa County. It was first reported on 6/10 and continued through 7/18.
There were multiple reports of post-breeding Bank Swallows on the move in Yolo County and the portions of Sacramento County adjacent to the Delta. A Brown Creeper was a nice surprise on the early date of 7/31 at the UC Davis Arboretum (eBird Checklist S378503580). Grasshopper Sparrows continued along Yolo County Rd 105 southeast of Davis, near County Rd 38A, with a high count of six. The songbird highlight of the month was a singing male Indigo Bunting that was found at the Cache Creek Settling Basin, northeast of Woodland, from 7/20 into August (eBird Checklist S374474272). It was seen with a female Lazuli Bunting, indicating the potential of a hybrid pair between these closely related species.
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, Lynne Craft, Chris Dong, Konshau Duman, Lynette Williams Duman, Gil Ewing, Joshua Greenfield, Cliff Hawley, Mackenzie Hollender, Liam Huber, Emmett Iverson, Julian Johnson, Dan Kopp, Manfred Kusch, Jeri Langham, Andrew Lee, Eric McKinley, Nicki Mullins, Roger Muskat, Michael Perrone, Zane Pickus, Ron Pozzi, Samuel Schmidt, Steve Scott, Sean Smith, Gavin Stacey, Kirk Swenson, Kevin Thomas, John Trochet, Tom Uslan, and Bart Wickel. Thanks to everyone for their reports--without them, this column would not be possible.