By June, much of the migration season has wrapped up. It is a very important time for local breeding birds, with many young birds just leaving their nests. This year in particular, the first year of the five-year California Bird Atlas, with a mission to document the timing and extent of breeding bird activity in the state, observation of nesting activity was more focused than usual (californiabirdatlas.org). Even though the vast majority of migrational waves had passed, a few standout rarities were detected. Lingering ducks that are rare in late spring and summer continued at the Woodland WTP, which has come to be a wetland birding oasis for our region. These included up to five Canvasbacks, an impressive 30 Redheads, including young (eBird Checklist S351950472), up to five Lesser Scaup, and a few late-staying Buffleheads. An Allen's Hummingbird visited a feeder in Fair Oaks on 6/24. This species is rarely documented that far inland, away from the fringes of the Delta.
The second half of May and the first half of June are among the slowest times locally for shorebirds, but by the last week of the month, Arctic breeding migrants, primarily Least Sandpipers and Western Sandpipers, began to dot the mudflats and wetland fringes. A Laughing Gull was an excellent find at Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area on 6/12. A Least Tern was found and photographed (eBird Checklist S359337350) at Lodi Lake on 6/18. Least Bittern reports continued from Rancho Seco Park and Sherman Island. A Little Blue Heron among a large rookery in the town of Williams, Colusa County, from 6/10 through the end of the month (eBird Checklist S355611021), accounted for one of the few historical records of this species for our region.
Grasshopper Sparrows were singing from a few traditional sites in the low foothill grasslands of Sacramento County, including Meiss Rd and a few sites at the Howard Ranch. They were also found along Yolo County Rd 105 southeast of Davis, near County Rd 38A. Regionally rare warblers add spice to late spring birding, and this month had a few. A Hooded Warbler was found on private land along Putah Creek, downstream of Winters, on 6/10. An American Redstart detected at Reichmuth Park on 6/27 was glimpsed by several birders and heard singing through 6/28. A Northern Parula was at Reichmuth Park (eBird Checklist S354191869) from 6/6 to 6/11, and another was found at William Land Park on 6/7.
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: Steve Abbott, Dan Airola, Julie Doerr, Chris Dong, Konshau Duman, Lynette Williams Duman, Jonathan Eisen, Gil Ewing, Joshua Greenfield, Cliff Hawley, Mackenzie Hollender, Liam Huber, Emmett Iverson, Julian Johnson, Dan Kopp, Manfred Kusch, Jeri Langham, James Laughlin, Andrew Lee, Eric McKinley, Roger Muskat, Michael Perrone, Zane Pickus, Ron Pozzi, Rene Reyes, Samuel Schmidt, Steve Scott, Sean Smith, Gavin Stacey, Kirk Swenson, Kevin Thomas, John Trochet, Tom Uslan, Bart Wickel, and Bill Yeates. Thanks to everyone for their reports--without them, this column would not be possible.