Field Trip Leader: Mackenzie Hollender, sacaudubonyoungbirders@gmail.com
Supervisor: Kevin Hollender 

This is a Young Birders Club field trip. Participation is limited to members of the Sacramento Valley Young Birders Club. Register via Slack to join the Sacramento Valley Young Birders Club on this trip. Please go to www.sacramentoaudubon.org/young-birders-club to become a member.

This is the Sacramento Valley YBCs second visit to Sankey Road, as we agreed to come back in March after the first trip to have more daylight to see the owls. Join us for a sunset visit to Sankey Road, a road split of agricultural land and restored grassland at the foot of a protected wetland area in the Natomas Basin. Our main target bird of this trip is the Short-eared Owl, a crepuscular bird (active at dawn and dusk) that flaps buoyantly above its grassland homes. There are only a few places in the valley where Short-eared Owls can be found, Sankey road is by far the most reliable. Multiple owls can be seen hunting rodents, perched on thick plant stalks, fence lines and rocks just before sunset. In addition to the Short-eared Owls, we will also look for Great Horned Owls, Loggerhead Shrikes, American Kestrel, Horned Larks, Savannah Sparrows, fly by ducks, shorebirds, and other grassland birds. Towards dusk, we have a good chance of hearing Virginia rails. 

Short-eared Owl © Daniel Lee Brown