One could argue that March has some of the best birding of the year. There are many fine days and there is as much diversity in the Valley in March as any time of year. Yet, after months of winter, most of us really long for the springtime that won't arrive until mid-April. But March does mean Western Kingbirds and Bullock's Orioles before the month ends. The last of our regular swallows, Purple Martins, arrive--this year on 3/17 at the Sutterville Rd overpass near Sacramento City College. The big Red-breasted Merganser season continued, with at least three seen from Beals Point at Folsom Lake. An early Calliope Hummingbird visited a private yard near Galt on 3/18 and, for another season, a private yard in rural Yolo County to the southwest of Clarksburg hosted Allen's Hummingbirds (eBird Checklist S164419111). Ranging a little farther south than usually covered here, a Broad-billed Hummingbird was found on 3/4 in Stockton (eBird Checklist S163745005) and continued through at least 3/9. This species is extremely rare in California, and is one typically looked for in southeastern Arizona, though one was found in Davis in early 2021.
Good numbers of expected shorebird species began moving through in migration. A Pacific Golden-Plover was a nice find on 3/19 along Woodbridge Rd. They can sometimes be found among large flocks of Black-bellied Plovers, although those large flocks have been increasingly hard to come by locally in recent years. Mountain Plovers continued in the fields along Hwy 45 in Yolo County, just south of the Colusa County line, through at least 3/16. A first-cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull was found at the Yolo County Central Landfill on 3/4. A Red-throated Loon, likely the continuing bird from last month, was reported on 3/8 along the Deep Water Channel adjacent to Bridgeway Island Pond, and a Pacific Loon was seen on 3/6 on Folsom Lake from Folsom Point.
The only site in the area this season with Short-eared Owl reports was along Sankey Rd to the west of Hwy 99. A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was found (eBird Checklist S164924080) downstream of the Mayhew Drain along the American River Parkway on 3/14 through at least 3/19. The continuing Winter Wren was reported from Putah Creek Fishing Access #1 on 3/3. There were no reports of a more expected Pacific Wren this month. A Green-tailed Towhee was a nice find on 3/16 in the vicinity of the Tall Forest at Cosumnes River Preserve. The Orchard Oriole found at the UC Davis Arboretum on 10/11 quite impressively continued into April. An Orchard Oriole also spent a couple of days during the first week of March along Putah Creek between Davis and Winters. The Ovenbird first found on 1/24 continued at William Land Park through at least 3/10, and the nearby Summer Tanager continued through at least 3/5.
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 Brown, Lyann Comrack, Konshau Duman, Andy Engilis, Jr., Gil Ewing, Susan Goodrich, Joshua Greenfield, Cliff Hawley, Scott Hoppe, Adam Kucharek, Manfred Kusch, Jeri Langham, Mark Martucci, Frances Oliver, Zane Pickus, Linda Pittman, Ron Pozzi, Rene Reyes, Samuel Schmidt, Steve Scott, Kevin Thomas, John Trochet, Tom Uslan, Lynette Williams, and David Yee. Thanks to everyone for their reports--without them, this column would not be possible.