November is a great time to be in the field. A time for stray water birds, lingering summer residents, and often a few surprises. It is also a time when you get the feel for how the winter season is shaping up. Is it going to be a big finch year? Lewis's Woodpecker year? Rough-legged Hawk year? Unfortunately, the answers to those questions appear to be, "No." There are decent numbers of Varied Thrushes about, still good numbers of Red-breasted Nuthatches from the huge influx earlier in the fall, and Steller's Jays are turning up here and there in the lowlands. In terms of stray waterfowl, Beals Point at Folsom Lake produced a Surf Scoter on 11/16 and up to three Red-breasted Mergansers throughout the month, with one of the latter seen from Folsom Point on 11/4. A Greater Roadrunner was a welcome find on 11/25 (eBird Checklist S155199113) in the Dunnigan Hills of Yolo County along Rd 8.
There were a few notable shorebirds, including up to three Semipalmated Plovers lingering at the Sacramento Regional WTP throughout the month, with one at Staten Island on 11/29. The last stronghold of Mountain Plovers in our area appears to be the fields along Hwy 45 in Yolo County (eBird Checklist S155432140), just south of the Colusa County line. A high of 69 was reported. One to two Marbled Godwits were found at Beals Point and up to eight were at the Davis Wetlands. There were unusually widespread reports of Western Sandpipers. They seem to be lingering longer, and at more locations, than they were just a few years ago. A Brown Pelican reported flying over Cosumnes River Preserve (CRP) on 11/19, at the tail end of the Central Valley Birding Symposium, was a nice surprise.
Interestingly, while Lewis's Woodpeckers appeared in single digits, if at all, in their usual haunts, Acorn Woodpeckers were widespread on the Valley floor in places they are not typically reported. On 11/6, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was found at the Cache Creek Preserve west of Woodland. A Western Flycatcher was found on 11/22 at CRP, and single Cassin's Vireos were reported at CRP and from multiple sites in Davis. Single Red Crossbills were reported from Carmichael on 11/15 and from Davis Community Park on 11/25. A Chestnut-collared Longspur was reported along Latrobe Rd in eastern Sacramento County on 11/1, and a Grasshopper Sparrow was found near the Capay Bridge at Cache Creek on 11/4. The Orchard Oriole found at the UC Davis Arboretum on 10/11 continued into December. A late, lingering Yellow Warbler was photographed in Woodland on 11/1. Townsend's Warblers appeared to be more widely reported throughout the region than usual, and a late Wilson's Warbler was found at CRP from at least 11/21-11/25
The Sacramento Area is roughly defined as lying 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: Ralph Baker, Max Brodie, Dan Brown, Lyann Comrack, Konshau Duman, Gil Ewing, Linda Gal, Maureen Geiger, Joshua Greenfield, Cliff Hawley, Emmett Iverson, Jeri Langham, Andrew Lee, Mark Martucci, Ron Pozzi, Tom Pritchard, Steve Scott, Dan Tankersley, Kevin Thomas, John Trochet, Lynette Williams, and Rick Williams. Thanks to everyone for their reports--without them, this column would not be possible.