Not that long ago, reports of Trumpeter Swans were pretty rare. It now seems that there are always a few about to be found, and fortunately there are some people who are willing to search through tens of thousands of Tundra Swans to find them. On 12/7, there were at least 4 Trumpeter Swans (two adults and two juveniles) at the east end of Sankey Rd in southern Sutter County (eBird checklist S99609884). The female Long-tailed Duck found on 11/26 near the Nimbus Hatchery continued into January. Most views were rather brief as the bird repeatedly dove below the Hazel Ave bridge, spending more time underwater than on the surface. A female-type Red-breasted Merganser from 12/2-9 was a first for the Sacramento County Bufferlands.
With increased reports of Neotropic Cormorants in southeastern California and then into the Central Valley, it was only a matter of time for Sacramento County's first. One of these smaller, relatively longer-tailed cormorants was found on 12/31 among a group of Double-crested Cormorants along Brannan Island Rd at the junction of the San Joaquin River and Seven Mile Slough. It continued in the area and was seen by many into January. A Pacific Golden-Plover found on 12/5 was a nice find at Cosumnes River Preserve (CRP). Out-of-season Semipalmated Plovers included one at Staten Island on 12/2 and one at the Sacramento Regional WTP on 12/20-22. Mountain Plovers continued in ag fields along Hwy 45 in Yolo County, just south of the Colusa County line. On 12/16, two Pacific Loons were found on Folsom Lake, seen from Folsom Point, while Common Loons were surprisingly hard to come by this season.
This month produced a nice assortment of uncommon to rare flycatchers. A Hammond's Flycatcher spent the month at Reichmuth Park (eBird checklist S99721549), and a Gray Flycatcher (eBird checklist S99076368) returned to winter at CRP. A Hammond's Flycatcher was also found at the EC Garden on the UC Davis campus on 12/7-16, and a Dusky Flycatcher (eBird checklist S98764536) at CRP on 12/11 was quite a surprise. The most cooperative rare flycatcher was an Eastern Phoebe at the southern tip of Tyler Island (eBird checklist S99730949), continuing from 12/12 into January. Two Northern Rough-winged Swallows that spent the month at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery were a nice surprise, while Chipping Sparrows were hard to come by after being quite regular in recent winters. The Black-and-white Warbler found at Reichmuth Park on 11/20-21 was refound on 12/4 and continued through at least 12/11.
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 I want to thank the following for their reports: Max Brodie, Aidan Brubaker, Lyann Comrack, Konshau Duman, Gil Ewing, Cliff Hawley, JIm Holmes, Liam Huber, Emmett Iverson, Jeri Langham, Andrew Lee, Mark Martucci, Nora Papian, Michael Perrone, Jim Rowoth, Steve Scott, John Trochet, and Lynette Williams. Thanks to everyone for their reports--without them, this column would not be possible.