Date: 5/22/26 6:32 am From: Robert Furrow via groups.io <robertfurrow...> Subject: [centralvalleybirds] Northern CA multi-county big day report (long), 9 May 2026, 214 species
On May 9th, 2026, our team of four birders (Danny Karp, Jason Riggio, Zane
Pickus, Rob Furrow) made our second attempt at a multi-county Northern
California big day. We had tried first in Spring 2024; in that attempt, we
found 219 species across 10 counties. In the intervening two years, we
strategized about making the route more efficient to potentially even hit
Lassen County for some real desert specialties. We had initially planned to
try on May 3rd, but stormy conditions across Northern California forced us
to delay until the next date that worked for the entire team – May 9th.
This is quite a late date for ducks and shorebirds in the region, but we
hoped it might trade favorably with some bonus migrants, more active
mountain birding, or a more lively seawatch.
We kicked off at midnight in Marin County at the south end of Pacheco
Pond. Here, we listened for rails and herons, quickly noting many Virginia
Rails and eventually a Least Bittern. Common Gallinules sounded off and a
pair of Gadwall swam through some open water. Moments later an American
Barn Owl passed by, and we soon found a Great Horned Owl perched at the top
of a small tree. Although this starting point was by the north end of the
shorebird-rich Hamilton Wetlands, we didn’t hear any shorebirds beyond
Killdeer.
With an exacting schedule, we hustled back to the car, on to Bahia
Wetlands. Yet more barn owls were evident here, and soon after we heard
multiple Ridgway’s Rails and then a few brief calls from a Black Rail. We
had quite a few spots to try for Western Screech-Owl as we passed through
oak woodland before getting to the coast, but didn’t hear a peep (or
trill). So we pushed on to Carmody Road, where Jason’s stakeout Grasshopper
Sparrows gave occasional quiet songs and calls. It took a few minutes
before we all heard them.
Getting into some mixed conifer forest closer to the coast, we soon
found a Spotted
Owl, and ended up encountering the species at multiple stops. No Barred
Owls showed themselves, largely eliminating them as a possibility for the
day. We checked coastal spots for potential night shorebirds, but
everything was quiet. Onward to Pomo Canyon, where we enjoyed very
vocal Northern
Saw-whet Owls and Northern Pygmy-Owls. After 45 minutes of dozing, we heard
the initial bubbles of dawn chorus. Classic redwood and willow riparian
species sounded off: Band-tailed Pigeon, Western Warbling Vireo,
Golden-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper, Swainson’s Thrush, and Purple Finch.
Gurgling Purple Martins were a nice bonus, and the drive back towards
Jenner offered up Hutton’s Vireo and Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Jason got
us all onto a very late Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Reaching Jenner, a look out
over the ocean and Russian River mouth revealed our target cormorant and
loon species, plus a few loafing Caspian Terns. We noted patchy fog
offshore, and wondered how conditions would be further south along the
coast. In retrospect, a seawatch here might have paid dividends; we ended
up seawatch-less in thick fog at Bodega Head an hour later. As we turned
around to head south, Danny urged us to stop for some merganser scanning,
and promptly turned up a Common Merganser right by the town of Jenner.
We zoomed towards Bodega Bay, noting a few flyby Elegant Terns before
stopping at the Salmon Creek Mouth. The gulls were solid, with several
Heerman’s
and Glaucous-winged Gulls and lots of Bonaparte’s. Zane cued in on an odd
2nd-year bird that looked somewhat Iceland-like, but we couldn’t reach a
certain ID. However, the shorebirding had rewards: many Snowy Plovers and a
huge Sanderling flock. Offshore, three Red-necked Phalaropes flew north. As
we looked south toward Bodega Bay, our spirits flagged a little – a thick
fog was covering the coastal edge, and visibility even within the bay
didn’t look great. Nonetheless, big days are about finding anything you
can wherever you can, so we forged on.
Working the west side of the bay, the tide was already too low for
efficiently birding Gaffney Point. Still, Marbled Godwit and Short-billed
Dowitcher were feeding and calling. With the fog, we couldn’t see all parts
of the mudflats and channels, and we never detected any concentration of
peeps. Despite the fog, we drove up to the head, adding White-crowned
Sparrow. We found ourselves with no offshore visibility, and turned up no
rock-loving shorebirds despite thorough scanning. The expected Common
Murres and Pigeon Guillemots were present, however. Navigating back around
the bay we still couldn’t turn up a good shorebird flock anywhere, but we
found Long-billed Curlew and Forster’s Tern, a Red-breasted Merganser, and
then a flock of Brant just before reaching Doran Regional Park. Here again
we struggled to add new birds, finding no shorebirds on the jetties nor any
Red-necked Grebes. At this point we were eager to get into some sunlight,
and we zipped out of Bodega Bay ahead of schedule. However, we knew we
would need to allocate time to shorebirding Route 37 to address our muddy
deficiencies, so this bonus time was soon to be spent.
The drive across Sonoma County turned up our first Red-shouldered
Hawks and Western
Kingbirds, followed soon after by Northern Rough-winged Swallows and
White-throated
Swifts. We had a few tricky raptors on our minds as we drove and scanned:
Cooper’s Hawk and White-tailed Kite. Although we surely passed through
dozens of territories of each species during the day, we would ultimately
miss both. Reaching Route 37, we made a few awkward pulloffs from the
eastbound side, adding Redhead, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Northern Pintail,
and American White Pelican. Some distant flying Least/Western Sandpipers
were left as peep sp.
We reached the Davis area around 11am, noting Yellow-billed Magpie as our
first valley speciality. Swinging through local parks, we soon saw Wood
Duck, Green Heron, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, and Ash-throated Flycatcher. We
hoped for some migrants at a stop that was hopping over the last few days:
no dice. Still, targeted stops ratcheted up the species list
one-by-one: Black-chinned
Hummingbird, Hooded Oriole, Say’s Phoebe, Blue Grosbeak, Ring-necked
Pheasant, American Wigeon… check! A swing by the big open ponds near the
Yolo County Central Landfill hosted several Long-billed Dowitchers and a
few Western Sandpipers. A Loggerhead Shrike on a nearby post was a relief –
they are tough big day birds on this route. Reaching the Woodland Water
Treatment Plant at 12:35pm, we enjoyed continuing late waterfowl like Greater
White-fronted Goose, Canvasback, and Common Goldeneye, along with Eared
Grebe and White-faced Ibis, plus some new blackbirds (Tricolored,
Yellow-headed, Great-tailed Grackle). A quick swing through North Natomas
Regional Park offered breeding Western Cattle Egrets but no sign of the
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. We left the valley, but felt increasingly
mortified that we had not yet found American Kestrel, Western Bluebird, nor
Bullock’s Oriole. Any of these would be a huge miss on this route, let
alone all three.
Reaching Auburn, we went straight to the Fuel Break Trail off of Foresthill
Road. This trail passes through a migrant-rich woodland before entering
chamise chaparral. New birds came quickly, with the woods offering Oak
Titmouse and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. But it was the chaparral that brought
the magic we needed to boost our energy on this hot afternoon. Walking an
old fire break, a late Golden-crowned Sparrow flushed up. Soon after, a Bell’s
Sparrow released an unprompted burst of song, with a Lark Sparrow offering
back-up vocals. Violet-green Swallows raced by (saving us from a morning
miss), and a Lawrence’s Goldfinch gave a tinkling flyover. Thankfully,
Danny got us all on a Western Bluebird, rescuing us from an agonizing miss
for the day. As we walked back downhill, a California Thrasher geared up
and sang. We were still missing Rufous-crowned Sparrow, so we swung down
Old Foresthill Road but stopped short of the much-too-busy Auburn SRA
Confluence Area. Here scouting paid off, with us hearing both Yellow-breasted
Chat and Rufous-crowned Sparrow the moment we pulled off and opened our
doors.
With our foothill targets in the bag, we headed to a strategic little stop
off of I-80 for gas in a mixed forest with both conifers and black oak, at
about 3000 feet elevation. In a few minutes, we had heard Red-breasted
Nuthatch, Cassin’s Vireo, and Nashville and Hermit Warblers. Sadly, no luck
with the Pileated Woodpecker I had found during scouting. Onward and
upward, we drove continuously all the way to the Donner Camp Picnic Area.
Although the species composition changed drastically, the action was slow
at 4:20pm. We heard our first Pygmy Nuthatchers, Western Tanagers, and
Green-tailed
Towhees, but struggled to find any woodpeckers. Evening Grosbeaks distantly
passed by, too quick for the whole group to get on them. Mountain
challenges continued. At the Sagehen Creek trail we added only Northern
Flicker, MacGillivray’s Warbler, and Audubon’s Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Cottonwood
Creek Campground didn’t offer much more, and we were soon in Sierra Valley.
Dropping into Sierraville, our luck turned around. We immediately
found Bullock’s
Oriole (another save!), then headed to the cemetery for Calliope Hummingbird,
with Mountain Quails kwerk-ing from distant hillsides. Driving back to the
middle of town, the stakeout American Dipper was in the same culvert where
Danny spied it a week earlier. Black-billed Magpies rounded out our corvids
for the day, and we headed to Lemon Canyon Road. Before reaching the trees,
we flushed a few Horned Larks and then Zane spotted a raptor interacting
with a nearby Swainson’s Hawk, which turned out to be a Prairie Falcon. Bonus!
As hoped, Lemon Canyon was productive, with Gray Flycatcher, Thick-billed
Fox Sparrow, and Northern Yellow Warbler. We headed out in the vast open
expanse of Sierra Valley, and reached Heriot Lane with no new additions.
But as we drove into the mix of sagebrush and wetlands, we soon heard our
three target songbirds: Sage Thrasher and Vesper and Brewer’s Sparrows.
Wilson’s Phalaropes and Willets appeared moments later, and a Wilson’s
Snipe occasionally winnowed while Sandhill Cranes loafed in the distance.
We had few ducks left to possibly find, and encountered no new waterfowl
species.
It was 7pm. Should we roll the dice and drive 25 minutes out to Red Rock
Road in Lassen County, or continue working the Sierra Valley? With only a
single reasonably likely duck left to find (Green-winged Teal), and
shorebirds quite thin at this date, we decided to go for the desert gambit.
We hustled northeast, briefly stopping at Beckwourth Pass. It was quiet,
just as we had found during scouting, but it did have a single American
Kestrel to recover the third of our three concerning valley misses. At
7:35pm we reached a large sandy river bank on 395 and reveled in the mix of
Cliff and Bank Swallows. With mountains to our west, our birding was
already in shadow, despite the expected 8:05pm sunset. Thankfully, the
birds hadn’t gone to sleep yet. Red Rock Road hosted a briefly calling Juniper
Titmouse, and the trail up to the Red Rock had a singing Rock Wren. We had
a bit more light, so we checked out the nearby north end of Scott Road. A
dark raptor flushed up – an adult Peregrine Falcon! Moments later, Zane’s
sharp eyes plucked out our scouted Chukar continuing on a boulder-strewn
hillside.
At 8:15pm, we were exhausted, having left Davis at 10:30pm the night before
to start our day. We debated our next move yet again, considering whether
to hang around desert spots for a shot at Long-eared Owl or to try to use
the last moments of twilight to search out Short-eared and Burrowing Owls
in Sierra Valley. Keeping in mind that we had a solid spot for poorwills
and Flammulated Owls closer to the valley, we decided to start driving back
now. Although we reached Maddalena Ranch at 8:40pm with the faintest bit of
light, we could not find any Short-eared or Burrowing Owls. So we headed
north on Beckwourth-Gennessee Road, immediately hearing Common Poorwills at
multiple stops. We were in nice Flammulated Owl habitat, so we decided to
stop every mile and listen for a minute. Three stops later, we heard a
Flammulated
Owl the moment we left the car. Danny, Zane, and Jason walked a bit in
hopes of seeing the bird, while I elected to close my eyes and rest by the
car. There was a long drive ahead.
Although we acknowledged the remote chance of finding an owl, shorebird, or
duck in Sierra Valley before midnight, we already felt pretty far off from
our 2024 total, so we decided to start the drive home, finding no more new
birds. Our 2026 total was 214 countable species, plus the presumably
soon-to-be-countable but unpleasant-to-encounter Mute Swan.
Comparing the years, we concluded that the new route was stronger, despite
a lower count this time around. An earlier date likely would have worked
out better, ideally around May 1st - 4th. Between the late date and the
foggy coastal conditions, our shorebirding took a big hit. We missed 26
species that we found in 2024: Snow Goose, Blue-winged and Green-winged
Teal, Red-necked Grebe, Rufous Hummingbird, American Herring Gull, Black
Tern, Spotted Sandpiper, Wandering Tattler, Greater Yellowlegs, Ruddy
Turnstone, Red Knot, Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, White-tailed Kite, Cooper’s
Hawk, Burrowing, Barred, Western Screech-, and Short-eared Owl,
Williamson’s Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker, Dusky Flycatcher, Mountain
Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, and Townsend’s Warbler. Other misses that we had
decent spots for or that had been found during scouting included
Black-bellied Plover, Black Turnstone, Golden Eagle, Long-eared Owl,
Red-breasted Sapsucker, Pileated Woodpecker, Hammond’s Flycatcher, and
Black-throated Gray Warbler. A few other possibilities on our radar that we
also missed included Sooty Grouse, Vaux’s Swift, Surfbird, any jaeger,
Cassin’s or Rhinoceros Auklet, Marbled Murrelet, Sooty or Pink-footed
Shearwater, Sharp-shinned Hawk, American Goshawk, Black-backed Woodpecker,
Pinyon Jay, Clark’s Nutcracker, Canyon Wren, American Pipit, Pine Grosbeak,
Red Crossbill, and Black-throated Sparrow.
On the flip side, we found 21 new species this time around: Common
Goldeneye, Chukar, Ridgway’s and Black Rail, Sanderling, Elegant Tern,
Least Bittern, Flammulated Owl, Prairie Falcon, Loggerhead Shrike, Juniper
Titmouse, Bank Swallow, Purple Martin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Rock Wren,
American Dipper, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Lark and Bell’s Sparrow, Hermit
Warbler, and Blue Grosbeak. A lot of these gains reflected specific
stakeouts from our adjusted route. It will be exciting to continue refining
the route and timeline in future years. (Though perhaps with some simpler
big days next year before rebuilding the energy for another multi-county
attempt.)
Finally, the best part of the big day was time spent in beautiful habitats
with great people. Danny, Jason, and Zane brought relentless energy, skill,
and creativity, with an appreciation for the birds and a laid back attitude
towards the day’s occasional challenges. Big days start and end too soon,
but the camaraderie of planning, scouting, and big day birding always make
for an unforgettable experience.
