Date: 5/24/26 10:14 pm From: Ethan Monk via groups.io <z.querula...> Subject: [northbaybirds] OP 5/24
I woke up at 3:15 this morning, and spent about 10 minutes debating whether I should drive out to the Outer Point, or go back to sleep. The internet was saying wind from the south to 12mph at RCA, which is stronger than ideal, especially as the lighthouse is windier. But I ended up going anyway, as I was already awake. I kept the windshield wipers on for the last hour of the drive, and arrived at the lighthouse trees around 5:40 to find them socked in and foggy. Crap. I backtracked, birding Nunes (nothing), and then slowly driving by the Annex and Mendoza on my way to Jr. Mendoza. Arriving at Jr. Mendoza, I got out of the car, turned around and... I could see the lighthouse! And thus began a high overcast day of spring fallout.
Walking out to the lighthouse, I noticed a small, wet, disheveled and remarkably drab sparrow in the rocks about 100' east of the first cypresses with the White-crowns. It took me a second to put the ID together-- a Cassin's Sparrow! As far as I know, the bird hung out in that vicinity until ~9:30 when it was last seen by Lucas Stephenson, Mark Butler and Mary Anne Rotella.
Birding around the lighthouse, I found: -1 Olive-sided Flycatcher, singing (this is only the second I have seen on the OP!) -2 Waxwing -1 CASSIN'S SPARROW -1 Chipping Sparrow -3 Tennessee Warblers (two together, with one actively singing behind them, helped nail down this number) -1 Yellowthroat -1 Yellow Warbler -1 Tanager -1 Indigo Bunting
I departed from the lighthouse with Brian Browne, Connor Cochrane, and Lucas Corneliussen around 9:30, and headed to Nunes. At Nunes: -3 Mourning Doves (C. Cochrane tells me this is notable here in Spring) -1 W W-Pewee -1 Waxwing -1 Swainson's Thrush -1 Common Yellowthroat -1 YELLOW-THROATED VIREO (spotted by LC at lightning speed) -1 Western Flycatcher -1 Wilson's Warbler -1 Chipping Sparrow
Off to Drake's, where it was just: -1 Tennessee Warbler and a Red-thr Loon, still on the pond.
To Spaletta, there was: -1 Tennessee Warbler, as found earlier by Brian Browne -1 Yellow Warbler
Mendoza: -1 W W Pewee -2 Martins (m + f-type) -1 TN Warbler, as likely found earl... B. Browne
Jr. Mendoza: -1 W W Pewee
New Willows, where aside from likely breeding Wilson's and Sw. Thrush (?): -1 Tanager -1 Yellow Warbler -1 Tennessee
Additionally I heard of several R-b Grosbeaks, and Tennessees that I / we missed!
...and tomorrow looks even potentially better than today!
Otherwise, the ranchers are now gone, and this marks the first spring without cattle on the OP in years and years. It is remarkable how quickly the invasive hemlock, thistles, and other grasses have grown up around the ranches, not only dispersing migrant birds, but already several areas that have always been "easy" to walk through require significant effort. As all California conservationists know, once open range is grazed by cattle, when the cattle are removed, invasives proliferate and native plant biodiversity plummets (see for example, Gennett et al., 2017). Grassland birds, from Savannah Sparrows to Meadowlarks, have been well established to breed significantly more successfully in cattle-grazed, as opposed to ungrazed, grasslands in California, as the tall and ungainly grassland that the invasives form are alien to these native species. I hope that in some capacity the cattle return. At least, I hope that the ranchers are doing well; I know that some are with family in Petaluma, but that others--like the Nunes family--were forced to move to Oregon, as it was the closest place with land cheap enough to continue their trade into the 5ht+ generation. A strong reminder that the great American tradition of forcing families out of their homes and off of their land is alive and well. Here, we forced working families off their land in an attempt to save the landscape, but I fear that we may be losing both.
