Date: 4/27/24 9:55 pm From: Glennah Trochet via groups.io <trochetj...> Subject: [centralvalleybirds] Cosumnes birds the last 10 days or so
Dear Birders,
I have been enjoying spring migration with several recent visits to the Cosumnes River Preserve in southern Sacramento County. A more protracted than usual drawdown of managed wetlands has maintained some shorebird habitat later into the season than is perhaps usual at Cosumnes. Ordinarily the mosquito and vector control people want the water gone in these wetland ponds when the calendar turns April. I have been emphasizing checking for shorebirds under the circumstances. I haven't turned up anything really remarkable, but it has been fun to look at so many (for this location) of these birds.
On Friday, 19 April, I just checked the area behind the Farm Center gate. Among the passerines I picked up my FOS blue-gray gnatcatchers (2) and Nashville warbler (1). The shore birds were these: American avocet- 4 black-bellied plover- 72 (a fair amount of turnover from the 129 seen two days earlier as many more birds today were still in basic plumage) killdeer- 8 semipalmated plover- 2 whimbrel- 1 dunlin- 120 least sandpiper- 650 western sandpiper- 1700 peep sp.- 1200 long-billed dowitcher- 850 Wilson's snipe- 1 lesser yellowlegs- 7 greater yellowlegs- 55
I checked for shorebirds again at 12:40 and found zero. While I was scoping one field, 14 black-bellied plovers flew in.
Saturday the 20th was this month's Tall Forest bird survey. Perhaps the funnest thing was picking up both Swainson's thrush and hermit thrush on the same outing, an uncommon pairing for me. The water was too high to wade to the Accidental Forest or to cross the berm into the southern Tall Forest proper, and this remains true today. Survey highlights included these: Vaux's swift- 1 black-bellied plover- 54 killdeer- 7 semipalmated plover- 27 dunlin- 150 least sandpiper- 110 western sandpiper- 1050 peep sp.- 600 long-billed dowitcher- 920 Wilson's snipe- 1 (heard only) lesser yellowlegs- 6 greater yellowlegs- 55 white-tailed kite- 1 bald eagle- 1 *Empidonax* sp.- 1 warbling vireo- 4 solitary vireo sp.- 1 Swainson's thrush- 1 hermit thrush- 2 Oregon junco- 1 (singing) Bullock's oriole- 30 orange-crowned warbler- 15 Nashville warbler- 7 common yellowthroat- 10 Audubon's warbler- 75 Audubon's x myrtle warbler- 1 myrtle warbler- 4 yellow-rumped warbler- 35 Townsend's warbler- 3 hermit warbler- 1 Wilson's warbler- 20 black-headed grosbeak- 20 lazuli bunting- 1
Last Wednesday, 24 April, the morning was initially a work day. From 0615 to 0840 I trimmed back poison oak that was bidding fair to take away portions of the Lost Slough bird survey route. Even before pulling out my machete and loppers, I watched a peregrine put up hundreds of calidrines. After that work, I visited most of the remaining shorebird habitat on the lower preserve. Lost Slough and Desmond Road got thorough coverage, but mowing was going on at the TNC Barn ponds, so I didn't see them all. There's not much left on the county property east of the shack, but one check still has extensive shallow water. But not all the shorebirds of interest behind the gate were there. Three adjacent fields had numbers of semipalmated plovers. But the pulse of black-bellied plovers that had been a treat to see seems to have come and gone. In late morning, the same or another peregrine flushed ALL the shorebirds. Most of the semi plovers and all of the dowitchers and yellowlegs left and did not return. After several minutes the peeps and only the peeps returned. These are what I turned up this morning: black-necked stilt- 28 American avocet- 10 killdeer- 22 semipalmated plover- 220 (I cannot recall having seen as many before here) dunlin- 35 least sandpiper- 240 western sandpiper- 1350 peep sp.- 450 long-billed dowitcher- 210 Wilson's snipe- 1 lesser yellowlegs- 1 greater yellowlegs- 30 The south side of the Lost Slough route was hopping with migrant songbirds, mostly Wilson's warblers and myrtle warblers, with a few warbling vireos as well.
On Friday I started behind the Farm Center gate, walking the east side road and down Wood Duck Slough before turning my attention to the still-considerable area of suitable shorebird habitat. Some is viewable from Desmond Road and Franklin Blvd., but much is behind gates at the TNC Barn ponds and on Lost Slough. The one field behind the Farm Center gate is still getting a lot of use, too.
The passerines of interest today were these: warbling vireo- 12 Swainson's thrush- 2 Oregon junco- 1 (still singing, but some 300 meters from its most recent spot) golden-crowned sparrow- 4 (the only winter sparrow seen today) orange-crowned warbler- 7 Nashville warbler- 15 common yellowthroat- 8 Audubon's warbler- 12 Townsend's warbler- 4 hermit warbler- 1 Wilson's warbler- 18 western tanager- 6 lazuli bunting- 1
The shorebirds included nothing rare, but it was fun to have so many to look through: black-necked stilt- 24 American avocet- 12 killdeer- 25 semipalmated plover- 245 (my new high, I think) dunlin- 60 least sandpiper- 450 western sandpiper- 2200 peep sp.- 700 long-billed dowitcher- 560 lesser yellowlegs- 2 greater yellowlegs- 41 Wilson's phalarope- 1
Today was probably the end of the line for shorebird habitat behind the Farm Center gate. One field still looked like it could host shorebirds, but none were there. I fairly thoroughly checked the TNC Barn ponds, Desmond Road, and Lost Slough as well. I also visited the Point on the River Walk early (36 degrees F.!) and extensively in late morning around the Tall Forest. Birds of interest to me: snow goose- yesterday's singleton (3 on Wednesday) seems gone blue-winged teal- pair American wigeon- 1 northern pintail- 2 lone drakes and a pair ring-necked duck- 2 lone drakes rock pigeon- 7 (location, location, location) white-throated swift- 1 black-necked stilt- 9 American avocet- 5 killdeer- 25 semipalmated plover- 105 dunlin- 31 least sandpiper- 420 western sandpiper- 850 peep sp.- 350 long-billed dowitcher- 190 greater yellowlegs- 20 western flycatcher- 1 warbling vireo- 8 common raven- 5 in a flock low over of the Tall Forest Swainson's thrush- 1 cedar waxwing- 14, first in quite a while American pipit- 2 Oregon junco- seems to be gone golden-crowned sparrow- 6 Savannah sparrow- 15 orange-crowned warbler- 5 Nashville warbler- 1 common yellowthroat- 4 MacGillivray's warbler- 1 FOS Audubon's warbler- 18 myrtle warbler- 1 (my last new taxon of the day) yellow-rumped warbler- 5 Townsend's warbler- 2 black-throated gray warbler- 1 Wilson's warbler- 4 western tanager- 8 blue grosbeak- 1 FOS
