It has been a slow start to spring migration with warblers, flycatchers and vireos being seen in low numbers through the month of April. Birders I’ve spoken to down south said that they are starting to see a push of neotropical migrants just now so hopefully the floodgates open for

It was a slow month for the Yolo eBird reviewers but a few great birds kept March interesting for birders. The find of the month was an adult male Allen’s Hummingbird found south of Clarksburg on March 17th. (TU) This is one of very few chaseable records in the county.

Emmett Iverson here, taking over for Steve Hampton after twenty-some odd years of writing monthly reports for the Burrowing Owl. Steve will be sorely missed by the birding community, not only for the birds he finds but for the knowledge, skill and outreach he has provided for the past three decades.

Steve Hampton has been compiling monthly Yolo County Notable Sighting reports for the YAS’s Burrowing Owl newsletter since August 2001. This is his last report for us as he is relocating to Washington state. All of us at YAS wish Steve and his family the very best in their new

December featured a sprinkling of rarities. A Common Loon was in the Ship Canal on Dec 5 (SL). A Eurasian Green-winged Teal was photographed at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area (YBWA) on Dec 15 (SH). An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was found at the landfill on Dec 7 (CT) and

A mostly dry November was filled with interesting birds. Most intriguing was the appearance of two Black-throated Sparrows, only the fourth record for the county, at a private residence west of Winters on Nov 6, with at least one bird continuing longer (BG). A Red-breasted Merganser made a brief stop

Yet another “Indian summer” provided a warm and sunny October, with nary a cloud and not a drop of rain. The best bird was the last, an adult female Vermillion Flycatcher at Woodland Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) found on Halloween morning (SH). Unfortunately, it proved as ephemeral as the last,

Despite record heat, fires, smoke, and poor air quality, migration seemed largely the same. As with any September, there were plenty of rarities to chase, highlighted by six eastern warblers. Top of the ticket was the county’s first Blackburnian Warbler, found Sept 4 at the Putah Creek Riparian Reserve (EM)

There are few birds more spectacular than a breeding plumaged Red Phalarope. Three of them arrived on May 18 during a morning thunderstorm and spent a few hours in a rice paddy just north of the Davis Wetlands (JT). This was the first chaseable record in decades. A breeding plumaged

On Friday, May 1st, I did a biking big day in Yolo county, starting at 3am from my house in Davis and finishing at 8:10pm back at home, after looping out to Babel Slough, north to Woodland, and back to Davis.  In total I biked about 91 miles, seeing/hearing 139

A cool March was typically slow for rare birds. Top of the list, however, was a Dusky Flycatcher found Mar 5 in north Davis (SH). Only the second winter record for the county, the bird remained through the month, often vocalizing. A Costa’s Hummingbird display was heard several times at