Great Horned Owl; © Joanne Fillatti
On this trip we will visit Cache Creek Nature Preserve, a private/non-profit outdoor preserve that has gone through more than 25 years of habitat restoration work located just off the Cache Creek Watershed in Woodland, CA. We will be looking for resident species and those that winter here in the area.
A combination of wetland, riparian forest, creek, and grassland habitats will provide an opportunity to see a variety of birds such as Wood Ducks, Great-Horned Owls, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Northern Flickers, and many sparrows. There are also occasional sightings of Ospreys, American White Pelicans, American Bitterns, and Soras.
Meet at 7:15 AM at the parking lot of Cache Creek Nature Preserve, 34199 Co Rd 20, Woodland, CA. All levels of birders are welcome. Trip will conclude at around 10:00 AM. Bring water, binoculars and spotting scopes if you have one. We will also provide additional binoculars, but it’s STRONGLY RECOMMENNDED to bring your own.
There won’t be much walking on uneven terrain. Much of the walk will be on established trails that are mostly flat. Rain and strong wind will cancel trip.
Call or email for directions or more info: Harnawaz Boparai (916)-871-9093 (cell) or hsboparai@ucdavis.edu
by Harnawaz Boparai
The field trip occurred on December 11, 2021 at the Cache Creek Nature Preserve starting at 7:15 AM and ending at 10:00 AM roughly, however some attendees stayed until 11:00 AM. There were a total of 17 field trip attendees (not including the field trip leader and two other staff from the Cache Creek Conservancy/Nature Preserve). We started at the parking lot of the nature preserve and walked parallel with the wetland going through the tending gathering garden; before taking a slope up to the levee and continued walking adjacent to the wetland. After the wetland, we took a turn into the riparian forest area that runs parallel with the Cache Creek watershed. We hiked along that for a good duration of time (almost an hour) before coming up to a dried up slough. We crossed over that slough to reach the grasslands region of the nature preserve. From the grasslands, we hiked through the oak woodland trail heading back to the front entrance of the nature preserve. By the time we reached the front of the Cache Creek Nature Preserve it was slightly past 10:00 AM. Some people already decided to leave at that point, while others chose to stay and look over the wetland for some more time.
There was a diversity of birds observed over the course of the entire field trip. Each habitat type featured a different plethora of birds. The wetland habitat was spotlighted by a flock of over two dozen American White Pelicans foraging for aquatic prey throughout our time in the wetland. Other wetland species observed were Common Mergansers, Northern Mockingbirds, and even a Hermit Thrush (observed towards the end of the field trip). The riparian habitat also hosted a wide variety of species such as California Towhees, Golden-crowned Sparrows, and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. The grassland habitat witnessed our first Black Phoebe sighting of the field trip. The woodland habitat hosted Downy and Nuttall’s Woodpeckers, as well as a Rufous-crowned Sparrow. Shortly before finishing up the woodland area of the preserve, we found a large collection of Great Horned Owl feathers near the entrance of the nature preserve. We’re not quite sure what the cause of it was, but looked to be it most likely was caused by predation. But of what remains unclear.
The overall diversity of birders present during the field trip was interesting. About half to two-thirds of the attendees had high-definition cameras to take good quality photographs of the birds and other wildlife present throughout the entire field trip. This actually was quite helpful on several occasions over the field trip; particularly with birds that even the most experienced birders were having a hard time confirming what species was being observed. Two examples of this were the Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher from the riparian forest and the Rufous-crowned Sparrow from the woodland. Both species when viewed with binoculars, most of us were still unsure if it was the selected species, but then the photographers took photographs and shared it with us; which helped confirm our guesses. Also, about half the attendees were well-rounded birders with years of birding experience. While the other half had recently gotten into birding in the last couple of years and wanted to start coming out on these field trips to become better birders and seek advice from experienced birders that were attending these field trips.