There are hundreds of Lewis’s Woodpeckers in our area this fall, and an easy place to observe and photograph them is Lake Solano. Usually you don’t see so many together, and they tend to fly catch from high perches, but right now they’re after acorns and can be seen squabbling with the Acorn Woodpeckers over them. When they get an acorn, they wedge it into the bark of a dead tree and hammer it until it cracks enough to remove the meat. Great fun to watch!
Now some disappointing bird news–According to David Vela, the ranger at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, there won’t be any water in the front unit where the observation deck is, unless we get an amazing amount of rain! Due to the drought they’ve had to put their water resources in places they feel it’s most productive. Everything else will be open, and there will be water along the auto tour loop; in fact there’s some there now.
We have our Christmas Bird count date set–December 18th. Bart Wickel will be leading the count again, and we’ll have information on signing up posted on the website in a few weeks. Meanwhile, put it on your calendar.
Finally, I want to encourage you to make a donation to Yolo Audubon. You should have received an e-letter from us recently asking for a contribution to help keep our programs going. Please stop by our donation page on the website if you can help. Many thanks!
Good birding!
— Ann Brice, President