Congratulations to Josh Greenfield
on his Yolo County Big Year!

Northern Saw-whet Owl ©Josh Greenfield, Species #274

According to Wikipedia, “A big year is a personal challenge or an informal  competition among birders who attempt to identify as many species of birds as possible by sight or sound, within a single calendar year and within a specific geographic area.”  In 2024, Yolo Bird Alliance member Josh Greenfield attempted to best the Yolo County record of 274 species set by Holly Coates in 2018, and it was a nail biter to the end.
   Josh had been a casual birder as an undergrad in Ohio and didn’t bird at all while he was completing his PhD in chemistry at UC Davis.  Then in 2019, he got more serious and was soon a regular part of the local and regional birding scene, leading bird walks for the Friends of the North Davis Pond and becoming a volunteer for Yolo Bird Alliance’s phenology project at Bobcat Ranch. 
   By late 2023, Josh’s work schedule was flexible enough that he began to think about the possibility of attempting a county Big Year, and on January 3rd  2024, he officially began.  The early days weren’t too difficult, and there were some nice surprises like the Plumbeous Vireo in February.  By late March he had over 200 species, but then things began to slow down.  The Black-chinned Sparrow on April 28th was #228.  The Little Blue Heron, #251, showed up on July 9th.  And new birds became even more scarce until the Wood Sandpiper, #260, the rarest bird of the year, arrived on September 9th.  That was followed by the Sabine’s Gull, #266, on September 21st. 
   Josh saw four new birds in October:  Cassin’s Finch, Sage Thrasher, Vesper Sparrow and American Dipper to put him at 269 species, and November brought Greater Roadrunner, Long-eared Owl and Swamp Sparrow—272 species.  Then nothing for almost a month until birders found a Vermilion Flycatcher during the Woodland/Davis CBC on December 27th, which took Josh to #273, just one shy of the 2018 record. On the 30th, a birder photographed a Brant on North Davis Pond to show Josh, but it quickly flew off to the north.  Friends joined in and searched for the bird all day with no luck.  The mood was glum, but with one day left, Josh kept looking. 
   Around 8pm on December 31st, he was rewarded at Babel Slough.  He heard a Northern Saw-whet Owl calling and followed the direction of the sound.  At 8:19pm Josh photographed species #274 to tie the Big Year record.  He was done with four hours to spare.
   Josh is still recovering from his effort, which he described as “a bad idea that I survived!”  His adventures over the year have helped raise awareness of the amazing diversity of birds that can be found in Yolo County.  We, the birding community, congratulate him and hope that he’ll eventually write a detailed account of his big year after more time has passed. 

   In other December news, the month was filled with many Christmas Bird Counts, and we want to refer you to a couple of them.  First, is Yolo Bird Alliance’s 54th annual Putah Creek Count held on December 15th.  Our compiler Bart Wickel reports that there were a record-breaking 102 participants!  Divided into 40 teams distributed over 10 areas, they found 147 species, the most stunning being a Cassin’s Kingbird.  Please check the summary here.   This includes an e-Bird link to all the species counted.
    On December 27th, the Woodland/Davis CBC held its 3rd annual count, and compiler Bruce Christensen reported 143 species.  Highlights included a Vermilion Flycatcher at the Wild Wings Golf Course.  A full species account will be posted on the Cache Creek Conservancy website soon.

–Ann Brice and Genevieve Colborn