Recently I decided to use eBird, Cornell University’s public database of bird observations, to store the accumulated records from birding in my neighborhood around Slide Hill Park in Davis.  This meant reviewing all thirty-six years of written notes, and the effort produced two big surprises.  One was that many species have experienced a large change […]

The Sacramento Valley population of the common raven has ridden a roller-coaster over the years, owing entirely to its interaction with people.  Three characteristics of the species have been involved.  First, ravens are highly social, and more experienced birds teach the less experienced how to make a living, including what constitutes danger and how to […]

The Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area is in many respects the best all-around collection of birding sites in the county, drawing birders from far and near. Its attraction for water-oriented birds lies in part from its being the single largest remnant of the natural floodplain of the Sacramento River, often flooding in rainy winters. More important […]

In recent years California has been home to all of the nesting tricolored blackbirds in the world, and almost all of the breeding birds have been in the Central Valley.  This year in Yolo County about 25,000 birds colonized Conaway Ranch at a site north of Road 25 and east of Road 103, and about […]

On August 3rd, as part of Audubon California’s annual legislative advocacy day, local Audubon members from all over the state met with 45 state legislative offices to advocate for birds and communities. Here in Yolo County several of us with Yolo Audubon Society met via Zoom with our local representative, Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, and with […]