Sage Thrasher ©Tom Pritchard
An unseasonably warm February was brightened by clear skies and a flurry of rare birds. The highlight of the month was a SAGE THRASHER, the first widely chasable individual in quite a few years, along County Road 104 beginning 2/12 (KC). This bird survived a few days of February showers before spending the remainder of the month happily running about weedy ditches and road margins, much to the delight of local birders who got to see it. The mid-February date of discovery begs the question of what this individual SAGE THRASHER was doing here. This species migrates early to their Great Basin breeding grounds, so it is certainly possible that it was an early migrant. Alternatively, SAGE THRASHERS have wintered in Yolo County on multiple occasions before, so it is also feasible that this bird has been around a while and had gone undetected.
February is known among birders as the season of gulls, as many begin to leave their coastal wintering areas and migrate through the region. This provides opportunities to look through large congregations for unusual species, and locally, the prime gulling hub is the Yolo County Central Landfill. This month dedicated gullers managed to pick out a snow-white GLAUCOUS GULL at the County Road 104 Ponds adjacent to the landfill. It was a second-cycle bird, first found on 2/27 (PB, HW). Another notable gull was an apparent “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gull in the same location, photographed over a few days beginning 2/26 (PB). Formerly considered its own species, the Iceland Gull was lumped with the Thayer’s Gull in 2017. Non-Thayer’s Iceland Gulls remain quite uncommon in Yolo County.
A male CASSIN’S FINCH was a notable find on the Blue Ridge Trail on 2/7 (RW). This species is very hard to find in the county, although there are sporadic winter records from sites in Coast Ranges and more infrequently from the valley floor. Also of note, the third CASSIN’S VIREO of the winter was photographed on 2/25 at North Area Drainage Pond in Davis (JG, KO). A couple of interesting hybrid ducks were reported this month, including a continuing drake “BREWER’S DUCK” (a hybrid GADWALL x MALLARD) at North Area Drainage Pond, and a drake CINNAMON x BLUE-WINGED TEAL at Bridgeway Island Pond on 2/21 (PB, HW, EG, CF).
Rounding out the month were several continuing birds. The wintering TROPICAL KINGBIRDS at Bridgeway Lakes Community Park were last reported on 2/1. Last year, a TROPICAL KINGBIRD in the same location last year stuck around until early March, so it’s possible these birds are still around. A NORTHERN YELLOW WARBLER continued to be reported weekly at Bridgeway Island Pond, now the only wintering individual of this species for Yolo County as previous records had disappeared by the end of December. The locally famous GREATER ROADRUNNER at Taber Ranch Winery and Event Center was seen periodically, and a EURASIAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL remained at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area until it was closed due to flooding midway through the month.
Thanks to the following for their reports:
Peyton Bounds (PB), K. Calderala (KC), Ellie Gottlieb (EG), Josh Greenfield (JG), Kelli O’Neill (KO), Rick Williams (RW), Henry Witsken (HW)
Photos and Audio Recordings:
Sage Thrasher: https://ebird.org/checklist/S300460575
Glaucous Gull: https://ebird.org/checklist/S304467898
“Kumlien’s” Iceland Gull: https://ebird.org/atlascalifornia/checklist/S304811110
Cassin’s Vireo: https://ebird.org/checklist/S300461900
–Zane Pickus