March brought us a month of change, the bridge between the static of winter and the birth of the new year. Oaks are fully budded out, redbuds are in bloom, and the hills of Putah Canyon are glowing green. The growing tension of March builds throughout the month as we eagerly await the flood of neotropical migrants in April. Our wintering sparrows and thrushes begin shifting and it becomes hard to know if the sparrows and kinglets we see are migrants or not.
Undoubtedly, the highlight of the month was a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER found March 20th at Willowbank Ditch. (KD, LW) This bird was reported a month earlier as a Red-naped Sapsucker (DHF, RF) but wasn’t conclusively photographed or identified as a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker until the 20th. This bird was last seen on March 29th and has presumably migrated north to breed.
For the second year in a row, ALLEN’S HUMMINGBIRDS have been reported from a private residence near Clarksburg. (TU) It is exciting to know that last year was not a one off and this may be a regular breeding locale for the species.
A handful of the rare gulls from February were reported through the first part of March, including a first-cycle GLAUCOUS GULL (KD) and a second-cycle LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. (AC, FF, CT, AR) A VESPER SPARROW was spotted at their traditional wintering spot in the Capay Valley on Road 41 and GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS have arrived on territory on County Road 105.
Thanks to the following for their reports: Konshau Duman (KD), Lynette Williams (LW), Dale Hoffman-Floerke (DHF), Robert Floerke (RF), Tom Uslan (TU), Aziza Carrillo (AC), Frank Fabbro (FF), Cameron Tescher (CT), and Amelia Realzola (AR).
eBird checklists:
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: https://ebird.org/checklist/S105279063
Allen’s Hummingbird: https://ebird.org/checklist/S105752573
Glaucous Gull: https://ebird.org/checklist/S104880873
Lesser Black-backed Gull: https://ebird.org/checklist/S104118005
Vesper Sparrow: https://ebird.org/checklist/S104936724
Grasshopper Sparrow: https://ebird.org/checklist/S105303274
Compiled by Emmett Iverson, Davis, CA