From the President
Happy November, Birders!
I hope many of you plan to participate in the annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on December 16. The count, held nationally as well as internationally, is probably the oldest form of citizen science in the United States; this year will be the 118th year! Mark your calendar for the monthly meeting on December 5, where you can sign-up for the CBC. This meeting will feature our annual CBC Bird Identification Workshop, in addition, there will be Yolo Audubon’s main fundraiser, the December Prize Drawing. You'll get your raffle tickets in the mail in the next week. Send in your tickets and a check to be eligible for a variety of art, gift baskets and gift certificates.
This year's drawing grand prize is a framed print American Bald Eagle by James Lockhart (28" x 35" with frame)
At our October monthly members’ meeting, the speaker, Michael Lynes, Audubon California’s Director of Public Policy, mentioned Important Bird Areas (IBA) in California as one of the methods to preserve bird habitats. According to the Audubon California web site, there are 117 marine and land-based in California (http://ca.audubon.org/conservation/conservation/important-bird-areas ; https://www.audubon.org/important-bird-areas/state/california). Close to home, the Yolo Bypass is an IBA and a key freshwater marsh ecosystem in California. Follow this link to read about what makes the bypass an IBA - https://www.audubon.org/important-bird-areas/yolo-bypass-area.
As you may know, Yolo Audubon has usually held a book donation and sale during the May members’ meeting. However, this year, the event will be held during the November meeting on the 14th. Members are invited to bring gently used books, about wild birds (e.g., field guides, ornithology, etc.), or environmental conservation/sciences. These books will be available for attendees who wish to offer a donation to Yolo Audubon. The purpose of this event is to recycle books related to birding, and we appreciate your sharing.
Happy birding!
Ken Ealy, President
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Join us on November 18th--
Yolo Audubon meeting
On the trail of Madagascar Endemics —
Birds, Lemurs, Chameleons and more!
Madagascar is a must-see place for any birder or naturalist. Having been isolated for over 80 million years, it is a unique biogeographic region referred to by some as the eighth continent. All of its native land mammals are indigenous including over 70 species of lemurs, a primate group largely confined to Madagascar. Of the more than 250 species of birds found there, over half are endemic, including six families of birds found only there and on some small nearby islands. Yolo Audubon Society members Sid England, Randy Beaton and Ann Brice visited Madagascar in 2017. Please join them to learn about this fascinating place and experience the magic of the island.
The Yolo Audubon monthly meeting will take place at the Davis Senior Center (646 A St, Davis, CA 95616). The program starts at 7:30 p.m., but everyone is invited for refreshments and conversation at 7:00.
Gray Bamboo Lemur
photo by Ann Brice
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Conservation Corner
The Capay Open Space Park
Last winter I discussed the Cache Creek Parkway Plan and the Cache Creek Conservancy and Nature Preserve as parts of an effort to improve and expand habitat and public access along the reach of the creek between Roads 85 and 96B. I can now report on a second on-the-ground element of the nascent Parkway corridor, the Capay Open Space Park. 
The Park is at the upstream end of the gravel-mining reach of the creek, just north of the town of Capay. With a half-million dollar grant from Proposition 13 (the River Parkways Act of 2004), the Yolo County Resource Conservation District and its partners are enhancing and expanding habitat features in the forty-acre parcel. This involves restoration of oak savannah and native streamside vegetation and improvements to the prairie/grassland, including plantings to support pollinators.
The work will cover over two thousand linear feet of creek and total about twelve acres of new plants. Because the site was used as a staging area for the nearby gravel mine, restoration has been challenging, and several innovative and unusual techniques have been used to establish native trees and shrubs.
As a County Park, the site already offers parking, water, toilets, and more than a mile of trails. It is free of charge and open 365 days a year, from dawn to dusk. Dusk is an attractive time for birders in spring, when the park is arguably the surest place in Yolo County to witness the courtship behavior of lesser nighthawks.
Beyond the habitat enhancement effort, various interpretive features and an outdoor education program are in the works. Project managers at the Yolo RCD and Cache Creek Conservancy welcome the involvement of local organizations and individuals in many aspects of the work. For example, they are hosting planting days on December 1 and 9, and January 12, from ten to noon.
Yolo Audubon signed on as a project partner at the outset. As it happens, the project leader at the RCD is a Yolo Audubon member, Tanya Meyer. To accommodate fellow members, Tanya will offer a Wednesday morning planting party on January 2, with a rain date of January 9. I expect to bird for an hour before planting starts at 10 AM. Details will be forthcoming in our next newsletter.
-- Michael Perrone, Conservation Chair
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Recent Sightings
October opened with another first county record, unfortunately in the form of a roadkill. A deceased Magnolia Warbler was found on Mace Blvd near Putah Creek on Oct 3 (AE). It now resides in the UC Davis collection. This was somewhat offset by the county’s first chaseable Vermilion Flycatcher, found Oct 20 at the Davis Wastewater Treatment Plant (JT). Unfortunately, the bird disappeared by mid-morning the following day. The only previous record for this species was photographed by landowners in 2010. A Least Flycatcher was found Oct 21 at Wild Wings Park along Cache Creek (BC). S lightly more cooperative were three early Lapland Longspurs at Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area on Oct 14 (RF) and a late American Redstart north of Knight’s Landing on Oct 29 (SH). These birds all played hide-and-seek from birders for several days. The most cooperative rarity of the month was an American Golden-Plover, first found Oct 20 at YBWA (SHo).
A Costa’s Hummingbirds was heard-only multiple times and audio-recorded in south Davis for several days starting Oct 18 (RF). Also noteworthy were two sparrows: a Grasshopper Sparrow found by a Yolo Audubon field trip on Oct 20 at “Vesper Sparrow Corner” west of Winters, and a Brewer’s Sparrow at YBWA on Oct 28 (MB, NP).
Finally, a juvenile American White Pelican found in West Sacramento was banded in July at Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge, Idaho (SA).
Thanks to the following for their reports: Stuart Angerer (SA), Max Brodie (MB), Brett Campos (BC), Andy Engilis (AE), Rob Furrow (RF), Steve Hampton (SH), Scott Hoppe (SHo), Nora Papian (NP), Jim Thomas (JT).
Photos:
Vermilion Flycatcher: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49341063
Least Flycatcher: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49344824
American Redstart: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49506098
American Golden-Plover: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49505049
American Redstart photo by Linda Gal
--Steve Hampton
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The Burrowing Owl is a publication of Yolo Audubon Society, which is a chapter of the National Audubon Society and a non-profit organization whose mission is to foster an appreciation of birds and conservation in Yolo County.
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