Upcoming Field Trips:

From Oscar Johnson:

This weekend's (January 12-13) eBird-focused field trips were a great success. We had a good turnout (4 participants on Saturday and 11 on Sunday) and ended up submitting 17 eBird checklists over the course of the two days. On Saturday we birded Tulare, Kings, and Fresno counties and ended up with 80 species for the day. Notable birds included ROSS'S, CACKLING, WHITE-FRONTED, and SNOW GEESE and EURASIAN WIGEON at Pixley NWR (all from the plantform nearest the parking lot), and a partially leucistic Ruddy Duck at the TLDD ponds on Nevada Ave northwest of Corcoran. Some of the eBird checklists are here:

On Sunday we birded Fox Grove Park and the Turlock Lake area in Stanislaus County and ended up with 88 species for the day. Notable birds included a PRAIRIE (RICHARDSONII) MERLIN and HORNED GREBE at the Turlock Lake county fishing access site, a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK on Crabtree Rd, 3 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS and a GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET at the Turlock Lake SRA campground, a BURROWING OWL on Davis Rd, and multiple Prairie Falcons, Golden Eagles, and Ferruginous Hawks along Davis and Crabtree Roads. The eBird checklists are here:

From Chris Conard:

On our Placer Hotspots trip on Saturday, Dec 8th, we had several nice finds and a good group (24 total), with participants from the Bay Area, as far away in the Valley as Bakersfield, and even one from Illinois. 

Perhaps the most notable bird was a sapsucker that Bruce Webb found on an earlier visit.  It looked very much like a Red-naped Sapsucker (Sami LaRocca may have gotten some helpful photos), but the bird was extremely active, and most looks were brief or distant, so definitive looks weren't obtained as far as I know.  This bird was at McBean Park at 2nd and D St in Lincoln.  We parked by the left-center field fence.  The bird was seen along the riparian corridor from the small skateboard area to the northeast as far as you can walk along the shelf above the creek.  Most of the sightings were about 350 feet northeast from the parking and skateboard area, but it was last seen very near the skateboard site.

Other highlights were mainly raptors, including two+ Ferruginous Hawks (one near Mazanita Cemetery north of W Wise Rd and one or two along Nader Rd), an adult Golden Eagle soaring low over the corner of Twelve Bridges and Industrial south of downtown, and a Prairie Falcon at the Lincoln WTP (normally closed on weekends).  At the WTP, there was a good mix of divers and dabbling ducks, but most notable were at least three Horned Grebes at the portion of the facility east of Fiddyment.  Thanks to Bruce Webb for making the arrangements and scouting, Ron Pozzi for co-leading, and everyone who was able to join us.

eBird lists: