Greetings Birders!
Sibley’s birding guide says that the White-crowned Sparrow is a year-round bird in Sonoma County, CA., but locals know that’s not true. This trusty little bird disappeared when the weather heated up, early in the year, heading north to cooler Canada. Just this afternoon, my husband called me to the window excitedly. There, at the foot of the photinia hedge, a lone White-crowned Sparrow was hopping humbly through the green grass. His friends and family will arrive any day now, and we hurried out to sprinkle organic sunflower seeds under the apple tree to welcome them in our usual way.

For new birders (and even experienced ones!) Sparrows can be one of the harder species of birds to identify. So many of them are brown and stripey in a way that seems indistinct. Luckily, the adult male White-crowned Sparrow’s head markings are unique among his Bay Area neighbors, so this is one sparrow new birders will quickly come to recognize.

Read our Sparrow Identification Guide to improve your understanding of our most common Bay Area sparrows, and start looking wherever there is low, brushy growth in your garden and neighborhood. Soon, the White-crowned Sparrow will be joined by the Golden-Crowned Sparrow, the White-throated Sparrow, the Sooty Pacific Fox Sparrow and other charming relations. Last year, birders were flocking to a parking lot in a Petaluma park because Harris’ Sparrow had put in a surprise appearance there. You never know who you’ll see when you start keeping your eyes on the birds!

It’s funny when a bird guide so accurately describes where to look for a bird that you get the feeling that David Allen Sibley may be lurking in the bushes nearby, writing as you walk. We experienced a classic example of this phenomenon this week when my husband and I took a walk around Five Brooks Pond in Olema, West Marin County. The pond is nice and full, and is lushly encircled by willow and alder trees. From the depths of the new leafy growth, we heard a series of rapid chchchchchchchchch calls. Squinting, ducking, standing on our toes, we were suddenly rewarded with a glimpse of a Wilson’s Warbler flitting amongst the branches.

The look of this bird made us about 98% sure we knew what it was at first sight, but we rapidly fanned open our Sibley guide and read the following, very funny description:

Common in extensive brushy woods with dense understory near water; often in willows or alders…

There was the pond. There were the willows and alders. There was Wilson’s Warbler. There you have it!

Further field notes on Wilson’s Warbler, Wilsonia pusilla
Though our first eyefull of this bird only lasted about 1 second, patience rewarded us with much better, longer views after a few minutes as the bird came out into bright sunlight at the tips of the branches. His wife was with him, too, and we offered our congratulations on their excellent choice of a nesting site.

In the bright light, I could see that the sunshine yellow of his belly took on a rich orange tint toward the beak, and his eye struck me as especially large, black and shiny. His backside is a dull, soft olive with sooty tail and wingtips, and his distintive black cap is the clincher for identification of this bird. The female is quite similar in appearance, but she never wears a black hat. Just remember that.

Wilson’s Warblers build their nests of roots on or near the ground in the cover of dense vegetation. They lay 3-6 white, spotted eggs. Though these golden little birds ought to be around Sonoma County in correct habitat, Marin County is the first place we’ve ever seen one. In Sonoma County, I’d suggest Willowside Creek, which I intend to write about soon. If this is a warbler you’d like to add to your list, let us tell you where we saw this nesting pair of birds.

Five Brooks Trail features a horseback riding stable where you can rent horses to explore the 120 miles of trails the Pt. Reyes area offers. The stable is located on Hwy. One, midway between the town of Olema and the fabulous Bolinas Lagoon.

So, if you’re coming from the Petaluma area, take D St. and it will turn into the Point Reyes-Petaluma Rd. You’ll be driving for about 20 miles through beautiful countryside until you come to the first stop sign at Platform Bridge Road. Go straight here. When you come to the end of the road at Sir Francis Drake turn right, then left at Highway One. After a couple more miles, you’ll see the sign on the right hand side of the road for Five Brooks Trail. This is the way we go.

However, if you’re coming from San Francisco, let me give quote these directions from fivebrooks.com. Cross the Golden Gate Bridge and take the San Anselmo exit from Highway 101. This will lead you onto Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, headed in a westerly direction. While headed west on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, you will travel through several lovely small towns, then through a redwood forest. This scenic drive will take approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes. You will literally come to the end of the road. Turn left on Highway One at Olema. Five Brooks Stable is approximately 3 miles down the road on the right hand side. Look for the Five Brooks Trail Head sign.

Our accompanying map will show you the basic layout of the pond which is an easy 2 minute walk from the parking lot. There are picnic tables and lovely views of the hills, and several trails to walk, but if you simply go straight from the parking lot, you’ll see the pond. Our map shows you exaclty where we saw the pair of Wilson’s Warblers. Keep your ears alert for their chchchchchchch and I hope you’ll see them.

Click to View Large Map

This was our very first trip to Five Brooks Trail and we will certainly go back. The habitat looks superb for a variety of migratory and resident birds and we can’t wait to return.

Now is the time to get out there and get looking for migratory birds. My husband and I intend to compile a list of spring/summer visitors and hope to be posting this soon for your use. Happy birding!

Greetings!
We spent a lovely late afternoon in the Napa Sonoma Marsh area today. Things have changed in the marsh with the change of the season. In winter, as you can read about in the preceding link, this area is bursting with ducks, long-legged waders and birds of prey. Now it’s April, and there are far fewer birds to be seen. Nevertheless, it’s still well worth a visit and be sure to look for these birds if you pay a call to the wetlands this month:

Wilson’s Snipe
Killdeer
Marsh Wren
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Great Egret
Hooded Merganser
American Coot
Double-crested Cormorant
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow

These last 2 birds have just shown up and I’m always so delighted by their return. I must do a post about each of them soon. We also saw what we believe was a Greater Yellowlegs, but my husband and I just are not confident about distinguishing this bird from the Lesser Yellowlegs…one of these days, we are going to get that straight!

You’ll have noticed an unusual element in today’s post - some photographs. My parents lent me their digital camera. It’s an inexpensive one (not for photographing birds!), but good enough to at least capture some of the beauty of this incredibly important wetlands area on the border of Sonoma County.

Of special note today:
The Marsh Wrens are putting their hearts into their song in this season. I am reminded of an electronic typewriter, a dripping faucet and a field of grasshoppers by their astonishing variety of sounds. If you sit silently beside the circular pond at the bottom of Ramall Rd, you will likely have the luck of seeing one of these tiny birds assume a post at the top of a reed and open his beak wide to serenade the marsh.

We consider the Virginia Rail to be a real birder’s sighting, as most folks would simply pass by his habitat and never see him. He hides in the reeds and his marbled, black and brown plumes really blend into this environment. What a neat thing to be investigating a reed bed and see the blue-grey face and garnet-red eyes staring up at us out of the foliage. The bright orange-red bill and legs, and the petite size of the bird enabled us to identify him confidently.

I knew I had read in my bird guide book that the Virginia Rail measures only some 8 1/2″ - 9 1/2″, but somehow, I had always imagined him as a larger bird. Only when I saw him with my own eyes could I really understand that he is comparable in size to a California Towhee, though differently proportioned. Size is one of the key fieldmarks that you can use to distinguish the Virginia Rail, Rallus limicola from the larger Clapper Rail, Rallus longirostris who measures about 14 1/2″ - a considerable difference in size! Additionally, the Clapper Rail lacks the grey-blue face and has yellowish legs. The other bird you might confuse with the Virginia rail is the Sora. Read my post about the Sora for all the field marks that set these two chicken-line marsh birds apart!

The voice of the Virginia Rail is called pig-like, with various grunts and wheezes. They are often observered solitarily, but during the nesting season, they weave a marsh grass nest that they attach to vegetation above water level. 5-12 eggs are laid, and the baby Virginia Rails are black in color.

Where to see a Virginia Rail in Sonoma County, CA.
Shollenberger Park in Petaluma is likely to be your best bet for seeking this elusive bird. We have yet to see one there, but know they are on the Point Reyes Bird Observatory’s checklist for this area. The Napa-Sonoma Wetlands area is another likely spot for the Virgina Rail, too. Or, you can pack a picnic and take an hour’s drive out to the Point Reyes region to hunt farther afield for this charming fowl. They are a year-round resident in the California Bay Area.

The chicken-like marsh birds’ group is such a small one that it feels like a real accomplishment to see one its members. We’re very glad that the Virgina rail peered shyly out at us to become our 110th bird!

Greetings Readers!
Allow me to present to you the great king of all local woodpeckers - Dryocopus pileatus, the Pileated Woodpecker. For sheer size, he far surpasses all other woodpeckers you will see in our region, and with the exception of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, he stands as the largest of all U.S. woodpeckers at up to 19 1/2″ from head to tail.

In my mind, I have a most perfect, unforgettable image of this regal bird soaring over a reflective, green forest pond, and alighting on a craggy, dead tree trunk at the far shore. There are two white bands on his upper wings and a large patch of white on his under wings, and his red head is like a flame that is truly startling when one is walking in the gloaming of a wood.

He is the only crested woodpecker in California. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, a crested head is a perfect field mark for beginning birders to use to help easily identify new birds. In Sonoma County, we have 4 birds with crested heads: the Oak Titmouse, the Cedar Waxwing, the Stellar’s Jay and the Pileated Woodpecker. There is simply no mistaking this bird, when you see him…but it is seeing him that can be the challenge!

It never ceases to strike me that a tiny bird like the Chestnut-backed Chickadee is brave enough to allow me to stand a foot away from him as I fill my birdfeeder. In point of fact, he lets me know he is rather impatiently waiting for me to serve up his meal. By contrast, a huge powerful bird like this woodpecker is incredibly shy and most people encounter them by accidentally flushing them out of a hiding place. They take off at the slightest crackle of a twig or crunch of leaves underfoot. We have enough Pileated Woodpeckers in the Bay Area to make it quite likely you will encounter one if you keep your eyes open, but you are more likely to hear one than see one. And when a Pileated woodpecker makes his kuk-kuk-kuk call or hammers a tree, the whole forest knows about it.

Loud is an understatement. He makes the tapping of other local woodpeckers sound like a mere whisper. Like a jackhammer, he bores into damaged trees and then probes with his long, sticky tongue for the carpenter ants that are the main staple of his diet. Because downed trees are good hosts for these ants, Pileated Woodpeckers are often spotted feeding on the ground, rather like the Northern Flicker. I will include here a link to Pileated Woodpecker Sounds so that you can learn to recognize his call and hammer. *However, don’t be surprised if a Stellar’s Jay ever tricks you into thinking you are hearing the Pileated Woodpecker. The jay makes a wonderful mimic of the call.

This woodpecker also drills very large, circular holes for nesting. 3-5 white eggs are common.

Male and female birds are very similar in appearance, but the female lacks the red stripe by the bill…hers is black, instead. We recently had the delight of witnessing a pair of these birds perched on adjacent power poles.

Where you can see the Pileated Woodpecker in Sonoma County
I hope you aren’t tiring of me urging you to go to Jack London State Park in Glen Ellen, but as we’ve had numerous sightings of these birds there over the past few months, this would be my best suggestion for any birder who is eager to see this majestic fowl. The eucalyptus grove and silo area beyond the upper parkinglot (turn right at the ranger’s kiosk) are exactly where to go, keeping your eyes and ears open.

My husband and I have been enthralled with the search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. We have repeatedly read, and recommend Tim Gallagher’s The Grail Bird for a thrilling, insider’s account of this quest in the mysterious swamps of the South. When I see Pileated Woodpeckers, I get a hint of what these men have felt, standing in a silent forest, seeing that shadow of black and white skimming through the trees. As I doubt I will ever go to Arkansas, Texas or the other regions where the search is still being conducted, I know that my encounters with the Pileated Woodpecker are likely the closest I will ever come to the what the Ivory-bill seekers have experienced, and it gives me a little thrill!

Down in the South, folks call the Pileated the “Good God Bird”. The Ivory Bill is the “Lord God Bird”. This comes from the exclamations people make when they are startled by the sight of such large, distinctive woodpeckers, and because the Pileated Woodpecker is a year-round Sonoma County resident, you may set out on your own search for a great big woodpecker any day of the week!