The complex of wildfires in late summer that burned large swathes of Yolo, Solano, Napa and other counties devoured oak woodland, forest and chaparral indiscriminately. Wanting a sense of the effects of those fires on the birds of the area, Steve Hampton and I pored over reports from birders around the burned zones, both during and […]
Conservation Issues
Conservation news and issues happening in Yolo County.
Volunteer Opportunity: Phenology Surveys at Bobcat Ranch
Text by Joe Zinkl, Phenology Survey Coordinator Yolo Audubon members have been conducting a phenology survey at Audubon California’s Bobcat Ranch for over four years. The study is conducted in cooperation with the National Phenology Network. All data collected by our surveyors is sent to NPN. What is phenology exactly? It is the study of […]
Progress on the Lower Elkhorn Basin Levee Setback
The Sacramento Bypass Wildlife Area (along County Road 126, off River Road just north of the city of West Sacramento) is an excellent birding spot, with 197 species reported on eBird. This large bird list reflects the presence a strip of forest at the foot of the north levee of the bypass, plus wetlands that […]
Birding by Ear
In most Yolo County landscapes, birds are usually hidden from view, while fly-overs are often too distant to be identified by eye. And some birds fly by night. In all those instances, birding by ear is essential for knowing who they are, and thus essential for better understanding of the bird life of our county. […]
Safe Harbor Agreements in Yolo County
In the field of endangered species management, the term Safe Harbor refers to agreements with the US Fish and Wildlife Service by which a landowner voluntarily improves or expands habitat for a species and, sometime later, can decide to return the property to its original condition without penalty. The aim is to encourage otherwise hesitant […]
Climate Warming and Yolo County Birds
Late last year National Audubon published Survival by Degrees–389 Bird Species on the Brink, an analysis of the likely effects of climate change on the abundance of North American bird species in the next several decades. The study modeled three levels of temperature increase, corresponding to levels of effort to reduce the discharge of greenhouse […]
Bobcat Ranch Restoration Work
A lot has been happening at Audubon California’s Bobcat Ranch recently.
Nina Tortosa, Restoration Intern at the ranch, compiled a comprehensive report of ranch restoration work that she was involved in from September 2019 through March 2020. One of many projects involved repair of part a birding trail used by the Yolo Audubon phenology group. You can read her full report below.
In addition, quite a few nesting boxes have been refurbished for some lucky new owners. (Photo above.)
2020-05-05-Tortosa-Bobcat-Restoration-ReportThe Center for Land-Based Learning
Which local program has finished nearly three hundred habitat improvement projects, mostly on farms, as part of formal high school course work? The answer is SLEWS (Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship), which teaches the next generation of farmers and natural resource stewards to restore habitat, while learning science hands-on. SLEWS is a program […]
Feral Cats and Wild Birds: Part II
Our February article described the huge losses that cats inflict on wild birds in California and around the country. Recognizing this as an important conservation problem, YAS explored the issue further. We talked to key people at the County animal shelter in Woodland, the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the Yolo County SPCA, and […]
Yolo Audubon and the Capay Open Space Park
In November 2018 this column discussed ongoing and planned habitat improvements at the Open Space Park on Cache Creek, along County Road 85 just north of the town of Capay. Now I am happy to report on the success of the project, which has had help from YAS. The forty-acre park was recently part of […]
Feral Cats and Wild Birds
A recent study by the Smithsonian Institution and the US Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that domestic cats kill about 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion small mammals each year in the lower forty-eight states. This is far higher—and probably more accurate–than previous figures, and likely exceeds all other sources of human-related losses of these […]
Bridgeway Island Pond meets Industrial Development
Bridgeway Island Pond is a birding hotspot in the Southport area of West Sacramento, famous for its excellent close-up views of an assortment of waterfowl, waterbirds and shorebirds. The pond and adjacent marsh often attract more Blue-winged Teal than any other place in northern California, and last spring it hosted a Garganey, the second one […]