Birders were out looking for arriving migrants during both months; it was our more normal resident birds that were poorly reported. Any month when birds such as Red-breasted Nuthatch and Brown Creeper fail to be reported, one knows that the coverage (at least in the foothills) has been poor. These two months see the change from winter to summer birds, and can potentially include sightings of both late wintering birds and early migrants. By the end of April shorebird migration was well under way, although no peeps had yet arrived. Corvids were either reported in small numbers, or ( as in the case of Scrub Jay) not reported at all. It is possible that some of these birds have been badly affected by West Nile virus.

It is always interesting to compare the arrival dates of migrants. Perhaps the most amazing thing is how remarkably consistent they often are. For instance, Great Egret and White-faced Ibis both arrived in the county on the average arrival date for their species. Many others arrived within a day or two of the average. Barn Swallow, however, was first seen on March 20, a full two weeks before the previous earliest date. Vesper Sparrow was also reported for the first time at the end of March, more than a week before its previous early date. Interestingly, both these two species had among the smallest spread in arrival dates. Obviously, this spread will be greater after 2004. Quite a few birds that one would expect to see in April were missed. Among this category was Eared Grebe, Least Sandpiper, Wilson’s Phalarope, and American Pipit. It is always hard to gauge whether this is due to a genuine absence or poor observing coverage. Sapsuckers have always had a very large spread of arrival dates from mid-March to the end of May. This year both Red-naped Sapsucker and Williamson’s Sapsucker will have arrival dates well past the average as they were not reported either month.

Eight gull species were reported in March. In the last few years Lesser Black-backed Gull has become a reasonably common sighting. We have had reports of Mew Gull for the last eight consecutive years with the number of sightings generally increasing. Thayer’s Gull are being reported fairly regularly, probably because of better identification skills. Glaucous Gull was probably the most unusual gull with a norm of one or two sightings a year. The other gull species seen were Franklin’s Gull, Ring-billed Gull, California Gull and Herring Gull.. In addition Bonaparte’s Gull was reported in April.

In summary, although these two months produced a lot of new species for the year, there was not a single bird reported that had not been seen the previous year. Many birds were not reported that might be considered normally present. A total of 116 bird species were seen in March, and 136 species in April. This is a respectable total for March, but somewhat on the low side for April. TOP