Birds and Bird Watching

Blurry photo of a great egret (Ardea alba) seen in a pond in North Davis

Several of these Black-crowned Night Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) crowd treetops in the Arboretum.

This White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia luecophrys) needs a napkin for his forehead. While Davis and vicinity may not be a mecca for the ornithological community, it does provide habitats for an impressive variety of birds. Some of the more common birds that may be seen in or around Davis:

• Blackbirds
  

• Chicken-like Birds - Quail, Pheasants, Guineafowl, Peafowl (there's at least one peahen in the arboretum)
  

• Crows, Jays, Magpies
  

• Gulls
  

• House Finches
  

• Hummingbirds
  

• Owls
  

• Raptors - Hawks, Eagles, Vultures
  

• Turkeys
  

• Wading Birds - Herons & Egrets
  

• Waterbirds - Ducks, Geese, Grebes, Cormorants
  

• Woodpeckers
  

• Geese - large swarms take over the arboretum in the fall
  

• Barn swallows - Build inconspicuous nests out of mud and plant matter
  

• European starling
  

Want to know the correct taxonomic classification for a bird? Check out Wikispecies.

To increase your appreciation and, better yet, to help preserve Yolo County bird life and habitat, see the Yolo Audubon Society (website). Davis is also the home to the California Raptor Center. Be sure to check out the Yolo County Birding Statistics site and Steve Hampton's online guide to Yolo County Birding. There is a group that meets at noon at the UC Davis Arboretum to bird over the lunch hour on Thursdays; all are welcome. Meeting places vary so ask to join the listserve for more information about this (email alkent@ucdavis.edu). PLEASE NOTE: this group is taking a break over summer 2009; lunchtime walks will resume in September.

If this site has convinced you to become a birder, please post your sightings on the Central Valley Birding Forum. This forum is part of the Central Valley Bird Club.

Western Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma californica).

Northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) seen in the arboretum (2/26/05)

• Davis Wetlands
  

• Fremont Weir State Wildlife Area
  

• Grasslands Regional Park
  

• Lake Solano County Park
  

• North Area Pond
  

• Putah Creek Picnic Area
  

• Slide Hill Park
  

• Solano Park Gardens
  

• UC Davis Arboretum
  

• UC Davis Landfill
  

• West Area Pond
  

• Wildhorse Agricultural Buffer
  

• Willowbank Ditch
  

• Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area

The Yolo Basin Foundation organizes field trips to local birding hotspots during California Duck Days, an annual event held in February.

(please add your mystery photos below (or name one if you know the name))

At pauses in rainstorms, birds circulate high in the skies over Davis. Likely gulls but no one would ever be able to tell. A possible Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon), sighted in the Arboretum 2/3/07. Perhaps a point-and-shoot is not the appropriate camera for a shot like this.

Books: Northern California Birds

"An Introduction to Northern California Birds" by Herbert Clarke. (Mountain Press Publishing Company 1995)

"Birding Northern California" by John Kemper, a Woodland native. (Falcon Press, 1999)

"Birds of Northern California" by David Fix, Andy Bezener. (Lone Pine Publishing 2000)

"National Audubon Society Regional Guide to California" by National Audubon Society, Peter Alden (Knopf 1998)

"The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America" by David Allen Sibley. (Knopf 2003)

• This is the best field guide if you are serious about birding. The illustrations are better than any other guide out there.

West Nile Virus is causing some of the birds in Davis to drop dead. Crow carcasses litter the ground in some parts of Davis.

For info on other types of Davis fauna, see the page on Davis' town wildlife.

Comments:

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2006-01-13 11:38:30   "Crow carcasses litter the ground"??? Where would that be? —AlphaDog

Try the area near The Domes and the human resources building near campus —MatthewTom

2007-02-14 20:21:05   I've seen a cormorant (type unknown) sunning itself on the shore of Lake Spafford the past two days in a row. I'll try to get a pic up soon. —LeonardMarque

2007-04-02 17:41:29   I have many pics of the cormorants from the Arboretum and also of just about every other feathered species mentioned on the wiki (amateur wildlife photographer with a special interest in birds) except the swifts and owls. You can see it on my person page. Perhaps some of these pictures might be useful for birds that have unclear or absent photographs? —CaitlinMorrow