On Saturday, April 25, 1998, 4 members of Altacal Audubon met up for a half-day field trip to Altacal's Arenberg Sanctuary near Woodson Bridge State Park in Tehama County, CA. The day was quite windy, which really kept the birds down, resulting in a species count of only 34. But, we did see a good number of the migrants we expected, and had a few surprises.

Dave Tinker's classes have done quite a nice job with nest boxes in the sanctuary. There are Bluebird-style boxes, which have had nesting tree swallows and ash-throated flycatchers in past years (I don't know if they've ever had bluebirds; they have had nesting titmice, tree swallows, and ash-throated flycatchers in the past). There is also a barn owl box (which has recently hosted a Northern Flicker), and quite a number of Wood Duck boxes, some of which have had nesting success in recent years. A number of these have also been used by ring-tailed cats; some have been given to the cats for the moment, while others have been equipped with anti-predator flashing and anti-insect Tanglefoot to hopefully make them more desirable and safer for the wood ducks.

In the parking area, we spotted American Robins and House Finches, which were a few of the more abundant species for the day, as well as a few California Towhees and our only Scrub Jay of the day. Crossing through the olive orchard to reach the sanctuary (which is land-locked), we didn't see much, but we did pick up White- and Golden-crowned sparrows near the fence surrounding the property. Walking the perimeter of the property didn't yield much; the wind was really keeping everything down!

Finally we reached the side of the property containing part of Kopta Slough; by dropping down the slope, we were able to get out of the wind, and the birding really picked up! High in the trees were a number of warblers, including Yellow-Rumped, Wilson's, Nashville, and one Hermit (which unfortunately only I saw). This is not a typical bird for this area, and definitely qualified as "bird of the day" for me. The Wilson's Warblers, at least, were cooperative, and came down low enough for the others to see; the Hermit stayed up near the crown (as they usually do when I see them). We did also have one extremely cooperative Black-Headed Grosbeak that sat about 15 feet from us for 2-3 minutes, giving all of us excellent looks, and 2 Bullock's Orioles which chased each other amongst the oaks for several minutes.

Continuing back up into the wind, we saw a Western Kingbird along the fence line, and scared up a Lark Sparrow (which only gave us a quick view). Looking back down into the slough, I saw an Ash-Throated Flycatcher (which I had been hearing for a few minutes); unfortunately, it took off before anyone else found it (and before I could get the scope on it).

We then headed off the sanctuary and onto some of the Woodson Bridge land in hopes of finding a Lincoln's Sparrow and Common Yellowthroat which I had seen there recently; we failed in that, but did see an Osprey in the distance above the Sacramento River.

Species list: Common Merganser, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Ring-necked Pheasant, Mourning Dove, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Black Phoebe, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Western Scrub Jay, American Robin, European Starling, White-breasted Nuthatch, Bewick's Wren, House Wren, Bushtit, Tree Swallow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Oak Titmouse, American Goldfinch, House Finch, Nashville Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Hermit Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, California Towhee, Black-headed Grosbeak, Bullock's Oriole, Brown-headed Cowbird. - Skip Augur