Earlier this year, we had a nice meetup of local Kossacks to welcome matching mole for a Bay Area visit. It turned into a dual welcome when bwren flew down to join us. Unfortunately, we were not visited by many of the birds we'd hoped to see, including several that would have been lifers for our visitors.
The problem was the drought, and at this time last winter it was becoming obvious that we weren't just having a dry winter; no, we were well and truly fucked.
The only birds who showed up where they were expected last year were the Peacocks of Branscombe Road. Entertaining, but hardly worth a flight from Florida.
This winter, the rains have come again. It's too early to tell if it will be enough to ease the drought, but the animals and plants are already soaking up the bounty. The grasslands of Solano are showing a wash of green, and the familiar birds are returning.
One of the most surprising things during our trip with matching mole was the lack of redtails seen. Again, not necessarily a bird worth crossing the country to see, but an indicator of what is happening out there. This area attracts a lot of wintering raptors, so you would normally expect to see one or more per mile. We saw a dozen or less last year... crazy low numbers. This year, they're back in closer to the usual numbers - like the bird on the right, who has decided to share a pole with a ferruginous hawk. However, almost all the redtails we saw this time were adults. I expect if was a very low breeding year for them.
The new growth was just getting started when we made our trip last weekend. In areas that had been bare dirt, the grass was poking up everywhere. However, in the place that had taller grass, like behind this Western Meadowlark's fence, it would be a while before the new growth topped out the dried stalks.
We came across a second Ferruginous Hawk and this one really confused us when we first saw it. Seen in profile, it really looked like Rough-legged Hawk. I'm sure part of it was just wishing it to be so - neither of us had seen a roughie last winter, and we were really hoping for one. The thing that really tricked us was that the bill looked so small and roughie-like, rather than the usual Ferrug big mouth. But we got closer and saw all the lovely rusty tones and knew it was no roughleg.
A few miles further down the road, that was finally crossed off the list as well. I glanced to the right as we were about to cross busy Highway 113 and saw a large raptor hover-hunting over the field. Though redtails sometimes do that, it's much more of a roughie thing. We turned in its direction and slowed as much as we dared in the heavy traffic, but even at 50 MPH there was no mistaking this bird - a beautiful roughie.
We turned back and parked on the safer side road, then walked the edge of 113 to where we'd seen the bird hunting. After a few minutes, it cruised overhead giving us great looks (though not great photos).
It was great to see one of my favorite spots on the mend from a terrible year.