Rules are made to be broken. Cliches are meant to be… quashed? crushed? usurped? (help me here!)
I thought I was going to have a really cool bird for this “Outstanding in its field” theme when I went on a chase for a Red-flanked Bluetail reported at Lighthouse Field in Santa Cruz. (get it??) Unfortunately, this very lost little bird remained lost to my friends and me. Fortunately, other birds like fields too.
If your heart goes a-flutter for warblers, a nice wooded parkland is the place to be. Those who have the patience for IDing gulls or wintering shorebird can head to the water’s edge. For a raptor-phile like me, wide open spaces are perfection. And during a California winter, the grasslands and agricultural fields hold plenty of delights besides the predatory beauties.
Right now is prime time for birding in the ag lands in our state — they support large numbers of wintering birds, including waterfowl and shorebirds. Some of the most celebrated winter visitors make themselves comfortable in fields throughout the region.
We went out to one our favorite winter spots in early December, but we’d only had a few light rains by that point. The fields were reduced to dry stubble and birds were hard to find. It will be interesting to head back in a few weeks to see if our favorites turn up now that things are getting lush out there.
Even though I often think of birding in the fields as a Western thing, the East and Midwest have plenty of wide open spaces, too. When I go to the midwest, I tend to visit the hardwood forests and other wooded areas because they’re very different than our redwoods and oak grasslands, so I miss out on some of the field birds back there. No problem! Sometimes they take a field trip and come visit us.
It took me a long time to recognize American Pipits — they always seem to be way out in the middle of the field or dashing out of the middle of the road in a hurry. But now that I can reliably recognize them as the sparrows who have a thrush beak, it feels odd when we visit a big green field and don’t see them.
One other special treat in the fields (far from guaranteed) is the Mountain Plover. They were never plentiful, but their numbers seem to be dropping in recent years. When we saw them in Solano County not long ago, it was my first sighting in about 5 years.
Between you and me and the fencepost, I’m running out of themed puns but I’m not quite out of photos, so I’m going to share a few more of my favorite winter birds from the Fields of Dreams.
What do you Say we wrap this up?
I can’t wait to get back in all of the newly watered fields!