Folsom California Christmas Bird Inventory 2015

The following birds were viewed and identified in Folsom, California between the dates of December 24-27, 2015. Some were spotted eating out of the feeders in my mother’s backyard garden while others were hanging out over the fence in the wetlands greenspace along the Humbug Willow Creek Trail behind her suburban home.

Screenshot 2016-01-03 09.28.10

I used The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Western Region (Audubon Society Field Guide Series) as well as 2 cool iPhone apps to do the identification. The first app is called Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and I used that to input a visual description of each bird and the app returned a list of likely results.

Once I was reasonably sure I had correctly visually identified a species I’d search for that bird on the app Birds Near Me by Gerry Shaw. If the bird I thought I had identified appeared in the heat map results returned by Birds Near Me I confirmed the specimen as IDENTIFIED and recorded it on this list.

Bewick’s Wren (Troglodytes Aedon)
Bewick's Wren_400mmDOII+7DMII

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
American robin (Turdus migratorius)

Western Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)

Black Phoebe (Sayornis Nigricans)
Black Phoebe

Lesser Goldfinch (Carduelis Tristis)
Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria)

Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)
Male Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)

Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo Lineatus)
Red-Shouldered Hawk

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Mallards

Bufflehead (Bucephala Albeola)
Bufflehead

Red-Winged Blackbird (Agelaius Phoeniceus)
Red-winged Blackbird

Mourning Dove (Zenaida Macroura)
Mourning Dove

Black-Throated Grey Warbler (Dendreca Nigrescens)
Black-throated Gray Warbler

California Quail (Callipepla Californica)
California Quail

House Finch (Haemorhous purpureus)
House Finch

Anna’s Humminbird (Calypte Anna)
Anna's Humminbird, Calypte anna

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos orpheus)

American Coot (Fulica americana)
American Coot