Sierra Foothills Audubon Society

09/09/2026

🐦 Little Brown Birds, Part 2 — Meet the Fox Sparrow!

Rudy Darling is back with another installment of his LBB series, and this time he’s talking about one of his favorite sparrows: the Fox Sparrow.

“One of my favorite sparrows is the Fox Sparrow because they are so spiffy looking.”

He’s right. Fox Sparrows are fairly easy to distinguish from most other sparrows by their large size, rusty tails, and heavy streaking underneath that often comes together across the breast.

Now for the big but…

No, they do not have big butts. 😂

The “big” comes from the fact that there are at least 18 recognized subspecies of Fox Sparrow — although fortunately for the rest of us, they can be grouped into four types that can be distinguished in the field. And only two are common in our area. Phew!

Here’s the local Fox Sparrow lineup:

🟤 Thick-billed Fox Sparrow — Breeds in the high Sierra, including right here in the Sierra Foothills Audubon region. Look for them in mountain chaparral. They have a big gray bill and a sharp call similar to a California Towhee. Their song can sound remarkably like a Green-tailed Towhee — enough to fool experienced birders and even Merlin!

🟤 Sooty (Pacific) Fox Sparrow — Our most common winter Fox Sparrow visitor. These birds migrate south from coastal breeding grounds and can be found in riparian areas and wetland thickets around the Sierra foothills.

🟤 Red (Taiga) Fox Sparrow — Breeds in the taiga (who’d have thought? 😉) and winters mostly east of the Rockies, though a few make their way west.

🟤 Slate-colored Fox Sparrow — Breeds inland from British Columbia south into Utah and Nevada. Only a rare few spend winter in the Sierra.

So when you spot a large, heavily streaked sparrow with a rusty tail this winter, take a closer look. It just might be a Fox Sparrow — and possibly one of several different Fox Sparrow types!

📸 Photos & story by Rudy Darling

💢 ‌And if you're still reading Pop Quiz Time!
There are three photos of Thick-billed Sparrows and one photo of a Sooty (or Pacific) Fox Sparrow in this carousel. Can you tell which one is the Sooty? Slide 1, 2, 3, or 4?

09/08/2026

There are still a few spots available for the Oak Haven Bird Walk with Rudy Darling. Registration required with Bear Yuba Land Trust . Get your spot before it fills up! 🐦🦅🦆

09/08/2026

Sign-ups are open for the Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival!

🚨 Registration for the 2026 Sandhill Crane Festival tours opens September 8, 2026, at 9:00 AM! 🚨

Don't miss out on our fantastic tour lineup for the main festival (November 6–8). Tours include visits to sites at Cosumnes River Preserve, Staten Island, Woodbridge Ecological Preserve, and more! This year is bigger than ever with brand-new tours and special pre-festival excursions on November 4 and 5.

Pleas visit our newly renovated website to book your tour: https://lodisandhillcrane.org

Photo by LSCA tour committee member, Mallory Lynch

09/07/2026

🐦 Rudy Darling is back with another birding story — and this time, he’s making a case for one of his favorite LBBs: the American Pipit!

Birds are on the move. Before long, we’ll be inundated with LBBs (Little Brown Birds) or, as some birders call them, LBJs (Little Brown Jobs). One of Rudy’s favorites? The American Pipit.

“At times in the distant past, my face turned red when I asked a field trip leader, ‘What is that sparrow in the bush over there?’”

Two problems:
1️⃣ There were dozens of bushes over there.
2️⃣ More importantly, it was NOT a sparrow.

To an eager young birder, though, an American Pipit at a distance can be a pretty convincing sparrow impostor. Here are a few clues that can help you tell them apart:

👀 That sharp little beak is built for nabbing insects, not cracking seeds.

👀 Pipits have a long tail and a long, slender body. Sparrows tend to be chunkier with shorter tails.

👀 Pipits walk. Sparrows hop. (Yes, birds have strong opinions about their preferred mode of transportation.)

👀 When pipits walk, they wag their tails. Most sparrows don’t.

👀 And when they fly, they can’t seem to resist announcing themselves: “Spippit, spippit, spippit…”

American Pipits breed in some seriously chilly places — the tundra, Canada, the high Sierra, and parts of the Rockies — then head south for the winter. In California, they’re often found in loose flocks in open, wet or muddy habitats. In our area, look for them in the Central Valley and, in smaller numbers, throughout the foothills.

So keep your eyes peeled for these interesting LBBs this winter. And if you mistake one for a sparrow… it’s OK, even Rudy’s been there. 😉

📸 Photos & story by Rudy Darling
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09/04/2026

🐻🦨🦌🦊 Who’s been visiting?

For National Wildlife Day, we’re celebrating some of the wild neighbors sharing the Sierra foothills with us. Rudy Darling’s trail cameras have been keeping watch—and the guest list is pretty great.

🐻 Bears: An enterprising bruin has figured out how to grab and tear down a bird feeder. We suspect they may also be cooling off in the water feature—and this year, one came with a cub!

🦨 Skunks: Some nights they’re regulars; other times, they disappear for months. Thankfully, they’ve been considerate enough not to spray. (Our dogs weren’t always so lucky.)

🦌 Deer: Frequent visitors who enjoy the landscaping almost as much as we do—and occasionally stop by the water feature for a drink.

🦊 Foxes: Almost every night, one or more gray fox will stop by. This year, we had a family of four that were regulars. One even shared the water feature with a skunk one night. Both seemed perfectly content to ignore each other.

Wildlife doesn’t always require a trip into the deep wilderness. Sometimes, it’s right outside your door. 🌿

Thanks for sharing your photos and stories, Rudy!

Happy National Wildlife Day!

09/03/2026

Leave the leaves!

09/01/2026

Well, somebody had to type it all up. 😍🐦

Take a look at The Phoebe then and now!
The very first issue, published in 1980, is a charming snapshot of Sierra Foothills Audubon Society’s humble beginnings: typewritten pages, handmade bird drawings, handwritten updates—and a proud announcement that the chapter had 35 members.

Fast-forward 46 years, and The Phoebe has had a bit of a makeover. Our September–October issue is now available online, with upcoming events, birding stories, chapter news, and plenty of ways to get out there and enjoy the birds of the Sierra Foothills.

The technology has changed. The membership has grown. The newsletter looks a little more polished. 😉

But the important stuff? That hasn’t changed one bit.

From those first 35 bird enthusiasts to the flock we are today, the shared curiosity, enthusiasm, and love of birds has been here from the very beginning. 💚🐦

📖 Read the September–October issue of The Phoebe online: link in our bio.

08/31/2026

🚨 BIRD DRAMA IN THE ROAD 🚨

A bird is injured! Someone call for help!
Except… it’s a Killdeer. And you’re being played. 😏

Rudy Darling learned this firsthand at Garden Bar Preserve while conducting bird surveys. On the way down a long dirt road, he encountered a Killdeer dramatically flopping around as if it had a broken wing.

Rudy stopped. He investigated.

And discovered the real emergency: a Killdeer nest sitting right in the road. 🥚

That “injury” was an elaborate distraction. Killdeer use a broken-wing display to lure predators away from their eggs or chicks. They’ll drag and flutter a wing, acting increasingly pathetic until the predator follows. Then, once the threat is far enough away, the Killdeer miraculously makes a full recovery and flies off.

Oscar-worthy? Absolutely. 🎭

Rudy has been a Killdeer fan ever since a similar encounter during high school, when one tried to lure him away from a nest beside the track. As a self-described non-runner, Rudy welcomed the opportunity to stop the P.E. torture and observe the bird’s performance instead. 😂

Killdeer are shorebirds, but don’t expect to find them only at the coast. They thrive around ponds, mudflats, open fields, and even local ballfields. And their call? “Kill-deeeer!” They practically introduce themselves.

So the next time you see a “wounded” Killdeer, pause before you call 911. You may just be the unwitting star of their next performance.

📸 Rudy Darling

Have you seen and appreciated a Killdeer’s famous broken-wing act?

08/30/2026

Our local Band-tailed Pigeon getting some NAS 🫶.

If you see a pigeon along the West Coast or in the American Southwest, look closer. What might, at first, look like a large Rock Pigeon might actually be their native relative, the Band-tailed Pigeon!

These birds live nomadically, feeding on acorns, nuts, and berries. Have you ever seen one?

08/27/2026

When Red-tailed Hawks are soaring overhead, Hutton’s Vireos are singing in the oaks, and White-breasted Nuthatches are calling from the trees, you know Oak Haven has a story to tell.

And on Saturday, September 12, you can explore that story with SFAS’s own Rudy Darling at Bear Yuba Land Trust’s beautiful 408-acre Oak Haven Preserve.

On a recent visit, Rudy spotted:

🦅 Red-tailed Hawks — regulars at Oak Haven and a good sign that the ecosystem is doing well.

🎶 Hutton’s Vireos — much easier to hear than see. Rudy says once you learn their song, you realize they’re common residents of our oak woodlands. (It took him more than 20 years to finally SEE one!)

🎺 White-breasted Nuthatches — making sure nobody misses their distinctive calls.

Whether you’re new to birding or your species life list is longer than your LinkedIn follower list (👏🏼), this is a chance to explore a remarkable place that isn’t normally open to the public.

Expect oak woodlands, meadows, ponds, creeks, resident birds, migrating birds—and Rudy’s expert ear for the birds you might otherwise walk right past. 🐦

📅 Saturday, September 12
⏰ 7:30–10:00 AM
📍 Meet at Penn Valley Park & Ride EAST to carpool
🥾 Approximately 1–2 miles; easygoing, with some uneven terrain
💲 $10 | Registration required | Space is limited

Bring binoculars if you have them, water, snacks, and your curiosity.

⚠️ Oak Haven Preserve is not open to the public outside of scheduled guided activities. Please visit only as part of this registered event.

🎟️ Registration is through Bear Yuba Land Trust

📸 by Rudy Darling