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Christmas Bird Count affected by pandemic, too

Annual event curtailed in region

Sacramento Digs Gardening logo
Sacramento Digs Gardening
PUBLISHED DEC 24, 2020


Anna's hummingbird
This Anna's hummingbird was photographed around Clear Lake
by Vicki Miller during the 117th Annual Christmas Bird Count.
(Photo courtesy audubon.org)


Normally at this time of year birders and other wildlife lovers would be well into the traditional Christmas Bird Count, an annual effort hosted by the Audubon Society. This year marks the 121st such count.

Counting is a group effort, with coordinators assigned to specific areas known to attract a lot of migrating birds. Each compiler is responsible for coordinating the count in a 15-mile circle, staffed by volunteers.

In an all-day effort, the volunteers count every bird they see along an established route in the designated circle.

California typically hosts 120 Christmas Bird Count locations. One of the more active ones, not surprisingly, is in the Sacramento area.

However, this year, because of the COVID-19 risk in gatherings, some of the "circles" have been canceled, including the main Sacramento circle and the ones in the Marysville and Stockton areas. Other counts are being conducted in accordance with social distancing and other safety guidelines.

Circles indicating availability include the Folsom Lake area, Lincoln, Grass Valley and Wallace-Bellota, but no dates are listed. The Sherman Island count will be New Year's Day, the Calaveras one on Jan. 2. (The latter is in need of experienced birders.) The Putah Creek circle count (near Winters) was held Dec. 20.

Anyone who would like to participate is asked to contact the circle coordinator directly via email. Pop-ups with contact information are on this map .

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Garden Checklist for week of May 11

Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.

* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.

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