First fall migrants at Don Nottoli Park (Elk Grove, CA)
This morning, I spent a couple of hours exploring Don Nottoli Park on the southern outskirts of Elk Grove, CA. There, I managed to detect my first migrants of the fall: four Yellow Warblers (Setophaga petechia), who were gleaning for insects in the Valley Oaks (Quercus lobata) along the southern and western periphery of the park. I detected them mainly by call, although I did catch a few brief glimpses of two of them as they flitted from one tree to another. I’m not sure how good of a location this park is for migrants, but I think I will be stopping there from time to time over the next few weeks to see what might turn up.
While I was there, I also noticed more Mosaic Darners (Aeshna sp.) than normal cruising through the park, most of them probably Blue-eyed Darners (Aeshna multicolor). This is a species that is suspected of migrating, as its numbers within the state of California seem to increase during the autumn months. Other than a single Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata), these were the only dragonflies that I spotted at Don Nottoli Park that morning.
