By Donna Westfall March 22, 2021 – Picture credit to Birds of Del Norte and Curry County Facebook page

Part of the natural beauty around Del Norte County are the huge variety of birds. Were you lucky enough to go around as a kid and have someone point out the different varieties of birds? Did you ever own a parakeet, canary or love birds? They’re nice companions in the house. Also nice to see birds out in the open.

Winter 2021:

Butterbutt

House Finches

Hermit Thrust

Pacific Wren

You can go to “rare bird sightings” at this web address” ebird.org/alert and find out what has been sighted the last seven days. For instance on March 16, 2021, a Northern Shrike was spotted by Lake Earl Wildlife area ..Teal Point.

You don’t need to drive out to Lake Earl, you can find them in your own backyard right in Crescent City. On March 19th, two people saw a Common Grackle (Bronzed) right on Wendell Street by West 8th Street.

There are over 430 different bird species in our area. Here’s just a few you can look up.
Purple Finches
American Goldfinches
House Sparrows
Black-Capped Chickadees
Dark-Eyed Junkos “Snowbirds”
Redwing Blackbirds
American Crows
Eurasian Collared Doves “Mourning Doves”
Besides all the Pigeons and Seagulls and Blackbirds around our area, we have
Common Ravens
American Robins
Black-Chinned Hummingbirds

Feeders and bird baths may be responsible for increasing the spread of a disease that has already killed thousands of birds throughout the state of California this winter. An outbreak of salmonellosis, a disease caused by salmonella bacteria and passed through fecal contact, is killing birds that winter from Orange County, up to the Oregon-California border, and into Nevada. Some people are taking down their bird feeders and bird baths to avoid having this spread. It mostly targets finches. It’s recommended taking down the feeders and bird baths until late May.