My favorite place to go birding is along Putah Creek, in California’s Central Valley. This is where I started bird watching and doing field work as an undergrad at UC Davis six years ago. I was lucky to have this place be my office in the spring and summer for field work while I was the nestbox program coordinator, and it was my go-to birding spot for leisure all year round, especially by the picnic grounds area near the locally known “bird bath” segment in the creek. No matter the weather condition or level of bird activity, it was always a good morning or afternoon as there was always something interesting to see, and even on a slow day it was refreshing to walk along the creek edge.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

When I visited Putah Creek last December during my trip to California, I felt like I was home again. Davis was the first place I truly rooted myself in, since before college I was never in the same location for more than a few years at a time. Putah Creek has an additional special place in my heart as this is where I started as a birder, which changed my life forever. Since then I have done internships, jobs, and now doing a master’s degree in ornithology.

I have very fond memories of exploring the creek trails both on my own and with close friends, learning from bird experts, and befriending other fellow birders while searching for vagrants together. We all shared the same love and appreciation for nature. From my work with the nestbox program there, I loved teaching young undergrads how to band little songbirds for their first time, feeling the rush of excitement from capturing adult tree swallows to obtain band information, and conducting bird surveys on early mornings. Putah Creek is also where I got my feathered buddies Olive and Opal, the two house sparrows I didn’t have the heart to euthanize. When they were helpless chicks, I carried them with me to work and school in a lunchbox to feed every 30-60min, until they were old enough to wait for me at home.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I miss sitting along the water edge and watching the stream glisten in the sunrise, I miss listening to the chorus of birds start the day, I miss visiting the nestboxes that I helped check over multiple years. I also miss driving on the roads parallel to the creek and stopping by the little town of Winters on my way up to Lake Berryessa. Now here in Manitoba, the springs are also very beautiful but I haven’t had much time recently to enjoy it. I think I’m feeling extra nostalgic recently because of my current emotional state, trying to grind through the end of my master’s thesis in Winnipeg and struggling with personal matters. I miss Putah Creek very much and all the birds and fauna there, and I hope I can make another visit soon.

• 

On a side note, one of the few details I remember from a summer course of rock music history I took back in 2015 is that the song “Green River” by Creedence Clearwater Revival is about Putah Creek, and word has it that the singer wrote this song while sitting on Stevenson’s Bridge.

-Evelien