Winter Birds on Sonoma Overlook Trail

Posted January 5, 2026

Ruby-crowned kinglet

Winter on Sonoma Overlook Trail brings a quiet beauty, and with it a lively cast of birds that thrive in the cooler, wetter season. As deciduous trees lose their leaves, birds become easier to spot, flitting through oak woodlands, chaparral, and open grasslands.

Who’s over there? Such a restless little bird! A Bewick’s wren, barely five inches long, keeps darting about, looking for tasty insects. Scritch, scraaatch…SQUEAK! And what is that? A male Anna’s hummingbird with its raspy call. When it makes a sharp dive, air passing over its tail feathers creates the loud squeak. Its crown and throat are brilliant, iridescent red. Look for this fellow at the ends of bare branches. How is that woodpecker walking vertically up a tree? It has two toes facing forward, and two facing backwards to keep it from falling backwards. This little “ladder-backed” woodpecker, a Nuttall’s, is just seven inches long. It forages for insects as it circles tree trunks and branches.

Dark-eyed junco

Resident birds remain active year-round, relying on familiar territories to survive the colder months. Dark-eyed juncos and California towhees hop among the leaf litter at the trail’s edge, while Ruby-crowned kinglets and Oak titmice flit among leafless branches, searching for insects.

A Toyon shrub, also known as California Holly, full of red berries is an ideal stop for a flock of Cedar waxwings. When other fruit is scarce, the Toyon feeds these beautiful birds. As one nears the Upper Loop, the open skyline reveals Red-tailed hawks and Turkey vultures soaring over our rolling hills. Turkey vultures are nature’s garbage collectors–they eat carrion so it doesn’t sit around too long.

Cedar waxwing

Winter birds play a vital role in Sonoma’s ecosystems, dispersing seeds and controlling insects. They also bring joy to winter hikers.

by Jaqueline Steuer, Sonoma Overlook Trail Steward
Photos: Unsplash

The Third Leaf

Posted December 13, 2023

Filed under Invasive Species, Italian Thistle, Plant Life, Seasons, Stewardship, Winter, Yellow Star Thistle

We’re in the very early days of “Thistle Season,” which sadly lasts from November into August. That’s right, those of us who struggle against thistle get something like 2-3 months off a year. And knowing how relentless invasive species can be, that actually seems generous to this obsessed lunatic. Italian thistle starts coming in as early as the rain does while Yellow starthistle doesn’t come in until much later in the season, like around May and extending into August.

Right now most of the Italian thistle looks totally tiny. Thankfully, I’ve come to recognize Italian thistle as soon as the third leaf comes in. This is because the third (and then later, the fourth) leaf comes in with spikes (see picture). It’s completely unique among the plants found on the Sonoma Overlook Trail and the Montini Open Space Preserve, so you know you have it dead to rights.

And the great thing about pulling Italian thistle now is that all you need to do is to pull it and toss it. Later, when it goes to flower, we will need to bag it up and carry it out. We dump our bags beside the dumpster in Mountain Cemetery next to the City Public Works Yard. Most years the pile gets to be about ten feet in circumference and about five feet high.

But before we even begin to create that pile we’ve pulled thousands of plants and tossed them aside. Starting with the plants that show that tell-tale third leaf.

The Third Wave

Posted March 20, 2023

Filed under Invasive Species, Italian Thistle, Winter

I’ve been pulling Italian thistle (an invasive monster) since mid-November. It’s now mid-March and we still have very young plants coming in (see pic, gloved finger for scale). Today, I decided to call it the “third wave” but I have no idea if it comes in waves at all, or just constantly. Or if it comes in waves, how many can we expect? Five? Ten?

All I know is that it will continue to come in for quite some time, and I need to keep an eye out for these little guys probably well into May. Part of the reason may be the very wet winter we are having, as none of the thistle is bolting yet but the plants, in some cases, are becoming very large. This presages a massive stalk, which will mean more bulk to deal with when we need to begin bagging the thistle and carrying it out.

Also, the rain is preventing me from using 30 percent vinegar to battle big patches, since I need sun to follow spraying, not rain that will wash it off. So far we haven’t many stretches of dry weather.

Sorry to be a Debby Downer, but these are just some of the challenges we face when attempting to control invasive thistle on these lands.

Controlling Water on the Trails

Posted January 3, 2023

Filed under Stewardship, Trail Maintenance, Weather, Winter

The Trail Maintenance Team for the Sonoma Overlook Trail does a variety of tasks, but one of the most important things we do is manage the flow of water across the trails. Essentially, what we try to do is to move the water off the trail as soon as it comes on. The best way that this happens is in sheet flow from the upper side of the trail to the lower side, but that is rarely the situation we can accomplish.

One challenge is that water often comes onto the trail not in a gentle sheeting flow, but in what is essentially a tiny creek. Another is that it isn’t always an option to have the water sheet off the downhill side. We often need to allow it to flow down part of the trail before directing it off in a waterbar (a channel we cut in the trail to force the water off the trail).

There are also other structures we build to manage water. Perhaps chief among them is the armored swale. An armored swale is essentially a deep channel you cut in the trail that you “armor” with rocks so it doesn’t erode as the water flows over it and off the trail. Another strategy we use to encourage sheet flow off the trail is cut the “berm” or the very edge of the trail that can build up in a way that keeps water on the trail instead of allowing it to sheet flow off of it.

All of these structures require ongoing maintenance, and the more subtle structures require more maintenance than the more dramatic ones.

Over the last few days (one of them during the recent rainstorm) I was out renewing the structures in place and cutting berm to better enable water flow off the trail. I also deepened a few waterbars and performed other tasks to better channel water from the trail. I will again be out there tomorrow afternoon during the rainstorm with a shovel, to see what needs fixing. It’s part of what we stewards do.

Rain, Rain, Please Stay AND Come Again Another Day!

Posted December 13, 2021

Filed under Seasons, Trail Maintenance, Weather, Winter

Waterfall on Holstein Hill Trail, Montini Preserve

Today, the second day of an “atmospheric river” storm, I hiked the Montini and Overlook properties to check out how well the water was getting off the trails. More water was running off than I recall ever seeing before, although I had missed the October storm which by all accounts was a gangbuster.

You know it’s a major storm when the waterfall on the Holstein Hill trail on the Montini Preserve is running as it was today (see photo).

Most of the trail structures put in place to get water off the trail were working as intended, although a few need to be cleaned out or enhanced. The properties are so rocky, however, that in places water seeps from the hill above and sheets over the trail. In other words, there’s just no getting around having water on the trail, so be careful.