ML615368973

Observation details

We arrived around 6:05pm were enjoying close looks at the continuing flock of MOPL, when suddenly a group of 23 picked up, calling, and flew over our heads heading east. We were confused, as this flock rarely leaves its preferred barren field, but soon after another group picked up and repeated the same flight. For the next 15 minutes, about a dozen groups of 3-20 MOPL picked up calling, and flew eastbound into the darkness. It seems as though this flock does not roost in the traditional field at (38.9118838, -121.8446016), but instead leaves at dusk to go somewhere further east. We lost this birds in the distance, showing no sign of descending to land. It’s possible these birds continued east over the Sacramento River and into Sutter County. Follow up visits to see if this is a regularly occurring phenomenon would be worthwhile, including perhaps a dusk watch from from CR97 (38.8986055, -121.8225177) in Yolo or Cranmore Road (38.8838075, -121.7905018) in Sutter. Regardless, this was an amazing experience for all of us. We tallied individuals one-by-one to come up with a conservative count of 113 individuals. Audio recordings to be added (!!!).