Monumental Questions - Even Better Birding in the Monument?!

Kristie Ehrhardt • February 11, 2026

You might already know that the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument (Monument) is a wonderland for birdwatchers. With a range of habitat types from aquatic, riparian, native grassland, oak woodlands, conifer forests to subalpine the range of species found in the Monument is staggering. If you prefer to break it down by county rather than habitat, western Colusa County boasts a birders paradise in Bear Valley and Lake County offers the shores of Clear Lake. Napa County showcases Quail Ridge Reserve and Lake Hennessey. Yolo County puts forth a plethora of hot spots including Putah Creek, Lake Solano, and the Cache Creek preserve which is home to Bald and Golden Eagles, Osprey and others! And, this is just a smattering of the treasure trove for bird nerds to enjoy in the nearly 345,000 publicly accessible acres of Monument.


But, how do you know where and when to go to see what? Even if you’re an experienced birder, it can be overwhelming to know where and when to begin. I know people that travel to different states to check birds off of their “life list”. I also know people, some of them are those same people, that travel all over the globe to get a glimpse of a rare bird - or maybe it’s just rare to someone from Sacramento. Either way it’s enticing and rewarding to be part of a community with a common interest. There’s almost a secret code between birders. There’s definitely a code to name abbreviations and a spiffy way to keep count if you’re recording them. There’s also a way to estimate the number of birds in a flock but if you’re just wanting to sneak up on a feathered friend near or far, how do you know where to start? 


Try downloading the Cornell Lab eBird app. The app lets you input your own findings as well as investigate other people’s observations. You can base your search on your location or use a near or far location that you’d like to go explore. Or, you can browse by species and see exactly where to go to find them.  The eBird app uses citizen science and operates similarly to the iNaturalist app, a favorite among biologists, naturalists and other interested folks. With the eBird app, you can contribute your sightings or even sound recordings to the community platform making it the largest birding community in the world. You can also create your own lists and have the app track them for you. 


The app not only makes birding more inclusive and interesting for individual birders but it is beneficial for the network of scientists as well. The combined data from the app helps conservationists understand how numbers of birds shift as well as aiding in developing genetic species distribution models that show where and when birds are in the region. This information helps develop and establish better conservation strategies for individual species and collective populations of birds.


The app is easy, fun and rewarding for novice and veteran birders, conservationists, scientists and ultimately the birds themselves. 

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