Steve and Deborah, demonstrating usage of proper protective gear.
This was the 17th straight year that I have organized the "Cupertino Creek Cruisers" Birdathon team as part of the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society's annual fundraiser. Usually it's a group of eight or so birders going around together, surveying a route along Stevens Creek (and the Stevens Creek Trail) from McClellan Ranch Preserve (home of Santa Clara Valley Audubon) through Blackberry Farm and ending at the Stocklmeir Farm on Stevens Creek Boulevard. This year, however, it was a "distributed" effort, with different sub-teams (individuals or family groups) going out at separate times. April 27 was our day, but we started the night before with our traditional owling effort. For many years there was a Barn Owl in the barn that you could only see when it came out at dusk. It has been replaced recently by a resident WESTERN SCREECH-OWL that you can see during the day. Nevertheless we went the night before, trying and failing for other owls, but getting a surprise view of the Screech-Owl right at sunset perched not on it’s daytime rafter but on a rafter right next to the opening in the upper level. It looked like it was ready to launch.
The next morning we started at 6:30 am, and were immediately inundated with ACORN WOODPECKERS. We spent a lot of time observing the feeders, where we were treated to a lovely pair of HAIRY WOODPECKERS and racked up 25 species! We caught our first pair of HOODED ORIOLES in the Palm Tree outside the headquarters, which was good because our rule is "don't leave until you see the Orioles". Walking the Creek Trail we were quickly treated to a GREAT BLUE HERON stalking by in the meadow in the early morning light. We got many of the hoped for species, though not a House Wren which has been common in this area.
We try not to get emotionally involved in the lives of birds, but the SCVAS office is shipping these two (Don’t tell Matthew).
Before leaving McClellan Ranch we returned to the barn and discovered to our surprise that we could see not one but TWO Western Screech-Owls. Apparently others have seen two since early March, but we've been there several times since then (as have many other people) and had only seen one. It seems you have to get lucky for both to be in view.
We proceeded along our regular zig-zaggy route, and finally got to the mass picnic area in Blackberry Farm where our earlier sub-team members told us they had seen and photographed a Great Horned Owl. This area was usually a good one for birds that we hadn’t seen yet, but today it was unusually inactive and no owl.
Then on to Stocklmeir Ranch, a mixture of orange grove and native plants along the creek. There we ended our 4 hours with another pair of Hooded Orioles who flew in very close to us just a few feet from Stevens Creek Boulevard.
The other highlight you'll see as you look through the pictures was a WESTERN BLUEBIRD chick peeking out of its house in Blackberry Farm, getting ready to fledge. A nice treat! We also got a good photo of our final bird of the day, the male Hooded Oriole posing and vocalizing for his close-up.
Our sub-team ended up with 43 species, a respectable total (one fewer than last year and about what we've been seeing in recent years). Sub-team #2, Ann Hepenstal and Alex Tey, birded the same route on April 17 and added 5 more species to our birdathon numbers. Their total was 48. Our combined species list:
Ann and Alex, rocking some quality home made masks.
Cupertino Creek Cruisers "Distributed" Birdathon Collective Sightings
54 species seen or heard at 3 location(s) on multiple dates.
2 Canada Goose 4/27/20 7:02 AM McClellan Ranch
X Mallard 4/27/20 6:38 AM McClellan Ranch
1 Great Blue Heron 4/27/20 7:20 AM McClellan Ranch
1 Turkey Vulture 4/27/20 10:00 AM Blackberry Farm
X Cooper's Hawk 4/17/20 8:55 AM McClellan Ranch
1 Red-shouldered Hawk 4/27/20 10:08 AM Blackberry Farm
1 Red-tailed Hawk 4/27/20 10:29 AM Stoklmeir
X Band-tailed Pigeon 4/17/20 8:55 AM McClellan Ranch
X Mourning Dove 4/27/20 6:35 AM McClellan Ranch
2 Western Screech-Owl 4/27/20 8:32 AM McClellan Ranch
X Great Horned Owl 4/17/20 11:16 AM McClellan Ranch
X White-throated Swift 4/27/20 8:21 AM McClellan Ranch
X Anna's Hummingbird 4/27/20 8:57 AM Blackberry Farm
X Acorn Woodpecker 4/27/20 6:32 AM McClellan Ranch
1 Nuttall's Woodpecker 4/27/20 6:46 AM McClellan Ranch
1 Hairy Woodpecker 4/27/20 6:58 AM McClellan Ranch
X Northern Flicker (H) 4/27/20 7:37 AM McClellan Ranch
X Pacific-slope Flycatcher (H) 4/27/20 6:54 AM McClellan Ranch
X Black Phoebe 4/27/20 6:32 AM McClellan Ranch
X Hutton's Vireo (H) 4/27/20 7:30 AM McClellan Ranch
X Warbling Vireo 4/27/20 6:46 AM McClellan Ranch
1 Steller's Jay 4/27/20 10:27 AM Stoklmeir
2 California Scrub-Jay 4/27/20 10:19 AM Stoklmeir
X American Crow 4/27/20 6:38 AM McClellan Ranch
X Common Raven 4/17/20 8:55 AM McClellan Ranch
X Northern Rough-winged Swallow 4/27/20 7:01 AM McClellan Ranch
X Violet-green Swallow 4/27/20 8:40 AM McClellan Ranch
X Chestnut-backed Chickadee 4/27/20 6:33 AM McClellan Ranch
X Oak Titmouse 4/27/20 6:32 AM McClellan Ranch
1 Bushtit 4/27/20 6:48 AM McClellan Ranch
3 White-breasted Nuthatch 4/27/20 6:34 AM McClellan Ranch
3 Brown Creeper 4/27/20 7:50 AM McClellan Ranch
X Bewick's Wren (H) 4/27/20 6:33 AM McClellan Ranch
X House Wren 4/17/20 8:55 AM McClellan Ranch
X Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4/17/20 8:55 AM McClellan Ranch
2 Western Bluebird 4/27/20 7:18 AM McClellan Ranch
1 American Robin 4/27/20 9:09 AM Blackberry Farm
X Northern Mockingbird 4/17/20 11:16 AM McClellan Ranch
X European Starling 4/27/20 8:32 AM McClellan Ranch
4 Cedar Waxwing 4/27/20 10:03 AM Blackberry Farm
X Orange-crowned Warbler 4/17/20 8:55 AM McClellan Ranch
X Yellow-rumped Warbler 4/17/20 8:55 AM McClellan Ranch
X Wilson's Warbler (H) 4/27/20 8:09 AM McClellan Ranch
2 Spotted Towhee 4/27/20 7:12 AM McClellan Ranch
X California Towhee 4/27/20 6:37 AM McClellan Ranch
X Song Sparrow (H) 4/27/20 7:27 AM McClellan Ranch
X Golden-crowned Sparrow 4/17/20 8:55 AM McClellan Ranch
X Dark-eyed Junco 4/27/20 6:33 AM McClellan Ranch
X Black-headed Grosbeak 4/17/20 11:16 AM McClellan Ranch
1 Brown-headed Cowbird 4/27/20 10:02 AM Blackberry Farm
2 Hooded Oriole 4/27/20 7:02 AM McClellan Ranch
X Purple Finch (H) 4/27/20 7:53 AM McClellan Ranch
X House Finch 4/27/20 6:32 AM McClellan Ranch
X Lesser Goldfinch 4/27/20 6:47 AM McClellan Ranch