Trying to do birdathons and raise money for Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society in the middle of trying to sell your house isn't easy, but we managed. The Green Herons birdathon was originally intended to be a group of birders riding along the Bay Trail and tallying species in the tradition of Rob Furrow's Mean Green Birding Machine. Then came Shelter in Place and Social Distancing, and suddenly we had "distributed birdathons" — different groups (single people or family members) going out separately and pooling their results. I recruited MGBM veterans Bill Walker and Mary Wiz to join the team.
Bill and Mary headed out on the original date (ish) for the team, April 14. Many ducks and shorebirds are leaving around now, so you can't wait too late for this route. They started at Sunnyvale WPCP and headed north to Shoreline Lake on our "traditional" route, tallying 73 species.
Deborah and I started out the following Monday, the 17th, but had an unfortunate "bike falling off the bike rack" accident in the middle of Route 85! Well, thank god for SIP and the almost total lack of traffic, because except for a few scratches the bike was fine, and I was able to run back, run into the middle of 85 and retrieve the bike without even coming close to risking my life. But that was the end of that effort.
I had to ride my bike back from the point of the accident (long story), and doing so I discovered that my shifter wasn't working well (I hadn't ridden my "mountain" bike in ages), so I had to take it in to the bike shop, which is fortunately still open. I got it back Friday, and Friday night Deborah suddenly says, "Let's do the birdathon tomorrow." It's on!
What we had discovered the week before was that both our bikes don't fit on the bike rack, so, in the spirit of the green birdathon anyway, I headed out Saturday morning on my bike, riding to the start at Sunnyvale WPCP. Deborah followed in the car with her bike. It wasn't the earliest of starts, but at 8:15 we were finally off. To mix things up, we had decided not to head north to Palo Alto, but rather south to Alviso. Since our team was separated anyway, might as well live it up a bit!
We tallied a bunch of "expected species" quickly, including SNOWY EGRET and BEWICK'S WREN. Then within a few minutes we got a few "non guaranteed species" – a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, a GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE (which seem to be regular at this spot based on a couple recent visits), and a GREEN HERON (which is also a regular here, but not always seen, you just have to be in the right place at the right time).
Heading south on the Bay Trail a CASPIAN TERN came to say hello, another nice bird. Then we got to where something called the "Smart Station Trail" takes you out to Caribbean Dr., running along a creek or ditch of some kind, which turned out to be a great spot. Two BULLOCK'S ORIOLES and a view of a COMMON YELLOWTHROAT (heard-only earlier on the route) were the first, followed by a lone RED-BREASTED MERGANSER and a lone GREEN-WINGED TEAL.
Having detoured off the Bay Trail, we headed into Sunnyvale Baylands Park, where we added WESTERN KINGBIRD, AMERICAN ROBIN, CEDAR WAXWINGS, and a HERMIT THRUSH, plus some great views of two more BULLOCK'S ORIOLES.
Back on the Bay Trail, we were inundated with CLIFF SWALLOWS and grabbed lone BUSHTIT, PIED-BILLED GREBE, GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW, and CALIFORNIA TOWHEE. All common species, but all just represented by a single individual on this day.
Reaching Alviso Marina, we headed out along the path to the south of A12. Things were slow, and we were limited because we weren't carrying a scope, but before our four hours ran out we did add DUNLIN in A16 and a beautiful EARED GREBE in A13. Final tally for the team 58 species. Combining the totals for our two-sub teams produced a full team total of 87.
My work wasn't done, unfortunately. My wife has a bad back and can't ride too far, so I had to ride back to the start at Sunnyvale WPCP, get the car, drive back to Alviso, mount her bike on the car, then ride my bike back to home in Cupertino. All in all 30.7M of biking, all in a day's work (er, birdathon). Big thanks to Cupertino Bike Shop for fixing my bike, which considering it's a 35-year-old bike, isn't easy!
You can donate to Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society to honor this effort, and in support of SCVAS' education and conservation efforts, here: https://scvas.z2systems.com/np/clients/scvas/campaign.jsp…&
With SCVAS, like every other organization, facing serious challenges in this days of SIP, every dollar is welcome to make sure the organization continues its essential work educating children and fighting to preserve nature for the birds (and for us).