As part of my last Birdathon Team, “The Lax Returns” I dashed up to Loma Prieta in search of some hilltop species. As soon as I reached the Upper Saddle before the “Private Road” I saw a BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW on a dead snag just off the pullout. Unfortunately it was on the Santa Cruz side, so I could not count it toward my team. A few minutes later, perhaps responding to the first bird’s song, two more BLACK-CHINNED SPARROWS began to sing on the north side of the road in Santa Clara County! WRENTIT, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, LAZULI BUNTINGS, ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER, WESTERN WOOD PEWEEs were all in attendance singing continuously as I watched and listened.

On my way out, I stopped at the Lower Saddle I watched a Hummingbird feeder that one of the Santa Cruz birders had set up. There were many Anna’s Hummingbird making an appearance, and a single BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD, unfortunately on the Santa Cruz side again… BLACK-THROATED GRAY and TOWNSEND’S WARBLER, WARBLING and CASSIN’S VIREO showed up in our county as I scanned the skies for Purple Martin.
I also walked the John Nicholas Trail at Sanborn Park off of Black Road. I heard two PILEATED WOODPECKERS, found singing PACIFIC WREN and several HERMIT WARBLERS along the way. PYGMY NUTHATCH, WESTERN TANAGER, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, WARBLING VIREO and WILSON’S WARBLERS were everywhere along my walk.
I ended my two-location, 4-hour effort with 64 species, but not before adding RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH from my driveway. Roughly half of the unique birds were in Loma Prieta with the rest found at Sanborn.