An SCVAS birdathon tradition, a biking birdathon called the "Mean Green Birding Machine", started nine years ago, led by expert birder Robert Furrow. In the era of COVID we needed to trim down the team size, but long-time MGBM participants Bill Walker and Mary Wisnewski joined me on Saturday, April 10, as the renamed "Lean Green Birding Machine".
In four hours we made our way from just south (Pond A4 for the technically-minded) of the Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP or weepy seepy to local birders) northwards along the San Francisco Bay Trail to Shoreline Lake in Mountain View, a distance of 9 miles with a whopping 66 feet of elevation gain. We ended up with a very respectable 85 species for the 4-hour effort, below the high of 99 we achieved with the MGBM in 2013 but still very satisfying.
From the start, where we had 24 species in the first 15 minutes, to the very end, we used literally every minute of the 4-hour period, with our last moments spent scouring Charleston Slough and adjacent Adobe Creek for last-minute additions. We finally spotted American Wigeon with 4 minutes to go and a lone Dunlin with less than a minute on the clock. Every one counts!
Best birds of the day included an unexpected Horned Grebe in breeding plumage which popped up in the channel by the Moffett Field Golf Club, and a Western Kingbird (which thoughtfully appeared after I ordered it up) on the fence by the Moffett Field runway. A close third was a Peregrine Falcon, for which we are in debt to Carter Gasiorowski, who spotted it flying overhead just as we ran into him and his father at the entrance to the Charleston Road Marsh.
Other "good birds" were two Cinnamon Teal and two Blue-winged Teal in "Lockheed Marsh", a Burrowing Owl near the end of the Kite-flying area at Shoreline, and our first Bullock's Oriole of the year along the Shoreline maintenance road (across from the Kite-flying area).
We had multiple Common Gallinules during the trip (often one is all you get). Common Yellowthroats were literally everywhere from start to finish; arguably the "trash bird" of the day. Also seen in higher numbers than usual were Great-tailed Grackles. Other than that the day went pretty much as expected. Some misses, as is always the case (not a single Junco?), but a good time was had by all.