When Vayun and I did the "quarantined" version of the Birdathon last year, we could not have imagined that one year later we would be still be in the same mode. But here we were again, so we decided to make the most of it and see if we could repeat or improve on our performance from last year for a 4 hour photography challenge, with Vayun doing the photography and I would travel light with just my binoculars. We chose early April again (11th) in the hopes of getting a mixture of winter species and any passage migrants and early arrivals. The strategy was same as before too, to focus on the Mtn View/Palo Alto Baylands and then round it off with some quick birding inland at Ed Levin. Since we have moved to Saratoga since last year, it was too tempting not to start in our own yard. Band-tailed Pigeons disappointed but the 15 minutes here otherwise worked well in terms of getting SPOTTED TOWHEE and OAK TITMOUSE, species which can be hit or miss wrt photography on our chosen route, but the downside was that the 20 minutes it took to get to our next stop was wasted time. Nevertheless we started in earnest at the end of Terminal Blvd to cover the north end of Shoreline Lake, Coast Casey Forebay and Charleston Slough. Once again in just over an hour we had 50 species seen and 44 photographed. It was great to get BLACK SKIMMERS on the lake, 6 species of ducks, 3 of grebes, 3 species of swallows. The highlights was a PRAIRIE FALCON in flight, somewhat unexpected here by the bayside. We did get distracted by a cooperative male COMMON YELLOWTHROAT in good light, lingering on it a bit too long. We then headed to the Palo Alto Baylands, this year able to drive all the way to the boat ramp. We spent only 40 minutes here with 33 species seen and only 9 new photos added. This was significantly less than last year, when we had done this part on foot. 2 more ducks but none of the rare ones this time. Getting DUNLIN and NORTHERN HARRIER was nice. We then headed on to Ed Levin Park to spend the rest of the 4 hour period there. 37 species observed here with a few more new species photographed. The Spring Valley Area was closed for traffic so we parked outside and had a quick look around the lake. Did not get time to get to the "magic" eucalyptus tree. Did get RED-TAILED HAWK, TREE SWALLOW, WESTERN KINGBIRD, STELLAR'S JAY. Heard Wild Turkey but did not see it. At Sandy Wool Lake, we had several GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES which seem to have become a fixture here. Overall we ended up with 81 species seen (3 more than last year), and 70 photographed (same as last year) in 4 hours. With some very basic misses, it did feel like that with a bit more luck we could have easily surpassed last year's number. But it was a great day to be out for a good cause, while enjoying the weather and the great diversity of birds in our county.
