Western Screech-Owl: Binu John
April 4:
Hello everyone!
Thanks for joining the Fledgling team for the spring birdathon!
We started off our birdathon strong at Ulistac Natural Area, with our new motto: "early birder gets the mosquito bites".
We encountered intense swarms, but we still picked up some nice birds like Black-throated Gray Warbler and Fox Sparrow, though we had some easy misses, including the resident California Thrasher.
After shaking off the bugs, we headed off to Ed Levin County Park, where we caught a flock of Cedar Waxwings neatly spaced out like they were practicing social distancing along a single vertical branch.
We then staked out the "magic tree" and were rewarded with views of Rufous Hummingbird and a possible Prairie Falcon cruising through.
Our next stop was Don Edwards SF Bay NWR, which turned out to be fairly productive, with shorebirds and waterfowl galore, along with a potential Golden Plover species mixed in.
Yet we witnessed nature's crime scene on the boardwalk - a sudden explosion of scattered primary feathers, remains and an abandoned egg against the green of the salt marsh - clear evidence of a successful hunt in the pickleweed !
On our way out, we had 4 Snowy Plovers fairly close to the road, and one was banded!
Heading over to Shoreline Lake, we had 3 rather late Cackling Geese at Coast Casey Forebay, and lots of Black Skimmers resting at the island, as well as a Willet molting into breeding plumage - a nice seasonal highlight.
At Sanborn County Park, we missed out on a few regulars like Cassin's Vireo, but we got our target Pacific Wren, another Black-throated Gray Warbler, and a Rufous Hummingbird paused briefly before zipping off, likely another migrant moving through.
Beyond the birds, we found several cicadas emerging on the trees, their discarded shells clinging to the bark. We also spotted two bright banana slugs, and had some fun watching the newts in the small pond adjacent to the Walden Pond.
Vasona Lake was unexpectedly quiet by comparison - we barely had any birds. Other than the picnic crowds, easily the dominant and loudest species on site, most of what we saw were Canada Geese.
It was quite disappointing, as we expected to get some spring migrants here.
Afterwards, we made our way to Calero Reservoir, where things picked up again with many grebes and a plethora of raptors, including Osprey and Bald Eagle.
The second-to-last stop of the day was Stile Ranch in Santa Teresa County Park, where we had several calling Poorwills, a few of which zipped by fairly close.
The calling Poorwills were already a treat, but the real highlight was an out-of-nowhere Nighthawk that cut through the fading twilight - long, pointed wings with bold white wing bars flashing as it turned, before it disappeared over the hill just seconds later. We all lit up at the sight, it was the true apex of the trip!
To close out the day, we did some owling along Las Animas Road, with only a single very distant Western Screech-Owl. That was quite surprising, especially compared to the visit here at the same time last year when I had Long-eared Owl, Barn Owl, and Great Horned Owl. We also missed out on Northern Pygmy-Owl, which had been reported by a few others in the past few weeks.
Despite a few "guarantees" which forgot to show up - such as Say’s Phoebe and Pelicans, and fewer owls and gulls than we had hoped for, making our "big day" a little less big than planned, it was still a very solid and fun day overall.
We finished with a total 110 species - not bad for a day that started with mosquitoes and ended with a lone Screech-Owl.
A big thank you to Eve for generously backing our birdathon effort with a donation per species - really appreciated!
Thanks again for joining us - whether for part of it or for the full adventure.
Here's the eBird trip report with all the checklists of the day which I've already shared with you.
You are welcome to add your own comments to share the day from your perspective!!
Happy birding!
Kaiting