Birdathon Stories
Join our Spring Birdathon and submit your stories and photos to share here! The Kickoff Meeting is Wednesday, March 22 and this year’s Birdathon runs from March 27 through May 7.
You can find signup information, rules and much more on our Birdathon page.
Earth Day 2022 started dark and rainy as we zigzagged up the Mount Hamilton foothills on Quito Road. There our souls were lifted by the sight of a Yellow-billed Magpie on a telephone wire. This crow-sized bird is strikingly black and white and a specialty of the East Hills. In the dim rainy light it still looked spectacular.
Vinayak and Shweta went out on their first ever Birdathon trip and ended up photographing 90 of the 103 species they saw that day!
The Saint Anthony Ranchers’ 2022 Birdathon is history. It was a big success again even with all the covid rules. There were eight of us, birding as five distributed teams of one or two in Santa Clara County.
The numbers for this year: 96 species were tallied, down slightly from the high of 102 in 2021. The five teams were less than the seven teams last year. Hard to know but fewer eyes may have been the reason for the lower species count. The species list and areas covered, same as last year, are in the attached list.
Some of the highlights: Lots of different ducks – thirteen species including the fancy Hooded Merganser at Gate of Heaven Cemetery. The species is regular in the cemetery pond in the winter and early spring.
A first for the Birdathon was Eurasian Collared Dove. This introduced dove, native to Europe and Asia, is a species that seems to be everywhere, but it does not compete with the native Mourning Dove.
Black Skimmers were again observed over Shoreline Lake in Mountain View. This colony is separate from its nearest brethren in coastal San Diego. Their small numbers at the south end of San Francisco Bay are increasing.
Six birds of prey species were tallied, including Great Horned Owl.
A Western Kingbird at Gate of Heaven Cemetery was a first for the Birdathon. Seen regularly east of here and further south, their numbers are on the rise locally. And a Tropical Kingbird, another first, in Palo Alto was a special treat, a rare bird that prompts birders to flock to see it. The bird has been seen this winter and spring. It has a wide distribution from Mexico and south. Instead of migrating further south in the fall, a few individuals migrate north to California.
Recorded in all areas were our common residents: Anna’s Hummingbird, American Crow, Bewick’s Wren, and House Finch.
Last but not least is the fundraising. Thru the heartwarming generosity of the Ranchers and non-birding contributors, we raised an impressive total of $3,283.80 for kids’ environmental education. This amount was the highest ever. We can’t thank you all enough.
Jim, with a lot of help from Sue.
Jim and Sue
Sue and I began around 8:15 when the two most common Forum species sang their hearts out as we walked from our front door. House Finches and Lesser Goldfinches are everywhere, although the Goldfinches tend to be less visible.
We walked along the ridge path that overlooks Santa Clara Valley in one direction and The Forum in the other. There was a large area of grass that had been just mowed for fire safety. The short grass that remained now revealed much evidence of gophers, and two opportunists, Great Blue Herons, were stalking their next meals. If you have ever seen a gopher caught by a Great Blue and it’s between the bird’s beak and it’s belly – remember the very long and skinny neck – you get the picture. Not this time, though.
Down off the ridge we encountered a female Anna’s Hummingbird flying at eye level, and just a few feet away. She was sallying back and forth catching insects, most likely for her nestlings. Had never seen that interesting behavior before.
Near the top of a pine tree perched a Common Raven, quietly surveying the scene below. In flew a lone American Crow, determined to chase off his larger relative. After several noisy swoops past the Raven the Crow finally succeeded.
A Great-horned Owl was our next target, and we found the bird. Bonuses were Violet-green Swallows and Acorn Woodpeckers.
Wintering White-crowned Sparrows (heard) and Golden-crowned Sparrows (seen) were stakeouts at a seed feeder. Never pass up a feeder.
The Forum is notorious for Wild Turkeys. We even have a “Forum Fight Song, “ written by a Forum resident, a retired musician and orchestra conductor, that references Turkeys.
We were about to give up on the bird for the day, but at the last minute a lone Turkey walked across the road.
Donna Meyer and Linda Sue Johnson
Together we rushed and pushed and hurried ourselves to cover 3 different areas hoping to accumulate a bird count greater than what we had achieved in each of the last 3 years.
First Area: Shoreline Park having 4 distinct count areas within
Kite Flying area
Stevens Creek Nature Study Area, Pond A2E and Tidal Habitat AB1
Shoreline Lake
Terminal Blvd: Coast Casey Forebay, Charleston Slough and wetlands areas
2nd Area: Palo Alto Baylands and Geng Road
3rd Area : Cuesta Park (spoiler: almost a BUST!)
7:30 AM: We (Donna and Linda) started our 4 hour bird count for St. Anthony Ranchers early enough to catch a tide for a good species count in the ponds and tidal habitat east of Stevens Creek Nature Study Area. We found the number of birds in the bushes and small trees in Shoreline Park’s Kite Flying parking lot to be so varied that we were stopped in our rush to the ponds: busy Yellow–rumped Warblers, Anna’s Hummingbirds, Bewick’s Wren, Lesser Goldfinch, calling Eurasian Collared Doves, Brewer’s Blackbirds, 2 Ravens on lamp posts, cooing Mourning Doves, and a “hide-and-seek” Ruby-crowned Kinglet engaged us much longer than we had intended. We reluctantly pulled ourselves away to cover at a rapid pace the long walk down the parking lot row toward the Nature Study path eastward, finding on the way W. Meadowlark, CA Towhee, European Starlings, and a Cedar Waxwing flock flyover. We pushed ourselves rapidly toward Stevens Creek bridges and beyond to catch the higher tide. Just beyond the bridges (of course, No Black Rail in dry reeds) we saw numerous Green-winged Teal in low creek water and heard and spotted Song Sparrow and Common Yellowthroat, both species loudly voicing pleasure in the day. Rushing on toward pond A2E, we were rewarded with views of numerous N. Shovelers, Am. Wigeon, and Gadwall. Then we pushed on to the tidal habitat (AB1) where we were greeted by two flyover Snowy Egrets, mostly Lesser Scaup and hundreds of Ruddy Ducks, the males sporting handsome blue bills. Knowing we could not dawdle appreciating the view and happy that we had beat the ebbing tide, we turned around and rapidly retraced our steps to the car, adding Golden-crowned Sparrows to species count. (23)
On the drive to Shoreline Lake we spotted atop a light post a Red-tailed Hawk, the first of several for the day. American Crows were numerous as we approached parking on east side of Shoreline Lake. The Lake and Island were busy with numerous species of birds to add to our list as we walked rapidly from east to west on north side of the Lake before being stopped by construction at the west end. Path closed! New Species for the day here: diving Common Golden-eye and Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Eared Grebe, Black Skimmers in flight and on the Island, Willet, Canada Geese in water and on land, House Finch, several flocks of White-crowned Sparrows, CA Gull flying east to west, numerous Greater Scaup, Double-crested Cormorant in flight and on posts, tilting Turkey Vultures at every level in the sky, and several elegant male and female Bufflehead. (16)
Happy with the variety of species around the Lake area, we hurried back to the car and drove to Terminal Blvd. to bird the western section of Shoreline Park where we added interesting new species at Coast Casey Forebay and Charleston Slough wetlands areas: one Great Egret, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, one Greater Yellowlegs, Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Cliff Swallows and Barn Swallows building nests, multiple Marsh Wrens calling loudly among the reeds, Bushtits and Mallards dabbling. A Belted Kingfisher rapidly flew over our heads and disappeared to the west. (12)
Although we were disappointed at missing some of the usual species at Shoreline, we had to move on if we were going to cover all target areas. Next stop was Palo Alto Baylands at lower tide where we found a few new species, including Canvasbacks, Northern Harrier, a Long-billed Curlew, Least Sandpipers on the mudflats, and Dowitcher sp.
Making a quick stop at Geng Rd. off Embarcadero allowed us to catch the Tropical Kingbird, our first of the day Western Bluebirds and Northern Mockingbird.
Rushing still we were off to Cuesta Park hoping to finding a variety of different species. Disappointment! Practically running around the park to keep in our time period, we found only 2 new species: Dark-eyed Junco and a Nuttall’s Woodpecker. (10)
We were satisfied with 61 species for the 4 hour St. Anthony Ranchers Birdathon Day.
2022’s Fledglings
Yesterday, 4-9-22, I had the best day of birding I've ever experienced as I participated in the Fledglings Birdathon. All day, as soon as I thought things were slowing down, another amazing bird would show up!
The day began just after 7 am as my dad and I arrived at the Smith Creek Fire Station. Not long after getting out of the car, an adult BALD EAGLE flew over, not a bad start to the day! There was significant wind on the exposed Bonhoff and Manzanita Trails which kept the warblers down, but fortunately, key species like ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, PINE SISKIN, and BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER were still out and about.
Heading down to the creek, we ran into Mike Rogers, which was probably the most fortunate event of the day (more on that later). The valley where the creek runs was sheltered, making it much easier to find birds. The trees near the creek crossing were alive with birds, as WARBLING VIREOS and WILSON'S WARBLERS sang from unseen perches, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS noisily flew between the trees, and the song of TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS descended from the neck-breaking heights at the very top of the canopy. Before the creek crossing, we added a silent DOWNY WOODPECKER and PACFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER to the list for the day. The next stretch of the trail was quiet, but at the end of the path, song resumed with pairs of both HUTTON'S AND CASSIN'S VIREO, plus a HOUSE WREN calling from some brush.
While heading back, Mike Rogers gave a bunch of super helpful tips on how to find birds, such as how the best way to find Hammond's Flycatcher was by listening to its 'peek' call note. Not five minutes later, he stopped abruptly, and I was amazed to hear a HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER calling from somewhere along the creek. Thanks, Mike!
Going back up the Foothill Trail, we got a few more songbirds plus a beautiful GOLDEN EAGLE that flew over, bringing our species for the Smith Creek part of the day up to 52!
Before leaving, Mike told us that Rufous-crowned Sparrow could be found simply by rolling down the windows and listening on the drive down to Joseph D Grant. On the way down, sure enough, I heard the "dear dear dear" of the RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW coming from the chaparral next to the road! Another great bird thanks to Mike!
Our next stop was at Grant Lake, where we wanted to quickly nab some waterbirds. Mike was also birding the lake next, and while scanning the lake next to us he suddenly exclaimed "Purple Martin!" I got the scope on
the area he described, and watched in awe as the gorgeous, iridescent male PURPLE MARTIN circled above the lake, even dropping down and drinking from the surface a few times!
Moving on to the Ranch House, we said goodbye to Mike, extremely grateful for the exceptional birds we spotted thanks to him. We soon ran into the other Mike, (Mike Mammoser) who pointed us in the direction of a few more target birds. Thanks to his good directions, we quickly got LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCH and AMERICAN GOLDFINCH at the fountain, then a heard-only LAZULI BUNTING on the connector to the Hotel Trail while two GOLDEN EAGLES soared in the distance. As we headed back to the car, we figured that since we were 30 minutes behind schedule we'd have to skip hiking out to see the
Vermilion Flycatcher. As we stepped into the parking lot, we saw a bright red flash low in a Sycamore. I looked, and it was the VERMILION FLYCATCHER!! I couldn't believe our luck, and the stunning bird was perched on an exposed twig, letting me get a photo to remember the moment.
Heading down towards the bay, our next stop was at the Penitencia Creek recharge ponds. When we arrived, we found the ponds to be bone-dry. Oops.
Laughing about the unfortunate consequences of not scouting the route beforehand, we arrived at Shoreline early, allowing us time for a much-needed lunch break. Once lunch was finished, our other team members Massimo Bafetti, Carlos Mendoza, and Cedrik Von Briel arrived from their respective routes. We set off towards Charleston Slough, hoping to add a bunch of shorebirds to the day's list. When we got to the
observation deck, the sight before us was quite unexpected. The water was very low, and the mud looked almost dry. The only shorebirds aside from a smattering of Avocets were 5 WILLETS, 1 MARBLED GODWIT, and 1 LONG-BILLED CURLEW. Not a single sandpiper or plover in sight! We then walked over to Shoreline Lake, where the flock of BLACK SKIMMERS flew up from the island and then resettled for scope views, a lifer for Carlos! Scoping A1 added some more REDHEAD plus a SURF SCOTER to the list for the day.
After shoreline, we all headed over to bird the Emily Renzel ponds together. We got great looks at a LESSER SCAUP and a CINNAMON TEAL in the south pond, and not long after our target bird, COMMON GALLINULE swam out from the reeds right next to the trail, a lifer for both Carlos and Massimo! Heading back to the cars, we said our goodbyes, as Carlos had a long drive home ahead of him, Cedrik was off to the Baylands & Byxbee park, and Massimo and I headed to Ulistac.
Arriving at Ulistac, Massimo and I walked through the native plant garden and the eastern trail in the park on our way to the marsh, not finding much. As we headed to the Solitary Sandpiper spot, Brooke pointed us in
the right direction, and John Scharpen was on the bird when we arrived. We all got great looks at the SOLITARY SANDPIPER foraging and occasionally disappearing behind a clump of reeds, as well as a WILSON'S SNIPE. We were unsure if the bird would stick around, so we were excited to find it so
easily!
Massimo then had to return home, while my dad and I met my mom at the SUNNYVALE WPCP, and dad headed off to work. There we picked up a few waterbirds missed at the Baylands such as BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON and CASPIAN TERN, while WHITE-THROATED SWIFT flew overhead and an AMERICAN PIPIT foraged on the path. Behind the radar tower, we got amazing looks at a male CINNAMON TEAL, but no Blue-winged. Heading towards pond A4 we picked up a GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE while Green Heron eluded us for the day.
My mom and I drove to Don Edwards, but unfortunately, the gate was closed and the crowd at the outside parking area was not giving us the warm fuzzies about leaving our car unattended (they did seem to enjoy the vapors from their large glass tube). After over 12 hours of birding, we decided to call the birdathon a wrap. I checked my phone, and I was ecstatic when I saw the number that popped up at the top of our shared trip report. 152
species!!!
All in all, it was an amazing day in so many ways. The team blew our 100 species goal out of the water, we all had great rarities (stay tuned for Cedrik, Carlos, and Massimo's reports), and it was great to get to bird
with other young birders. Above all, it felt really good to be doing this for a good cause, so thank you to SCVAS for protecting nature so that those 152 species can still find a place to live in our ever-more developed area.
The birdathon is certainly a team effort, so there are a lot of people I'd like to thank for making our day such a success! Thank you to Bill Bousman, Brooke Miller, Bill Pelletier, Mike Ambrose, Sarah Chan, Matthew Dodder, and Garrett Lau for providing information and helpful tips on where to find target birds. Thank you to John Scharpen for getting us on the Solitary Sandpiper, and thanks to Mike Mammoser for pointing us in the right direction to find Lazuli Bunting and Lawrence's Goldfinch at Joseph D Grant. A huge thanks to Mike Rogers for finding the Hammond's Flycatcher and Purple Martin for us, plus the treasure trove of other information he gave us. And most of all, thank you to Massimo, Carlos, and Cedrik for being the best teammates ever, and to Massimo for creating this team!
Here is our eBird trip report that has all of our checklists and photos: https://ebird.org/tripreport/46797
Western Bluebird: Massimo Bafetti
On April 9th, I had a great day birdwatching as part of the Fledglings Birdathon team. I got 4 lifers, and was able to meet some amazing young birders.
Chipping Sparrow: Massimo Bafetti
I started the day off around 9, heading straight to Lone Hill Park. The moment I stepped out of the car, I quickly saw 2 of my first target birds, the Chipping Sparrows, foraging in the grass, along with a noisy mixed flock of House Finches and Lesser Goldfinches. I took a couple minutes to take some photos of the birds around the park, including a very nice-looking male Western Bluebird, and then headed over to my next stops, Guadalupe Oak Grove Park and Fontana Park.
Once we got to the parking lot of Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, I was immediately greeted by the calls of foraging Acorn Woodpeckers, and large and noisy flocks of Tree Swallows, Violet-Green Swallows, and Northern Rough-Winged Swallows. We walked the trail up the first smaller hill, and heard an interesting song being sung by a California Towhee. After we reached the top, we spent some time watching the swallow flocks, and spotted 2 White-Throated Swifts flying high above us. As we walked along the trail, we spotted a Cooper’s Hawk flying over the trail being mobbed by the swallows.
After walking the Guadalupe Oak Grove Park trail, we reached Fontana Park, which was a surprisingly different landscape from the previous park, despite the proximity. We were welcomed by a large flock of Band-Tailed Pigeons taking off from the power lines. Throughout the park we saw lots of White-Crowned Sparrows and Golden-Crowned Sparrows, but our target species for the park was the elusive White-Throated Sparrow. I scanned the various native gardens, but still nothing. After 15 minutes, I was about to call it quits on the search, but then I saw some sparrows rustling in the bushes along the fence. As I walked over, they flushed over to the open yard of a home across the street, and I was able to snap a photo. After looking, I was able to tell that one of them was in fact the White-Throated Sparrow.
Ring-necked Duck: Massimo Bafetti
After walking back, we quickly drove over to the Los Capitancillos Ponds. The first pond was devoid of birds, but hiding on the bank there was a small group of Killdeer fledglings. On the second pond, I was able to see my first target species, a small flock of Cackling Geese. I snapped some photos and quickly ran over to get the second target species, the Ring-Necked Ducks. I also spotted a Common Goldeneye on the 2nd pond east of Meridian. After this, we drove over to our meeting spot at the Charleston Slough area. You can check out Carter’s section for more information, but I was able to get three lifers in the area, Black Skimmer, Forster’s Tern, and Redhead! The group also spent time at Emily Renzel, which is an area I had never previously visited. There, I was able to get my fourth lifer of the day, a Common Gallinule. There, we said goodbye to Carlos, and Cedric went off to his next stop.
Carter, his dad, my dad, and I continued over to Ulistac Natural Area, in search of the Solitary Sandpiper spotted there by other birders. Once we arrived, we spent some time searching for a Fox Sparrow, but to no avail. However, our luck changed once we reached the marsh, with excellent views of the Solitary Sandpiper and a Wilson’s Snipe. This is where I called it a day, and we headed home to end an excellent day of fun and action-packed birding!
On April 10th the California Towhees Birdathon team birded within 1 mile of our homes, to see how many bird species we could identify. Some of us stayed in our backyards and some of us ventured out around our neighborhoods.
We were lucky that our Birdathon day was somewhat cool after the hot days the week before, and overall it was an excellent birding morning. However, as early afternoon came around, the winds really picked up with the ensuing storm, and many of us were done for the day. But overall, I think the event was a success for our team, and it really highlighted just how many birds we have in the immediate areas around our homes and what a wonderful variety of habitats we all encompass. This year we had 11 team members and observed 82 unique species.
And I also think it was quite appropriate that the only bird that all members reported was the California Towhee!
House Finch eating berries: Brooke Miller
Black-chinned Hummingbird: Brooke Miller
Hutton’s Vireo: Brooke Miller
Wild Turkey: LC Boros
Bullock’s Oriole: LC Boros
Golden-crowned Sparrow: LC Boros
Merlin: Jennifer Oliver
Cedar Waxwing: Jennifer Oliver
Says Phoebe: Jennifer Oliver
And here is a complete list of the birds we identified:
Acorn Woodpecker
Allen's Hummingbird
American Coot
American Crow
American Goldfinch
American Robin
American Wigeon
Anna's Hummingbird
Band-tailed Pigeon
Barn Swallow
Bewick's Wren
Black Phoebe
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bufflehead
Bullock's Oriole
Bushtit
Californa Towhee
California Gull
California Quail
California Scrub-Jay
California Thrasher
Canada Goose
Cassin's Vireo
Cedar Waxwing
Chesnut-backed Chickadee
Chipping Sparrow
Cliff Swallow
Common Raven
Cooper's Hawk
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
Double-crested Cormorant
Eurasian-collared Dove
European Starling
Gadwall
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Great egret
Hermit Thrush
Hooded Oriole
House Finch
House Sparrow
House Wren
Hutton's Vireo
Kildeer
Lark Sparrow
Lesser Goldfinch
Mallard
Merlin
Mourning Dove
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Northern Shoveler
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Oak Titmouse
Orange-crowned Warbler
Pacific-coast Flycatcher
Purple Finch
Pygmy Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-winged Blackbird (California Bicolored)
Rock Pigeon
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Ruddy Duck
Say's Phoebe
Snowy Egret
Song Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
Steller’s Jay
Tree Swallow
Turkey Vulture
Violet-green Swallow
Western Bluebird
White-breasted Nuthatch
White-crowned Sparrow
White-tailed Kite
Wild Turkey
Wrentit
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)
This past Wednesday (04-13-22) the SCVAS Birdathon Team, the DeDUCKtions spent the better part of a 24-hour time window birding to benefit the SCVAS education program during an all-county tour. We opted for a very different route this year to focus on some south county areas. It didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped...
We only utilized 15 hours of that window, but began birding a 4:30 AM. We had our first bird, COMMON POORWILL (which was awesome!!!), at the Stile Ranch Trailhead. From there we moved across the street to find GRASSHOPPER SPARROW at Ranch San Vicente parking area. Best views ever!
Next south toward Gilroy for LAWRENCE’S GOLDFINCH and SWAINSONS HAWK on San Felipe Road, but missed the Cassin’s Kingbird. Big disappointment. Doh!!
We then made our way Cañada Road, Jamieson Road, Hunting Hollow, Gilroy Hot Springs Road, Coyote Lake Park (Canyon Wren), Ed Levin Park and finally the Bayfront (easy Shorebirds).
We made way too many stops but recovered 129 species with our core "in person" group. Three additional team members birded independently and added another 8 species to the team's final total of 137 SPECIES.
What was really cool is that everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY added at least one unique species to our final team list! That’s just amazing!!
It is clear though that this route was not as productive as in previous years. The lack of species was probably due to the excessive amount of time spent driving between our stops and a total 172 miles! Shameful. We also ended a few minutes before last light… But the leader got tired. We will try again next year.
We were all pretty tired at the end of the day. But we had a lot of fun birding together!!
Team:
Matthew Dodder
Eric Goodill
Cynthia Berg
Emily Kim
Carolyn Straub
Steve McHenry
Christopher Klein
Joan Leighton
Phil Leighton
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.
The Song Birds is a distributed team dedicated to recording audio of as many species as possible. Led by Board member Sue Pelmulder and assisted by Ginger Langdon-Lassagne (who processed audio and helped identify birds by call), this team recorded vocalizations for 51 species in the county.
Processing a California Thrasher song in Raven Lite
Team members and their abbreviations for the list are:
Sue Pelmulder (SP) — Cuesta Park in Mountain View, Shoup Park in Los Altos and Stevens Creek Canyon in Cupertino
Ginger Langdon-Lassagne — Processed audio, assisted in identifying birds
Mary Ann Robertson (MAR) — Birded the suburban peninsula
Julie Amato (JA) — Picchetti Ranch (with MAR)
LC Boros (LCB) — Rural, east hills
A beautiful peacock greeted Mary Ann with a very loud call as she got out of her car at the hiking parking lot at Picchetti Ranch Preserve. She managed to get a few photos of him and later recorded his call on her Recorder app (WildBird) on her iPhone. Julie arrived and we they set off on the Zinfandel Trail for a morning of recording bird songs. At the start of the trail, we saw and recorded a Pacific-Slope Flycatcher that was nearby in a tree. The highlight of the morning was seeing and recording a California Thrasher in a tree next to the Zinfandel Trail. Unfortunately Mary Ann was not able to get a photo.
A loud tractor with discer at Picchetti Ranch
Luckily we did not meet many people on the trail but we did encounter a Deere tractor with a disc plow creating wide firebreaks near the intersection of the Zinfandel and Orchard Loop Trails. ("Nothing runs like a Deere.") This noise is in the background of many of our recordings.
We turned onto the Vista Trail and enjoyed the Oaks and view on Vista Point. We saw a Flycatcher in the oak grove but it did not call. We headed for the vernal pond and spotted a chipmunk on a tree branch along the way. The pond was dry. An Oak Titmouse was in one of the Valley Oaks and there were many galls on the trees.
We rejoined the Zinfandel Trail and walked south to a little past the first small bridge and then turned around and went back along the trail to the parking lot. Near the restrooms we saw Wild Turkeys. Spotted Towhees were frequently heard during the walk, and were our most recorded bird. Happy surprises that we later discovered in our recordings included Warbling Vireo, Wilson’s Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, and Ash-throated Flycatcher.
At home the challenge began, trimming the recordings and identifying birds. Mary Ann made 23 recordings included four of the "dawn chorus" in her Los Altos yard. She ended up with 18 usable segments. She used Cornell Lab's Raven Lite 2.0.1 and was fascinated by the spectrograms of the recordings. Birds not heard in the field were present on the recordings. And so the education began. Ginger patiently reviewed all of our recordings and helped us identify the unknown birds. We recorded 26 species at Picchetti Ranch!
Acorn Woodpecker
Here are the species for which audio was recorded, with each person’s contributions attributed and a few audio tracks sprinked in:
Indian Peafowl (domestic type) (MAR, JA)
Wild Turkey (LCB)
Eurasian Collared-Dove (LCB)
Mourning Dove (SP, MAR, LCB)
ANHU (all)
California Gull [probably] (SP — a single call at Cuesta park!)
Great Blue Heron (LCB - huge surprise, about 40 mins in to the dawn chorus!)
Red-shouldered Hawk (MAR, SP)
Red-tailed Hawk (LCB)
Barn Owl (LCB)
Great Horned Owl (LCB)
Acorn Woodpecker (SP, MAR, JA)
Downy Woodpecker (SP)
Nuttall’s Woodpecker (MAR, JA)
Northern Flicker (LCB)
American Kestrel (LCB)
Olive-sided Flycatcher (SP)
Pacific-Slope Flycatcher (SP, MAR, JA)
Black Phoebe (MAR, SP)
Ash-throated Flycatcher (MAR, JA, SP)
Hutton’s Vireo (MAR)
Warbling Vireo (SP, MAR, JA)
Stellar’s Jay (all)
California Scrub-Jay (all)
American Crow (all)
Chestnut-Backed Chickadee (SP)
Oak Titmouse (all)
Barn Swallow (LCB)
Cliff Swallow (LCB)
Bushtit (MAR, SP)
Wrentit (Mar, JA, SP)
White-breasted Nuthatch (SP)
House Wren (LCB)
Bewick’s Wren (all)
California Thrasher (JA, MAR, LCB)
Northern Mockingbird (all)
Western Bluebird (LCB, SP)
American Robin (SP, LCB)
House Finch (all)
Lesser Goldfinch (all)
Dark-eyed Junco (all… with a small ? on the brief call on LCB’s dawn chorus?)
Song Sparrow (SP, JA)
California Towhee (MAR, SP, LCB)
Spotted Towhee (MAR, JA, SP)
Hooded Oriole (LCB)
Bullock’s Oriole (SP)
Brown-headed Cowbird (SP)
Orange-crowned Warbler (SP, JA)
Wilson’s Warbler (JA, MAR, SP)
Western Tanager (SP)
Black-headed Grosbeak (all)
Banner sonogram - California Thrasher by Mary Ann Robertson
Everyone who posted a complete eBird checklist on May 8, 2021 was an honorary member of The Local Global Big Day Birders. Yes, even you “Anonymous eBirder”! 😁
Together, we found 168 species in the county and submitted 246 complete checklists. Below are a few stories from participants. Also check out the photos and audio uploaded to eBird at:
Barry Langdon-Lassagne:
My plans for the eBird Global Big Day were thwarted by my reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine. As happy as I was to have signs that the vaccine was effective (fever, chills, etc.) it meant I had no energy or strength to get out and bird our county. I did manage one eBird checklist, in our yard, for twenty whole minutes before crawling back into bed. I even managed to record the calls of a Bushtit and a House Finch.
Carter Gasiorowski:
Yesterday, we had a full day of birding for eBird's Global Big Day, as well as for the SCVAS birdathon team "Local-Global Big Day Birders."
My dad and I began the day at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy just before 8 am. This is where the Gilroy Garlic Festival is held, as was evidenced by the powerful garlic smell during the first part of our outing. The parking area was filled with the songs of PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS, WILSON'S WARBLERS, WESTERN TANAGERS, and BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS. Heading east along the south side of the creek, there was a YELLOW WARBLER, as well as two CALIFORNIA THRASHERS and a WRENTIT singing from the drier areas, while a group of VAUX'S SWIFTS foraged overhead. A silent SWAINSON'S THRUSH along the path 1/4 mile from the parking lot was a nice surprise, as was a male BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER foraging in the oaks. This was our birdiest stop, providing 41 of our 63 species for the day.
We then made a quick stop a few miles away along Bolsa Road, where we had a flyover LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCH.
Our next stop was along Betabel Road, where we hoped to find Blue Grosbeaks. The heatwaves were too severe to get scope views of the hillside where Frank Vanslager and Bob Reiling found Blue Grosbeaks breeding last summer, but we did get a good look at numerous LAZULI BUNTINGS flying around the field.
Heading back north, we visited the San Pedro Percolation Ponds in Morgan Hill. It wasn't particularly birdy, but during our 20-minute visit, we did manage to see all five local swallow species.
We then went to Calero Reservoir, our final stop for the morning. They are doing some pretty major work on the entrance to the boat launch area, but it didn't affect access at all, at least while we were there. While looking at the swallow flocks, a male TRICOLORED BLACKBIRD flew over the parking lot with a group of red-wings, a nice surprise!
Driving home past Rancho San Vicente, we saw the (resident?) pair of GOLDEN EAGLES soaring over the parking lot, as well as an AMERICAN KESTREL on the wire.
After resting for a while at home, my dad, mom, and I arrived at the Stile Ranch Entrance to Santa Teresa County Park at 7:45 pm. A short way west along the Calero Creek trail, there was a lot of activity on the chaparral-covered hillside, with TOWHEES and RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROWS flying around and singing near the trail. At 8:17 pm, 13 minutes after sunset, a COMMON POORWILL called a few times from up on the hillside. We heard the calls from around 37.203431, -121.810087, and we stayed there for the rest of the evening. A few minutes later, we got a fleeting glimpse of the poorwill as it flew up, presumably from its day roost, and over the backside of the hill. At around 8:30 pm, two poorwills started calling from very close by on the hillside, and I was able to hear and record all three parts (poor-will-ip) of their call, instead of just the 'poor-will' that is audible over a greater distance. You can barely hear it in the recording that's in my eBird list below. After getting the recording, I saw a dark shape flying over the hillside. I got it in my bins, and it was a Poorwill! It was shortly joined by another Poorwill, and then, to my astonishment, both Poorwills landed in a bush together, with their outlines silhouetted against the fading light. I started heading closer to try and get a photo, and then both birds took off, and flew just 10 feet over my head! It was a truly magical experience that my mom captured in a cellphone video (linked below). We continued to hear poorwills sporadically as we headed back to the car, including one that was quite far away from the two we saw, so there were at least 3 poorwills present.
All in all, it was an amazing day with 63 species, 2 year-birds for me (Swainson's Thrush and Poorwill), and an unforgettable experience.
Garrett Lau:
Canada Goose Gosling, Palo Alto Flood Control Basin — Garrett Lau
My main goal for today was to get better photographs of the Red-necked
Phalaropes that had been spending the past few days in the southeast
pond in the Palo Alto Flood Control Basin. I went there at 3:00pm and
had the sun directly behind me while shooting from the bike path, and
I even managed to get both the male and the female in the same photo.
I also photographed the Canada Goose goslings, which almost
outnumbered the adults.
Red-necked Phalaropes at Palo Alto Flood Control Basin — Garrett Lau
Next, I drove a half mile up the road to Emily Renzel Wetlands to
photograph the Common Tern. I saw it flying above the south pond as
soon as I got out of my car. I took many photos of it in flight. After
it perched on the rock island where it often perches, I scanned both
ponds to count all the birds. There was nothing else unusual, but it
is always nice to see the Common Gallinules.
Common Tern at Emily Renzel Wetlands — Garrett Lau
My third and final stop was Geng Road. A pair of Western Kingbirds and
a Northern Mockingbird posed nicely at the entrance to the San
Francisquito Creek Trail. I took the trail to the Friendship Bridge
and then crossed the bridge into San Mateo County before returning the
same way. On the return trip, I watched a Red-tailed Hawk fly in and
then eat a jackrabbit on the golf course, close to the cart path. I
think the jackrabbit must have been struck by a golf cart.
Northern Mockingbird at San Francisquito Creek Trail — Garrett Lau
Western Kingbird at San Francisquito Creek Trail — Garrett Lau
Looking South from Mt. Eden trail
Carolyn Knight:
Saturday dawned bright and early and I… missed it. I had planned with the best intentions to start birding with the sun, but whether it was the work week or the tail end of recovering from my own second vaccination, the need for sleep prevailed over the desire to find owls. So, scrapping my more ambitious plans, I hit McClellan Ranch at 7AM to get the Ranch’s resident owls on their roosts for the day. Hooded Orioles, more Chestnut-backed Chickadees than you could shake a stick at, and a flyover of an out of place Double-crested Cormorant rounded out the 26 species I left with.
With two hours before I had to do things other than birding I decided to stay in the area for the rest of my birding, leading me to hike the Canyon trail in Stevens Creek County Park. Not the most birdy of locales, at least not with the other weekend hikers sharing the trail with me, but an Ash-throated Flycatcher, a couple of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and my FOS Golden Eagle (finally!) made the effort worth it as I signed off from birding for the rest of the day.
The Wrong Terns is a Birdathon team composed of SCVAS’s Ed Committee, members of the Wetlands Discovery Program, and whomever else we can convince to go birding with us. While we typically bird together and finish the day off with a potluck lunch, in 2020 and 2021 we’ve adapted to a distributed format, to the benefit of our species count and the disappointment of our taste buds.
This year the Terns finished their 4-hour day with 128 species, some great pictures, and hope that we’ll be able to bird together again next year.
We wandered by car up Steven’s Creek Canyon Road, stopping along the way to bird seldom visited paths and picnic areas. Along the way we encountered mostly familiar birds, both visitors and year-round residents. Rounding a curve near the Steven’s Creek Reservoir, we were stopped by the sight of a turkey vulture flying low across the road. Within minutes we were looking at half-a-dozen vultures in a nearby tree, all talking among themselves. The object of their attention was a flattened ground squirrel that clearly hadn’t looked both ways before crossing the road.
For Jim, the scene brought to mind a Far Side cartoon featuring two vultures sitting in a tree. One was clearly hungry, saying to the other, “Patience my foot. I’m going to kill somebody!”
This group of Terns explored Alviso and Ulistac to find 49 species in their 4 hours! While they didn’t get lost, they did manage to pick up another birder on the way, with Kitty and her friend joining them for the last leg of their journey!
Rick Herder and I started the day at 8 AM at Smith Creek in Grant Ranch County Park. If you've never been there, it is one of the most beautiful creek walks in the county, even if not looking for birds. For birds, it is a hotspot, especially seasonal migrants. We got 29 species along the creek, including WARBLING VIREO, ORANGE CROWNED WARBLER, BLACK HEADED GROSBEAK, HAIRY WOODPECKER, (all HO), CASSINS VIREO, NORTHERN ROUGH WINGED SWALLOW and WILSONS WARBLER, . Rick taught me a lot about calls and songs. There was almost constant singing the entire 1 mile of the creek.
Next was the Twin Gates parking lot where got 6 more species including WESTERN TANAGER, BULLOCKS ORIOLE, LINCOLN SPARROW AND YELLOW RUMPED WARBLER were the highlights.
The third stop was Grant Lake with the best species being FOX SPARROW, VAUX SWIFT, all four swallow species, GADWALL, BUFFELHEAD, RUDDY DUICK, and WESTERN SANDPIPER.
We wrapped up the day at the Ranch House were we missed the VERMILLION FLYCATCHER, but did get GOLDEN EAGLE, WHITE TAILED KITE, ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, PINE SISKIN, and AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. For the day we totaled 67 species.
While in the parking lot at Grant lake, a cyclist asked what we were doing and then commenced to tell us about the ROAD RUNNERS he has seen occasionally on the trail. He said they were much smaller than the ones in Arizona and Rick and I looked askance at one another. A short while later we encountered a CALIFORNIA THRASHER racing across the trail in front of us and concluded that the "small road runner" was most probably the CATH.
We concluded about 12:30 PM, tired, hungry, and exhilarated!
Ginger’s birding effort was offset by 3 days from the rest of the Wrong Terns, but she still felt part of the bigger effort. Covering two county parks and OSA lands along McKean Road in the southern San Jose was very fun on the warm, sunny day that Thursday provided. One highlight at Rancho San Vicente were the very vocal Grasshopper sparrows that buzzed continuously from the dry grass behind the parking lot restrooms! Also, numerous Rock Wrens, calling on territory and carrying insect prey to hidden sites among the rocks, surrounded by purple lupines and golden fiddlenecks. Stile Ranch trail provided the expected Rufous-crowned Sparrows and the unexpected, high-flyover, adult Bald Eagle. Target bird! Calero Reservoir was an exciting mix of Caspian and Forster’s Terns and flamenco-dancing Western Grebes on the water, but the big surprise was the Tricolored Blackbirds visiting the cattails on the lakeshore. Ginger ended the four hours with forest birds picked up at the Calero Park headquarters building: Ash-Throated Flycatcher, Band-tailed Pigeon, Oak Titmouse and Tree Swallow were all new for the day in the final few minutes. Four hours never seemed to short!
My day started off at Oka Ponds with a flurry of swallows. Violet-green, Northern Rough-wing, Barn, and Cliff, all zipping over the ponds, with Vaux’s Swifts spiraling up above them. It would have been a great chance to just sit and watch these little aerialists, but with the clock ticking away moved away from the ponds nearly the parking lot to go across the creek in search of some more species. Most of the ponds are nearly dry right now, but a lone Green Heron was skulking under an oak tree towards the bridge over Los Gatos Creek, and a flock of Cedar Waxwings up in the sycamores were chattering.
American Dipper mid blink at Los Gatos Creek
My next stop was taken at a bit of a run, literally, for one species in particular. I overshot this little guy on my way down Los Gatos Creek trail, but managed to find it on my way back. The American Dipper was perched on the very edge of the concrete channel, right above a drop in in the creek.
I spent the rest of the day in Santa Teresa CP, enjoying the weather, the cows, and the Tree Swallows that finally showed up for my list. The turkeys were displaying on the hills, and the meadow by the Pueblo Day Area was filled with Western Bluebirds and a few Lazuli Buntings. A California Quail was calling from the rocks, and I spent a very satisfying fifteen tracking down the Ash-throated Flycatcher that was calling from the Santa Teresa Creek Trail.
All told it was a 60 species day.
Dwight Agan explored the Emily Renzel Wetlands and captured some amazing pictures to share with us of the birds he found, including a Common Tern!
