SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIRD LIST DISCUSSION ARCHIVE 2025
| January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September| October | November | December |
Compiled by: Brooke Miller. Please email additions, corrections, or comments to Brooke at idbirds@me.com. Monthly reports are made up of eBird sightings, postings on South Bay Birds, and direct email reports.
Please post all your sightings at southbaybirds@groups.io and/or eBird. You can use eBird to follow first-of-the-year sightings. Due to the fact that not everyone uses eBird, not all sightings will be included, however. To see first-of-the-year sightings in eBird do the following:
Click on "Explore Data" at the top of any eBird page
Select "Explore a Region"
Type in "Santa Clara" and wait for the page to fill it in
Select "Current Year" and click "set"
Click on "First Seen"
Go back to the Santa Clara County Bird List 2025 or view all the cumulative year lists.
January
We started off 2025 with 176 countable birds seen on January 1, and a total of 203 countable birds for the month of January. The average for January 1st is 157, and the average for the month of January is 202. There was 1 bird that was not ABA-countable in January (see below). Thank you to everyone that birded, and took the time to report birds either on SBB, eBird, or send emails directly to me.
Of the countable 203 birds that were recorded for January, there were 2 birds rated as rarity (6), and 4 birds rated as rarity (5). As a reminder, here is what each rarity code means:
**Rarity Codes:
1 = common, always seen in habitat in season.
2 = fairly common, usually in habitat in season, but missed sometimes.
3 = uncommon, always around, but sometimes you can't find.
4 = rare, occurs yearly in the county, but not always in same places.
5 = very rare, does not occur every year.
6 = casual or vagrant, generally fewer than 10 records.
Rarity Code 6’s for January 2025:
Long-eared Owl (6), Sensitive Species, hidden date, location, and observer/s
Black Oystercatcher (6), 2025-01-31, at the San Francisquito Creek mouth, by Mike Rogers
Rarity Code 5’s for January 2025:
Black Rail (5), hidden date, location, and observer – ‘sensitive species’
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (5), 2025-01-01, at the Metcalf Motorcycle Park, by Mike Rogers and Richard Jeffers
Clay-colored Sparrow (5), 2025-01-23, at TJ Martin Park, by Dan Kadra
Pacific Golden-Plover (5), 2025-01-30, at the Palo Alto Baylands, by Mike Rogers
The 1 ABA non-countable bird for January was:
Scaly-breasted Munia, 2025-01-01, seen by an anonymous ebirder, at the Santa Clara Valley Water District Headquarters
My monthly reports are made up of eBird sightings, postings on south-bay-birds, and direct emails. The monthly cumulative lists are archived on the SCVBA website at https://scvbirdalliance.org/sc-county-cumulative-year-lists. Please post all your sightings to: south-bay-birds@groups.io or to www.ebird.org .
Please contact me if you find errors or omissions, or have questions or comments.
Brooke Miller
February
In February we added 15 new countable birds, bringing the total to 218 at the end of the month. The average for February is 9 new birds, and an average of 211 at the end of the month. Thank you to everyone who birded, and took the time to report birds either on SBB, eBird, or send emails directly to me.
Here are the birds that were found in February:
Bullock’s Oriole (1), 2025-02-05 at TJ Martin Park, by Linda Pors
Ring-necked Pheasant (4), 2025-02-08 at Lovers Lane, by Steve Rottenborn
Allen’s Hummingbird (3), 2025-02-08 at the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant, by Zack Schlanger
American Redstart (5), 2025-02-09, found by Ryan G at McClellan Groundwater Recharge Ponds
Eastern Phoebe (6), 2025-02-12, at Penitencia Creek Trail, by Remigio Miguel
Northern Saw-whet Owl (3), 2025-02-15, found by Thomas Daniels at Mt Madonna County Park
Vesper Sparrow (5), 2025-02-15, found by Dave Weber along the Calera Creek Trail at Ed Levin County Park
White-faced Ibis (4), 2025-02-15, found by an anonymous eBirder at Palo Alto Baylands
Palm Warbler (5), 2025-02-15, found by Michael Armstrong along Alviso Slough
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (2), 2025-02-16, found by Olive Lee and John Tsortos at Coyote Lake County Park at the dam area
Rough-legged Hawk (5), 2025-02-21, found by Ben Golet at Henry W. Coe State Park
Canyon Wren (4), 2025-02-21, first seen by Mike Rogers at the dam area at Coyote Lake County Park
Rufous Hummingbird (3), 2025-02-26, seen by Jennifer Oliver at Coyote Creek Parkway
Cliff Swallow (1), 2025-02-26, seen by Mike Rogers at Salt Pond A12
Caspian Tern (2), 2025-02-28, found by Oliver James at Palo Alto Baylands