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:

  1. Long-eared Owl (6), Sensitive Species, hidden date, location, and observer/s

  2. Black Oystercatcher (6), 2025-01-31, at the San Francisquito Creek mouth, by Mike Rogers

Rarity Code 5’s for January 2025:

  1. Black Rail (5), hidden date, location, and observer – ‘sensitive species’

  2. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (5), 2025-01-01, at the Metcalf Motorcycle Park, by Mike Rogers and Richard Jeffers

  3. Clay-colored Sparrow (5), 2025-01-23, at TJ Martin Park, by Dan Kadra

  4. Pacific Golden-Plover (5), 2025-01-30, at the Palo Alto Baylands, by Mike Rogers

The 1 ABA non-countable bird for January was:

  1. 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

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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:

  1. Bullock’s Oriole (1), 2025-02-05 at TJ Martin Park, by Linda Pors

  2. Ring-necked Pheasant (4), 2025-02-08 at Lovers Lane, by Steve Rottenborn

  3. Allen’s Hummingbird (3), 2025-02-08 at the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant, by Zack Schlanger

  4. American Redstart (5), 2025-02-09, found by Ryan G at McClellan Groundwater Recharge Ponds

  5. Eastern Phoebe (6), 2025-02-12, at Penitencia Creek Trail, by Remigio Miguel

  6. Northern Saw-whet Owl (3), 2025-02-15, found by Thomas Daniels at Mt Madonna County Park

  7. Vesper Sparrow (5), 2025-02-15, found by Dave Weber along the Calera Creek Trail at Ed Levin County Park

  8. White-faced Ibis (4), 2025-02-15, found by an anonymous eBirder at Palo Alto Baylands

  9. Palm Warbler (5), 2025-02-15, found by Michael Armstrong along Alviso Slough

  10. Northern Rough-winged Swallow (2), 2025-02-16, found by Olive Lee and John Tsortos at Coyote Lake County Park at the dam area

  11. Rough-legged Hawk (5), 2025-02-21, found by Ben Golet at Henry W. Coe State Park

  12. Canyon Wren (4), 2025-02-21, first seen by Mike Rogers at the dam area at Coyote Lake County Park

  13. Rufous Hummingbird (3), 2025-02-26, seen by Jennifer Oliver at Coyote Creek Parkway

  14. Cliff Swallow (1), 2025-02-26, seen by Mike Rogers at Salt Pond A12

  15. Caspian Tern (2), 2025-02-28, found by Oliver James at Palo Alto Baylands

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March

In February I missed a ‘non-countable’ bird. It was a Swinhoe’s White-Eye seen near the intersection of Fremont and Hollenbeck in Sunnyvale on 2025-02-25 by Rohit Bose.

In March we added 12 new countable birds, bringing the total to 230 at the end of the month. The average for March is 13 new birds, and an average of 224 at the end of the month. We also added one new ‘non-countable’ bird in March, a Red-whiskered Bulbul seen by Petra Kinsman on Osborne Ave in Santa Clara on 2025-03-15. 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 March:

  1. Glaucous Gull (4), 2025-03-06, found by Mike Rogers at Salt Pond A12

  2. Grasshopper Sparrow (3), 2025-03-08, found by Eve Meier and Edward Rooks at Diablo Foothills Preserve (closed to the general public)

  3. American Bittern (4), 2025-03-08, seen by multiple observers (John Scharpen, Ariel Potter, Kenneth Mamitsuka, Olive Lee, and Tim Hoo) at Byxbee Park

  4. Warbling Vireo (2), 2025-03-14, found by Carol Ann Krug Graves and David Graves in Monte Sereno

  5. Vermilion Flycatcher (6), 2025-03-15, found by Edward Rooks at Joseph D Grant County Park

  6. Western Flycatcher (1), 2025-03-20, found by Al McKay on South Market St in San Jose

  7. Cassin’s Kingbird (4), 2025-03-21, seen by Mike Rogers along San Felipe Rd.

  8. Swainson’s Hawk (4), 2025-03-21, found by Mike Rogers at an undisclosed location

  9. Wilson’s Warbler (1), 2025-03-22, seen by Kim Farrell at Agnews Historic Park

  10. Cassin’s Vireo (2), 2025-03-25, found by Brooke Miller along the John Nicholas Trail at Sanborn County Park

  11. Black-headed Grosbeak (2), 2025-03-26, found by Dorothy Johnson at Alum Rock Park, and Matthew Dodder at McClellan Ranch Preserve

  12. Vaux’s Swift (3), 2025-03-26, seen by Ann Verdi at the Coleman Rd Bridge

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April

The first-of-the-year Black-headed Grosbeak was seen on 2025-02-28 by Janna Pauser at Belgatos Park, not as I previously reported on 2025-03-26. That has been updated in the record

In April we added 17 new countable birds, bringing the total to 247 at the end of the month. The average for April is 20 new birds, and an average of 244 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 April:

  1. Ash-throated Flycatcher (2), 2025-04-02, found at the Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant by a SCVBA field trip group

  2. Calliope Hummingbird (4), 2025-04-05, found by several birders at Santa Teresa County Park – Stile Entrance

  3. Common Poorwill (3), 2025-04-05, heard by Garrett Lau at the Santa Teresa County Park – Stile Entrance

  4. Black-chinned Hummingbird (3), 2025-04-09, seen by Brooke Miller at her home in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose

  5. California Condor (6), 2025-04-11, seen by Irene Baba over Highway 152 in Gilroy

  6. MacGillivray’s Warbler (4), 2025-04-12, found by Adit Kapadia at Foothills Park

  7. Swainson’s Thrush (2), 2025-04-13, found by Janna Pauser along the Calero Creek Trail

  8. Lazuli Bunting (2), 2025-04-16, found by Kim Blythe at Ed Levin County Park – Oak Knoll Area

  9. Western Wood-Pewee (2), 2025-04-16, found by an anonymous eBirder along the Calero Creek Trail

  10. Purple Martin (4), 2025-04-19, seen by Kenneth Mamitsuka, Max Ferrero, and Karen Moody, at Loma Prieta – Lower Saddle

  11. Olive-sided Flycatcher (3), 2025-04-19, heard by Max Ferrero at Loma Prieta – Lower Saddle

  12. Yellow-headed Blackbird (5), 2025-04-19, found by Steve Rottenborn at San Felipe Lake Uplands

  13. Costa’s Hummingbird (5), 2025-04-21, found by Garrett Lau above Sandy Wool Lake at the white water tower

  14. Bank Swallow (5), 2025-04-21, found by Steve Rottenborn near Bloomfield Ave and Frazier Lake Road

  15. Elegant Tern (3), 2025-04-23, 20 were seen by Gaurav Manglik at Palo Alto Baylands

  16. Red-necked Phalarope (2), 2025-04-25, seen by Mike Rogers and Mike Mammoser at the Spreckles Pond in Alviso, and seen by Garrett Lau at Palo Alto Baylands

  17. Ruddy Turnstone (5), 2025-04-26, seen by Olive Lee and John Tsortos from the Palo Alto Baylands boardwalk.

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May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December