Alum Rock Park (Summer):
Creekside Birding

by Chris Johnson

Penitencia Creek Trail in east San José is a beautiful, shaded creek side trail with easy level walking where wildlife and birds abound. While it can be crowded after 10 a.m. on weekends, early mornings offer solitude and silence and increase the chance for wildlife and bird encounters. Deer (and their fawns) are especially common, and bobcats, snakes, and other creatures are sometimes seen. The creek hosts numerous Steelhead Trout, and in the past may have supported Coho Salmon.

Trip Covers: June - August

Key Birds: California Quail, Wild Turkey, Acorn Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Hutton’s Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Steller’s Jay, Oak Titmouse, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Wrentit, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, House Wren, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, Black-headed Grosbeak

Notes: We recommend that you check the park website before heading out. This park closes during high fire danger.

How to Bird

Navigating the Park: Alum Rock Park is the oldest municipal park in California and features tree-shaded, easy walking trails along Upper Penitencia Creek. It is a popular park on weekends and birding is best done before 10 a.m. On weekdays, the park gets very few visitors.

This trip follows along the Penitencia Creek Trail which mostly runs on the eastern side of Penitencia Creek. Some sections of the trail are more popular with bikers and can become congested later in the day (the southern end). The habitat along the creek is riparian, featuring sycamores, bigleaf maple, and white alder. Along the banks you will see plants like cattail, willows, mulefat, ferns, and blackberry. The north-facing slope (eastern side of the creek) features many trees, including oaks, buckeyes, bays, and madrones, while the south-facing slope (western side) is dryer and filled with grasses, sagebrush, poison oak, and the occasional live oak.

Buck with antler growths by Chris Johnson

Park at the Eagle Rock Parking Area (free) and cross over the bridge at the west end of the lot to reach the west side of the Penitencia Creek Trail (#1 on the interactive map). This section of the trail is unpaved and follows the creek downstream for 0.4 miles (to #2). Return to the Eagle Rock Parking Area the same way. Now, cross the road to continue upstream along the Penitencia Creek Trail (#3). Hang a right to stay on the Penitencia Creek Trail as it crosses over the creek shortly after the Rustic Lands Parking Area (#4) and continues towards the park headquarters. Continue walking alongside the creek until you reach the Service Road (near Mineral Springs Parking Area; #5). From Eagle Rock Parking to Mineral Springs Parking is about 1.1 miles, making the total round-trip walk about 3 miles.

To access the wheelchair accessible (i.e. paved) portions of the trail, park at the Mineral Springs Parking area and walk either north or south along the creekside trail.

Birding the Creekside Trail: Keaawww! Is that a distant Red-tailed Hawk? Possibly. Or it could be an imitation by one of the park’s many Steller’s Jays. Indeed, if you want to see pyramids, go to Cairo, but if you want to be interloped on your picnic by 15 Steller’s Jay, come to Alum Rock. The most common call of these jays is a fast kak-kak-kak-kak-kak-ka, often given in flight, but they also produce many squawks, clicks, clacks, squeals, rattles, and other bird or animal imitations.

The creek trail is also a wonderful place to see and hear Black-headed Grosbeak, which nest along the creek in large numbers through the end of June. House Wren, Warbling Vireo, Bullock’s Oriole, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, and Violet-green Swallow are also common nesters. Other less common migrant nesters include Cassin’s Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, and Western Tanager.

Another specialty of the park is Brown Creeper, which is found year-round and gives its extremely high-pitched calls and song whilst creeping along the branches and trunks of trees. Its camouflage is exceptional and when combined with its tiny size requires patience to observe. They are most common amongst the large oaks and conifers near the Youth Science Institute (YSI). Spotted Towhee is common on the trail as well and kicks around in the underbrush, though they can also be secretive. They often give a short, extremely fast trill song or call out a nasal “Raaalph”.

Another resident is the California Scrub-Jay, and if you want to know how you can tell a Steller's Jay call from a California Scrub-Jay call (which can be similar) it is all about the call duration. A Steller's Jay call lasts a bit longer, or is more drawn out, than the Scrub-Jay call. Steller's Jay calls also tend to be harsher (more grating) while Scrub-Jays tend to sound scratchy or nasal.

Paved portion of the Penitencia Creek Trail

Other common oak and riparian-loving birds along the trail include Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Oak Titmouse, Hutton’s Vireo, White-breasted Nuthatch, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Acorn Woodpecker, and Wild Turkey. Wrentit, Rufous-crowned Sparrow and California Quail will also come down to the creek on occasion, but they are mostly found upslope in the drier, scrubby areas (especially on the drier, northern side of the creek). Listen for the deer-deer-deer of Rufous-crowned Sparrow whenever you are near sagebrush. And of course, whenever there is water, there are Song Sparrows, as well as numerous other species that depend upon it.

Acorn Woodpecker with Insect by Chris Johnson

A Note About Owls

Alum Rock has 4 species of regularly occurring, but not so frequently observed, owls: Barn Owl, Great Horned Owl, Western Screech-Owl, and Northern Pygmy-Owl. Ever wonder how you can find a Western-Screech Owl (which only calls at night) in the daytime? Me too. Let me know if you ever figure that one out. But if the jays or a large group of birds are mobbing something and making a ruckus, there’s a chance an owl is at the center of all the fuss. Barn Owl are sometimes seen in the rocky crevasses of the large outcropping by the second bridge/creek crossing (#4), while the Northern Pygmy Owl favors heavily wooded areas with conifers. Please remember it is best not to report exact locations of nesting owls if they are discovered.

Ready for More?

To extend the walk along the same creek trail, head north from the Mineral Springs Parking area until the South Rim Trail junction (0.7 miles one way). Another option accessible near the Mineral Springs Parking area is the paved Service Road (#5). This road is fully paved and runs 1.3 miles uphill (600 feet elevation gain), and showcases the tree-filled, north-facing slope.

In addition, the Youth Science Institute offers a small aviary that may hold live hawks and owls, and a natural history museum with many taxidermy birds, including hawks, owls, seabirds, and waterfowl.

Interactive Map

Directions: From US-101 or I-680 exit McKee Rd east towards the hills. Turn left onto Toyon Ave then turn right onto Penitencia Creek Rd. Continue on Penitencia for about 0.7 miles into the park. Once in the park, continue another 0.9 miles. The Eagle Rock parking lot is on your right. Latitude/Longitude: 37.393568, -121.815682

Parking: Features large, paved parking lots.

Fees: The Eagle Rock Parking lot is free. The Mineral Springs Parking lot has a $6 charge per day.

Public Transportation: Not easily accessed by public transportation.

Park and/or Trail Hours: 8 a.m. to half an hour after sunset.

Facilities: Wheelchair accessible bathrooms, drinking fountain, picnic tables, playgrounds, and limited cell-phone service.

Heads-up! The area has limited to no cell phone service. To print or download this guide before you go, select the text you want (don’t include the banner photo), then print to PDF, or use a free service such as printfriendly.com, which lets you shrink or remove photos.

Trip Mileage: 3 miles round-trip, easy to shorten

Trail Conditions: Combination of paved and gravel/dirt trails. Limited elevation gain, often shaded, crowded after 10 a.m. on weekends with many bikers/hikers. Beware of falling debris from steep hillsides and rattlesnakes in rocky areas (very rare).

Accessibility: Portions of the Penitencia Creek Trail are paved and wheelchair accessible. The paved sections are best accessed from the Mineral Spring Parking Lot.

Bikes: Bikes are allowed.

Dogs: Dogs are not allowed. This park is considered a protected wildlife sanctuary.

More Information

Alum Rock Park Website and Trail Map
eBird hotspot: Alum Rock Park

More Resources

For more trips like this one, visit Self-Guided Field Trips.
Visit the SCVAS Birding Resources page for more information on where to bird, our birding community, bird identification resources and more.
Read “What to Look for Now” by SCVAS Executive Director Matthew Dodder.

Banner Photo Credit: Steller’s Jay by Chris Johnson

Last Updated: 3/23/2022

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Alum Rock Park (Summer): Creekside Birding

by Chris Johnson

Alum Rock Park (Summer):
Creekside Birding