Christmas Hill & Debell Uvas Creek Preserve (Winter):
South County Riparian Ramble
by Rick Herder
This string of Gilroy parklands is good for getting up close to our wintering riparian and oak woodland birds, making it especially good for beginning or intermediate birders. The parks are popular but the best birding areas do not get much traffic. Public riparian areas are hard to find in the south county but this one is a fairly long stretch that is easy to access.
Trip Covers: December - March
Key Birds: wintering ducks, herons, egrets, raptors including Osprey, California Thrasher, Purple Finch, wintering sparrows and warblers
Uvas Creek from dirt trail on west side.
How to Bird
This trip starts in Christmas Hill Park where there is free parking and restrooms. Then walk across Miller Avenue into the Debell Uvas Creek Preserve and walk along the west side of the creek to Santa Teresa Avenue. Loop back on the east side of the creek for a total walk of about 3 miles.
Entrance to Christmas Hill Park. Photo by Rick Herder
Entrance to Debell Uvas Creek Preserve. Photo by Rick Herder
In Christmas Hill Park, tall trees are all around the perimeter of the park and surround ball fields, playgrounds and an amphitheater. These planted trees may have feeding flocks of Warblers, Kinglets, Finches, and other small birds. A few bright Townsend’s Warblers, for example, can almost always be found among the abundant Yellow-rumped Warblers, and the redwoods sometimes attract Pine Siskins and Varied Thrushes. Western Bluebirds are year-round in the open areas both in Christmas Hill and Debell Uvas Creek.
Western Bluebird by Peter Hart
After birding Christmas Hill Park, cross Miller Ave to enter Debell Uvas Creek Preserve. Take the dirt path on the west side of the creek. (Most park visitors walk on the asphalt trails above the creek.) Follow the winding creek and dirt path all the way to Santa Teresa Boulevard. If you’re brave, cross Santa Teresa (sometimes has heavy traffic) and check the ponds on the Eagle Ridge Golf Course for waterfowl. Back across Santa Teresa, use the sidewalk to cross over the creek and start making your way back south along the east side of the creek. At this point, you can take a slight detour to check out the wildlife-themed mural painted on the walls of the pedestrian path under Santa Teresa. Continue towards Christmas Hill Park using the dirt trail.
Yellow-rumped Warbler by Chris Johnson.
In Debell Uvas Creek Preserve, the paths are cleared and easy to walk but the vegetation is not at all manicured. On most of the paths you can make your way to the creek bank, but you are in the midst of brush and typical riparian trees: sycamore, willow, cottonwood. Sparrows are abundant in the understory, warblers a bit higher in the brush and trees, along with woodpeckers. This is a good place to compare House and Purple Finches, not quite flocking together but often perched a few feet apart, with both males and females present. For me, the easiest clue to the presence of Purple Finches is the female’s face. Around here the female Purple Finch has chocolate brown on the head, with an especially noticeable brown patch behind the eye, framed by white stripes above and below the eye. The female House Finch’s head is a lighter brown without strong markings.
Female Purple Finch by Brooke Miller
Female House Finch by Suresh Thirumalai
On the banks look for Green Heron, Belted Kingfisher and Common Merganser. Overhead, keep your eyes open for Red-shouldered Hawk and, when the creek has plenty of water, the occasional Osprey. California Thrasher are easy to see here, it’s possible to spot a dozen on this hike. Keep an eye on open areas to the west of the creek for Western Bluebird, American Kestrel and Say's Phoebe, and also watch the hills beyond, where raptors such as White-tailed Kite, Red-tailed Hawk and even the occasional Golden Eagle.
California Thrashers use their long decurved bill to look through the leaf litter. Photo by Tom Grey.
Ready for More? West of Santa Teresa by way of the underground passage, the paved trail continues another mile on 3rd Street all the way to Hecker Pass Road, with a chance to see more raptors and open area birds. However, the trail is too far from the fenced-off creek to see many riparian birds.
Interactive Map
Directions: From US-101 in Gilroy, exit E Tenth St west. Travel west for approximately 1 mile. Tenth St turns slightly right and becomes Uvas Pkwy. Continue on Uvas Pkwy for another 0.4 miles. Turn left onto Miller Ave, cross Uvas Creek, then turn left into the Christmas Hill Park parking lot (which is adjacent to Uvas Creek Preserve). Park to the right of the gate. Address: 7050 Miller Ave, Gilroy, CA 95020. Latitude/Longitude: 36.997688, -121.585342
Parking: Enter Christmas Hill Park from Miller Avenue and park immediately to the right. Paved parking lot.
Fees: None
Park and Trail Hours: Times vary with the seasons, but always open during “daylight hours”.
Facilities: Wheelchair accessible bathroom at the playground and a porta-potty across the street in the Christmas Hill Park Ranch Site Addition parking lot, drinking fountain, picnic tables. Cell phone service is OK.
Trip Mileage: The total loop is about 3 miles.
Trail Conditions: Trail is mostly dirt. In winter there can be muddy spots. You’ll see occasional mountain bikers and dog walkers, but generally few people. (You’ll see many people on the paved trail above the creek, generally about 25 yards away. You may want to visit this trail for garbage cans, interpretive signs, doggie waste bags if you’re with a dog.) There are a few homeless encampments along the creek.
Accessibility: The asphalt trail is wheelchair accessible, although not close to the creek.
Bikes: Allowed but you’ll need a sturdy mountain bike. If you’re a good rider, the creek may be fordable at some points.
Dogs: Dogs are allowed on 6-ft leash.
Mural on underpass at Santa Teresa Blvd. Photo by Rick Herder.
More Information:
eBird hotspot: Christmas Hill Park and Debelll Uvas Creek Preserve
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: California Scrub-Jay by Carter Gasiorowski
Last Updated: 04/19/2022
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