On March 29th, a Friday, I had time after school to visit the hotspots around Ed Levin. My dad would drive me and my brother up to the Sierra Road summit, to Marsh Road, and lastly to the Spring Valley Unit of Ed Levin County Park.
The Sierra Road summit is famous for being one of the only places in the county to reliably see Horned Lark, as well as a good spot for some bonus birds, like Rock Wren and American Pipit. On Marsh Road, there had been a recently reported rare Lark Bunting. In Ed Levin, I wanted to find some migrating selasaphorus hummingbirds (Allen's and Rufous), and later try for the resident Barn Owl. This trip promised to be really good!
We drove up to the scenic summit of Sierra Rd, overlooking the Silicon Valley at about 2000 feet above sea level. The clouds were starting to roll in, as it was supposed to rain on the weekend, and on Monday and Tuesday.
Unfortunately, the summit was devoid of birds, despite the scenery. That is, until I walked a bit past the summit, toward a clump of rocks. There, I head a small "weet" call, and saw a bird rustling around in the grass. Horned Lark! I love how these guys look, with their yellow faces and black horns:
We then braved the meanders on the partly one-lane Felter Road to reach Marsh Road, where the Lark Bunting had been reported earlier this week, together with Lark Sparrows. At the end of the road, there were lots of Turkey Vultures (not often you see them on the ground!), Yellow-billed Magpies, and Red-winged Blackbirds, but no Lark Sparrows or Bunting.
As we were driving onto Marsh Road, I took some photos of a distant falcon sitting on a telephone pole. After some scrutiny, I eventually passed it off as a large, backlit female American Kestrel, whose size I had misjudged in the field to look bigger than it really was. Upon looking back at the photos, I realized that I was right originally - the bird was indeed too big for an American Kestrel, and was a Prairie Falcon - a lifer, and a county Code 4! On my yearlist, this leaves, of all the falcons, only the sneaky Merlin, which I'll somehow have to find next winter.
At Ed Levin, we parked in the dirt parking lot where we'd looked for the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker earlier this year. There, we came upon a large group of Wild Turkeys, with a displaying male.
We walked up and down the street where my brother and dad had seen the Barn Owl about a month ago. As we were walking past a small eucalyptus tree, I heard the buzz of a selasaphorus hummingbird, and saw a male darting through the leaves. Soon, it perched on an oak tree, and showed an all-orange back, making it a Rufous Hummingbird! This was another Code 4, and another lifer for me! I ended up without shots because it started to get dark.
I decided to walk around Spring Valley before it got dark. In the eucalyptuses, I heard many more hummingbirds, but it was too dark to identify any of them. Also, there were many (too many) starlings, which were calling loudly. As I came to a more open area, I heard a slightly different call, located it, and found a male Bullock's Oriole sitting on a pine tree! This was another FOY for me, and a really pretty bird.
As it got dark, and the sun set, we were rewarded with picturesque views of Spring Valley Pond.
My dad, brother, and I returned to the road where they had seen the Barn Owl fly in to roost in February, and waited there, as it got completely dark. We kept an eye out on the sky, looking for a large, light shape to perch in one of the trees in the residential area. At around 8:05 PM, I spotted the Barn Owl winging over the houses to roost in a pine near one of the houses, just like it had been seen last time! As the owl landed in the tree, it made a funny tittering noise, nothing like the classic screech This was the second owl on my lifelist, and my last FOY of the great day.
Summary:
Birds seen: 34
New birds: 5
Big Year count: 140
The Sierra Road summit is famous for being one of the only places in the county to reliably see Horned Lark, as well as a good spot for some bonus birds, like Rock Wren and American Pipit. On Marsh Road, there had been a recently reported rare Lark Bunting. In Ed Levin, I wanted to find some migrating selasaphorus hummingbirds (Allen's and Rufous), and later try for the resident Barn Owl. This trip promised to be really good!
We drove up to the scenic summit of Sierra Rd, overlooking the Silicon Valley at about 2000 feet above sea level. The clouds were starting to roll in, as it was supposed to rain on the weekend, and on Monday and Tuesday.
Unfortunately, the summit was devoid of birds, despite the scenery. That is, until I walked a bit past the summit, toward a clump of rocks. There, I head a small "weet" call, and saw a bird rustling around in the grass. Horned Lark! I love how these guys look, with their yellow faces and black horns:
We then braved the meanders on the partly one-lane Felter Road to reach Marsh Road, where the Lark Bunting had been reported earlier this week, together with Lark Sparrows. At the end of the road, there were lots of Turkey Vultures (not often you see them on the ground!), Yellow-billed Magpies, and Red-winged Blackbirds, but no Lark Sparrows or Bunting.
As we were driving onto Marsh Road, I took some photos of a distant falcon sitting on a telephone pole. After some scrutiny, I eventually passed it off as a large, backlit female American Kestrel, whose size I had misjudged in the field to look bigger than it really was. Upon looking back at the photos, I realized that I was right originally - the bird was indeed too big for an American Kestrel, and was a Prairie Falcon - a lifer, and a county Code 4! On my yearlist, this leaves, of all the falcons, only the sneaky Merlin, which I'll somehow have to find next winter.
At Ed Levin, we parked in the dirt parking lot where we'd looked for the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker earlier this year. There, we came upon a large group of Wild Turkeys, with a displaying male.
We walked up and down the street where my brother and dad had seen the Barn Owl about a month ago. As we were walking past a small eucalyptus tree, I heard the buzz of a selasaphorus hummingbird, and saw a male darting through the leaves. Soon, it perched on an oak tree, and showed an all-orange back, making it a Rufous Hummingbird! This was another Code 4, and another lifer for me! I ended up without shots because it started to get dark.
I decided to walk around Spring Valley before it got dark. In the eucalyptuses, I heard many more hummingbirds, but it was too dark to identify any of them. Also, there were many (too many) starlings, which were calling loudly. As I came to a more open area, I heard a slightly different call, located it, and found a male Bullock's Oriole sitting on a pine tree! This was another FOY for me, and a really pretty bird.
As it got dark, and the sun set, we were rewarded with picturesque views of Spring Valley Pond.
My dad, brother, and I returned to the road where they had seen the Barn Owl fly in to roost in February, and waited there, as it got completely dark. We kept an eye out on the sky, looking for a large, light shape to perch in one of the trees in the residential area. At around 8:05 PM, I spotted the Barn Owl winging over the houses to roost in a pine near one of the houses, just like it had been seen last time! As the owl landed in the tree, it made a funny tittering noise, nothing like the classic screech This was the second owl on my lifelist, and my last FOY of the great day.
Summary:
Birds seen: 34
New birds: 5
Big Year count: 140
* * *
On March 30th, I went to Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, and found yearbird Sharp-shinned Hawk in the adjacent Jefferey Fontana Park (no Chipping Sparrows), and got much better looks at a Hairy Woodpecker near the main parking lot. Photos from the trip:
Also, the day after celebrating my birthday, April 6th, I went to the Santa Teresa Hills near our house, and got yearbird Violet-green Swallow. Other good birds there included Orange-crowned Warbler, and lingering Lincoln's Sparrow and Hermit Thrush.
Summary:
Birds seen: 37
New birds: 2
Big Year count: 142
Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov
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