Santa Teresa County Park - Great Day!

       "What's you're favorite place to go birding?" I've been asked that question several times this year, but I don't really have a straightforward answer - I like going to lots of places near my house, like the SCVWD, Guadalupe Oak Grove, Vasona Lake, and Oka Ponds. However, if I had to choose just one place, it would probably be Santa Teresa County Park. 

       I guess I have to thank my grandparents for showing me this place - it's also one of their favorite places to go with their friends from their university, or for a relaxing walk. They often take my brother and me there, along with our cousins, when they come from Chicago. I first truly birded the park in June of last year, and got four lifers: Western Kingbird, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Say's Phoebe, and Bullock's Oriole. I birded the park several more times last year, and once this year, and ended up with a park list of 58. Santa Teresa County Park is mostly grassland (with serpentine soil), oak savannah, eucalyptus trees in the Pueblo Picnic Area, and oak woodland in some places.

       I had already decided that I would walk the Mine - Stile Ranch - Fortini Trail loop on Monday, April 21st with my grandfather and brother, looking for spring migrants and two specialty sparrows (both of which I had seen earlier in the park in March, and the day before in Ed Levin - Grasshopper and Rufous-crowned). My brother, also a birder, but not as obsessed as I am, was jealous of my Lazuli Buntings the day before at Ed Levin, and told me he would NEVER go birding with me again if I didn't find him at least one male Lazuli Bunting (I think he was joking, but you never know...) I promised to find him a Lazuli Bunting, even though I knew very well from experiences earlier this year that the birds can be unpredictable. Several of my past posts have contained little or no photos, so they have been a bit more boring than usual. I think this post won't fail to disappoint in the quantity of photos.

       Anyways, our grandfather picked us up at around 8:30 AM at our house, and drove us to Santa Teresa County Park, up to the upper, small parking lot on Bernal Road. It was a pleasant day - not too hot, or too cold. The mustard flowers were in full bloom, and the views were spectacular. In order: view to Coyote Peak, view down Mine Trail to Loma Prieta, and view down Bernal Road to the Diablo Range. 

       The first bird I noticed was a Western Meadowlark singing its bubbling song from atop the hill ahead of us. My first time seeing them in the main part of the park! The next movement I saw was a small bird flitting to the top of a bush about 30 feet from the parking lot. To my surprise, it turned out to be a Grasshopper Sparrow! I'd already seen this sparrow twice before this year, but this was my first really good look at it, in plain sight, with good lighting. I definitely hadn't expected to find a county code 4 right near the parking lot! This would be the only one we would see today. The Grasshopper Sparrow let out its insect-like buzz out several times for both me and my brother to hear. What a way to start the day!

       We began moving down the Mine Trail, but I heard a bird calling from near the parking lot. It sounded a lot like the Lazuli Bunting song I had listened to several times that morning, so I scanned the area with my binoculars, and found a male Lazuli Bunting singing his heart out on one of the poles near our car! Excited, we doubled back on the trail to take some photos of the Lazuli Bunting. During the entire walk, we found, at our estimate, seven Lazuli Buntings, and I more than fulfilled my promise to my brother to find him a Lazuli Bunting. Looks like the one below isn't completely in breeding plumage yet. One way to remember their song is a warbled, "One - one, two - two, three - three."

       Moving down the Mine Trail yielded a Northern Flicker that landed in some branches very close to us, and posed for photos.

       In the first patch of trees on the trail, I heard what sounded spot-on for what I knew to be a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher's wheezy call, but I couldn't track the gnatcatcher down. I hoped to see it later, in the chaparral on the Stile Ranch Trail. At the first intersection, we turned left on the Stile Ranch Trail, where I've never been before, and found more Lazuli Buntings. Tree Swallows were circling overhead: nest boxes had been put up for them here, too, just like in Ed Levin. As we got to where the trail first starts climbing, I noticed a faraway bird sitting on the top of an oak tree. Running to get a better look, I suspected it was an Ash-throated Flycatcher! Once I got a bit closer, it was confirmed to be my first yearbird of the day! Unfortunately, this guy was too far away for a sharp shot.

Climbing farther up the Stile Ranch Trail provided lots of good views of the park:

       As we were descending the first hill we had climbed, I saw two birds flying towards us, fighting in the air. One was an American Crow, and the other, a juvenile Northern Harrier! The crow was harassing the harrier, but, for once, the harrier was fighting back, fifty feet from us! The crow pursued the harrier for several minutes, before finally giving it up. The harrier then coursed low over the chaparral, and scared a bird out of it, which I thought was a California Thrasher, but didn't want to call it for sure.

       We began ascending the next hill, having seen some amazing birds already. We were almost at the top, when I noticed a bird in the top of a laurel tree to the right of the trail. "Western Tanager! Western Tanager in that tree!" I called to my brother, who caught the bird before it flew off after about 20 seconds. This beautiful male, who looks like he's almost done molting into adult plumage, was another yearbird for me, and a new bird for the park.

       To my surprise, we still hadn't seen any Rufous-crowned Sparrows, even though I thought I'd heard several earlier. In knew the last part of this trail was best for them. On the last hill, I spotted a raptor flying over with Turkey Vultures, which turned out to be an adult Golden Eagle! Another raptor was even more unexpected: an Osprey circling high over us!

       The wildflowers were great, and so were the views down to New Almaden and the Santa Cruz Mountains. Eventually, we did find two Rufous-crowned Sparrows among the rock outcroppings, both singing. Neither posed for a photo as well as I would have liked them too, but I still got a really poor shot.

       Even though the chaparral at the end of the trail was supposed to be really good for Wrentit and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, no birds were seen there except for Golden-crowned Sparrows and a pair of California Towhees. We rested a bit, and then set off up the Fortini Trail to the Pueblo Picnic Area. Highlights were a singing California Thrasher and some unseen Bewick's Wrens, and getting all four species of doves/pigeons commonly found here when I saw a Eurasian Collared Dove in the residential area. I also got my first good shot of a Steller's Jay along the creek.

 

Looking back from where we came:

       My brother and I had already had an amazing day, but there were still two birds I wanted to get in the Pueblo Picnic Area: Bullock's Oriole and Western Kingbird, both of which I saw here last year.

       We started off by hearing the resident Red-shouldered Hawk, and some White-breasted Nuthatches. It didn't take us long to find either the orioles or the kingbirds, but it did take longer to get satisfactory looks. After walking around for twenty minutes, we saw a Bullock's Oriole male perching in the eucalyptus where the Red-shoulder sometimes sits, and the Western Kingbird sitting far away in one of the taller eucalyptus trees in the middle of the picnic area.

        The clouds began to roll in, and we headed back toward our car, seeing the only Wild Turkey of the day. The Pueblo Picnic Area:

       Wow! This trip definitely makes up for any slow spring migration trips I had earlier! Surprisingly, I didn't get a single lifer and only two new birds for my big year, but this was definitely my best trip of the year, so far. In fact, it probably gives my checklist at Año Nuevo last year a run for its money as the best checklist I've ever submitted. Which do you think is better?

Año Nuevo: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14914179
Santa Teresa: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18012505

       I did miss out on three major targets - House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Wrentit, but found some new, rare, and unexpected birds, got some nice photos, and enjoyed being outside in probably my favorite place to bird. In several months, the place will probably be yellow and dry from the summer sun, but that doesn't mean there won't be any birds there. I'll definitely try to visit again on my summer vacation!

Summary:
Birds seen: 49
New birds: 2
Big year count: 154

Good birding,
Sergey