Oka Ponds Blitz

        On the weekend that I visited Stevens Creek County Park, there was a Solitary Sandpiper reported at Oka Ponds. Because of the drought, the Oka Percolation Ponds (and several other bodies of water, like the main SCVWD pond) were dried up by the Santa Clara Valley Water District, exposing mudflats, allowing for shorebirds. The Solitary Sandpiper was a pretty big deal, because it was a county code 5 and an eastern bird, and very close to my school. After school ended, my brother and I decided to blitz Oka Ponds only with binoculars looking for the rare sandpiper and an unlikely pair of mergansers that had been reported there yesterday: a female Red-breasted and a juvenile male Hooded, the latter of which would be new for the year for us.

       We started off near the main parking lot, seeing the famous (uncountable) Mute Swan, Great and Snowy Egrets together with Double-crested Cormorants on the island in the biggest pond (which hadn't been dried up yet), a California Gull, Mallards, and Pied-billed Grebes on that same pond, singing Red-winged Blackbirds in the reeds on the shore, and Cliff and Tree Swallows swooping over. The second pond was much the same as the first. However, the third was partly mudflats, and partly water, which contained four feeding dowitchers, an American Wigeon, and two Gadwalls. The mudflats had at least six Killdeer, but no Solitary Sandpiper in sight.

      On Ponds 4,5, and 6, which were almost completely dried up, there wasn't anything interesting, except for Black Phoebes calling from the creek, five Cedar Waxwings flying over, and a Green Heron near the dam's spillway under the bridge.

      We circled around the third pond, and stopped at a better vantage point to check out the shorebirds. I couldn't identify the dowitchers because they were far away, the lighting was bad, dowitchers are hard to ID, and... OK, I'll stop making excuses: because I'm still not that skilled of a birder (even though the first three were also true). I also found a Least Sandpiper together with the Killdeers, and an unidentified peep. Still no Solitary Sandpiper...

       At that moment, I realized something was weird about two of the Killdeers - they were only a bit bigger that the Least Sandpiper, and had only one black chest band! Then, it hit me that these weren't Killdeers at all, but Semipalmated Plovers! I couldn't believe that I hadn't picked them out at once, even though this was my first time seeing them! Closer inspection also showed the small, bicolored bills of the plovers. My brother and I were running out of time, so we decided to forget about the Solitary Sandpiper.

        As we were walking, we were hissed at by two Canada Geese parents, who were undoubtedly trying to protect their recently fledged young that walked close by them. We avoided the geese, and were about to head back to the car, when we noticed a pair of birds floating on the second pond. An adult Red-breasted Merganser and a juvenile male Hooded Merganser, to be precise!

Two yearbirds (one of which was also a lifer) in thirty minutes isn't bad at all!

Summary:
Birds seen: 30
New birds: 2
Big year count: 159 

Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov

Finishing Up Spring Break

       After the very successful trip to Santa Teresa County Park, I didn't go birding for several days, working on my history research paper and attending my theater classes. On Thursday, however, I made a short trip at around noon to Edenvale Garden Park (an oak woodland park near Hayes Mansion) with my brother. I didn't expect to pick up anything new, but was (very) pleasantly surprised.

      I arrived at the park first, and began walking around the perimeter path. Soon, I heard chattering calls, looked up, and saw two White-throated Swifts! These two were new for my big year, but not for my yearlist - I'd seen them in Joshua Tree in February, also flying high and chattering.

       Then came the biggest surprise of the vacation's birding. One thing I love about birding is how I often find the best birds not at hotspots, but in average parks, like this one, doubling the excitement. The bird I now observed in the top of a pine tree was mostly gray, with a dark vest, and light underparts - an Olive-sided Flycatcher! The Olive-sided Flycatcher is a county code 3 most often found singing on top of conifers high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, not in city parks! I was elated at having found this bird here, which was a lifer, as well. The flycatcher even caught an insect for me to watch, but never sang its "quick, three beers" song.

      As soon as my brother came, I called him to come look, but the flycatcher had flown off already. After walking around the park and looking for it for about twenty minutes, we finally found it sitting close by where I had first seen it. Unfortunately, we couldn't get any good photos. After this short venture to Edenvale Garden Park, which netted me two yearbirds (one of which was a lifer), we would wait till Sunday, when I would take a trip to Stevens Creek County Park to look for migrants, and to visit Stevens Canyon Road - the American Dipper's famous residence.

Summary:
Birds seen: 17
New birds: 2
Big year count: 156

* * *

       My dad, brother, and I started out birding the Chestnut Picnic Area, where there were many unknown songs and calls coming from the riparian habitat. Eventually, I picked up a call I knew, and it didn't take me long to locate a pair of Ash-throated Flycatchers, complete with what I beleved to be a nesting cavity!

       The majority of the songs I was hearing turned out to be skulking Warbling Vireos, which I found only after several minutes of scouring the treetops. The day was slightly cloudy, so overhead, there was a swallow flock, with several Vaux's Swift mixed in. We then moved on to the dam of Stevens Creek Reservoir.

       From the slopes of chaparral above the reservoir, I heard several Wrentits calling their bouncing-ball calls, but these would not count on my yearlist. Wrentits are a county code 1, but I, still, as of June 3rd, have not seen them (I have heard them several more times, though). On the shore, there was a lone Spotted Sandpiper, and on the water were several Mallards and some Double-crested Cormorants. This time, I caught a White-throated Swift flying with the swallows. The results of the drought were profoundly visible on the reservoir:

       Next, we drove to the south side of the reservoir, where Cooley Picnic Area is located. I walked along the creek, looking for recently reported Wilson's Warblers, but found only Song Sparrows, Oak Titmice, and Steller's Jays, as well as Black-headed Grosbeaks in the trees above the parking lot. I also scared up a Green Heron and a Black-crowned Night Heron from the trees. We walked a bit down the Zinfandel Trail, and I thought I saw a bird land on one of the tree trunks. After following it for a few seconds, I finally saw the bird, and realized it was a Brown Creeper! I hadn't seen these little guys yet this year, so it was a nice treat to see two of them (another joined in soon after) creeping on the mossy tree branches. The lighting was way too dark for a good photo, but I managed to snap one.

      

       On the way back to the parking lot, I heard a woodpecker tapping, and looked up to find a male Hairy Woodpecker in plain sight on a snag! This photo shows one of the ways to separate it from a smaller Downy: no black spots on the outer tail feathers, as well as a large bill. It's rare to see one completely out in the open, but this one was:

  

       This juvenile Dark-eyed Junco was very photogenic:

       We then drove down Stevens Canyon Road, checking under the three bridges for signs of a nesting Ouzel, but we ended up dipping on the American Dipper. :) The only birds of note on Stevens Canyon Road were numerous Band-tailed Pigeons, and Acorn Woodpecker high up in the conifers. When we got back to the Cooley Picnic Area, I tried pishing for any warblers to come out near the bridge, but instead, I got brief looks at a gorgeous male Western Tanager flying around in the trees around the creek, as well a lingering Yellow-rumped Warbler. 

Summary:

Birds seen: 38

New birds: 1

Big year count: 157

         Well, that pretty much sums up my spring break, birding-wise. I added nine new birds for my big year, which included one lifer. It seems that the months this year seem to go in a pattern: hard, easy, hard, etc. January had finals and preparing for the HSPT and ISEE, and February had winter break, during which we went to Southern California. March had too many projects, as well as preparing for my Russian theater plays, while April had less work and spring break. Following this pattern, May was a tough month with little time for birding, and June should be a piece of cake - except for finals week, during which I also have my piano recital. After this weekend, though, I'm probably going late-migration birding atop Loma Prieta, Joseph D. Grant County Park, Mt. Hamilton, and San Antonio Valley. On Friday the 13th (;D), I'm graduating from middle school, and moving on to high school at BASIS Indpendent in fall. After graduation, I'm going to Arizona, which includes visiting Chiricahua National Monument (super excited!), and possibly to Crater Lake in Oregon. 

        Well, that's pretty much my plan for the first half of my big year. I hope to get to 170 birds, in order to have only 30 birds to knock off in the summer and fall. It's already June, and I haven't done all my trip reports from April yet. Time to start working on those! 

Good birding, 

Sergey Pavlov