Wow! I'm really behind on posts now! It's almost July, and I still haven't done any posts from May. Now that I'm on summer vacation and I won't be so busy with school, I can catch up on my blog, and do some birding to progress on my yearlist as well.
On May 17th, I took a trip to Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, one of the best places for spring migration. To get there, my mom and I took Highway 9 up to Highway 35. At the intersection of these two roads, right on the border of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, we stopped for a while, and I used that time to bird the forest around the roads. I found one yearbird - Western Wood-Pewee, but it was in Santa Cruz County. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to cross the road to the county I was doing a big year in. :( I also heard the honking, nasal calls of a Red-breasted Nuthatch (one of my favorite sounds to hear in a forest), but couldn't determine which county it was in. Another bonus in Santa Cruz County was a Hutton's Vireo coming about five feet from me, without me even pishing!
We arrived at the main Monte Bello parking lot at around 8:30, and started walking our 4-mile loop. Up here, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the grass still hadn't turned dried up and turned yellow like it had in the other hills and mountains around the Silicon Valley. I guess the fog from the Pacific Ocean really helps. The views were great:
In the chaparral at the start of the trail, all I heard were several Wrentits. There were several of them there, and their bouncing ball calls were clearly heard, but they absolutely refused to show themselves, not giving me my first Santa Clara County yearbird of the day. A bit farther down, an Ash-throated Flycatcher put on a real show for us, calling and flitting about in bushes close to the trail.
We descended down to where the trail runs alongside a creek. There were some nice birds here, but nothing new for the year: Song Sparrows, a male and female Lazuli Bunting, a Hutton's Vireo, a late Townsend's Warbler, and what I though to be singing Warbling Vireos high up in the oaks. Throughout the trip, I never once saw the Warbling Vireos, though I'm pretty sure they were the ones singing. As we walked farther down the trail, more great views of grassy hills and the blue sky opened up.
We soon began walking into more forest on the Stevens Creek Nature Trail. Here, it was very cool, unlike on the hills, where it had begun to warm up already. I heard thin, high bird calls, and was happy to find a pair of Brown Creepers on one of the many pine trees. I still hadn't seen a single yearbird, and was rather desperate. Where were all the vireos, flycatchers, and warblers that had been reported earlier?
It took about another mile of hiking before I found my second warbler. I thought I had finally caught sight of a Warbling Vireo, but when I put my binoculars on the bird, I found it to be gray, and its underparts and head to be streaked with black - a Black-throated Gray Warbler, my first Santa Clara County yearbird of the day! Even though the looks at the bird were horrendous, it was definitely a Black-throated Gray Warbler. I picked up several more good birds walking on the Skid Road Trail, including another pair of Brown Creepers, a Black-headed Grosbeak, a Pacific-slope Flycatcher high up in a tree, a Common Raven (look at that shaggy throat!), and Chestnut-backed Chickadees nesting in a tree cavity.
We came out of the forest, and were greeted with more good views. My last birds of the trips were a pair of Orange-crowned Warblers, including one with a fat, green caterpillar! I tried my hardest to get a shot of them, but all my attempts were foiled by either leaves, branches, or the fast-moving warblers.
Overall, this trip didn't quite live up to its expectations yearbird-wise, but I still had a great time out in nature, taking a break from school, and seeing some great birds. I'll definitely come back here next year to try to see more of the preserve's specialties.
Summary:
Birds seen: 33 (+ 2 in SCZ County)
New birds: 1
Big year count: 160
Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov
On May 17th, I took a trip to Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, one of the best places for spring migration. To get there, my mom and I took Highway 9 up to Highway 35. At the intersection of these two roads, right on the border of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, we stopped for a while, and I used that time to bird the forest around the roads. I found one yearbird - Western Wood-Pewee, but it was in Santa Cruz County. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to cross the road to the county I was doing a big year in. :( I also heard the honking, nasal calls of a Red-breasted Nuthatch (one of my favorite sounds to hear in a forest), but couldn't determine which county it was in. Another bonus in Santa Cruz County was a Hutton's Vireo coming about five feet from me, without me even pishing!
We arrived at the main Monte Bello parking lot at around 8:30, and started walking our 4-mile loop. Up here, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the grass still hadn't turned dried up and turned yellow like it had in the other hills and mountains around the Silicon Valley. I guess the fog from the Pacific Ocean really helps. The views were great:
In the chaparral at the start of the trail, all I heard were several Wrentits. There were several of them there, and their bouncing ball calls were clearly heard, but they absolutely refused to show themselves, not giving me my first Santa Clara County yearbird of the day. A bit farther down, an Ash-throated Flycatcher put on a real show for us, calling and flitting about in bushes close to the trail.
We descended down to where the trail runs alongside a creek. There were some nice birds here, but nothing new for the year: Song Sparrows, a male and female Lazuli Bunting, a Hutton's Vireo, a late Townsend's Warbler, and what I though to be singing Warbling Vireos high up in the oaks. Throughout the trip, I never once saw the Warbling Vireos, though I'm pretty sure they were the ones singing. As we walked farther down the trail, more great views of grassy hills and the blue sky opened up.
We soon began walking into more forest on the Stevens Creek Nature Trail. Here, it was very cool, unlike on the hills, where it had begun to warm up already. I heard thin, high bird calls, and was happy to find a pair of Brown Creepers on one of the many pine trees. I still hadn't seen a single yearbird, and was rather desperate. Where were all the vireos, flycatchers, and warblers that had been reported earlier?
It took about another mile of hiking before I found my second warbler. I thought I had finally caught sight of a Warbling Vireo, but when I put my binoculars on the bird, I found it to be gray, and its underparts and head to be streaked with black - a Black-throated Gray Warbler, my first Santa Clara County yearbird of the day! Even though the looks at the bird were horrendous, it was definitely a Black-throated Gray Warbler. I picked up several more good birds walking on the Skid Road Trail, including another pair of Brown Creepers, a Black-headed Grosbeak, a Pacific-slope Flycatcher high up in a tree, a Common Raven (look at that shaggy throat!), and Chestnut-backed Chickadees nesting in a tree cavity.
We came out of the forest, and were greeted with more good views. My last birds of the trips were a pair of Orange-crowned Warblers, including one with a fat, green caterpillar! I tried my hardest to get a shot of them, but all my attempts were foiled by either leaves, branches, or the fast-moving warblers.
Overall, this trip didn't quite live up to its expectations yearbird-wise, but I still had a great time out in nature, taking a break from school, and seeing some great birds. I'll definitely come back here next year to try to see more of the preserve's specialties.
Summary:
Birds seen: 33 (+ 2 in SCZ County)
New birds: 1
Big year count: 160
Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov
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