The Wrap Up:
The Saint Anthony Ranchers’ 2022 Birdathon is history. It was a big success again even with all the covid rules. There were eight of us, birding as five distributed teams of one or two in Santa Clara County.
The numbers for this year: 96 species were tallied, down slightly from the high of 102 in 2021. The five teams were less than the seven teams last year. Hard to know but fewer eyes may have been the reason for the lower species count. The species list and areas covered, same as last year, are in the attached list.
Some of the highlights: Lots of different ducks – thirteen species including the fancy Hooded Merganser at Gate of Heaven Cemetery. The species is regular in the cemetery pond in the winter and early spring.
A first for the Birdathon was Eurasian Collared Dove. This introduced dove, native to Europe and Asia, is a species that seems to be everywhere, but it does not compete with the native Mourning Dove.
Black Skimmers were again observed over Shoreline Lake in Mountain View. This colony is separate from its nearest brethren in coastal San Diego. Their small numbers at the south end of San Francisco Bay are increasing.
Six birds of prey species were tallied, including Great Horned Owl.
A Western Kingbird at Gate of Heaven Cemetery was a first for the Birdathon. Seen regularly east of here and further south, their numbers are on the rise locally. And a Tropical Kingbird, another first, in Palo Alto was a special treat, a rare bird that prompts birders to flock to see it. The bird has been seen this winter and spring. It has a wide distribution from Mexico and south. Instead of migrating further south in the fall, a few individuals migrate north to California.
Recorded in all areas were our common residents: Anna’s Hummingbird, American Crow, Bewick’s Wren, and House Finch.
Last but not least is the fundraising. Thru the heartwarming generosity of the Ranchers and non-birding contributors, we raised an impressive total of $3,283.80 for kids’ environmental education. This amount was the highest ever. We can’t thank you all enough.
Jim, with a lot of help from Sue.
Highlights:
Jim and Sue
Sue and I began around 8:15 when the two most common Forum species sang their hearts out as we walked from our front door. House Finches and Lesser Goldfinches are everywhere, although the Goldfinches tend to be less visible.
We walked along the ridge path that overlooks Santa Clara Valley in one direction and The Forum in the other. There was a large area of grass that had been just mowed for fire safety. The short grass that remained now revealed much evidence of gophers, and two opportunists, Great Blue Herons, were stalking their next meals. If you have ever seen a gopher caught by a Great Blue and it’s between the bird’s beak and it’s belly – remember the very long and skinny neck – you get the picture. Not this time, though.
Down off the ridge we encountered a female Anna’s Hummingbird flying at eye level, and just a few feet away. She was sallying back and forth catching insects, most likely for her nestlings. Had never seen that interesting behavior before.
Near the top of a pine tree perched a Common Raven, quietly surveying the scene below. In flew a lone American Crow, determined to chase off his larger relative. After several noisy swoops past the Raven the Crow finally succeeded.
A Great-horned Owl was our next target, and we found the bird. Bonuses were Violet-green Swallows and Acorn Woodpeckers.
Wintering White-crowned Sparrows (heard) and Golden-crowned Sparrows (seen) were stakeouts at a seed feeder. Never pass up a feeder.
The Forum is notorious for Wild Turkeys. We even have a “Forum Fight Song, “ written by a Forum resident, a retired musician and orchestra conductor, that references Turkeys.
We were about to give up on the bird for the day, but at the last minute a lone Turkey walked across the road.
Donna Meyer and Linda Sue Johnson
Together we rushed and pushed and hurried ourselves to cover 3 different areas hoping to accumulate a bird count greater than what we had achieved in each of the last 3 years.
First Area: Shoreline Park having 4 distinct count areas within
Kite Flying area
Stevens Creek Nature Study Area, Pond A2E and Tidal Habitat AB1
Shoreline Lake
Terminal Blvd: Coast Casey Forebay, Charleston Slough and wetlands areas
2nd Area: Palo Alto Baylands and Geng Road
3rd Area : Cuesta Park (spoiler: almost a BUST!)
7:30 AM: We (Donna and Linda) started our 4 hour bird count for St. Anthony Ranchers early enough to catch a tide for a good species count in the ponds and tidal habitat east of Stevens Creek Nature Study Area. We found the number of birds in the bushes and small trees in Shoreline Park’s Kite Flying parking lot to be so varied that we were stopped in our rush to the ponds: busy Yellow–rumped Warblers, Anna’s Hummingbirds, Bewick’s Wren, Lesser Goldfinch, calling Eurasian Collared Doves, Brewer’s Blackbirds, 2 Ravens on lamp posts, cooing Mourning Doves, and a “hide-and-seek” Ruby-crowned Kinglet engaged us much longer than we had intended. We reluctantly pulled ourselves away to cover at a rapid pace the long walk down the parking lot row toward the Nature Study path eastward, finding on the way W. Meadowlark, CA Towhee, European Starlings, and a Cedar Waxwing flock flyover. We pushed ourselves rapidly toward Stevens Creek bridges and beyond to catch the higher tide. Just beyond the bridges (of course, No Black Rail in dry reeds) we saw numerous Green-winged Teal in low creek water and heard and spotted Song Sparrow and Common Yellowthroat, both species loudly voicing pleasure in the day. Rushing on toward pond A2E, we were rewarded with views of numerous N. Shovelers, Am. Wigeon, and Gadwall. Then we pushed on to the tidal habitat (AB1) where we were greeted by two flyover Snowy Egrets, mostly Lesser Scaup and hundreds of Ruddy Ducks, the males sporting handsome blue bills. Knowing we could not dawdle appreciating the view and happy that we had beat the ebbing tide, we turned around and rapidly retraced our steps to the car, adding Golden-crowned Sparrows to species count. (23)
On the drive to Shoreline Lake we spotted atop a light post a Red-tailed Hawk, the first of several for the day. American Crows were numerous as we approached parking on east side of Shoreline Lake. The Lake and Island were busy with numerous species of birds to add to our list as we walked rapidly from east to west on north side of the Lake before being stopped by construction at the west end. Path closed! New Species for the day here: diving Common Golden-eye and Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Eared Grebe, Black Skimmers in flight and on the Island, Willet, Canada Geese in water and on land, House Finch, several flocks of White-crowned Sparrows, CA Gull flying east to west, numerous Greater Scaup, Double-crested Cormorant in flight and on posts, tilting Turkey Vultures at every level in the sky, and several elegant male and female Bufflehead. (16)
Happy with the variety of species around the Lake area, we hurried back to the car and drove to Terminal Blvd. to bird the western section of Shoreline Park where we added interesting new species at Coast Casey Forebay and Charleston Slough wetlands areas: one Great Egret, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, one Greater Yellowlegs, Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Cliff Swallows and Barn Swallows building nests, multiple Marsh Wrens calling loudly among the reeds, Bushtits and Mallards dabbling. A Belted Kingfisher rapidly flew over our heads and disappeared to the west. (12)
Although we were disappointed at missing some of the usual species at Shoreline, we had to move on if we were going to cover all target areas. Next stop was Palo Alto Baylands at lower tide where we found a few new species, including Canvasbacks, Northern Harrier, a Long-billed Curlew, Least Sandpipers on the mudflats, and Dowitcher sp.
Making a quick stop at Geng Rd. off Embarcadero allowed us to catch the Tropical Kingbird, our first of the day Western Bluebirds and Northern Mockingbird.
Rushing still we were off to Cuesta Park hoping to finding a variety of different species. Disappointment! Practically running around the park to keep in our time period, we found only 2 new species: Dark-eyed Junco and a Nuttall’s Woodpecker. (10)
We were satisfied with 61 species for the 4 hour St. Anthony Ranchers Birdathon Day.