Carter Gasiorowski:
Yesterday, we had a full day of birding for eBird's Global Big Day, as well as for the SCVAS birdathon team "Local-Global Big Day Birders."
My dad and I began the day at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy just before 8 am. This is where the Gilroy Garlic Festival is held, as was evidenced by the powerful garlic smell during the first part of our outing. The parking area was filled with the songs of PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS, WILSON'S WARBLERS, WESTERN TANAGERS, and BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS. Heading east along the south side of the creek, there was a YELLOW WARBLER, as well as two CALIFORNIA THRASHERS and a WRENTIT singing from the drier areas, while a group of VAUX'S SWIFTS foraged overhead. A silent SWAINSON'S THRUSH along the path 1/4 mile from the parking lot was a nice surprise, as was a male BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER foraging in the oaks. This was our birdiest stop, providing 41 of our 63 species for the day.
We then made a quick stop a few miles away along Bolsa Road, where we had a flyover LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCH.
Our next stop was along Betabel Road, where we hoped to find Blue Grosbeaks. The heatwaves were too severe to get scope views of the hillside where Frank Vanslager and Bob Reiling found Blue Grosbeaks breeding last summer, but we did get a good look at numerous LAZULI BUNTINGS flying around the field.
Heading back north, we visited the San Pedro Percolation Ponds in Morgan Hill. It wasn't particularly birdy, but during our 20-minute visit, we did manage to see all five local swallow species.
We then went to Calero Reservoir, our final stop for the morning. They are doing some pretty major work on the entrance to the boat launch area, but it didn't affect access at all, at least while we were there. While looking at the swallow flocks, a male TRICOLORED BLACKBIRD flew over the parking lot with a group of red-wings, a nice surprise!
Driving home past Rancho San Vicente, we saw the (resident?) pair of GOLDEN EAGLES soaring over the parking lot, as well as an AMERICAN KESTREL on the wire.
After resting for a while at home, my dad, mom, and I arrived at the Stile Ranch Entrance to Santa Teresa County Park at 7:45 pm. A short way west along the Calero Creek trail, there was a lot of activity on the chaparral-covered hillside, with TOWHEES and RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROWS flying around and singing near the trail. At 8:17 pm, 13 minutes after sunset, a COMMON POORWILL called a few times from up on the hillside. We heard the calls from around 37.203431, -121.810087, and we stayed there for the rest of the evening. A few minutes later, we got a fleeting glimpse of the poorwill as it flew up, presumably from its day roost, and over the backside of the hill. At around 8:30 pm, two poorwills started calling from very close by on the hillside, and I was able to hear and record all three parts (poor-will-ip) of their call, instead of just the 'poor-will' that is audible over a greater distance. You can barely hear it in the recording that's in my eBird list below. After getting the recording, I saw a dark shape flying over the hillside. I got it in my bins, and it was a Poorwill! It was shortly joined by another Poorwill, and then, to my astonishment, both Poorwills landed in a bush together, with their outlines silhouetted against the fading light. I started heading closer to try and get a photo, and then both birds took off, and flew just 10 feet over my head! It was a truly magical experience that my mom captured in a cellphone video (linked below). We continued to hear poorwills sporadically as we headed back to the car, including one that was quite far away from the two we saw, so there were at least 3 poorwills present.
All in all, it was an amazing day with 63 species, 2 year-birds for me (Swainson's Thrush and Poorwill), and an unforgettable experience.
