[SBB] Calero-Morgan Hill CBC - 12/30/05

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All,

Yesterday 12/30/05, I began my Calero-Morgan Hill CBC coverage by meeting Charles Coston at Parkway Lakes at 4:45am for some owling. The weather was much better than anticipated and we did pretty well owling our way up Metcalf Canyon, along Metcalf Road, and along Las Animas/San Felipe Road.  We ended up with 3 BARN OWLS, 11 WESTERN SCREECH-OWLS, 4 GREAT HORNED OWLS, and a NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL, getting nice looks at one of the screech-owls and the pygmy-owl.

As I drove Charles back to his car, I spotted a FERRUGINOUS HAWK heading east over the Metcalf summit at 7:26am.  This bird had no obvious rufous marking on the underparts and the brief obscured look I had at the upperparts did not reveal rufous either, so it was likely an immature.

I had gotten permission to bird the San Felipe Ranch (private property) this year and started out by walking the private road into the valley.  This area was good for raptors, with 3 pairs of RED-TAILED HAWKS, 2 pairs of AMERICAN KESTRELS, a pair of WHITE-TAILED KITES, 2 RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS, a MERLIN, and a dark morph immature FERRUGINOUS HAWk (which provided great close-up views in flight and perched on a telephone pole).  Six COMMON MERGANSERS flew to the north overhead.  A NORTHERN FLICKER perched on a wire here was a nearly pure YELLOW-SHAFTED, but some red mixed in the moustachial streak and a hint of orange in the wings indicated otherwise.

Rather than simply follow the road back, I headed off along San Felipe Creek, finding 2 pairs of Wood Ducks (not recorded in atlas block 1520 previously), several BROWN CREEPERS, and a group of 11+ VARIED THRUSHES.  I then hiked out of the creek drainage up over a couple of ridges and headed south to the United Technologies property before coming back to Las Animas Road and walking north to the car (a 9.5-mile loop).  Most of this time was spent counting Oak Titmice, Nuttall's Woodpeckers, and other oak woodland birds.  Thrush flocks moving overhead ended up boosting my totals for AMERICAN ROBIN to 169 and CEDAR WAXWING to 114.

I spent the next hour walking and driving my way down San Felipe Road, finding the day's third TOWNSEND'S WARBLER and fifth HUTTON'S VIREO.  More unexpected was a day-roosting BARN OWL in a eucalyptus down near Heartland Way.

A check of the Walmart parking area at Blossom Hill Road and Monterey Highway turned up 3 BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS, a bird that can be tough to find on this count.

I finished my day by covering the urban area between Branham Lane and Blossom Hill Road between Monterey Highway and Highway 101.  Picking through the 390+ CALIFORNIA GULLS in a schoolyard turned up only one other gull, a RING-BILLED GULL.  Not much of note otherwise, except a cage full of COCKATIELS just west of the Edenvale Elementary School.

Mike Rogers
Sunnyvale

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