[SBB] Pileated Woodpecker and Northern Pygmy Owl at Wunderlich

[Ron Wolf <[[email protected]]>]

During the Palo Alto Bird Count Saturday, Ashutosh Sinha and I came 
upon a pileated woodpecker and a northern pygmy owl at Wunderlich 
County Park, which is located along Hwy 84 south of Woodside. We got 
good long looks at both birds on the Bear Gulch Trail in a area of 
old redwoods that had never been logged.

The pileated woodpecker was on the ground, tearing apart a badly decayed log.
The log was so soft that we couldn't hear the woodpecker drumming. 
After about 10 minutes of watching this show, we tried to inch closer 
to get photos and spooked the bird, which flew a few yards off and 
climbed the trunk of a redwood.

A couple of hundred yards farther down the trail, we found the pygmy 
owl sitting  on the bare limb of a redwood about 10 feet off the 
ground right by the side fo the trail.

As unusual as it may be to get such good looks, there's reason to 
believe these birds are regulars in the area. Wunderlich is popular 
among people who ride horses. (There's a private stable by the 
parking lot and ranger station.) Two people on horses whom we met on 
the trail -- not hardcore birders -- asked us if we had seen the 
pileated woodpecker or pygmy owls. Both birds are apparently local 
celebrities well known to area residents who ride that trail.

Sadly, there's no distinctive feature along that stretch of trail to 
pinpoint the exact locations of the sightinge. It's 1.4 miles from 
the parking lot up the Bear Gulch  Trail to the junction of the 
Redwood Trail. We saw the pygmy owl about 1.0 miles from the ranger 
station and saw the pileated woodpecker about 1.2 miles from the 
ranger station.

BTW, the main entrance to Wunderlich -- which has never been well 
marked -- is closed for bridge repairs. There's an alternative 
entrance about 100 yeard south that is even less adequately marked. 
There's nothing more than a paper sign on a saw horse to mark the 
temporary entrance.


-- Ron Wolf
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