[SBB] Skyline Blvd & Highway 9

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More bi-county birding along roadsides (mostly) this morning (5/15). 
Beginning at the extreme northern tip of Santa Cruz County along Skyline Blvd (just 
south of the Grizzly Flats Trailhead) I went south to Highway 9, and then down 
the coastal slope toward Boulder Creek. The only off road diversion was a foray 
out the Hickory Oaks Trail in Long Ridge OSP.

No real surprises, I guess. I encountered five PILEATED WOODPECKERS. The most 
fun was one that was drumming for an extended period a good distance north of 
the Hickory Oaks Trailhead, somewhere in Stevens Creek County Park in the 
direction of Table Mountain. What I enjoyed was hearing this bird over the course 
of an hour from a series of point successively farther and farther away as I 
moved on south down Skyline Blvd. Eventually I last heard it from near the 
intersection with Hwy 9, at least 1.3 miles from its drumming tree. And the 
drumming never really got any quieter even as the distance grew, always a distant 
but distinct roll. The power of the PIWO! The others I noted included one 
drumming in Long Ridge OSP near Jikoji retreat (apparently counter-drumming with 
the one in Stevens Creek CP), a nice visual of a male on a fir snag on the SCZ 
side 0.3 miles southeast from the Hickory Oaks Trailhead, and two in SCZ as 
heard from Highway 9.

I found 8 singing AUDUBON'S YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, all seemingly on 
territory. The northern most was on the SCL side southeast from Long Ridge OSP gate 
"LR09", roughly 0.7 mile south-southeast of the Grizzly Flat Trailhead. Three 
others were in SCL along Skyline Blvd, two out the Hickory Oaks Trail, and one a 
short way down Highway 9. Three singing HERMIT WARBLERS on the SCL side of 
Skyline were all in good nesting habitat and seemed to be territorial, but I'm 
not certain they were not migrants on the move. These were 0.9 mile southeast 
of Grizzly Flat trailhead, near the Saratoga Summit CDF fire station, and just 
before the junction with Hwy 9. Others were down the coastal slope on Hwy 9, 
where in some spots they were intermixed with BLACK-THROATED GRAYS, presenting 
a nice challenge.

A RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH was in SCL near Long Ridge gate "LR09", as described 
above. Five others were in SCZ at three spots from the vicinity of the Skyline 
x Hwy 9 junction and on down Highway 9, including three together 1.1 miles 
down from Skyline. Five GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS were singing along the county 
border from 0.9 mile south of Grizzly Flats Trailhead to Hwy 9. The trek out 
Hickory Oaks provided two species that are hard enough to find breeding in SCZ 
these days so as to be noteworthy: singing CHIPPING SPARROW and LAZULI BUNTING.

David L. Suddjian 
Capitola, CA
Santa Cruz Bird Club 
Bird Records Keeper
[[email protected]]

Santa Cruz Bird Club website:  www.santacruzbirdclub.org
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