[SBB] Monte Bello Grand Tour 5/29/2005

["Garth Harwood" <[[email protected]]>]

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Hello All,

I did a warmup for the Summer Bird Count yesterday 5/29/2005 by getting up
early and walking most of the potential routes for next weekend to see what
birds were about. At 5:30 it was rather nice but then the cloud ceiling
dropped and most of the time from 6-9 AM was clammy and cold with light rain
for several short periods. (Be warned, mountain counters, the high ridges
can do this to you at any time!) The rest of the day was mild and pleasant,
at least.

It was pretty light already when I arrived so the only owl I encountered was
a single Great-Horned on a treetop a few feet into Los Trancos OSP. Among
the early singers were a couple of Lazuli Buntings near the main MB parking
lot, but overall this species was not as abundant as in some recent summers;
by day's end I had encountered only 7. The sag pond and Bella Vista Trail
were very slow. At the top of the BV trail, however, I was pleased to see an
adult Peregrine Falcon sweep along the ridgeline northbound past Black Mtn,
veering west toward Skyline as it reached the top of the valley. This is the
second time I've seen one westbound up there in recent weeks. About this
time (6:30ish) I heard the resident Pileated Woodpecker call from the big
conifers near the creek.

Except for a pair of Black-throated Gray Warblers defending an oak tree just
east of the backpack camp the slow pace of birding continued until I reached
the Black Mtn. summit (11 BTGW were encountered eventually, almost all by
ear only). A pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers was squeaking away near the
transmission towers, and a pair of Savannah Sparrows chased each other
around and sometimes sang. I proceeded another 1/2 mile along the ridge
hoping to pick up a Mountain Quail call if I only dawdled up high for long
enough - no luck, although the Californias used every call in their
repertoire throughout the day. I found one Grasshopper Sparrow singing a
hundred yards or so south of the summit.

On the way back down the Indian Creek Trail I strained for any sign of
Black-chinned Sparrow or Lawrence's Goldfinch (or what the heck, Condor or
Roadrunner would've been fine too). None of these appeared however. I did
hear a calling Rufous-crowned Sparrow near milepost 0.8, where they have
turned up several times in the past year.

I turned down-canyon along the Canyon Trail for about a mile below the
Indian Cr. Tail junction. At milepost 1.5 I watched a singing male Western
tanager, the only tanager of the day. A couple of Warbling Vireos and some
calling Pygmy Nuthatches were in this area too. Somewhere about mile 2.0 I
left the trail and made my way down to the creek itself to walk a
rarely-visited stretch and find out what was up in there. A singing Wilson's
Warbler and Swainson's Thrush were nice right where I entered the creek but
that was it except for a total of 3 Winter Wrens at widely separate
locations, one of them a juvenile. It was very rough going down there - lots
of large woody debris to climb over, never mind the slippery rocks - so I
climbed back up to the trail where I soon encountered Kirsten Holmquist and
the SCVAS field trip crew. 

After parting company I walked up the Stevens Creek Nature Trail to the
White Oak Trail. Near that junction I heard another Wilson's Warbler and
Swainson's Thrush, co-occurring again. I often encounter a concentration of
vireos along the lower White Oak Trail and that was the case once again.
Five or more Warbling Vireos were singing away from all points of the
compass and there were two much less enthusiastic Cassin's Vireos there too,
as well as at least one Hutton's (the latter was fairly common throughout
the walk also). Near the top were more buntings and BTG Warblers to close
out the day. 


--Garth Harwood
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