[SBB] San Jose Christmas Bird Count

Hi all,

The San Jose Christmas Bird Count this year was gifted with beautiful weather. It turned out to be the kind of day where nature opens up a window and all you can do is just smile and be grateful. The preliminary species total for the count is 172. This marks only the second time in the history of the San Jose count that we have broken the 170 mark and falls only one shy of the record. To all those who helped count, give yourselves a pat on the back. You rock!

We had a number of stake out birds that all came through for us this year; however, the real rock star of the count was a totally unexpected gift from a small urban park. Of course, I am talking about the much reported (and photographed) on Black-and-White Warbler (Mike Azevedo, Ann Verdi, Rich Page) at Penitencia Creek County Park. This species is a first ever for the San Jose CBC. The Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker continued at Ed Levin County Park and was the focus of attention of much attention from the parties covering the eastern foothills. I believe at one point there were 16 pairs of eyes on the bird so it too is well documented for the count. J It is a wonder that the bird’s feathers aren’t smoking! Another nice find was a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher south of the CCFS trailer. And, four different swallow species made an appearance this year (Tree Swallow, Violet-Green Swallow, Barn Swallow, and Northern Rough-Winged Swallow). A Western Tanager (Richard Jeffers) graced us with its presence along the Los Gatos Creek Trail. And, so to did two different White-Throated Sparrows: one along Coyote Creek (Richard Jeffers) and one at Ulistac (Grant Hoyt). A few special raptors are worth a note as well. We had an Osprey (Mike Mammoser) seen over Lake Cunningham. And, a Ferruginous Hawk (Bonnie Bedford-White) was soaring over Mt. Hamilton Road.

The group covering the area around the EEC was kept busy with rarities this year. Many of the stake outs were in this area and included: 1) Yellow Warblers, 2) Eurasian Wigeon, 3) Ruff, and 4) Lesser Yellowlegs. In fact, that group had an astounding 92 species for the day! Coming in a close second were the folks who covered the Sunnyvale Baylands and Pond A-4. They had 91 species. Meanwhile, Mike Rogers covering the outer salt ponds was only able to come up with a paltry 89. However, he did redeem himself by coming up with the only Redhead and Surf Scoter of the day. J While the party totals are partly a shameless plug for the Alviso sector for next year, it is also worth noting that even in their current degraded state, the estuary shoreline habitat clearly supports and attracts wildlife. I look forward to the day when restoration efforts make this even more rewarding a place to census and we once again register Clapper Rail in the San Jose Count with regularity. I believe the last time we had that species for the count was 10 years ago and that was a single individual.

Finally, I was asked at the countdown dinner about how this data is used. Most obviously, it is used by the national organization to track trends in populations. I encourage those interested to check out the national count website at http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/. They have articles there regarding some of the things they’ve learned, like the collapse of the Bewick’s Wren population in the east. They also have search facilities so that you can do your own investigations. The annual publication also contains articles of this nature. This year’s article regarding the expansion of the Hooded Merganser population, I found particularly interesting. Some may remember several years ago that one of the publication’s articles concerned the CDC’s interest in the count data. They were looking at trends in corvid populations because corvids are susceptible to the West Nile Virus. They wanted to know about any population collapses in order to track the spread of the disease. Closer to home, I report to many agencies regarding the birds found on their property. In particular, I report to agencies like the Don Edward’s Bay National Wildlife Refuge, a place that got dramatically bigger in the last few years with the transfer of ownership of the former Cargill Salt Ponds. Some ponds went to the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the City of San Jose and I report to them as well. Restoration efforts are underway. The CBC data is being used as one piece of information, along with other on-going census projects, that helps establish a baseline for bird populations and how they are responding to the restoration changes.

Best Regards,

Kirsten R. Holmquist

408.747.0988

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