[SBB] Monte Bello Road from Gate 9, 6/5/2006

Hi All,

Following up on Steve Rottenborn's Sage Thrasher discovery, I called the Open Space District (at 650-691-1200, ask for Kathleen) and arranged to park at the tiny, locked parking lot 1/4 mile from the end of Monte Bello Road, at the top of the Waterwheel Creek Trail. The OSP folks were good enough to fax me a permit and the gate combo within a couple of hours. I arrived about 5PM (6/5/2006) , around the same time of day Steve saw the bird.

From there it was only a few minutes' walk to the communications tower a quarter mile inside the gated section of Monte Bello Road (Gate MB09). I spent about an hour there, taking full advantage of the limited views over the vineyard, but there was no trace of the bird. If the bird likes vineyards, though, there is plenty more out of sight from the road - it could easily still be there. The only noteworthy bird viewed at that point was a single White-throated Swift among the approximately 100 mixed swallows (Cliff, Violet-green, a few Barn) that were widely foraging overhead.

I then decided to check out the beginning of the Waterwheel Creek Trail, which provides stunning views of the upper Stevens Creek watershed and Table Mountain (the latter is directly across from the trailhead.) At about 6:15 a single Vaux's Swift joined the swallow cloud, first heard, then well seen. I kept thinking about the Black Swifts Steve had seen here the day before - the possibility of finding all 3 swift species on the same outing was very tantalizing. So my eyes kept drifting back up to the swallows. At 6:20 I was down the trail at a point where only a broad strip of sky was visible, when a large, very dark swift soared through the swallows heading north. I had the Black Swift in view for at least 30 seconds, during which time it never made any wingbeats. If there were more in a group with this one, I didn't see them, but then, I was concentrating hard on this individual to be certain of its identity. So - not a bad outing after all!

On my way back to the truck I had one last surprise - an Osprey flying low overhead from the direction of Stevens Creek Reservoir (where one has been regular lately). It was not carrying anything that I could see. Figuring that, at this hour - about 6:30 now - it was on its homeward commute, I watched it fly out across the Stevens Creek valley, tracking it for a mile or more until finally, I lost it against the dark conifer trees at the top of the ridge just northwest from the Saratoga Gap Open Space vista point/parking area. I thought it might pop into view again as it crossed Skyline into the next watershed, but it never did - raising the possibility that it might have a reason to stop in those trees? It was also evident from this vantage point that it is but a small hop for an Osprey to cover the distance between this area and Alpine Pond. Could it be that this bird is the same one recently observed at that location - or its mate, following Ron Wolf's report that docents at the pond saw 2 Osprey together there recently?

Meanwhile, back at Hidden Villa, the Black-chinned Sparrow has been undetected since June 1, as far as I know. I gave it a good try this morning to no avail. Yesterday in the early AM I checked nestboxes at Arastradero Preserve, where 2 Vaux's Swifts passed overhead, staying close together (sometimes it seems like this species follows me around, but I think it's just that I hang out in the same places they do.) House Wrens had fledged very recently from one of the boxes. EIGHT Western Bluebird nests set a record for this trail which consists of 24 boxes at the moment. They range from eggs to point-of-fledging in status. There were also several VG Swallow nests with eggs, and one Tree Swallow nest with nearly-grown young.

Good birding, everyone --

Garth Harwood