[SBB] Castle Rock area - 5/17/06

[Mike Rogers <[[email protected]]>]

All,

Yesterday 5/17/06, I completed my Santa Cruz County Forest Bird 
Monitoring Program survey, which consists of 19 five-minute point counts 
along Skyline Blvd and trails in Castle Rock Park. When I started at 
5:43am, it was already 62 degrees and it warmed to 76 degrees by 10:00am 
(in contrast, it was only 71 degrees when I hit highway 85 on the way 
back to work and 66 degrees back in Mountain View!). Perhaps the warm 
weather stifled bird song, because I tallied only 182 birds of 35 
species, with 5 more species noted between points or after the survey, 
compared to last year, when I tallied 299 birds of 43 species, with 2 
more species noted between points or after the survey.

As expected given these totals, numbers were down across the board - the 
only count to significantly increase was for ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, 
which went from 2 last year to 10 this year. Other flycatchers didn't 
fare as well. Only 2 OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHERS were heard (1 in SCL, 1 in 
SCZ) and both were between points, only 1 WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE was heard 
(SCL) and that was after the survey, and 7 PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS 
(with 3 more between stops) was well down from last year's 12.

DENDROICA WARBLER song was plentiful, but deciphering which species was 
singing was tougher. Nine YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS were along Skyline, 
from south of the Castle Rock Parking area to 1.7 miles southeast of 
Highway 9 (6 in SCZ, 3 in SCL, 5 at survey points, beating out last 
year's 3). Twelve BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS (8 at survey points being 
well below last year's 14) were mostly along the drier areas along the 
Ridge Trail, but contersinging males southeast of Russell Point (SCZ) 
turned out to be HERMIT WARBLERS (not in Douglas Firs!), Other singing 
HERMIT WARBLERS were in more expected habitat at the Castle Rock Trail 
Camp (SCZ) and at the Castle Rock parking area (SCL, after the survey). 
A couple other singing Dendroica were left unidentified.

Three RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES were heard: one along Skyline near mp 
11.20 (SCL), one at the Castle Rock Trail Camp (SCZ), and one after the 
survey along Skyline at mp 11.85 (SCL). Six LAZULI BUNTINGS (only 2 at 
survey points) was a high count for this area. Three singing males were 
at the Christmas tree farm north of the Castle Rock parking area, a 
singing male and another calling bird (its mate?) were in the brushy 
area east of the trail junction between the Ridge Trail and the trail to 
the Interpretive Shelter, and a different singing male was further west 
along the Ridge Trail.

Other birds included 8 CASSIN'S VIREOS (only half at survey points), 2 
BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS, a flock of 20 CEDAR WAXWINGS near Goat Rock, 4 
WILSON'S WARBLERS, and 4 WESTERN TANAGERS.

Mike Rogers


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