[SBB] "Almaden Eagles" Big Day

The "Almaden Eagles" SCVAS Birdathon team (Janna Pauser, Kirsten Holmquist, Rich Page, and Ann Verdi) went out on Sunday, April 23. We cover only a limited area - the Almaden area and a few sites nearby. Our final total of the day was 99 birds - a disappointment as I thought we had reached the magic 100 until I made a final tally later in the evening. We started out well, but then the birds became sparse and quiet as a cool cloud cover moved in over the area. We had a number of misses not only among some of the more common expected birds and flycatchers, but we also had a dearth of warblers. However, rather than dwelling on these "low lights", I'd rather report on some of our highlights of the day.

We began our day at 5:00am at Quicksilver County Park at the McAbee entrance. Here we tallied W. SCREECH-OWL, GREAT HORNED OWL, and BARN OWL (which later in the day we found on nest beneath the eaves of the Bailey-Fellows farmhouse at Calero CP). Several COMMON POORWILLS were heard calling as early signs of dawn began to appear on the eastern horizon. As the skies became lighter we began to pick up some day-time birds - HUTTON'S VIREO, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, HERMIT THRUSH, and others.

We then headed over to Hicks Road - usually one of our birdiest stops, but not on this day as the cloud cover had begun to move in. We found VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS and GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS, but otherwise things were pretty quiet. We had nice sightings of ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, WESTERN TANAGER, DOWNY WOODPECKER, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, and we saw an AMERICAN ROBIN carrying nesting material, but that was about it.

Up at Mount Umunhum thick clouds hugged the ridge tops sending misty fingers into the canyons. For us Mt. Um was a bust and we only picked up the usual chaparral denizens - WRENTIT and CALIFORNIA THRASHER. We also had a COOPER'S HAWK at the intersection of Hicks and Mt Umunhum Roads.

Then down the hill to Almaden Reservoir and Twin Creeks. The full reservoir had many fishermen, so we opted to spend our birding time along Alamitos Road to Twin Creeks. Here we found COMMON MERGANSER, BELTED KINGFISHER, HOUSE WREN, BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, PURPLE FINCH, YELLOW WARBLER, WESTERN BLUEBIRD, BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, and one of our best sightings of the day - a pair of WARBLING VIREOS at their nest site in Twin Creeks.

At our lunch break at the New Almaden Community Center the only new bird we were able to pick up was an AMERICAN KESTREL - our only one sighted for the day.

Next over to Calero Reservoir which was busy with boaters and jet skiers, but here we tallied CASPIAN TERN, FORSTER'S TERN, EARED GREBE, WESTERN GREBE, PIED-BILLED GREBE, GADWALL, and GREAT BLUE HERON. We also saw four swallow species - TREE, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED, CLIFF, and BARN. Interestingly, Cliff Swallows were not clustered around the farmhouse as they had been earlier in the month - not sure if they have abandoned this colonial nest site, but I'll check this out again soon. The other interesting sighting was the nesting Barn Owl as mentioned previously.

Several YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIES were seen on the way to Chesbro Reservoir along McKean/Uvas Rds. Along Old Oak Glen road at Chesbro Reservoir we found WOOD DUCKS, an OSPREY with a fish in its talons, a flock of AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, and a couple of KILLDEER with tiny precocial young tottering along the roadside.

Heading back along McKean Road we stopped by the GOLDEN EAGLE nest site where one fuzzy white chick was seen in the nest. Across the road we noted two juvenile/sub-adult Golden Eagles perched on another transmission tower.

At the Stile Ranch/Fortini trailhead at Santa Teresa County Park, a RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW was noted on a rock face and a male ALLEN'S HUMMINGBIRD was perched in the blooming sage. An unidentified selasphorus hummer also buzzed around. WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were singing, but no Western Kingbirds were seen.

Almaden Lake Park (our next stop) was crowded and the only new birds tallied were GREEN HERON and RING-BILLED GULL. Other gulls were seen circling overhead but had to be left as gull, sp. At the SCVWD ponds the only new bird seen was a female LESSER SCAUP - no Common Yellowthroats seen or heard.

By then day light was beginning to fade and we were getting pretty desperate for warblers - any kind - so we headed over to Guadalupe Oak Grove Park where we finally found some YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS (both Audubon's and Myrtle). Other birds of interest here included a NUTMEG MANNIKIN gathering nesting material, heard-only HOODED ORIOLE (also heard throughout the Almaden neighborhoods), WHITE-THROATED SWIFT, and our final, and perhaps our "best" bird of the day - a little CHIPPING SPARROW seen near the restrooms. With that little bird we though we had reached 100, so we called it a wrap at 6:30pm.

I guess our day could be characterized as "OK, let's cut our losses here and move on to the next stop", but as we all know that's the way it is with birding sometimes. We worked hard for the birds we did find and we had a number of successes, so we can't bemoan the misses. We'll go at it again next year.

Ann Verdi

San Jose