[SBB] Smith Creek & San Antonio Valley 4/25/06

This is Part 2 of my trip report from 2 days spent on the eastern edge of Santa Clara County at the beginning of this week...

After seeing a tantalizing assortment of migrants at Coe the day before, I was pretty excited about having a full morning to spend at the Smith Creek CDF Fire Station on Tuesday 4/25. I had hoped for, even expected, a morning like Mike and Richard had this morning. Sadly, the fog was so thick on that morning that I could not make out the details of birds in the treetops. There were only a few of those, anyway - I think the birds were unable to find their favorite stopovers in that pea soup.

But there were a few birds around. Just after finding a LINCOLN'S SPARROW right behind the fire station buildings, I heard a warbled song with a rolling quality from a low, verdant thicket bordering the tiny pond there. After a patient wait, a MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER came over to check me out from shrubs abnout 25 feet away. I studied the bird for 10 minutes or so as it fed and wandered around in the shrubs just a foot or two off the ground. Later, a Selasphorus hummingbird female nectared from a flowering gooseberry bush in that same thicket. The creekside habitat was a bust, producing just one WILSON'S WARBLER, except that the creek itself held a trio of COMMON MERGANSERs, an adult male with 2 females. I also had a few vireos, (fewer than Mike reported, but the same mix), and a pair of WESTERN TANAGERS. A CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE was along the creek by the road; I understand that these are always noteworthy this far east.

Hoping to get above the fog, I headed to the summit of Mt. Hamilton. Nasty up there! I heard a single LAZULI BUNTING from the observatory - the only one I had for the whole trip.

I finally got below the fog line near the San Antonio Valley floor, but just barely. I stopped at a ranch gate just at the point where the road reaches the valley bottom. There I found a m/f pair of LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCHES, a single singing CHIPPING SPARROW, 3 LARK SPARROWS, and to my surprise at this location, a pair of VAUX'S SWIFTS foraging over the valley with a mixture of swallow species. Bill Bousman reported a nest-building pair of LAGOs at, or very near, this same spot on 4/7/06, as well as a pair of CHSPs. Although the goldfinches seemed to be feeding on the creek side of the road, they kept returning to the blue oaks on the other side, as Bill reported. The timing would be about right for young to be hatching about now, if they followed through with that nesting. About a half-mile further along I was equally surprised to find a male WOOD DUCK in the shallow, open creek.

I scanned every sizeable Valley Oak for Lewis's Woodpeckers, which have been so elusive in the county this year. No luck. I had better luck finding the other of my target birds for the area, a singing SAGE SPARROW in the chaparral about 0.6 miles up Del Puerto Road, at which point I ran out of time and turned around. Good news at the Junction store: the hummer feeder is full again, although it was quiet on this day.

Returning by the same route (and still hoping for a change in the weather and a last-minute migrant fallout), I kept one eye on the big oaks. Bingo! A single tree across the creek a little more than a half-mile from the ranch gate mentioned before held 3 LEWIS'S WOODPECKERS, one of which was missing several of its largest primaries from its right wing. An excellent way to finish the day.

Good luck to you all -

Garth Harwood