[SBB] Monte Bello Gate 5 4/19/2006; Arastradero 4/18

Happy Spring, everyone. All through the winter - until Monday of this week, that is - the birds at the little pond at Monte Bello Preserve's Gate 5 have been subdued, to say the least. Not so at 7:30 this morning, 4/19/2006. Although there were no noteworthy rarities, the incoming migrants have arrived in a rush. Among them were 2 Black-throated Gray Warblers, a Wilson's Warbler, a Warbling Vireo, 2 Black-headed Grosbeaks, and a couple of Orange-crowned Warblers - all of these singing. A Sharp-shinned Hawk was the first seen here in months. A trickling stream of silent warblers flew northward overhead during my visit but almost all defied identification in my backlit vertical view; all I picked out was a pair of Townsend's.

Of special interest to me was a breeding confirmation of Pied-billed Grebe on the pond. I first heard begging young among the cattails there last Friday 4/14 but could not confirm the species until today, when I watched a parent bird delivering food to a downy youngster. (A Sora rail was still on the pond as of that Friday too.)

Yesterday 4/18/2006 I checked about 25 nestboxes at Arastradero Preserve after work. Almost all birds have wisely held off until now. Usually by the end of the first week of April I have substantial numbers of bluebird, swallow, and wren nests in addition to the earlier-nesting titmice and chickadees. As of yesterday three bluebird pairs and one House Wren pair had initiated construction, but no eggs had yet been laid. Only one Oak Titmouse pair in an especially well-sheltered box had taken the necessary leap of faith to begin brooding; one bird was sitting on 6 eggs. I checked another 20 boxes on the preserve last week with similar results (3 titmouse nests with brooding parents, nothing else.)

At 6:15 PM I heard Vaux's Swifts overhead and saw a group of 4 wing over with mixed swallows. An Osprey was over the main parking area for some reason, circling lazily 4 or 5 times before flying off to the south - perhaps there are new lakes forming in the hills hereabouts? It would be easy to believe.

A single Vaux's Swift flew over Hidden Villa at noon 4/18 as well, also with mixed swallows.

--Garth Harwood