[SBB] Henry Coe Park 4/24/2006

["Garth Harwood" <[[email protected]]>]

>
Mime-version: 1.0
X-Priority: 3
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

Greetings everyone - 

Monday and Tuesday of this week (4/24 and 4/25/2006), I took 2 vacation days
to camp at Henry Coe State Park and take a good look around the eastern side
of the county at the height of spring migration (I was the only camper at
Coe's drive-in campground, although there were some backpackers out.)

The weather was cloudy, foggy, even drizzly at times, but the afternoons
were fair enough and the birds, though sparse, were interesting. At Coe on
4/24 I walked up from the headquarters on the Monument Trail to reach a
large stand of pines. I had nothing exceptional until I rejoined the Hobbs
Road. About 1/4 mile past that junction, but still in the pine belt, I
encountered a small migrant flock feeding in the emergent foliage of
deciduous oaks. It contained a male HERMIT WARBLER, male NASHVILLE WARBLER,
three TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS, an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, and a WARBLING VIREO.
Following right on the heels of this flock, and possibly traveling with
them, was a pair of RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, which diverted into a large
pine next to the oaks. Of this group apparently the Townsend's and the
nuthatches are the least expected at Coe at this season (judging by Jim
Yurchenco's online park checklist at Coepark.org.) 

Continuing along Hobbs Road toward Frog Lake, I encountered a singing
CASSIN'S VIREO as well as several each of Warbling Vireo, Orange-crowned
Warbler, and Black-headed Grosbeak. The last of these was common thoughout
my walking tour, in fact; I must have found at least 15 individuals in 7
miles. Just before Frog Lake a PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER was hunting
silently. At the lake itself, a pair of American Robins was carrying nest
material and a pair of HAIRY WOODPECKERS was behaving suggestively, although
I did not pick up any confirmation of their breeding.

The Bigberry Manzanitas along the next mile or two of trail along the Middle
Ridge were beautiful, some gnarled red specimens topping 25 feet in height.
There were also many wildflowers; their season seems to be approaching its
peak. But birds were few and familiar, except for a fly-by Selasphorus
hummingbird.

I then began a return journey via the Fish Trail, which drops a long way to
cross Little Coyote Creek before climbing back up to the HQ area. At the
crossing I had a couple of HUTTON'S VIREOS, (scarce out this way), and I
began to hear another singing CASSIN'S VIREO. When I reached the point where
that bird was singing, perhaps 1/4 mile up the trail from the stream
crossing, I paused to admire it, as it approached me closely as if to return
the interest I was paying to it. I was soon glad to have accepted the
invitation to linger there, because I once again began to hear warbler
chips. Eventually another small group passed by me including another male
HERMIT WARBLER (which sucked down caterpillars like nobody's business for a
good 15 minutes), a female NASHVILLE WARBLER, and a male BLACK-THROATED GRAY
WARBLER, as well as another WARBLING VIREO.  Near the end of this walk a
second Selasphorus hummer zipped past.

After dinner I walked out to Arnold Flat to listen for owls as night came
on. A NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL (possibly 2) called from somewhere down the ridge
to the south when the light first dropped below the half-way point. A
calling and clicking BARN OWL (yes, rhythmically clicking in rapid series)
flew over repeatedly until I left at about 9:30. A pair of GREAT HORNED OWLS
duetted from the flat itself and I had a total of 4 WESTERN SCREECH-OWLS
around the flat and campground area.

Including the everyday species, I had 62 species for my 24 hours in the
park. The next day I left early for Smith Creek and the San Antonio Valley;
I'll try to post that report tomorrow.

--Garth Harwood

_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
South-Bay-Birds mailing list      ([[email protected]])
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
http://plaidworks.org/mailman/listinfo/south-bay-birds_plaidworks.org