[SBB] San Antonio Valley

[Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>]

Folks:

Today, 11/17/06, I birded from Mines Road at the Alameda County 
border, through San Antonio Valley to the Lick Observatory at the 
summit of Mt. Hamilton.  Although chilly at first, the day was mostly 
clear and pleasant with shirt-sleeve birding.

At the col between Arroyo Mocho and Colorado Creek on Mines Road (S 
of marker 25) I found two SAGE SPARROWS.  Curiously, one was singing, 
which I have not experienced previously in the fall.  Dropping down 
towards the creek, I found a flock of 15 goldfinches near marker 
25.  At least 10 of these were LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCHES, feeding on the 
chamise seeds--the rest were Lessers.  Here, I also heard a VARIED 
THRUSH, which is not so common in the Diablo Range as in the Santa 
Cruz Mountains in a good year (which this apparently is).  Mines Road 
then climbs to another col to the San Antonio Creek drainage (about 
0.55 mi. S of marker 23).  Past this col is a heavily grazed area 
with some water seeps.  There, I found large flocks of goldfinches, 
but I was unable to identify most of these as they moved about at a 
distance.  At least 5 LAWRENCE'S were at this location.  Dropping 
down into San Antonio Valley, I had a GREATER ROADRUNNER at Ruthie's 
Shopping Mall, which was a treat.  As reported by Kathy Parker, there 
are substantial numbers of LEWIS'S WOODPECKERS in the valley right 
now.  I counted 29 birds, whereas I normally tally about 10.  I found 
the birds in five locations: about 6 were 0.4 mi. S of marker 19 (S 
of the junction), 7 were at the dogleg, 6 were near marker 16 (Bar Y 
Ranch), 3 were in a valley oak grove about 0.4 mi. S of marker 15, 
and 7 were in an oak grove about 0.8 mi. S of marker 15.  Similarly, 
I tallied 30 Acorn Woodpeckers, whereas I normally count about 
16.  It looks like the oak mast production for the valley oaks has 
been very good.  Many scrub oaks are also showing a substantial 
harvest, although they ripen later and many acorns remain on the 
trees.  The blue oaks show mixed results--a few are quite good, but 
most show no production.  Also south of the junction was a 
WHITE-TAILED KITE--although they breed at a few locations in the 
Diablo Range, we have never found them there in the summer.  They 
have been recorded on the Mt. Hamilton CBC on 5 occasions in the last 27 years.

The chamise crop seems quite good, but this is the worst fall I've 
seen for sparrows.  I found only three Fox Sparrows, all of the Sooty 
race, and only a few White-crowneds and Golden-crowneds.

Bill Bousman
Santa Clara County records compiler 



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