[SBB] Monte Bello today: Lazuli Bunting etc. 4/2/2007

Hello All,

I walked the Canyon/Indian Creek/Monte Bello Rd/Bella Vista trail loop at Monte bello OSP this morning 4/2/2007. A real surprise was an early, singing Lazuli Bunting atop an oak midway up the Indian Creek trail in predominantly grassland habitat. Other notables included a Wild Turkey gobbling near the sag pond (third time I've encountered WITU at the preserve in the past few weeks), and two Pine Siskins feeding among oak buds with some Lesser Goldfinches.

Vireos (other than 4 Hutton's) and warblers (other than 5 Orange-crowned) were notably absent on this date, although I had several singing Townsend's Warblers in oaks near gate 5 earlier. The local Red-breasted Nuthatch was calling at the Skyline Blvd./Page Mill Rd junction at about 8:15.

A Steller's Jay pair was carrying sticks for a nest by the sag pond at MB. And on recent nestbox checks, I have found many Western Bluebird nest starts in the past few days, although there are no eggs in those boxes yet. Oak Titmice have a few nests underway though.

On 3/29/07 at Foothills Park where the utility road from Arastradero Preserve enters, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher pair was nestbuilding (well, she was, anyway.) A Chestnut-backed Chickadee had a good-looking nest ready nearby, but lacked eggs on that date.

At Arastradero Preserve yesterday, a m/f pair of Lawrence's Goldfinches was feeding in fiddlenecks along the NE boundary of the preserve (well above the parking lot). They have been very regular there at the ripening of the fiddleneck seeds for the past 5 years or so.

Good birding,

Garth Harwood