[SBB] Spring Birding at Rancho San Antonio

[Kay Partelow <[[email protected]]>]

Hello Birders,

 

Starting at 6:15 this morning, March 24,  Karen DeMello and I led a birding hike at Rancho San Antonio.  We were greeted in the parking lot by a coyote chorus followed by excellent looks at a BARN OWL flying back and forth in the meadow near the tennis courts.

 

Spring has definitely arrived!  Singing birds included:  HERMIT THRUSH, VARIED THRUSH  and AMERICAN ROBIN.  We also saw all three of these thrushes.  Also singing:  RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, CALIFORNIA THRASHER, SONG SPARROW, Vocalizations of returning migrants:  WARBLING VIREO, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, the latter posing nicely in a redwood tree in the early morning sunlight while singing away.

 

Other goodies:  WILD TURKEY displaying and gobbling (at least 4 of them), nice looks at perched VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW, AMERICAN KESTREL and WESTERN BLUEBIRD; WHITE-TAILED KITE chasing a RED-TAILED HAWK from a treetop perch--at least twice.   We were lucky to watch one kite hover, dive to the ground, and fly off with a rodent--right after Karen's description of how a kite hunts.  Nice timing.

 

One more nice reward for getting up before the crack of dawn--ample parking at Rancho San Antonio! 

 

Happy Birding!

 

Kay Partelow

Palo Alto

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