Date: 5/3/25 4:41 pm From: Lisa Myers via groups.io <lisa...> Subject: [southbaybirds] Vasona County Park - Los Gatos
Hi all -
I led a walk at Vasona County Park this morning. The park was humming
with people as there was a "Walk MS" event today with loads of people,
dogs, music and food. (Makes me wonder why birder's don't organize a
walk with hundreds of birder's gathering together to walk a park spread
the word about nature.)
Other than the music playing in the distance - Neil Diamond, KC and the
Sunshine Band etc.,the bird song was rather quiet. We started off
University and soon found *WESTERN BLUEBIRDS* taking food into their
nest cavities. *AMERICAN ROBINS* were also amongst the trees and a
*RED-SHOULDERED HAWK* got the American Crows all stirred up. As we
walked down the road toward the lake we found the *GREAT-HORNED OWLS
*that frequent the Eucalyptus trees. We found an adult on the south side
of the road and two fuzzy young sitting together on the north side of
the road. The question was asked how old until a young owl can fly?
Young birds will often hang out on the ground and can get themselves
back up a tree without actually flying, but the experts say the owlets
will start to fly around 9 - 10 weeks of age. The great news is that the
owls are still using this area of the park even though many of the huge
Eucalyptus trees were removed last fall.
As we walked down to the lake on this overcast damp morning the swallows
and swifts were all around. *VUAX's SWIFT* flew over on several occasion
and we observed *WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS* higher up. *NORTHERN
ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS*, *BARN SWALLOWS* and *VIOLET-GREEN* were
numerous. While standing on the red bridge we had great views of all the
swallows species flying below us. Super way to learn their field marks
and vocalizations.
Once across the bridge the CANADA GEESE with goslings were abundant.
*BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS* kept calling and one *HOODED ORIOLE* was spotted
near the boat ramp.
Do not disclose information that identifies the location of nesting birds of any species, to minimize stress on the nesting birds and the risk of vandalism or abuse.
