Date: 5/18/25 2:40 pm From: Matthew Dodder via groups.io <mdodder...> Subject: [southbaybirds] Last week today... and the Blind Birder Birdathon
Last Saturday, May 10, I finally got up to Loma Prieta to search for Black-chinned Sparrow. Long story short, I detected 4 individuals, but only one was on the Santa Clara side—a singing male on the left side of the “are you ready?” fire warning sign heard and seen from the end of the public road. It was an impossibly beautiful song that spiraled upward in an ever-tightening sequence of ascending slurred notes. I also found my first-of-season Olive-sided Flycatcher. Ash-throated Flycatcher, and a single Lawrence’s Goldfinch were there as well as a number of luminous Lazuli Buntings. There were no Purple Martins present when I was there, in fact no Swallows at all. At the end of the day, Cricket and I also had an Allen’s Hummingbird visit our back yard. That was new for the year!
On Sunday, May 11, I woke up at very early and drove to the Stile Ranch trail head to begin my search for Common Poorwill by 5:00 AM. I heard a number of species in the dark and after a short walk west along the Calero Creek Trail, I saw a silent shape against the moon fly directly over my head, just a few feet above me. It was a Common Poorwill. For the next few minutes I heard at least three of them vocalizing from the hillside to my right and also in the meadow to my left. I even saw one land on the trail beside the first large tree. I watched it fly over the hills and heard a peculiar call that I believe might have been young Common Poorwills. In the distance I could hear a Great Horned Owl hooting, again, new for my year! Even before the sun rose, I could hear Lark Sparrow, Horned Lark, and Rufous-crowned Sparrow. Strange how many birds vocalize before dawn… Other birds soon followed.
Later that morning, after a failed effort to find Purple Martin from the road along the not-yet-open Calero Reservoir, I went to the Charleston Marsh in Mountain View to see if I could find the Yellow-breasted Chat that had been reported by Scott Terrill the day before. A short search allowed me to add the bird my list, but it was not easy to hear because it was deep in the willows at the end of the curved board walk and sang only intermittently.
Yesterday morning, Saturday, May 17, I drove back to Calero Reservoir to search for Purple Martin as soon as the gate opened. I sat and scanned the water and the beach by the boat launch. After a full half-hour of waiting I heard the sound and stood up suddenly. Two female-type Purple Martins cruised over the parking lot and landed in the grass east of the launch. I watched them for some time as they repeated the flight. They are so much larger and longer-winged than the other Swallows it was quite easy to pick them out simply by their shape. There were other birds there as well. A single Lawrence’s Goldfinch, a Tricolored Blackbird, and a couple of female Lazuli Buntings. I didn’t search for the Least Bitterns—didn’t want to disturb them.
Finally today, May 18, I was fortunate to join a group participating in the first-ever Blind Birder Birdathon https://www.birdability.org/blind-birder-birdathon. This is a national event, organized by Birdability for the many visually impaired birders in our community. Susan Glass, who has been a guest speaker for SCVBA, asked me to join as a co-lead and sighted assistant. My presence was entirely unnecessary as Susan (and guide dog Omni) are quite qualified as a leaders. Nevertheless, five of us, and their guide dogs, spent more than two hours birding McClellan Ranch using only our ears. We ended up with 38 species entirely by sound. Only vocalizing birds were counted so a few expected, but silent birds, did not make it onto the list. Among the many exciting discoveries, we detected by voice were 3 Black-chinned Hummingbirds, 2 Hooded Orioles, 2 Western Tanagers, 2 Black-headed Grosbeak, 5 Warbling Vireos, 2 Western Flycatcher, 1 White-throated Swift, and a female Wood Duck half way along the creek toward Blackberry Farm! The full list can be found here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S239833604
Matthew
Matthew Dodder (he/him)
Executive Director
Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance
22221 McClellan Rd.
Cupertino, CA 95014
408-252-3748
<director...>
scvbirdalliance.org
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