Date: 12/11/25 3:43 pm From: m_m_rogers via groups.io <m.m.rogers...> Subject: [southbaybirds] CCLO along Coyote Ridge; ROGO along Bailey
All,
Today 12/11/2025, from 12:24pm to 12:36pm, I saw a female/immature CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR at about milepost 0.75 along the Tule Elk Trail at the Mayan Ooyakma Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve east of Highway 101 in Morgan Hill. I had just studied a flock of 26 HORNED LARKS southwest of the trail and was heading northwest when a single bird flew towards me from ahead of me. It gave the distinctive "kid-dle" calls of a CCLO and I could see white in the tail. It dropped down about where the HOLA flock was, so I ran back to the flock and found the CCLO on the ground foraging with the flock. Digi-binned photos will be posted on eBird. This bird is almost 2 miles from the parking lot and almost a thousand feet of elevation above the parking lot, so not a trivial hike.
I did the 5-mile loop in the counterclockwise direction and found 118 HORNED LARKS throughout the loop and 53 AMERICAN PIPITS, all but one in one big flock on the opposite side of the trail not far from the longspur. I also saw an immature FERRUGINOUS HAWK and a MERLIN. The reserve is open from 10am to 4pm Wednesday through Sunday in winter and a free, annual Butterfly Pass is required year-round to access the trails inside the Habitat Protection Area (basically everything more than 0.2 miles from the parking lot) and can be obtained online.
Earlier, I spent some time along Laguna Ave. It was foggy and raptors were few, but I did see a chase between three PEREGRINE FALCONS. Between 9:50am and 9:53am, flocks of geese flew in, including 235 CANADA GEESE, 7 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, and two white geese. There have been several reports of two Snow Geese at this location over the past week, but these birds seemed smaller than that to me. I checked from Bailey Avenue but the geese were all hidden down in the canal/river and I could not see them. On my return from Coyote Ridge, just before 2pm, I did find the two white geese along Bailey Avenue with CANADA GEESE and three GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE and they were indeed ROSS'S GEESE (digiscoped photos obtained of the birds next to a MALLARD). Also, a pair of adult BALD EAGLES was perched on the ground in the field north of the Bailey Ave / Santa Teresa Blvd intersection.
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.
