Date: 12/22/25 2:24 pm From: Al Eisner via groups.io <eisner...> Subject: [southbaybirds] Preliminary results from Palo Alto CBC
The Palo Alto CBC, overlapping Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, was held on Monday December 15. After two years with rain, we had a relatively dry day, with sunny conditions high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but morning low clouds or fog in some areas lower down. We have a preliminary total of 164 species, as compared to an average of 166 over the previous 15 years.
There were no super-rarities, but some unusual birds, most notably a Lewis's Woodpecker at the Monte Bello OSP, a single Black Skimmer at Mountain View Shoreline Lake (the species has been scarce in winter in the circle for the past decade, despite large numbers in nearby areas) and a Black Rail. Other less-than-regular species: a Snow Goose at Bedwell-Bayfront Park, 2 Black Oystercatchers near the Dumbarton Bridge (they are becoming regular), Snowy Plovers, 2 red Knots near Adobe Creek, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs (in separate locations), 2 pairs of Northern Pygmy-Owls up near Skyline, Northern House Wrens, and an Evening Grosbeak reported from downtown Los Altos. All are subject to our local review, as are numbers of Tree and Violet-green Swllows.
An impressive count of Snowy Plovers totalled 60 birdw (53 of them at NWR areas near the Dumbarton Bridge). This is an encouraging new record for the CBC, and the first of more than 20 birds since a couple of countw in the 1960s.
As for Northern House Wren, this regular winterer in Southern California has been showing up singly on our CBC for the majority of the past 20 years. There were a few years with more than 1, includingn 5 accepted in 2019. This year looks to exceed that number. The species might be echoing a trend set by Orange-crowned Warbeler.
We apparently missed 8 species we have usually found over the past 15 years: Barrow's Goldeneye, Commony Merganser, Ridgway's Rail, Ruddy Turnstone, Loggerhead Shrike (this may be a real trend), Swamp Spsrrow, Brown-headed Cowbird and Great-tailed Grackle. (The railnand cowbird were observed during count-week.) More about variations and trends awaits compilation.
Thanks to Ann Hepenstal for organizing our counting effort, to our sector coordinators, and to all those who participated.
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.
