Date: 4/13/24 9:24 am From: Matthew Dodder <mdodder...> Subject: [southbaybirds] Hot Spotters report (04-12-24)
This years, the Hot Spotters Birdathon team comprised of Liz Frith, Linda Pors, Howard Friedman, Christopher Klein, Carter Gasiorowski, Ed Gasiorowski, and Matthew Dodder. We began at Smith Creek Firestation at 8:00 AM yesterday and ended with lunch at Joseph D. Grant County Park at 12:00 PM. Highlights below.
Smith Creek Firestation was less active than it had been a few days earlier. The weather was warm and wonderful, but fewer birds were found. Most disappointing was we were not able to refind Sunday's Northern Pygmy Owl or Hammond’s Flycatcher, but we did have BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, NASHVILLE WARBLERS, WARBLING VIREO, CASSIN’S VIREO, and our first-of-season ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER. As before, many of the breeding-plumaged YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS were the “Myrtle” form, which meant that in addition to the white throat and strong supercilium, their songs were also markedly different from the “Audubon’s” we saw. PURPLE FINCH and PINE SISKIN were fairly easy to find, mostly by sound—in fact, much of our day included birding by ear. The creek’s water level has dropped enough that it might soon be possible to cross it, but we opted to continue to our next stop.
Twin Gates was a very quick stop where we found our first BULLOCK’S ORIOLE and a number of other birds we had already seen. We chose not to climb the hill, but investigate the trees right by the lot. In the past, we had found Kingbirds, Lark Sparrows, and Horned Larks at this location, but not this time. If we had had more time, we would have explored the area more.
Grant Lake was very productive with a number of waterbirds including GREAT BLUE HERON, GREAT EGRET, BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON, RUDDY DUCK, GADWALL, AMERICAN COOT… Surprisingly, we found only one species of Swallows here, VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW, which were actively entering nest cavities on the hill. Across the lake near the homes we saw a perched BALD EAGLE in a eucalyptus tree, and on the opposite side of the lake we found two GOLDEN EAGLES perched high on the ridge. A couple of NORTHERN HARRIERS and a COOPER’S HAWK made appearances just before we crossed the road on our way to the Ranch House.
Ranch House trail was accessed from the Grant Lake parking lot. We immediately found TREE SWALLOWS here and found several more BULLOCK’S ORIOLES. LARK SPARROW was heard, but not seen, along the Hotel Trail. Activity began to slow as we approached noon. We were admired a pair of WESTERN KINGBIRDS by the second parking lot by the roundabout and restrooms. No Vermilion Flycatcher was seen by our group, but Liz and Linda remained behind—they may have had success after lunch. We had several BLUE-GRAY GNATCHATCHERS a very close range, and a few lingering RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, and LINCOLN’S SPARROWS throughout the morning.
It was a wonderful, sunny 4-hour experience birding with good friends and eating lunch afterward. We ended up with at least 79 SPECIES
Matthew Dodder (he/him)
Executive Director
Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society
22221 McClellan Rd.
Cupertino, CA 95014
408-252-3748
<director...>
scvas.org
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.
