Date: 4/25/24 5:27 pm From: Steve Patt via groups.io <stevenpatt...> Subject: [southbaybirds] Lean Green Birding Machine Birdathon
At 7 am on Wednesday, April 24, three intrepid members of the Lean Green Birding Machine left my front door to embark on a day-long two-wheeled birding expedition. 35 1/2 miles, 9 1/2 hours, and 93 species of birds later, we concluded a very successful and very satisfying outing. Contributions to honor our efforts and benefit the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society’s educational programs for kids can be made here: https://scvas.app.neoncrm.com/campaignTeam.jsp?campaignId=157&teamId=112&
The Lean Green Birding Machine (originally the Mean Green Birding Machine when the team had more people) has been participating in the SCVAS spring birdathon for at least a dozen years. This year after some unfortunate personal issues we were down to just three intrepid cyclists — long-time LGBMers Bill Walker and myself, and new recruit Winnie Homer-Smith. In past years we've opted for the 4-hour category, but it's always felt a bit rushed. This year we decided to switch to the new 10-hour category, allowing us to cover a bit more territory, stop for lunch, and in general feel less pressure to move on from a good bird (or a possible sighting). It was an excellent decision.
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Starting at my house at The Forum at Rancho San Antonio, we started off the day in nearby Rancho with the first of two GREAT HORNED OWL nests, and proceeded to exhaustively cover the bike-accessible trails at Rancho. By 8:30 we had a solid 40, highlighted by two different Rails in the "Rancho wetlands" — SORA and VIRGINIA RAIL. To top it off, we actually saw the Sora for the first time at this location. We did have some misses (Black-headed Grosbeak), but in general were off to a good start. Nearby Gate of Heaven Cemetery added COMMON MERGANSER and KILLDEER, though the Ring-necked Duck present two days earlier had gone.
SCVAS HQ at McClellan Ranch Nature Preserve added several more species, including the resident WESTERN SCREECH-OWL, but neither the hoped-for White-throated Sparrow nor a Hooded Oriole made an appearance. On through Blackberry Farm and the Stocklmeir property, and then we had a bit of a ride to our next stop, Cuesta Park, where we quickly found our target PYGMY NUTHATCH. A short jaunt from there puts us on the Stevens Creek Trail, headed for the Bay. Along the way we added another 17 species, most notably a WESTERN KINGBIRD.
It was now noon, so we rewarded ourselves with a nice lunch at the Shoreline Cafe. It would have been nice if a Brewer's Blackbird had joined us at our table, as they often do, because that was one of the common species we never did lay eyes on during the day (Great Blue Heron was another). After lunch, Shoreline Park and Lake added more to the list. The highlight was watching the largest squadron of BLACK SKIMMERS we'd ever seen flying around.
After surveying the Charleston Slough shorebirds from the platform (with time saved thanks to Pete Dunten letting us know we wouldn't find any Least Sandpipers among the thousands of WESTERN SANDPIPERS, thanks Pete!), the Adobe Creek Trail was particularly productive. Not only did we pick up some DUNLIN farther out in Charleston Slough, but in Adobe Creek itself we added both AMERICAN WHITE and BROWN PELICANS, a lone NORTHERN PINTAIL, three CINNAMON TEAL, and last but not last a RED-THROATED LOON (or "Red-throated Diver" as Apple's Brit-speaking Photo ID software would have it).
In the Palo Alto Baylands we finally found our only pair of GREEN-WINGED TEAL along with a group of WHIMBREL, and our only crowned sparrow, a GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW. The final spot on our agenda was the vagrant stakeout at the north end of the Emily Renzel Wetlands. At first we came up empty, but while we searched were rewarded with our first BUSHTITS for the day. But then the cry came from Bill — "There it is!" And so, very satisfyingly, our 93rd and final bird for the day showed himself — a HARRIS'S SPARROW. As with the Loon and several earlier sightings, though none of us had brought an actual camera, my iPhone 15 ProMax with its 5x optical zoom lens produced quite satisfactory results, with a lot lighter load!
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The other two members of the team seemed eager to keep searching for species we had missed like Brewer's Blackbird, but there was no chance we were going to reach 100 species, and having that be our final species instead of the Harris's seemed way too anticlimactic to me. So instead we pretty much made a beeline back to Cupertino. When we started, I think we all thought the "10-hour" time limit was way more than we'd need or want, but as it turned out it was a little over 9 1/2 hours by the time we returned to the start for a beer and a ceremonial listening to Grant Hoyt's epic birdathon song, "One More Bird". "One more bird, one more bird! Don't even have to see it, you can count it if it's heard!"
Join us next year, but in the meantime, if you were inspired by our efforts, we welcome and encourage contributions to both honor our birdathon and support the educational programs of SCVAS, which provide nature study opportunities for unfunded schools who can't afford to pay for such enrichment programs. You can do so here: https://scvas.app.neoncrm.com/campaignTeam.jsp?campaignId=157&teamId=112&
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.
