Bob's Birding Adventures

By Barry Langdon-Lassagne and Bob Hole

Three of us (Bob Hole (rhole(at)interaktv.com), Ginger Langdon-Lassagne and Barry Langdon-Lassagne spent Sunday 1 July 2001 on a modified Big Day around Santa Clara County. Ginger joined us from 11:00am to 3:30pm.Our goal was to get 100 birds in one day in Santa Clara County; we came close at 90. None of us had ever attempted a Big Day before, so this was an experiment to see what we could accomplish and how much we would enjoy it compared with less strenuous birding. We also thought it would be interesting to attempt a "Big Day" during the quiet time of year.

All of us are admittedly bad at sparrows, so we probably could have gotten two more species if we had been able to identify every sparrow we saw. Neither are we great at gull identification; otherwise we probably could have gotten a California Gull. And if I could flash-identify hummingbirds as they flew past I might have gotten an Allen's.

Unofficial rules for our Big Day:

• Bird for approximately 12 hours

• If the birds are interesting we can stay as long as we like (not just "check and run")

• Heard birds count

• Only one person needs to see or hear a bird, and we don't have to be together at the time (but there are only two species that at least two of us did not see)

• Have fun!

List Key: (the Lists include only first sightings. The narrative includes significant sightings and some further information.)

• v = vocalized - usually heard first and seen later

• h = heard only

! = new for the Langdon-Lassagnes for Santa Clara county this year (! after the bird just means we love that bird) (Bob lives in Contra Costa and doesn't keep a SC list though he's regularly in the area, so many more of them were new for him for the county - those are not noted here)

We started the day before dawn by listening out the open windows while we were getting ready, then moved out "into the bush".

List for at home (5:00am):

v American Robin

v Northern Mockingbird

v Mourning Dove

v House Finch

v Lesser Goldfinch

Driving to Stevens Creek canyon (5:30am):

Rock Dove

American Crow

Western Scrub-Jay

In the area around Stevens Creek Reservoir parking lot near the quarry, saw a covey of about 30 California Quail (with about five adults), a Caspian Tern foraging over the lake, several Bewick's Wrens and Wrentits calling from both sides of the road, and occasionally popping into view.

Stevens Creek Reservoir (5:45am):

California Towhee

Double-crested Cormorant

Mallard

v Wrentit

California Quail

Bushtit

(mule deer on hillside by quarry)

(brush rabbit in the parking lot)

Bewick's Wren (possibly attending a nest)

Brewer's Blackbird

Caspian Tern

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Driving to Stevens Canyon Road (6:00am):

Acorn Woodpecker (on a telephone pole)

Steller's Jay

Heading up the hill, we found an American Dipper foraging in the upper creek near a known nest site. "She" gave us great looks and seemed to ignore us for several minutes.

Up Stevens Canyon Road (6:10am):

American Dipper!

Back down to intersection of Mt. Eden and Steven's Canyon Road (6:30am?):

Western Tanager! (found by song in treetop over road)

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

(tree squirrel)

Parking at bridge at south end of Stevens Creek Reservoir (6:45am?):

Killdeer

Violet-green Swallow

Unidentified Accipiter (startled the Killdeer, and us!)

Red-shouldered Hawk (in serious molt, the tail was mostly missing)

(a sparrow flying down to the creek and back in to the branches by the creekside)

We then walked the "backside trail" on the east side of the creek and among other things found a very cooperative Western Wood-pewee, Spotted Towhee and California Towhee. We also saw five Belted Kingfishers sitting on wires over the creek just above the fire station. There were three females and two males. They were joined periodically by Northern Rough-winged Swallows. We also saw and recorded a Purple Finch we were unsure of, but were later able to positively identify.

Hiking up Stevens Creek Trail, backside of reservoir (7:15am):

Spotted Towhee

California Thrasher

(more quail and Bewick's Wren at the "garbage spot" off the trail - there were also some sparrows we didn't identify)

h Purple Finch (recorded song with digital camera; later compared to song at home)

Western Wood-pewee (watched for a long time as it hunted)

Downy Woodpecker

Belted Kingfisher

(western pond turtle on the shore below the kingfishers!)

Dark-eyed Junco

Green Heron

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Northern (red-shafted) Flicker

Hutton's Vireo (by the bridge over a dry creek - there was also a large, beautiful spider web over the bridge)

h Anna's Hummingbird

(chipmunk)

Turkey Vulture (the first "soarer" of the day)

Olive-sided Flycatcher (in eucalyptus by the parking area)

At and around Picchetti Ranch/Winery we found Band-tailed Pigeons, Western Tanager, Black Phoebe, and huge numbers of our apparent trip mascot Western Scrub-jay. An apparent adult and young Ash-throated Flycatcher by the restrooms - and we saw still more later. The Oak at the first bridge on the Zinfandel trail was alive with Chestnut-backed Chickadees.

Picchetti Ranch (9:00am?):

(Peafowl and h Chickens)

Black Phoebe

European Starling

Nuttall's Woodpecker (oak at the first bridge on Zinfandel trail)

Song Sparrow

(The pond was only a puddle 3 feet in diameter; two weeks ago it was about 1/4 full)

Band-tailed Pigeon (roosting in the Douglas-fir southwest from the pond)

Black-headed Grosbeak (female feeding male young, also saw more in the orchard)

We stopped briefly at McClellan Ranch (10:30am)and saw our only Bullock's Oriole at the feeder, and a Western Bluebird, among others.

Stopping for gas at the gas station at Stevens Creek Road and Foothill Road (hey, who forgot to fill the tank?):

House Sparrow (bird #50 for the day, our hopeful "halfway mark")

Arriving at Charleston Slough, we were greeted by about 40 American White Pelicans catching a thermal. It was a magnificent sight. We then found all the "usual suspects" at the slough, spending some extra effort on a juvenile egret to make sure it was "only" a Snowy Egret. There were several Common Moorhen, Northern Pintail, Cinimon Teal and a couple Green-winged Teal, and at least two Northern Harriers. We also saw a Common Raven carrying what looked to be an egg. We did not spend over-much time looking for the reported Common Tern, so did not pick it out of the crowd of Forster's Terns. We saw a Western Gull steal an American Avocet chick from the small island adjacent to the pump house.

Charleston Slough (11:00am, here Ginger joined us):

American White Pelican (in addition to the beautiful flock of 40 or more catching a thermal that greeted us, we saw a large flock of immatures in the slough left of the trail just past the pump house)

Cliff Swallow

Snowy Egret

v Marsh Wren

v Saltmarsh Common Yellowthroat (our only warbler for the day)

Barn Swallow

Northern Shoveler

Cinnamon Teal

Northern Pintail

Canada Goose

Great Egret

American Avocet (nesting on the tern island)

Great Blue Heron

Forster's Tern (also nesting)

Western Gull

Black-necked Stilt

! Green-winged teal

Common Moorhen (we saw almost as many moorhen today as Coots!)

American Coot

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

! Willet!

! Marbled Godwit

Northern Harrier

Common Raven

Blue-winged Teal (female)

Ruddy Duck (in Shoreline lake)

After a lunch stop we moved to Alviso. Being SFBBO volunteers (there's a plug for you), we stopped at the office of the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory for Barn Owl and then headed to their banding station and the waterbird pond to see the several hundred Wilson's Phalaropes.

Driving to SFBBO headquarters:

Burrowing Owl (took off from perch at Sunnyvale Baylands)

Red-winged Blackbird (Alviso/Lafayette St.exit, at the pond before the railroad tracks)

At SFBBO offices:

! Barn Owl!

At Coyote Creek:

White-tailed Kite!

Western Meadowlark

! Wilson's Phalarope!

"peeps" - Western (probably) or Least Sandpipers

Brown-headed Cowbird (single male)

Short-billed Dowitcher (in bright plumage)

We then went to the EEC to see a single Black Skimmer on the first island, and were told by a fellow birder they were absent from the third island where they have been regularly seen of late. We also picked up Savannah Sparrow there.

Our final stop for the day was at Sunnyvale Recycling plant entrance to the Bay Trail, where we found our first Pied-billed Grebe of the day, and saw a mother Common Moorhen with six young, and a great number of American Coot young. It was a great opportunity to see and compare the two.

Our day ended back in Sunnyvale, where we found species #90, a small number of Cedar Waxwings still hanging out on our block , near the corner of Myrtle and Tamarack. Has anyone noted whether they are breeding here? The Santa Clara County bird checklist says they're absent in July.

We had a thought, and would be interested in knowing of any other county in the state (or anywhere else) where you can see both American Dipper and Black Skimmer in the same day, with neither being accidental.

In all, it was a great day for us all.