The Lost Vagrant: December 2013

As the clock ticks on during my last period of finals, I stare at the clock. Ten minutes. Five minutes. One minute... and my break begins!! My first order of business, of course, is to try to make up for the two weeks of birdwatching that I have missed (although I did get my first CLAPPER RAIL conveniently out in the open right next to the Palo Alto Baylands boardwalk on the 14th, when my dad offered to take me out for a walk after studying). I immediately biked from school to the Baylands, trying to find the ruddy turnstone and red knots reported at the San Francisquito Creek delta from the Palo Alto CBC that I missed as it was inconveniently scheduled for finals week Monday. Unfortunately, I neglected to check tide tables so I was greeted by a full high tide that completely covered the mud flats. Fortunately, it was not all loss as the sun was shining, the skies were clear, and the bay was a beautiful shade of blue. I then proceeded to scan through the area, finding nothing of much interest except for the first Northern pintails I've seen since their sudden disappearance around a month ago.
From the Baylands, I biked to Charleston Slough along highway 101 and as I entered Shoreline Park, I noticed that the sky above me was filled with fast-flying birds. There were around 30 WHITE-THROATED SWIFTs zipping about. It's strange that so many would be out as this day wasn't particularly warm in comparison to the previous days and flying insects were probably not on the wing.
The rest of the area did not yield many unusual birds. The usual belted kingfisher sat on his pole at the Shoreline Lake island while the number of common goldeneyes on the lake was higher due to the lack of watercraft on a weekday. The tide was lowering but still not low enough as I biked back to the Baylands through Byxbee Park. It was there, however, where I got the highlight of the day: a BURROWING OWL. At first, I thought that the lump on the ground was a rock. Then I thought it was a squirrel. Then, through binoculars I saw what it actually was: a cute-as-a-button owl sitting, turning it's head to scan the surroundings. Following the owl sighting, I went to the Baylands boardwalk to watch the sunset. A large flock of Bonaparte's gulls flew towards open water, a lovely sight, with my favorite gulls of the area coupled with darkening skies and the sunset's natural lights being replaced by the artificial ones twinkling from across the bay.

Yesterday (12/22/13) I went on my first Christmas Bird Count in Half Moon Bay. I worked with other birders in coastal scrub, riparian willows, and eucalyptus groves in the foggy Santa Cruz Mountains, where coyotes howled beautifully through the mist.
At first, we searched a falling-apart barn in Elkus Ranch for barn owls, which were reported in previous years. However, despite the abundant whitewash and seemingly fresh pellets we found, no owls were seen at that time or as we returned. Then, the raging Purisima Creek, a full 4 feet in width and 6 inches at the deepest, was crossed (very little rain this year). Shortly afterwards, in the cool, foggy conditions of the morning, four California newts clambered around in the open, being docile enough for me to take close-up pictures with my phone.

The morning at Elkus Ranch was birdy, although not many birds were especially "rare". Highlights while hiking included a territorial feud between a Say's phoebe and a particularly zealous black phoebe, a group of 5 red-tailed hawks that soared in front of us with the ocean in the background, and a few hormone-driven male goats that put us on edge as they were getting a little too close after chasing a female. I also think I saw a glimpse of a coyote as it ran behind a hill just as it came into view. The "best" bird of the day had to be the 2 GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETs that were flying about the trees by the creek as we came back.

I saw two very late butterflies still flying about at Elkus Ranch: a common buckeye and a painted lady. I also saw a very shiny insect, Chrysolina bankii, an introduced leaf beetle species from Europe that has become established in the United States mainly here in the Bay Area.

Following Elkus Ranch, we birded some roadsides and then went to the Burleigh Murray Ranch State Park. Again, we searched through an old barn and found whitewash but no barn owls were present. However, later on the trail, we found the colorful and headless remains of what I believe to be a Merriam's chipmunk. Perhaps our owl got it?

The only bird we saw there not gotten earlier was a cute, little Hutton's vireo that didn't seem to mind our presence at all as it flitted actively through some wild blackberry brambles within arm's reach.

The main identification feature that shows that this bird is a Hutton's vireo rather than the very similar-looking ruby-crowned kinglet is the presence of a pale lore, the region between the eye and beak. In kinglets, this region is mostly bare so they don't look as "spectacled". Additionally, unlike the kinglet, the vireo moves slower (still very, very active) and does not usually perform wing-flicking, which the kinglets almost always do.

At the end of the day, I saw a total of 37 species while the entire Crystal Springs CBC ended with over 200 species, being one of the largest counts in the United States as the area covers bay, ocean, and mountainous terrain. This was a great first Christmas bird count and I will hopefully do this again next year!

*Photography credits to Steve Patt, another birder in my group

As December starts (and the leaves finally fall in this mild Bay Area weather), I decided to summarize my birding during November. This was a great month for me, probably the best since I started keeping track of birds this July, although I certainly did not add as many species as in the first month. 26 new birds were added to my list and most importantly, several rare ones. During this month, I got 1 notable ABA 4: a WHITE-FACED IBIS on the 11th at Alviso Marina County Park (although I had seen these previously, the bird that flew over me that morning was a very pleasant surprise) and 3 5s: a SWAMP SPARROW at the Palo Alto Baylands on the 3rd, the persistent COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD on the 30th that has been in the sages near the bridge at Vasona Lake County Park for several months now, and a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER also on the 30th at Ed Levin County Park, where it seems to have settled in nicely after for whatever reason crossing the Rockies, and has covered the surrounding pepper trees and coast live oaks with sap holes, some glistening like snail slime.

The single 6 I got for the month was a very pretty TROPICAL KINGBIRD near the Sunnyvale WPCP and Lockheed buildings that was reported from late October, a bit out of place from its usual dwelling place in Latin America.

My parents were very nice to drive me around on the last day of November and I got 9 new species on that day! On that day, they agreed to take me to the more landlocked areas of the Santa Clara County, which I do not usually visit as I cannot take the time to bike that far. Apart from the birds I mentioned above, I got a PURPLE FINCH at the Pearson-Arastradero Preserve, a pair of HOODED MERGANSERs in Los Gatos Creek, a flock of RING-NECKED DUCKs in the Oka Ponds, a flock of WILD TURKEYs and a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER in Ed Levin, a TRICOLORED BLACKBIRD in the fields around Gold Drive, and a LESSER YELLOWLEGS at Alviso Marina County Park. I also saw the stunning partially leucistic eared grebe at Salt Pond A12. Blurry pictures of the non-conformist:

Additionally on that day, I got to see one of my favorite oaks, the blue oak (Quercus douglasii)! There was a nice stand of them growing at the Pearson-Arastradero Preserve.

Of course I photographed the deadest-looking branch...

The total number of bird species I got over the whole month was 135, a personal record (well I haven't been recording my birds for long anyways...) and my county "life" list finishes the month at 159 species. Anyways, now I have to put birding on hold for a bit as finals draw near and I try not to fail at school as much as I do already.

On an off topic note, a strange thing is occurring with my Abyssinian gladioli. For some reason they have gone dormant over the summer, sprouted early fall, and are now blooming!