Santa Teresa County Park

Returning from my Europe trip the nearby county park had quietened down with breeding birds no longer singing. I took three hikes around the park in early August covering most of the trails easy of Bernal Road. On August 10th I flushed a Cooper's Hawk from the trees near the trail head and then found a group of three American Kestrels working a field near the day use area. Soon after I ran into two groups of 20-30 Lesser Goldfinches, new for me at this location.

On August 16th I ran into one tom and a dozen hens while crossing Bernal Road and saw around 50 Turkey Vultures interested in a carcass. Some birds were feeding, some stop quietly waiting their turn with others on the trees and more in the sky.  I had  not seen this behaviour before - which reminded of the Eurasian Griffon Vultures I had seen in Spain. The bird of the day was a Rufous-crowned Sparrow which although in range and in the right habitat was not on the eBird list.

Rufous-crowned Sparrow