Flagstaff additions

On Saturday November 19th I decided to hit a couple of spots around Flagstaff in an effort to get closer to year end targets. I started the day on Buffalo Range Road where things began badly with a herd of cows all over Babbitt Tank removing the likelihood of longspurs. I drove down the road and soon found a Sagebrush Sparrow perched up, but had no further luck with new species on my morning drive.

At the end of the day I decided to head west of town to Garland Prairie hoping to find the Rough-legged Hawk that had been posted a few days earlier. I had no luck on the drive out past the village but found the bird perched atop a distant ponderosa on my way back.

Rough-legged Hawk

Frances Short Pond

On the morning that I left for San Jose, Wednesday November 9th, I had a text from Tom telling me about a Thick-billed Kingbird at the Frances Short Pond. I only had time for a 10 minute stay en route to the airport. I monitored reports over the weekend and returned to the pond 3:30-4:00 on Monday and 11:00-11:30 on Tuesday without luck. Then on Wednesday morning, November 16th Zack reported that the bird was still there.

I stopped at the pond after work without my binoculars and ran into Brian who had the bird. I had time to go home get my things and returned to watch the bird for 20 minutes.

Thick-billed Kingbird

This was another county bird for me; a species that I had only seen previously around Patagonia in the summertime.

New Places in San Jose

On Saturday November 12th my wife and I visited some new places in Santa Clara county. The first stop was to try for a stake-out bird, a Clay-colored Sparrow, feeding on some tall grasses at the Foothill College Sunnyvale Center. We found the bird very quickly and it was quite cooperative.

Clay-colored Sparrow

Our next stop was at Ed Levin County Park in Milpitas. We had been munching on a snack while watching Acorn woodpeckers when a couple came along and delivered my target bird - Red-breasted sapsucker on a plate. The bird was on the main trunk of the tree in front of us! 

Red-breasted Sapsucker

Lincoln's Sparrow

After walking around the small lake we then drove into the hills seeing two Golden eagles en route to the Calavaras Reservoir. We found Sandy Wool Lake on the way back but there was nothing too exciting there.

After lunch we headed to Alviso Marina County Park and wandered out onto the slough trail. Things were coming in to roost and we saw at least a hundred Black-necked Stilts, at least thirty American Avocets and a dozen Dunlins, but gulls were the highlight with many Ring-billeds plus Herring Gulls, Western Gulls and Thayer's Gulls in a loose group on a sandbar.

Thayer's Gull

Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve

On Friday November 11th I paid a first visit to the Coyote Valley OSP. This spot at the end of Palm Avenue consists of a 3.75 mile loop up into the hills with scattered trees among the grassland. The highlight of the day was seeing so many Yellow-billed Magpies up close.

Yellow-billed Magpie

I also saw several Red-tailed Hawks, California Scrub Jays and Steller's Jays and four woodpecker species - Northern Flicker, Acorn Woodpecker, Nuttall's Woodpecker and my first Lewis's Woodpecker in California.

Red-tailed Hawk

Oak Titmouse

Coyote Valley

Ferruginous Hawk

On Thursday November 10th I spent 4 hours looking for year birds in the Coyote Valley, which was much greener than on my last trip following more than an inch of rain in the past three weeks.

I started on Laguna Avenue where White-tailed Kites, American Kestrels, Red-tailed Hawk, Turkey Vultures and a Northern Harrier kept me busy until Craig found a Ferruginous Hawk on the ground. Hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds, a Loggerhead Shrike and 3 Yellow-billed Magpies were also seen.