Laguna Avenue and Morgan Hill

On Wednesday January 4th I returned to Laguna Avenue hoping to find some birds that I had missed the day before. I added Common Raven without trying and then found a Ferruginous Hawk on the ground on the left side of the road. I stopped to chat with someone who was scoping the geese, and Kathy found a White-fronted Goose for me. I had added three species in half an hour, but had no luck with Prairie Falcon or Golden Eagle.

My next stop was Anderson Lake County Park where I immediately, and unexpectedly stumbled upon a pair of Wood Ducks. I wandered around without luck for a while before finding the reason for the quietness - a Red-shouldered Hawk! Once I had flushed the bird the area came to life and I had Oak Titmouse, Steller's Jay, Townsend's Warbler and White-breasted Nuthatch in short succession. At the other part of the park I found a group of 65 California Quail as well as a mix of Golden-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows. I then drove to the reservoir itself and found few birds on the water - a few coots and grebes and my first Common Mergansers of the year.

I then drove to the other side of Morgan Hill to check out Chesboro and Calero Reservoirs but found little on either.

In the afternoon I took a stroll along Bernal Road into the Santa Teresa County Park - the trails were too muddy - where I added a Ruby-crowned Kinglet to my year's list giving me a total of 94 species for the year.

Red-shouldered Hawk