For nearly twenty years now, my friend and I have been making an annual pilgrimage to a back road southeast of the Bay Area. We've watched changes take place over the years, with development nibbling away at the edges and the aftermaths of the fires that blaze through occasionally. We've seen drought years and wet years, early springs and late springs. Through it all, the place has a certain timeless quality and an "old California" feel that keeps bringing us back.
That, and all the great birds.
Great Horned Owl on the nest with two young.
The owl above had been reported on various bird lists, so it was one of our early stops along the road. Much to our surprise, there was a redtail nest just a few hundred feet away. Given that great horneds are known to take hawks, especially young ones at the nest, this seemed like a risky spot. But the redtails couldn't miss the owls, so I've got to guess they knew what they were getting into.
Who knows - maybe the rent is pretty low...
Just a little further down the road, we encountered this Bewick's Wren, who was letting everyone know - loudly - whose territory it was. He was not a shy guy.
We were there just a little bit early this year - trees not fully leafed out, which helps see more birds, but not all the birds are here yet. A few golden-crowned sparrows lingered before their trip north, but the kinglets were all gone. A few butterbutts remained and they were gorgeous in their full breeding plumage. Orioles (Bullock's) were few and far between, and we saw no grosbeaks or tanagers.
We had nice looks at one Cal Thrasher, though he wasn't singing much...
At other stops, we were the ones being watched.
We continued our way to the summit, aka The Junction, where Mines Road meets Del Puerto Canyon Road. At The Junction itself (a bar/cafe) we saw Lawrence's Goldfinches mixing it up with Lesser Goldfinches while we ate our lunches; bluebirds abounded and Chipping Sparrows popped up all over. None of them were cooperating for photos, but this Lark Sparrow obliged.
We made a quick side trip south, venturing a few miles south on San Antonio Valley Road (Mines Road changes name at the junction) to look for Lewis' Woodpeckers. For years, there has been a nest tree next to the road less than a mile south of the intersection. Didn't see any activity there yesterday (but we didn't give it a good look), but a little further along the road we saw at least three, maybe more interacting wildly around what seemed like another nest tree. Lots of chatter, lots of chasing, even an interesting display where one bird clung to the tree and slowly flapped wide open wings. Just far enough away that I couldn't get any photos. What a memorable sight, though.
After the successful side trip, we backtracked and headed down Del Puerto Canyon Road. A mile or so down the road, there's a large pond on one side that is, for whatever reason, really popular with Tri-colored Blackbirds. While they're fairly uncommon in most places, "trikes" love to gather here - to breed, presumably, because there sure is a lot of singing and mating going on. I took a few short videos and if any of them properly capture the "stepping on the cat's tail" nature of their song, I'll add it shortly.
It wasn't just the birds who were singing and mating - at one stop the creek looked a bit more like a hot tub, with pairs of frogs hanging out in the shallows. The area around these two was full of the long lines of black eggs that you can see at the bottom of the photo. [Update, per matching mole: These are toads, not frogs - probably western toad.}
We continued down the canyon, which is actually more of a rocky gorge in several spots. It's less birdy in those areas, but the scenery is rather dramatic. One of our favorite stops is between mile 10 and 11, where bridge crosses the creek at switchback in the water's course. Though not easily seen, you can usually hear Canyon Wren singing here - one of the only places in the greater bay area that they appear. A large fire went through this area in 2009, and we didn't hear them last year, but they're back this year - YEA!! Didn't see the bird(s), but it sang its beautiful song repeatedly. We did see some rock wrens up on the hillside working on a nest, and were startled by two green herons blasting by.
Toward the end of the road, there are two other main attractions: Costa's Hummingbirds (they love tree tobacco, which grows in the riparian corridor) and Owl Rocks. Turned out to be just a bit too early for Costa's, but Owl Rocks did not disappoint.
A great horned soaks up the late afternoon sun in one of the many "caves" in the rock's face. I was trying to describe the location to my friend, and meantime she kept thinking I was nuts because it wasn't an owl, it was a hawk. I was wondering what the hell was wrong with her because she's been a hawkwatcher for over twenty years and if she thought this bird was a hawk... well, that's scary.
Turns out that there was a hawk - nesting in another niche less than twenty feet above the owl. And there were also three owlets - these two about five feet away from the adult (squint a bit to see the faces):
And this one, a little closer to the adult, who was a bit more inquisitive and tried to get a better look at what was going on outside (people often come up from the valley to picnic in this spot):
Redtails and owls weren't the only ones interested in the real estate here - a pair of house finches were checking out a smaller cavity next door to the owl.
After going the whole day without seeing an oriole, a brilliant male Bullock's popped up right in front of the rocks. The snag he appeared on had been previously occupied by another bird we'd looked for all day who finally showed up at Owl Rocks - a Phainopepla. He was one of two males who kept chasing each other all around the rock face.
We missed on a few regulars, but overall is was a great trip and an absolutely beautiful day.
I've sent an email to people who are going on the Kossacks birding trip to Pt. Reyes next Saturday, 4/23. If you are planning to go and did not get an email from me yesterday morning, please send me a message so I can forward the message to you.