march-april 2010 the albatross newsletter ~ santa cruz bird club

8/8/2019 March-April 2010 The Albatross Newsletter ~ Santa Cruz Bird Club

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PHOEBASTRIA NIGRIPES

Santa Cruz Bird Club Newsletter Volume 54 Number 4: Mar/Apr 2010

How are the Birds Doing? 20-year trends from our local CBC

By David Suddjian

The question repeatedly comes up, “How are the birds doing?” meaning, are populations increasing or decreasing? What birds should we be concerned about? No matter how one considers the question, the answers are complicated, and one

soon realizes that actual data from our local area to support an answer is limited.But we do have one valuable source of long term information—the CBC.

Members of the Bird Club and friends have gathered each year since 1957 for the Santa Cruz County Christmas Bird Count (hereafter CBC). With a 53-year his-tory, it is the oldest and one of the most treasured of our local birding traditions. Welook forward to the camaraderie in the field and at the dinner that closes the day. Weenjoy the challenge of finding as many birds as we can while hoping for somethingunusual. At the same time we know that the real point of our participation in thiscontinent-wide bird survey is to track the status of our bird populations. This mon-itoring is especially meaningful when results from many count circles are com- bined for regional analyses, but results from a single count circle also reveal trends

and tell us about birds in our area. This article looks at “how the birds are doing”on our local scene, examining 20-year trends in the results of our CBC for the period of 1990 to 2009.

Count Circle and Field Effort

The local CBC is centered at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and extendsalong the coast from Davenport to New Brighton State Beach, inland to BonnyDoon, Ben Lomond and the hills north of Soquel, and out a couple miles offshore.More about the count circle and the history of the CBC can be found on the SCBCweb site: http://santacruzbirdclub.org/CBC%20Report/Overview.html

Our CBC experienced a long period of growth from the late 1950s to the mid-

1980s, as participation and field effort increased, and birding skills and knowledgeof our local birds grew. By the end of the 1980s, we reached a plateau of sorts, withsufficiently high levels of participation, effort, and knowledge to ensure that all theexpected species would have a good chance of being found and that patterns of cov-erage within the count circle would be fairly consistent from year to year. The 20-year period of 1990 to 2009 experienced relatively stable levels of participation andfield effort (Figure 1). Bad weather can affect counts of individual birds, but theearly and late halves of this 20-year period each experienced generally favorableweather, with poor conditions balanced on just two days in each 10-year segment (continued on page 6)

Inside:

Calendar of

SCBC Events

Santa CruzBirds

2009 CBCReport

20-Year Trends

CBC Summary& Tables

Trip Reports

Panoche Valleythreat

Member News

HummingbirdDays at UCSC

Arboretum

http://santacruzbirdclub.org/CBC%20Report/Overview.html

http://santacruzbirdclub.org/CBC%20Report/Overview.html



2 Mar/Apr 10 ALBATROSS ©2010. Copyright resides with contributors

Santa Cruz Bird Club programs and field trips are open to the public—non-members are welcome. People needing ridesto field trip sites are advised to contact field trip leaders. Carpooling is encouraged. Dress in layers and bring

liquids. Lunches are optional on half-day trips. Heavy rain cancels.

Field trips can pose hazards. Reluctantly, we have decided we must publish and implement this policy:

The Santa Cruz Bird Club or its field trip leaders cannot be responsible for damage, injury, or loss incurred by the acts or

omissions of any member or visitor during Club field trips or during commutes to or from them.

Field trip participants must release the Club from any liability for such damage, injury, or loss.

Ordinarily, field trip participants sign a waiver releasing the Club from such liability, but in the absence of such a signed

waiver, participation on a Club field trip in itself implies consent to and agreement with this waiver.

Events Calendar March - April 2010

Friday, March 5

Terrace Point

We'll find a mix of coastal grassland and scrub spe-cies, plus birds of the rocky shore and probably a fewraptors. We may also visit Younger Lagoon, theHomeless Garden, Antonelli Pond, and/or other

nearby spots.Directions: Meet at 7:30 AM at the west end of Delaware Avenue, just past Antonelli Pond.

Leader: Steve Gerow (831) 426-2476,[email protected]

Sunday, March 7

Beginning Bird Walk at Quail Hollow

Quail Hollow has a nice variety of habitat including a pond that attracts ducks and sometimes Wilson’s

Snipe. Other expected species include woodpeckers,finches, and raptors.Directions: Meet in the Quail Hollow parking lot at8:00 AM.

Leader: Eric Feuss, (831) 477-0280

Friday, March 12

Neary Lagoon

Most of the breeding swallow species and the residentMarsh Wrens should be around by now. CommonYellowthroats, Wood Ducks, and others will be busyin their breeding territories.

Directions: Meet at the west entrance at 7:30 AM.Leader: Steve Gerow (831) 426-2476,[email protected]

Saturday, March 6 andSunday, March 7

Hummingbird Days at the UCSC Arboretum

Bird walks, family activities, and more...

See the Albatross back page for details.

Check the online SCBC Calendar of Events for any recent updates.

http://www.santacruzbirdclub.org

Neary Lagoon duck parade: Wood Ducks, Mallards, and a Hooded Merganser. Photo by Wendy Naruo

http://www.santacruzbirdclub.org/Big_Year_Calendar.html





Mar/Apr 10 ALBATROSS 3

Saturday, March 13Southeast Monterey County:Peachtree Valley

This is a full-day trip! It will be scouted—based on

input from Steve Rovell. Birds to look for in PeachtreeValley are Vesper Sparrow, Ferruginous Hawk, Moun-

tain Bluebird, Prairie Falcon, Greater Roadrunner,Lewis’s Woodpecker, and maybe Mountain Plover.

Directions: Leave Aptos Wells Fargo on Soquel Drive

at State Park Drive at 6:30 AM sharp, or meet at theintersection of Harris Road and Abbott St. in Spreck-els, south of Salinas, at 7:30 AM. It may take up to anhour and a half to reach the birding location fromthere. Suggestion: Get the AAA Monterey BayRegion map. Bring lunch and liquids. Heavy rain

cancels.Leader: Eric Feuss, (831) 477-0280 (for alternate

arrangements, call for mobile number)

Surfbird , Rock Sandpiper, and two Black Turnstones

on West Cliff Drive last spring. Photo: Steve Gerow

Friday, March 19West Cliff Drive

Birds of the rocky shore and more, including the pos-

sibility of the Rock Sandpiper in its colorful alternate plumage. We'll also check Lighthouse Field and/or Bethany Curve Park to add a land bird component tothe morning.

Directions: Meet at 7:30 AM at the corner of West

Cliff Drive and Woodrow Avenue.Leader: Steve Gerow (831) 426-2476,[email protected]

Sunday, March 21Lower Henry Cowell

We will bird the redwoods and then the Zayante Creektrail. Varied Thrush, Winter Wren, and newly arrivedmigrants are all possible.

Directions: Meet at 7:30 AM in the Henry Cowell parking lot.Leader: Kathy Kuyper, [email protected]

Friday, March 26San Lorenzo River

We'll take a look at lingering wintering gulls and studysome spring migrants as the breeding season gets

underway for some swallows and others.Directions: Meet at 7:30 AM at San Lorenzo Park by

the duck pond.Leader: Steve Gerow (831) 426-2476,[email protected]

Gulls at San Lorenzo River. Photo: Steve Gerow

Varied Thrush




Thursday, March 25SCBC Meeting @7:30 pmSpeaker: Janet Linthicum

Topic: Local Burrowing Owl Populations

The Burrowing Owl has disappeared as a breedingspecies from Central Coast grasslands from San

Mateo County south to Santa Barbara County.Janet Linthicum has observed wintering BUOWs onUCSC's East Meadow and other campus locations for over a decade. She has also observed BUOWs in Sili-con Valley with expert Jack Barclay. Janet will dis-

cuss past and present numbers of the locally knownwintering population, which extends beyond UCSC insmall pockets of suitable habitat up on the North Coastmarine terraces, and occasionally to the south, as wellas some possible historical explanations as to whyBUOWs became extirpated as a breeding species

locally. She will also briefly discuss a planned stableisotope analysis of feathers collected from local deadwintering BUOWs to roughly determine the owl'sgeographic origins.A nascent pilot program to reverse the owls' situationis under development by The Bird Group:

http://www.birdgroup.orgLocation: Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History

1305 East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, CA

Saturday, March 27Pajaro Valley

We’ll visit this productive area seeking a variety of ducks and other waterbirds, raptors, and other landbirds. Stops may include College Lake, Struve Slough,and any other likely spots.Directions: Meet at 8:00 AM at College Lake, behindOur Lady Help of Christians Church, 2401 East LakeAve. (Hwy 152), Watsonville. Park to left of the church.Leader: Mathew Strussis-Timmer,[email protected]

Friday, April 2Moore Creek Preserve

Grassland birds including Grasshopper and SavannahSparrows should be on territory, amidst native coastal prairie plants and often a few mammals. We'll also

visit some forest and edge areas.Directions: Meet at 7:30 AM on Shaffer Road acrossfrom the intersection with Mission Street.


Saturday, April 3Beginning Bird Walk atNatural Bridges

Our local birding hotspot is a great place to get anintroduction to the birds of Santa Cruz County.

Directions: Meet at 8:30 AM at the Delaware roadentrance to Natural Bridges.

Leader: David Ekdahl, [email protected]

Friday, April 9Natural Bridges & vicinity

At this time of year a nice variety of species is possible, including recently-arrived breeding birds, somewintering species, and some migrants just passingthrough. We'll see how many we can find.Directions: Meet at 7:30 AM at the Delaware Avenueentrance to Natural Bridges State BeachLeader: Steve Gerow, (831) 426-2476,[email protected]

Saturday, April 17Upper UCSC Campus

A good chance to hear and see many of the character-istic forest birds of the Santa Cruz Mountains, as wellas find a variety of native plants (some rare and local)and other wildlife and natural features.

Directions: Meet at 7:30 AM in the North RemoteParking lot, at the north end of Heller drive.Leader: Steve Gerow (831) 426-2476,[email protected]

Burrowing Owl

http://www.birdgroup.org/

http://www.birdgroup.org/




Thursday, April 22SCBC Meeting @7:30 pmSpeaker: Jack Barclay

Topic: Galapagos Islands Impressions

Jack Barclay will give a slideshow about the Galapa-

gos Islands , based on a trip he made there in January

2009. His presentation is organized as a daily travel

log describing how you get around, where you go, and

what you see, to convey what it is like to visit this

amazing place. His program includes some basic

information about island formation and weather as

they affect biological life on the islands. While show-

ing photos of many of the endemic species he dis-

cusses the overwhelming impressions one gets when

visiting the islands: the extraordinary tameness of the

wildlife and the less conspicuous but prevalent effects

of how competition for resources has led to specializa-tion and speciation. For example, the world’s only

nocturnal gull lives in the Galapagos. Another less

comforting impression are the all-too-pervasive

effects of the introduction of exotic organisms—

including humans—on the ecology of the Galapagos.

He includes a discussion about adaptive radiation in

Darwin’s finches, which were the focus of his ornitho-

logical quest while on the islands.

Location: Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History

1305 East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, CA

Friday, April 23Wilder Ranch State Park

This afternoon walk will explore some coastal andsome inland parts of the park, looking for migrantsand residents in various habitats.

Directions: Meet at 2:30 PM at the main Wilder Ranch parking lot. There is a (currently) $10 per-vehicle day-use fee.


Saturday, April 24Castle Rock State Park

Come for a springtime, 3-mile moderate hike throughCastle Rock State Park. The birding and wildflowersshould be great. We’ll enter a long stretch of deep dark

woods and then a long section of chaparral and liveoak. (We might hear Mountain Quail.) Next we willenter an oasis of black oak and wildflowers. We mayencounter Lazuli Buntings, a House Wren, and/or aBlue-gray Gnatcatcher. From there we will go uphill

through more oak woods with several majestic oldcanyon oaks.Directions: Meet at the Santa Cruz GovernmentCenter, 701 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, at 6:30 AM or atthe main parking lot of Castle Rock State Park at7:30 AM (there may be a fee). Bring lunch and

liquids. Heavy rain cancels.Leader: Eric Feuss, (831) 477-0280 (for alternatearrangements, call for mobile number)

Darwin’s Finches

Blue-grayGnatcatcher




How are the Birds Doing? (continued from page 1)

Analysis

To prepare for an assessment of trends, I trimmed the list of all species recorded on the CBC to include onlythose species that have been found repeatedly, excluding very rare and occasional occurrences. Species wereincluded in the analyses only if they occurred in at least five years in either or both of the early and late halvesof the 20-year period. I also excluded rails and nocturnal owls, as special efforts to finds these have varied widely

over the years, hindering any meaningful review of trends. This narrowed the list down to 189 species. I used athreshold of abundance to further separate out those species that are normally found only in very low numbers,

such as one or a few individuals per year. This split off 24 species that occurred frequently enough to merit trendanalysis but were normally rare—such as: Black Scoter, Red-necked Grebe, Wandering Tattler, and NashvilleWarbler. Trend analyses for waterbirds were made using just the raw data, as coverage of habitats with these spe-cies was consistent from year to year, but for all other species I adjusted the data to reflect field effort.

Results

Before looking at the results for individual species, let’s examine trends in the number of individual birdsfound each year (Figure 2) and the number of species (Figure 3). Both exhibit significant declining trends. Gen-erally speaking, the decrease in the number of individuals reflects both broad declines by many species and espe-

cially declines in several of the more numerous species. The decrease in the number of species reflects lesseningoccurrences by rarer species, those associated with grassland habitat, and seabirds.

Given decreases in bird abundance and the variety of species, it is not surprising that individual species withincreasing trends were outnumbered nearly two to one by those with decreasing trends! Thirty-seven speciesexhibited significant increasing trends, compared to 66 with significant declining trends. Among these, strongtrends were evident for 27 increasing species (Table 1) and 53 decreasing species (Table 2). Eighty-six speciesshowed no significant trend for the 20-year period, but some show notable changes if a longer period is consid-ered. Here I summarize results for individual species only in brief. The reader is encouraged to check out a moreextensive presentation posted on the Bird Club website: http://santacruzbirdclub.org/20_yr_CBC.PDF

Figure 1: Level of field effort (“Total Party Hours” ) andnumber of participants () over the history of the CBC, with

the recent 20 years in bold.

http://santacruzbirdclub.org/20_yr_CBC.PDF

http://santacruzbirdclub.org/20_yr_CBC.PDF




Table 1: Species with strong or very strong increasing trends on the CBC (P < 0.05).Species marked with asterisks had highly significant trends ( P < 0.001)

Table 2: Species with strong or very strong decreasing trends on the CBC (P < 0.05).

Species marked with asterisks had highly significant trends ( P < 0.001)

Cackling Goose Canada Goose Mallard

Northern Pintail Greater Scaup Wild Turkey *

Great Egret Turkey Vulture White-tailed Kite

Red-shouldered Hawk * Peregrine Falcon * Snowy Plover

Long-billed Curlew Western Gull Common Murre

Eurasian Collared-Dove Anna’s Hummingbird Nuttall’s Woodpecker *

Hairy Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker * Black Phoebe *

American Crow * Common Raven * House Wren *

Marsh Wren Common Yellowthroat Lesser Goldfinch

Wood Duck * Canvasback * Lesser Scaup

White-winged Scoter * Red-breasted Merganser Ruddy Duck *

California Quail Sooty Shearwater * Short-tailed Shearwater

Black-vented Shearwater Double-crested Cormorant Snowy Egret

Cattle Egret Sharp-shinned Hawk Ferruginous Hawk *

American Kestrel * Common Moorhen American Coot

Wandering Tattler Ruddy Turnstone * Wilson’s Snipe

Bonaparte’s Gull Mew Gull Ring-billed Gull

Cassin’s Auklet * Mourning Dove * Belted Kingfisher

Northern Flicker * Loggerhead Shrike Steller’s JayWestern Scrub-Jay Bushtit White-breasted Nuthatch *

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher * Northern Mockingbird * European Starling

Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Gray Warbler California Towhee

Lark Sparrow * Savannah Sparrow Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Golden-crowned Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird Tricolored Blackbird Western Meadowlark *

Brewer’s Blackbird * House Finch Red Crossbill

Evening Grosbeak

Figure 3: Trend for number of species.Figure 2: Trend for number of individual birds.




There is little of great surprise among the group of increasing species, but it is worth noting that the trends forsome of the waterfowl were affected by one or more very high counts in the last several years, such as the excep-tional showing we had this winter.

The group of declining species is more alarming, as it includes several species that are among our common“bread and butter” birds to which we do not pay much attention. Were you aware that these everyday birds weredeclining in our area: Mourning Dove, Steller’s Jay, Western Scrub-Jay, Bushtit, Northern Mockingbird, Yellow-

rumped Warbler, California Towhee, Song Sparrow, White-crowned and Golden-crowned sparrows, Red-wingedand Brewer’s Blackbird, and House Finch? Maybe we should not take them for granted! Others on the declininglist that merit special attention are American Kestrel, Bonaparte’s Gull, Northern Flicker, Loggerhead Shrike,Savannah Sparrow, and Western Meadowlark. And some species have recently become extirpated in the count cir-cle in winter, or are reduced to very irregular: Canvasback, White-winged Scoter, Short-tailed Shearwater, Fer-ruginous Hawk, Wandering Tattler, Ruddy Turnstone, Cassin’s Auklet, and Lark Sparrow. Some graphsillustrating trends for a handful of species are offered here (Figures 4 - 9), but check out the article on the webpage

for a closer look at these and others.

Figure 4: Trends for White-tailed Kite (∆

) andRed-shouldered Hawk ().

Figure 5: Trends for Anna’s Hummingbird (∆)and Black Phoebe ().

Red-shouldered

Hawk

Black Phoebe




Figure 8: Trend for Northern Flicker (). Figure 9: Trend for Brewer’s Blackbird ().

Figure 7: Trends for Steller’s Jay (∆) andWestern Scrub-Jay ().

Figure 6: Trends for Nuttall’s Woodpecker (∆)and Hairy Woodpecker ().

Trip ReportsPhoto report

~Wendy Naruo

Wood Ducks at Neary Lagoon, November 19, 2009 Snowy Plover at Seabright Beach, Dec 22, 2009




Trip ReportsNatural Bridges area, December 18, 2009

This morning we paid another visit to the always-interesting Natural Bridges area of Santa Cruz. Ahighlight near the start of the walk was a good study of a very pale Merlin sitting in the pines in the northeast part of the park, with features suggesting a female or

immature of the prairie subspecies richardsonii.Among other raptors during the early morning weretwo Northern Harriers (an adult female and a juvenile)headed eastward into the developed part of SantaCruz. This was interesting, as they rarely go much far-ther east than the Moore Creek drainage in this area, preferring the open fields of the west edge of town and beyond. Among other birds of note in the northeastern part of the park, a calling Pine Siskin flew over (mostly lacking in the Santa Cruz lowlands this win-ter), and there was also a House Wren and a Nuttall's

Woodpecker.At the beach a dozen Black Oystercatchers flew in torest on the Natural Bridge and the nearby rocky bluff.The usual Spotted Sandpiper was bobbing along theedge of the Moore Creek Lagoon. A nice flock of about 120 Sanderlings were on the rocks below DeAnza, west of the beach. They flushed, forming aswirling and sparkling cloud as they flew around over the ocean. Scanning off the beach produced a varietyof diving birds, including nice views of three Red- breasted Mergansers.

At Antonelli Pond wesaw a Merlin that

seemed darker than theone at Natural Bridges.Four Common Gold-eneyes and eight or soRuddy Ducks wereamong the birds swim-

ming in the pond. AGreen Heron flushedfrom the marsh, and two

Virginia Rails called. Wealso had nice views of anapparently unconcerned

California Thrasher singing in the willows.The most unexpected

thing there, though, was probably the floating island— a very large section of marsh vegetation that had bro-

ken off from shore, apparently due to a recent rise in

the water level, and actually moved about halfwaydown the pond during the short time we were watch-

ing! None of us remembered ever having seen any-thing quite like that. ~Steve Gerow

Schwan Lake, January 29, 2009

On this walk we worked our way along the muddy

trails of the northern portion of Twin Lakes StateBeach, and our efforts were rewarded with a nice vari-ety of resident and wintering birds. Flocks of Ameri-can Robins and Cedar Waxwings were with usthrough most of the morning, sometimes filling thesky with birds. A stop near a feeder bordering the park

yielded good looks at a variety of seed-eaters, as wella mix of Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Oak Titmice,Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Hutton's Vireos, Townsend'sWarblers, and others foraging through the foliage of the surrounding trees and shrubs. A juvenile Cooper'sHawk stayed perched long enough for discussion of

why it was a Cooper's Hawk. Other species cooperat-ing for especially good views included a Lincoln'sSparrow in the grasslands near the northeast entranceto the park and a couple of Brown Creepers by thelake. Anna's Hummingbirds were in the midst of their breeding activities, with males displaying and females

gathering nesting material. Near the north edge of thelake, David Sidle spotted a female on a nest whichalmost everyone eventually managed to see. A flock of Greater Scaup, which were first found a few days prior, were visible across the lake.

Complementing the avian highlights of the morningwas a fairly fantastic array of fungi, coming in a multi-tude of shapes and sizes and with colors ranging from

white and subtle shades of brown to gaudier red,orange, and even violet mushrooms. We made someattempts to identify some species, a likely Cortinariushere, some sort of Russula there, but mostly justobserved and enjoyed—another aspect of nature tolearn more about, sometime. ~Steve Gerow

Merlin at Antonelli Pond Photo by Wendy Naruo

American Robin




Santa Cruz Birds

By David Suddjian & Steve Gerow

Including reports from

November 1 to December 31, 2009

A most unusual flight of waterfowl on December 19luckily coincided with our local Christmas Bird Count.Unexpected flocks of geese, swans, and ducks wereover the ocean, along the coast, and at Loch Lomond,racking up some exceptional counts for Santa CruzCounty. It appears that weather somehow caused a dis- placement of birds from the Central Valley. Similar unusual occurrences were noted on other CBCs con-ducted that day, such as in northern San Mateo Countyand at Point Reyes Peninsula, but the exact cause isuncertain. Here is a rundown of the more noteworthyaspects from our area:

We found three flocks of Greater White-frontedGeese, including flocks of 85 and 9 at Capitola (DSu)and 40 over Santa Cruz (PB, KK, MS). Three SnowGeese and one Ross’s were over Capitola (DSu), andone Snow was seen offshore (RgW). Apparently dif-ferent flocks of 38 Cackling Geese were noted sixhours apart in different areas of Santa Cruz (OJ, SG,PB et al), with another flock of 16 at West Cliff (OJ)and 72 over Capitola (DSu). A flight of 450 CanadaGeese over Capitola set a new county record (DSu), asdid the day’s aggregate count of 582 birds. It is likely

that none of these were of the population now residentin our region. The topper among the big waterfowlwere six Tundra Swans that flew up the coast pastCapitola (DSu)! There are but a handful of records of this species in the county away from the Pajaro Valley.

Loch Lomond hosted a broad array of ducks,including several species that are extremely rare (AR,WL, AW, JW, PD) anywhere in the montane region of the county. Most notable among these were one Can-vasback (rare anywhere outside the Pajaro Valley),two Cinnamon Teal, seven Gadwall, 25-30 Ameri-can Wigeon, four Northern Shovelers, and six

Greater Scaup. Some of these same species alsoappeared in flocks over the ocean, but the mostremarkable sight was a densely packed flock of about500 Scaup parked on the water off Capitola Beach latein the day (DSu). A small number seen flying wereGreater Scaup, and perhaps the whole flock wasGreater. Whichever species, there has never been areport of so many scaup in Santa Cruz County.

* * *

The period’s high count of Greater White-frontedGeese in the Pajaro Valley was seven at College Lakeon November 25 (DSu). A spate of 11 Snow Goose reports in late November and early December were of 1-8 birds, except for flocks of 31 over Soquel (DSu etal) and 30 over Wilder Ranch (C&TU), both on

November 25. A flock of 22 passed over Struve Sloughon December 24 (AM). There were four reports of 1-4Ross’s Goose in the Pajaro Valley from November 24to December 8 (JW, DSu, OJ). Six reports of CacklingGeese in the same period were of larger flocks, withhigh counts of 23 at College Lake on November 29,and 53 at Watsonville Slough on December 8 (OJ).Aside from the large number of Canada Geese notedon December 19 (see above), a flock of about 100 fly-ing over Lighthouse Field State Beach on November 1was a high count away from the Pajaro Valley (EB).

.

Snow Goose fly-over at Soquel. Photo by Wendy NaruoAnother Tundra Swan was at Watsonville Slough

on December 24 (AM). Several reports of male Eur-

asian Wigeon at Struve Slough in November andDecember involved at least two birds and maybe more(v.ob.). A male Blue-winged Teal was at Struvethrough the period (v.ob.). A male Green-winged Teal

at Watsonville Slough near Pajaro Dunes on December30 had characteristics of the Eurasian form, or “Com-mon Teal” (SH, NA), noted only very rarely in thecounty. A Redhead visited Struve slough on Decem-

ber 20 (DE, CV). A female Harlequin Duck was atWaddell Bluffs on November 19 (DSu). Surf Scoter

was present in high numbers this season, with a recordsmashing 2,928 on the December 19 Santa CruzCounty CBC. A representative high count from Sea-cliff State Beach was 1,941 on December 16 (DSu),and 8,043 were tallied off the South County beaches on

December 30 at a series of observations from SunsetState Beach to Seacliff (DSu).




Six reports of White-winged Scoters during this period were all of 1-4 birds (v.ob.). The Seacliff/New

Brighton area had at least two Black Scoters during the period (DSu). Three were near the Santa Cruz Munic-ipal Wharf on December 28 (SG), and three were atSunset State Beach on December 30 (DSu). Two Long-

tailed Ducks flew down the coast past Monterey BayAcademy on November 13 (DSu), and one lingeredthere from December 3-14 (LG, JP, OJ). Another or thesame was off southern Sunset State Beach on Decem- ber 30 (DSu). A female Barrow’s Goldeneye at thePajaro River mouth on December 4-30 was likely thesame one that visited us the previous two winters (JW,

LG, BR, RN, JA). Twelve Common Mergansers at thePajaro River mouth on November 2 provided a highcount for the Pajaro Valley, where they are seldomnoted (JW). A Common Loon was inland at Loch

Lomond on December 19 (AR et al). A Red-neckedGrebe was at Waddell Bluffs on November 10 (DSu),

and another was at the entrance to the Santa Cruz Har- bor from December 12-29 (RD, v.ob.). A flight of about800 shearwaters off West Cliff Drive on November 3was thought to be mostly Black-vented Shearwaters,with a small portion being Sooty (SG, SL). Scopingfrom a series of points along the South County coast on

December 30 resulted in tallies of 57 Northern Ful-

mars, one Short-tailed Shearwater (plus three Short-tailed / Sooty), and 340 Black-vented Shearwaters

(DSu). One American Bittern was reported at StruveSlough on November 27 (DSi) and December 27 (NA).A nice concentration of 26 Black-crowned Night-

Herons was roosting at Struve Slough on December 29(DSu, SS). A handful of White-faced Ibis lingered atStruve Slough through the period, with a high count of five on December 4 (JW).

White-faced Ibis at Struve Slough, photographed by

Wendy Naruo.

A tilting of seven Turkey Vultures over Seacliff onDecember 26 was a high count for the Mid-County

region in early winter (DSu, RW). An out of placeWhite-tailed Kite flew over the San Lorenzo River indowntown Santa Cruz on December 11 (SG). Threedifferent juvenile Bald Eagles made for an exceptional

showing. One flew south over College Lake on November 24 (JW). One was soaring over Capitolaand Soquel on December 2 (DSu). Another flew eastover Capitola on December 19 (JK). A Northern Har-

rier over the summit ridge near Loma Prieta onDecember 26 was of interest, as the species is seldomreported from our mountains (BB, JD). The 4th

Broad-winged Hawk of the fall passed over Meder Canyon on November 24 (SG). The only Ferruginous

Hawk of the fall flew over Soquel on November 23(DSu).

We had 14 reports of Merlins in November and 26reports in December; one at Natural Bridges on

December 18 had characteristics of the form richard-

sonii (SG et al.). A juvenile Peregrine Falcon atLighthouse Field on December 19 had characteristicsof the form pealei (OJ). A Prairie Falcon was spottedat Swanton Road on November 2 (DM). Semipal-

mated Plover is quite rare in the county after early

Fall, so singles at Rio Del Mar SB on December 2(DSu et al) and at Pajaro Dunes on December 9 (LG,BR) were noteworthy. A gathering of 76 Black Oys-

tercatchers at Greyhound Rock on December 8 set anew record for the county (SP), but similarly highnumbers have been noted here in the past. A Wander-

ing Tattler at West Cliff Drive on November 11-23(SG et al), was perhaps the same as one there onDecember 24 (MF).

A few Long-billed Curlews frequented the SantaCruz and Live Oak coast from December 15-22 (BR,v.ob.). A late migrant Ruddy Turnstone was at Black

Point on November 9-10 (DSi). A Red Knot at West

Cliff Drive on November 16 was the county’s latest-ever fall migrant (RT, JG). The wintering Rock Sand-

piper remained at West Cliff Drive into 2010 (v.ob.)and was also seen at Capitola Beach on December 19

(DSu). A high count of about 800 Red Phalaropes were off West Cliff Drive on December 27 (SG), butotherwise the species was barely noted. Decent numbers of Marbled Murrelets off the South Countycoast included 31 tallied from a series of observation




points on December 30 (DSu). The same effort found21 Ancient Murrelets and one Cassin’s Auklet

(DSu), the latter being seldom reported from shore inthe county.

The breeding season seemed to get underway earlyfor Eurasian Collared-Doves in the Mid-County area

this season, including one carrying nesting material atSeacliff on December 26 (DSu). While this species issteadily increasing its numbers and range in thecounty, we still don't know a lot about what is “nor-mal” for its annual breeding cycle. Burrowing Owl reports included both bad news and good news. Two birds were found dead in late fall—one of unknown

causes at Terrace Point on October 25 and the other hit by a vehicle on Coolidge Drive at UCSC on November 14 (CL). The good news is that more live owls werefound wintering in the lower UCSC grasslands than in

the last several years, with five present on December 19 (JL et al). Another wintering bird was near Wilder

Ranch from December 15 through at least late January(JL, CH, LG, WG).

A Common Poorwill on Pine Mountain in BigBasin on November 4 could have been a resident or perhaps a migrant or wanderer (DSu). Three otherswere in expected spots in Big Basin on December 3,

providing further documentation of their year-roundresidency in these areas (DSu). A male Costa's Hum-

mingbird was photographed at Corcoran Lagoon onDecember 26 (PC), the fifth winter record for thecounty. A Red-naped Sapsucker was on JohansenRoad in Big Basin, just inside the Santa Cruz County

line, on November 24 (DSu). A silent “Western” Fly-

catcher foraged in the forest at Moore Creek Preserveon December 19 (EL). A wintering Tropical Kingbird

wandered the Struve Slough area from November 6into January (HS, RS, DSt, JM, JW, LG, BR, v.ob).

Loggerhead Shrikes continued to be rare in the

county, with only about three reported, all from the

north coast area from Wilder Ranch to Davenport (AG,LG, DB, v.ob.).

Late fall Horned Lark reports included two atUCSC around the end of October (OJ), one at MooreCreek Preserve November 2 (SG), and two near Swan-ton Pond on November 7 (DSu). A Barn Swallow wasat Struve Slough December 1 (AG), and five were

there December 4 (LG, BR). Western Bluebirds awayfrom their more regular haunts included four at

Zayante Vineyards (AR et al) and 12 at a vineyard onupper Jarvis Road northeast of Scotts Valley (BM,KM) on December 19. Also on the 19th, five bluebirds

were on Back Ranch Road (LG et al.), and two werealong Zils Road off San Andreas Road on December 29 (BM, KM). They have been previously reported at both spots in recent years but are still rare. A female

Phainopepla was a nice surprise on Pine Mountain inBig Basin on November 4 (DSu), providing just the

fifth record for the county and the first since 2002.

Following an exciting and varied migration periodearlier in fall, uncommon warblers became notablyrare in November and December, and rarer species

were absent. Black-throated Gray Warblers appeared along Soquel Creek in Capitola on December

10 (DSu), in downtown Santa Cruz December 11 (SG),and an adult male was in the Ocean View Park areastarting December 19 (KK, MS, v.ob.), the latter areturning bird that has wintered in that area for the lastfew years. An immature Hermit Warbler was at NewBrighton State Beach on November 13 (DSu). A Palm

Warbler was at Seacliff on November 23 (DSu).A wintering Wilson's Warbler was in “BranciforteDip” near Ocean View Park from November 22 into

January (KK, SG, v.ob.)A late wave of Clay-colored Sparrows brought

one to Capitola and 2-3 to western Santa Cruz, all on November 16 (DSu, SG), and a few others werereported in neighboring counties around that time.

The grasslands of the lower UCSC campus had aGrasshopper Sparrow on December 1 (OJ), the firstDecember record in the county since 2003. Fox

Sparrows of rare forms included “Slate-colored”

Horned Lark




Fox Sparrows on Eagle Rock in Big Basin RedwoodsState Park on November 3 (DSu) and at Quail Hollow

Ranch on December 5 (AR) and a “Red” Fox Spar-

row at New Brighton State Beach from December 2-29 (DSu). Swamp Sparrows were at Antonelli Pond November 19-26, with two present there at least from

November 21-25 (SG, MD, EG, JM, v.ob.), alonglower Wilder Creek December 19 (KA), and again atAntonelli Pond (maybe one of the same as in Novem- ber) starting December 30 (SG). Fourteen White-

throated Sparrows were reported in November andDecember (v.ob.), for a relatively sparse showing. Theonly “Slate-colored” Dark-eyed Junco reported this

period was a regular visitor at a feeder northeast of Scotts Valley starting November 7 (BM).

Swamp Sparrow at Antonelli Pond, November 25,2009. Photo by Wendy Naruo.

A male Summer Tanager returned for its thirdwinter to a yard with bee hives in La Selva Beach fromDecember 9 to January 3 (FM). Late or wintering

Western Tanagers appeared at Neary Lagoon on November 11 (SG), in Meder Canyon on November 24(SGe), and at New Brighton State Beach from Decem- ber 15 into January (DSu). A male Rose-breasted

Grosbeak visited a Soquel feeder November 14 (PS, NC), and a female was at a feeder north of Soquel from

December 8-19 (DSu). An immature male Hooded

Oriole was well studied and photographed as it visiteda Ben Lomond feeder from December 17 into late Jan-uary (DG, AR). This is the first report of any winteringoriole from the heavily forested San Lorenzo Valley,

where Hooded Orioles are rare even in spring and sum-mer. An immature female Baltimore Oriole was agood find at the Homeless Garden on November 1 (LG,WG, BR, RR, RF, v.ob.). More expected were a female

Bullock's Oriole in western Santa Cruz December 9(SG) and an immature male Bullock's in the eucalyptus

at Lighthouse Field from December 14-19 (SG, OJ).

A Cassin's Finch was identified by its distinctiveflight call as it flew over the upper UCSC campus on November 25 (OJ). This was the first November

record in the county since the exceptional irruption ofthe species in Fall 1996. In general, though, montaneor northern irruptive species were lacking or in lownumbers this season. There were no reports of Red

Crossbill in the county in November or December,

Pine Siskins were fairly scarce and mostly confined tothe mountains, and Red-breasted Nuthatches were

absent away from the local mountain areas where theyare resident. Other irruptive wintering species were present in anywhere from somewhat below to slightlyabove average numbers, with no notable “invasions”

of anything.

***Cited Observers: Jim Abernathy, Nanci Adams,Kumaran Arul, Eileen Balian, Bonnie Bedzin, David

Bell, Phil Brown, Paul Clapham, Nancy Collins, RyanDiGaudio, Matthew Dodder, Judy Donaldson, PattyDurkee, David Ekdahl, Mark Forney, Rick Fournier,Alexander Gaguine, Jill Gautreaux, Steve Gerow, LoisGoldfrank, Wally Goldfrank, Debbie Goodell, EricGoodill, Craig Himmelwright, Sharon Hull, Oscar

Johnson, Jacob Kirkland, Kathy Kuyper, Sarah Lane,Will Lawton, Chris Lay, Earl Lebow, Janet Linthicum,Amy McDonald, Freddie Menge, Barbara Monahan,Kevin Monahan, Dominic Mosur, Jean Myers, Wendy Naruo, Todd Newberry, Richard Norton, ShantanuPhukan, Jeff Poklen, Bernadette Ramer, Robert

Ramer, Alex Rinkert, Heidi Sandkuhle, Richard Sand-kuhle, David Sidle (DSi), Scott Smithson, Pete Solé,Marie Stewart, David Styer (DSt), David Suddjian(DSu), Stephen Suddjian, Connie & Tom Unsicker,Constance Vigno, Jeff Wall, Anne & Jim Williams,

Roger Wolfe. “v.ob.” means many observers. Please report interesting observations to the

Monterey Bay Birds list server or to David Suddjian at

[email protected] or (831) 479-9603.




The 53rd AnnualSanta Cruz County

Christmas Bird CountDecember 19, 2008

Thank you to everyone who helped to make our 53rd annual count a success! Thanks to all our birdcounters and especially our section leaders for their extra effort. Kathy Kuyper and Cathy Gamble madeour end of the day count-down dinner a nice affair!Thank you again to St. Joseph’s Church for use of its parish hall. David Wahle of the Santa Cruz Yacht Club piloted his boat for our pelagic effort, as he has beendoing now for many years. Special access to areas wasgranted by Scott Lang, head ranger at Loch LomondRecreation Area and by Tim Hyland of the CaliforniaDept. of Parks and Recreation.

Weather on count day was quite pleasant—clear to partly cloudy with calm to light winds. Sixty-nineobservers logged 223 party hours (the best measure of field effort), down 6% from our 10-year average. Wefound 178 species, just four species below average anda nice bump up from the last two species-challengedyears. Two species were added during count week. Wecounted 41,615 individuals, 1% above the recent aver-age (standardized for field effort).

The day's most remarkable feature was the appear-

ance of multiple flocks of geese flying over the area, aflock of Tundra Swans and various unexpected duckson or over the ocean and at Loch Lomond. Thus, wehad 6 species of geese this year, which has never hap- pened before, and record counts for several species of waterfowl. Exceptional counts included 134 Greater White-fronted Geese, 165 Cackling Geese, a huge 582Canada Geese, 412 Northern Pintail over the ocean,and a flock of about 500 Scaup parked off Capitola.There had been dense tule fog in the Central Valley oncount day (and preceding), and some easterly winds

were reported. These factors might have caused somewaterfowl to be disoriented and end up along the coast.However, the winds were not strong (and were rather light in our region), and we have never had any occur-rence like this one before in Santa Cruz County interms of the variety of waterfowl affected, whether onthe CBC or any day.

The five most abundant species this year were Surf Scoter (2,928; 1st time ever in the top five), Western

Gull (2,381), Rock Pigeon (1,933), Common Murre(1,234), and California Gull (1,181). Sixteen specieswere notably more numerous than usual, and 21 spe-cies were well below their average numbers. Amongthe species found in unusually high numbers, the Surf Scoter count was nearly six times the average! Our

count of 21 Western Bluebirds was especially encour-aging, the highest since 1991. After a long term declineand even being absent on our count for six years(2001-2006), bluebirds are showing hopeful signs of arebound.

Bald Eagle was a new species for count day; it had been found twice during count week. Tundra Swan hadonly been found on one prior count (and twice in countweek). Other notably rare finds were Rock Sandpiper (found on 7 previous counts, but five involved thesame returning wintering individual as we found this

year and "Western" Flycatcher (5th count record). A"Red" Fox Sparrow was a new form for the count.

Thankfully, we did not suffer too many “misses”this year, which I classify as species found in at least10 of the last 15 years. Missing in action this year were: Sooty Shearwater, Common Moorhen, Greater Yellowlegs (seen in count week), Ruddy Turnstone,Bonaparte's Gull, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Nash-ville, Hermit, and Black-and-White warblers. All of these species except Hermit Warbler have exhibiteddeclining trends on our count. Among species with

very low counts, most striking were just 75 PacificLoons (18% of average), 19 Willets (23%), one Wil-son’s Snipe (10%), 22 Heermann’s Gulls (6%), 8 Her-ring Gulls (17%), 10 Forster’s Terns (21%), two Red- breasted Nuthatches (22%), 40 Varied Thrushes(16%), and 58 Tricolored Blackbirds (7%; lowest since1981). There were no notable showings by any winterirruptive landbirds.

David Suddjian, Compiler

Western Gulls



16

SPECIES 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 ‘99-’08Avg

Grtr. White-fronted Goose 1 0 0 1 134 0.9

Snow Goose 0 26 0 0 4 30.9

Ross's Goose 1 0 0 0 1 1.4

Cackling Goose 1 0 1 1 165 0.7

Canada Goose 4 1 8 1 582 4.6

Brant CW 0 0 0 21 1.7

Tundra Swan CW 0 0 0 6 0.1

Wood Duck 15 29 20 63 10 28

Gadwall 4 5 CW 3 9 2.1

American Wigeon 22 36 43 40 48 26.7Mallard 706 641 852 680 724 787.4

Blue-winged Teal CW 0 0 0 0 0

Cinnamon Teal 1 0 0 1 2 0.6

Northern Shoveler 0 2 6 9 30 4

Northern Pintail 46 0 0 226 412 28.7

Green-winged Teal 15 12 2 3 7 4.4

Canvasback 1 0 0 0 1 0.7

Redhead 0 0 0 0 0 0.2

Ring-necked Duck 116 88 114 124 93 76.1

Tufted Duck 0 0 0 0 0 0.2

Greater Scaup 4 0 61 1 24 8.1

Lesser Scaup 5 1 4 1 1 3

Grtr./Lessr. Scaup species 0 0 0 0 500 0

Harlequin Duck 0 0 0 0 0 0.1

Surf Scoter 351 763 563 500 2928 423.3White-winged Scoter 3 2 1 0 1 1.7

Black Scoter 1 1 0 0 1 0.6

Bufflehead 82 126 141 88 142 82.5

Common Goldeneye 4 8 51 22 36 13.5

Hooded Merganser 4 1 1 7 11 6.4

Common Merganser 21 26 11 16 15 24.6

Red-breasted Merganser 16 14 19 12 12 10.9

Ruddy Duck 34 37 67 27 53 46.6

Wild Turkey 46 69 113 39 42 40.5

California Quail 265 280 301 329 304 354.4

Red-throated Loon 30 59 90 311 161 83

Pacific Loon 324 458 97 946 75 416.5

Common Loon 25 66 42 21 27 29.7

Loon species 51 456 114 47 92 206.4

Pied-billed Grebe 63 79 63 42 62 58.1Horned Grebe 24 26 44 8 13 14.4

Red-necked Grebe 1 1 0 3 1 0.9

Eared Grebe 13 59 46 25 40 22.2

Western Grebe 320 366 306 969 521 449.8

Clark's Grebe 13 9 15 62 22 14.2

Western/Clark's Grebe spec. 506 85 244 469 717 634.5

Northern Fulmar 274 0 3 0 1 38.1

Pink-footed Shearwater 0 0 0 0 0 1.1

Sooty Shearwater 0 1 1 0 0 1.3

Short-tailed Shearwater 0 0 0 0 0 1.9

Black-vented Shearwater 0 6 0 0 1 4.4

Dark shearwater species 1 1 0 0 0 2

Brown Pelican 917 459 101 579 188 367.5

Brandt's Cormorant 420 418 492 888 794 412

Double-crested Cormorant 531 294 242 212 110 276.8Pelagic Cormorant 20 52 37 44 74 37.9

American Bittern 0 0 0 0 0 0.2

Great Blue Heron 23 24 18 19 20 19.9

Great Egret 13 14 6 5 4 11.6

Snowy Egret 38 36 24 19 26 24.2

Cattle Egret 0 0 0 0 0 0.3

Green Heron 5 3 6 5 6 5.2

Black-crowned Night-Heron 8 14 17 13 12 10.3

Turkey Vulture 2 5 10 9 13 3.8

Osprey 1 1 3 1 1 1.7

White-tailed Kite 42 26 29 11 26 22.5

Bald Eagle 0 0 0 0 1 0

Northern Harrier 23 19 19 11 15 17.7

Sharp-shinned Hawk 13 13 10 11 10 12.3

Cooper's Hawk 17 19 14 9 17 12

Cooper's/Sharp-sh. Hawk sp. 4 5 4 4 4 4

Red-shouldered Hawk 55 57 69 82 50 52

Red-tailed Hawk 77 113 128 101 83 118

Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0 0 0 0

Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 0 0 0

Golden Eagle 2 1 4 2 2 2

Crested Caracara CW 0 0 0 0

American Kestrel 40 50 43 32 40 51

Merlin 10 12 6 7 11 Peregrine Falcon 6 4 6 5 7 4

Prairie Falcon 1 1 0 0 0 0

Virginia Rail 5 5 9 4 10 11

Sora 4 9 3 5 4 6

Virginia Rail/Sora species 1 0 0 0 0 0

Common Moorhen 2 2 0 0 0 0

American Coot 646 1032 1213 749 647 707

Black-bellied Plover 229 107 68 67 69 108

Snowy Plover 82 17 82 28 56 60

Killdeer 227 180 266 234 160 137

Black Oystercatcher 19 36 35 25 12 24

Spotted Sandpiper 9 7 5 8 7 7

Wandering Tattler 0 1 0 0 0 0

Greater Yellowlegs 0 1 1 0 CW 1

Willet 65 275 65 20 19 81Whimbrel 76 21 17 21 37 24

Long-billed Curlew 1 0 2 2 3 1

Marbled Godwit 74 45 27 14 13 34

Ruddy Turnstone 1 1 0 0 0 1

Black Turnstone 165 117 154 58 193 135

Surfbird 51 66 34 11 56 58

Red Knot 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sanderling 623 861 214 86 480 662

Western Sandpiper 0 0 0 0 0 0

Least Sandpiper 16 5 0 7 5 3

Rock Sandpiper 1 1 1 1 1 0

Dunlin 0 0 0 0 0 0

Long-billed Dowitcher 0 0 0 0 0 0

Wilson's Snipe 23 0 4 4 1 9

Red Phalarope CW 0 0 0 0 1Pomarine Jaeger 1 1 0 0 1 0

Pomarine/Parasitic Jaeger sp. 0 1 0 0 0 0

Black-legged Kittiwake 0 0 0 0 0 0

Bonaparte's Gull 349 CW 8 0 0 41

Heermann's Gull 901 405 86 128 22 32

Mew Gull 215 413 161 184 236 445

Ring-billed Gull 176 243 36 108 111 131

Western Gull 4178 4445 3162 2901 2381 301

California Gull 6365 4991 1584 2055 1181 2919

Herring Gull 62 62 27 29 8 48

Thayer's Gull 10 28 5 4 5 8

Glaucous-winged Gull 811 1052 440 570 138 603

Herring X Gl.-winged Gull 2 3 0 2 4 0

Western X Gl.-winged Gull 439 537 97 253 50 165

Glaucous Gull 0 1 0 0 0 0Gull species 1176 1136 459 427 925 1277

Common Tern 0 0 0 0 0 0

Forster's Tern 72 134 7 3 10 47

Elegant Tern 0 0 0 0 0 0

Common Murre 92 357 346 1668 1234 411

Pigeon Guillemot 0 0 0 2 0 0

Marbled Murrelet 14 30 8 9 13 2

Ancient Murrelet 0 3 0 10 18 2

Xantus's/Craveri's Murrlt. sp. 0 0 0 0 0 0

Murrelet species 0 0 0 0 2 0

Cassin's Auklet 0 0 0 0 0 0

Rhinoceros Auklet 545 279 48 123 195 166

Rock Pigeon 1549 1515 1476 1095 1933 1392

Band-tailed Pigeon 339 981 299 574 410 519

SPECIES 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 ‘99-’0Av

2009 Santa Cruz County CBC



17

*CW =observations during count week

Eurasian Collared-Dove 12 8 9 63 50 9.2

Mourning Dove 431 357 484 476 370 595.6

Barn Owl 11 11 14 1 5 8.7

Western Screech-Owl 43 40 64 21 61 34.4

Great Horned Owl 36 33 36 27 40 33.5

Northern Pygmy-Owl 5 3 5 2 5 3.3

Burrowing Owl 2 3 2 3 5 3.8

Long-eared Owl 2 CW 3 1 0 1.1

Short-eared Owl 0 0 0 0 0 0.2

Northern Saw-whet Owl 33 23 41 19 44 23Common Poorwill 1 0 1 1 0 0.5

White-throated Swift 25 26 0 4 12 8.8

Anna's Hummingbird 927 576 611 474 617 555.3

Belted Kingfisher 13 17 12 10 14 18.7

Acorn Woodpecker 256 228 244 213 258 202.8

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 0 0 0 0 0 0.2

Red-naped Sapsucker 0 1 1 0 0 0.8

Red-breasted Sapsucker 9 7 7 14 9 9.6

Nuttall's Woodpecker 21 10 25 41 23 17.3

Downy Woodpecker 30 44 28 36 36 37

Hairy Woodpecker 49 51 54 60 54 46.4

Northern Flicker (form?) 112 102 97 88 97 100.6

"Yellow-shafted" Flicker 0 0 0 1 0 0.4

"Red-shafted" Flicker 33 52 47 49 62 63.5

Nor. Flicker (R.-sh x Y-sh.) 3 3 1 5 2 3Pileated Woodpecker 12 13 13 18 16 9.7

Olive-sided Flycatcher 0 1 0 0 0 0.1

Dusky Flycatcher 0 0 0 0 0 0.1

Pac.-slope/Cord. Flycat. sp. 0 0 0 0 1 0.1

Black Phoebe 350 309 287 243 342 258.6

Say's Phoebe 33 29 36 19 24 32.5

Dusky-capped Flycatcher 1 0 0 0 0 0.1

Tropical Kingbird 0 0 0 0 0 0.1

Western Kingbird 0 0 CW 0 0 0

Loggerhead Shrike 1 5 2 0 1 3.9

Hutton's Vireo 57 75 47 65 43 61.6

Steller's Jay 604 592 370 301 294 457.1

Western Scrub-Jay 467 518 499 465 459 526.5

American Crow 500 469 486 518 568 401.8

Common Raven 404 445 439 738 484 368.3Tree Swallow 0 6 0 0 0 0.8

Violet-green Swallow 0 40 32 9 0 8.8

Tree/Violet-grn. Swallow sp. 0 0 0 0 0 0.1

Barn Swallow 0 13 0 0 0 1.3

Chestnut-backed Chickadee 1266 703 788 927 888 1059.4

Oak Titmouse 115 67 79 89 95 80.5

Bushtit 837 757 1097 912 1031 1131.5

Red-breasted Nuthatch 4 3 2 17 2 9.5

White-breasted Nuthatch 1 1 0 1 0 1

Pygmy Nuthatch 257 244 186 316 350 261.6

Brown Creeper 122 118 78 116 139 122.4

Rock Wren 0 0 0 0 0 0.1

Bewick's Wren 158 147 147 155 184 134.4

House Wren 5 3 9 5 6 4.5

Winter Wren 19 28 12 11 23 22.5Marsh Wren 24 22 10 29 29 14.9

American Dipper 2 1 2 0 1 1.3

Golden-crowned Kinglet 31 114 5 46 42 85

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1188 1119 673 434 389 688.7

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2 2 1 0 3 2.3

Western Bluebird 0 0 9 2 21 2.8

Townsend's Solitaire 0 0 0 0 0 0.1

Hermit Thrush 251 279 175 150 190 184.6

American Robin 1979 8143 1622 889 2768 3301.2

Varied Thrush 170 1548 8 108 40 261.9

Wrentit 146 104 142 118 111 116.6

Northern Mockingbird 39 45 39 40 62 49.5

California Thrasher 28 23 20 17 24 19

European Starling 1928 1736 1690 1514 1268 1557.2

SPECIES 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 ‘99-’08Avg

American Pipit 342 258 204 131 88 132

Cedar Waxwing 557 1163 551 272 980 645

Tennessee Warbler 0 1 0 0 0 0

Orange-crowned Warbler 14 10 6 10 9 9

Nashville Warbler 1 0 0 0 0 1

Cape May Warbler 0 0 0 CW 0

Black-throated Blue Warbler 0 0 1 0 0 0

Y.-rump. Warbler (form?) 440 221 306 312 385 352

"Myrtle" Warbler 188 107 209 136 118 148

"Audubon's" Warbler 514 356 323 338 452 449Black-thr. Gray Warbler 2 0 0 1 1 1

Townsend's Warbler 487 593 298 269 200 371

Hermit Warbler 1 1 0 1 0 2

Townsend's x Hermit Warb. 1 0 0 0 0 0

Prairie Warbler 0 0 0 0 0 0

Palm Warbler CW 2 0 1 0 0

Black-and-White Warbler 1 0 0 0 0 0

American Redstart 0 0 1 0 0 0

Northern Waterthrush 0 1 0 0 0 0

Common Yellowthroat 59 58 38 23 31 27

Wilson's Warbler 1 0 0 1 0 0

Spotted Towhee 206 219 182 182 192 166

California Towhee 533 555 338 378 494 429

Chipping Sparrow 1 1 0 0 0 0

Lark Sparrow 0 0 0 0 0 0Savannah Sparrow 58 34 142 48 55 79

Grasshopper Sparrow 0 0 0 0 0 0

Fox Sparrow (Sooty) 198 243 149 88 70 125

Fox Sparrow (Red) 0 0 0 0 1

Song Sparrow 351 334 158 173 308 251

Lincoln's Sparrow 51 54 98 34 68 43

Swamp Sparrow 1 3 0 1 1

White-throated Sparrow 10 17 5 11 2 9

Harris's Sparrow 0 0 0 0 0 0

White-crowned Sparrow 1210 1369 681 763 750 912

Golden-crowned Sparrow 1804 1550 1357 1052 1023 1244

Dk.-eyed "Oregon" Junco 1342 1021 869 610 756 1032

Dk.-eyed "Slate-col." Junco 0 5 1 1 1 1

Summer Tanager 0 0 1 1 0 0

Western Tanager 1 1 0 1 1 0Tanager sp. 0 0 0 0 0 0

Rose-breasted Grosbeak 0 0 0 1 1 0

Black-headed Grosbeak 1 1 0 0 0 0

Indigo Bunting 0 0 0 0 0 0

Red-winged Blackbird 195 1284 708 255 461 599

Tricolored Blackbird 2420 1680 680 867 58 836

Western Meadowlark 186 302 197 289 287 291

Brewer's Blackbird 2384 1929 1216 1471 916 1619

Brown-headed Cowbird 27 17 17 15 28 24

Hooded Oriole 0 0 0 0 CW 0

Bullock's Oriole 0 0 0 0 1 0

Purple Finch 76 168 201 184 113 12

House Finch 1036 762 761 655 775 86

Red Crossbill 8 0 0 0 0 3

Pine Siskin 75 28 134 595 148 353Lesser Goldfinch 92 100 353 315 238 201

Lawrence's Goldfinch 0 0 0 0 0 0

American Goldfinch 196 409 819 815 584 485

Evening Grosbeak 0 0 0 0 0 0

House Sparrow 88 66 66 64 111 93

No. of Individuals 53511 59126 37042 38900 41615 4407

No. of Species 183 179 165 171 178 181

No. of Observers 65 66 73 70 69 74

Total Daytime Field Hours 244 236 254 227 223 23

SPECIES 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 ‘99-’0Av




Major Solar Energy Project

Proposed for Panoche Valley

Panoche Valley, in the remote hills of eastern SanBenito County, has for years been a favorite destina-

tion for Central California birders. This area has a par-ticular historical link with the Santa Cruz Bird Club. Itwas largely the explorations of SCBC members— especially Carolyn Frederickson and Steve Allison— that initially brought the avian riches of the Panoche

area to the attention of the birding community. In addi-tion to holding a good variety of the characteristic birdspecies of the California interior foothills, this valley'sremoteness and very limited development haveallowed it to remain a home for several declining andendangered species. The open short-grass fields of the

valley floor are among the shrinking list of spots that provide wintering habitat to Mountain Plovers. Somespecialized mammal and reptile species that formerlyinhabited much of the western San Joaquin Valley stillfind good habitat here, including San Joaquin Kit Fox,San Joaquin Antelope Ground Squirrel, and Blunt-

nosed Leopard Lizard, among others. Also, a number of rare native plant species and plant communities can be found in this valley and the surrounding hills

Things might soon change significantly in the

Panoche Valley, however, as very large scale solar energy development may be located here. The devel-

oper, Solargen Energy, Inc., would like to begin con-struction within a year on the first phase of a projectthat would be built in several stages over about adecade, eventually covering almost the entire valleyfloor with over 3 million solar panels. While solar energy in itself is obviously a worthwhile alternative to

the use of fossil fuels and other polluting energysources, there are significant questions about theenvironmental wisdom of locating such an enormous

project in a spot that holds such important wildliferesources..

To learn more about this proposal, there are a number of places to go for information. A newspaper arti-

cle was recently published in the San Jose Mercury News (and reprinted in other California newspapers).

This article gives the basic details of the story, includ-ing quotes from proponents and opponents of the proj-ect, though it does seem to give somewhat greater weight to the proponents point of view. It can be found

online at this address:

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14050919?nclick_check=1

If you would like to read the “Initial Study” pre- pared by Solargen in support of their proposal, it isavailable here:

http://www.whack.org/~kevin/panoche/Panoche_Valley_Solar_Farm_Initial_Study.pdf

Among those presenting the other side of the issue

is a group called “Save Panoche Valley”, organized primarily by small farmers who live and work in thevalley itself. They have a website at this address:

http://www.savepanochevalley.org/

and a Facebook page with updates and discussionhere:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Panoche-Val-

ley/233097175960.Finally, a thoughtful piece by Bob Power discussing

the implications of this sort of project is in the January-February 2010 issue of The Avocet, the newsletter of the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, availableonline at this address:

http://www.scvas.org/pdf/avocet_issues/

2010_jan_feb_avocet.pdf

~Steve Gerow

Prairie Falcon

Loggerhead Shrike






http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Panoche-Valley/233097175960


http://www.scvas.org/pdf/avocet_issues/2010_jan_feb_avocet.pdf













Member NewseBirder of the Month

Our own David Suddjian was selected as the January2010 eBirder of the month. Here’s the short story from

the eBird website.

David is relatively new to eBird, but has had atremendous impact on the project in Santa Cruz County, California. Since April of 2009, David has submitted over 5,000 complete checklists from nearly 2,000 locations (he loves point counts!). David's dedication and drive, along withthe huge impact he's had on our ability to under- stand the birds of Santa Cruz has earned our respect and admiration.

David, on behalf of everyone at eBird, congratu-

lations on being selected as our next eBirder of the month.

Name: David Suddjian Residence: Santa Cruz County, CaliforniaYears eBirding : 1eBird Life List : 360 Number of eBird locations: 1970 Number of complete eBird checklists: 5494

A longer telling of David’s eBird adventures is at:

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/ebirder-of-the-month

Submission for the

Albatross—Guidelines

In addition to regular features—calendar, SantaCruz Birds, trip reports—the newsletter caninclude almost anything related to birding ingeneral and to local birding in particular. Depend-ing on space, submissions of any of the followingare welcome:

• Feature articles

• Birding event announcements

• Stories about birders, serious or comic

• Reviews of birding literature or guides

• Conservation & outreach reports/stories• Birding tips, descriptions of local sites

• Filler tidbits: Quotes or images

• Photos of people at our events (jpg, tif)

If you wish to submit a large article, please contactme about it before the submission deadline.

I accept plain text, Word, or PDF files. Send items by email to: [email protected]

New SCBC

Members

Welcome!

Mary Lorey 1/10Noelle Antolin 1/10

Joan & George Hardie 1/10

Janell Hillman 1/10

Joan Barton 2/10

Assembling

T h e

Albatross

Input deadline for

of the Albatross—

May/Jun 2010 issue

April 2, 2010





The ALBATROSS

is published fivetimes a year bythe Santa CruzBird Club. Seethe online versionand past issues onthe SCBC website,

http://santacruzbirdclub.org/

Santa Cruz Bird Club

P.O. Box 1304

Santa Cruz, CA 95061

Bird Club websitehttp://santacruzbirdclub.org/

Officers

President & Treasurer Steve Gerow (831)426-2476

[email protected]

ProgramsRoger Wolfe (831)475-9465

[email protected]

Field TripsPhil Brown (831)420-1350

[email protected]

ConservationMatthew Strusis-Timmer

(831)[email protected]

History & Bird RecordsDavid Suddjian (831)479-9603

[email protected]

HospitalityKathy Kuyper

[email protected]

OutreachBernadette Ramer

(831)426-7342 [email protected]

Membership & Circulation

David Ekdahl (831)[email protected]

SecretaryJeff Wall

[email protected]

Webmaster Barry McLaughlin

(831)423-7103 [email protected]

Albatross Editor Judy Donaldson (831) 465-9006

[email protected]

Join the Santa Cruz Bird Club

Enjoy walks in and around the County of Santa Cruz, discounted boat trips on

Monterey Bay, summer picnics and annual dinners, meetings September through May

featuring informative, illustrated talks on wild birds and related topics, and receive

the bimonthly newsletter, The Albatross. Memberships run June-May.

Dues are $20 Individual, $25 Family, $5 Youth, $400 Life.

Make checks payable to Santa Cruz Bird Club and mail to

Box 1304 Santa Cruz CA 95061 Attention: Membership Chairman

Printed on recycled paper

FIRST CLASS MAILU.S. POSTAGE PAID

MAILED FROM SANTA CRUZ, CAPERMIT NO. 74

Hummingbird Daysat the UCSC Arboretum

Saturday, March 6 & Sunday, March 7

Children’s activities and the main activities are held from 10:00 a.m. to4:00 p.m. each day. Schedules will soon be posted for hummingbird tours,kid’s hummingbird tours, or plants-that-attract-hummingbirds tours.

General birdwatching tours will start at 8:00 a.m. sharp each day. You must

sign up for these in advance at (831) 427-2998 or on the website:http://arboretum.ucsc.edu

The website will have more details as we get closer to the date.

Admission— Adults: $5.00, Children 13-17: $2.00, 12 & under: FREE,UCSC Students, Arboretum members, and volunteers: FREE.

Volunteers needed!

We are looking for people to lead birding tours, staff the crafts tables, andhelp with other activities. To volunteer, please call the office at:

(831) 427-2998. Volunteer tour leaders, request extension 105.

~Stephen McCabe



http://arboretum.ucsc.edu/

http://arboretum.ucsc.edu/




march-april 2010 the albatross newsletter ~ santa cruz bird club

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