Every summer I see a family of Sage Sparrows nesting in my yard, which seems a bit odd to me. Usually I see Sage Sparrows in large numbers out in the desert, like at Red Rock Canyon. So why are they here in Bear Valley Springs at 5300 feet?

And it seems their numbers have been gradually increasing over the years. Rather than just one adult and one juvenile, now I'm seeing 5 or 6 at a time. They really love the water dishes I have out for all the birds. In fact the Sage Sparrows seems to spend more time drinking and bathing than even the California Towhee (who are always the first to bath after I clean and refill the water dishes). Every time I look out my kitchen window, there are 4 or 5 Sage Sparrows drinking and bathing. Funny for a desert bird to be so attached to water.

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Christine and I just returned from 4 days in Yosemite. Pileated Woodpecker was one of our target birds for the trip. Hiking back from Mirror Lake we heard a call that sounded similar to a Flicker, and another hiker claimed it was a Pileated. We searched the area and found nothing, and it never called again.

Later as we arrived back in the campground, Christine spotted a Pileated on the ground pecking at the rotting wood of an old tree stump. Then it flew to a nearby RV, perched on the door and stared at his reflection in the window and mirror, hopping back and forth and calling. Was it "Hey, you! Get outta my territory"?

Later I saw the same bird on a car near our campsite doing the same thing. Then it drummed on the window, loud enough I thought it might break the window!

It's just another example of hunting all over for a species, only to find it easily right in the campground!

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Christine and I participated in this weekend's count for America's Birdiest Inland County competition, which Kern County has won many, many times. We covered the Tehachapi area, searching for a few target species not already located by others on Friday. We were able to add species common to our area, although I'm sure that by the end of the weekend we won't be the only ones to find them: Steller's Jay and Pygmy Nuthatch.

We also added Lewis's Woodpecker to the count, locating at least 6 at Brite Lake at the west end of the dam. We've seen several others in the campground there before, and they have been reported along our bluebird trail at Indian Hill Campground. 

Another target species for Tehachapi is Purple Martin. Christine and I searched Starland Drive in BVS where we've seen them last year, but nothing there. Marilyn McCune reported seeing and hearing them near her home this morning, so that's good enough for the count.

With a strong wind, Brite Lake in the mid-afternoon was pretty empty. But a couple that were there were pretty great: Clark's Grebe and Common Loon in breeding plumage!

Lake Jean surprised us with an Osprey flying over, looking vainly for lunch. Most likely migrating through and long gone by now. Also at Lake Jean was a small group of Tricolored Blackbirds.

Mountain Quail were calling everywhere on Bear Mountain in BVS, but of course we didn't see even one. The morning started out with lots of birds calling and few seen, including a distant Red-breasted Nuthatch. Band-tailed Pigeons have been hard for us to find over the past few months, but today they seems to be everywhere in the high country.

We found 5 Spotted Sandpipers at 3 locations - 4 Island Lake in BVS, Lake Jean, and Brite Lake.

There's on more day left to add to the count for ABIC competition, so tomorrow we're out again looking for Golden Eagle, Lark Sparrow, and Purple Finch. We should be able to find these and surprised we didn't see them today!

Richard

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We birded Paradise Valley today from 11am to 1pm. Kind of late, but last week the best warbler show was early afternoon, so we hoped for the best.

Green-tailed Towhee was present in the field across the road from the Norbertine Monastery lake. And on our way out we found one Redhead in the lake with many Ring-necked Ducks, Mallards, Ruddy Ducks, Coots, Bufflehead, and a Gadwall.

There was a lot less action than we expected hiking up the road, especially at the upper end.  The only warblers we saw were Yellow-rumps and Wilson's Warbler (which was one of the few we missed last weekend in the warbler frenzy in BVS).

Other species of interest out of the 40 we saw included Western Wood-Pewee, Downy Woodpecker, Cooper's Hawk, Golden Eagle, Black-headed Grosbeak, Purple Finch, Bullock's Oriole, Phainopepla, and Red-breasted Sapsucker making it's "mew" call.

Then we went over to Stallion Springs to the lake at Horsethief Park. There are what seems like hundreds of Cliff Swallows building their mud nests on the covered bridge where you can easily get close-up views. At the far end of the lake there were a pair of Canada Geese, a Snowy Egret patrolling the shore, and a Double-crested Cormorant circling overhead. 

We hiked the horse trail downstream from the dam, but didn't find much that was new. The one standout was a small non-descript flycatcher, drab olive-green with a thin eyering, flicking it's tail down. I can't begin to guess what it was, opting to list it as "empid flycatcher sp." and leave it at that!

We're still looking for our first-of-the-season Western Tanager, Lazuli Bunting, and Western Kingbird.

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Christine and I hiked out Sycamore Trail on Sunday, April 18. Summer residents Bullock's Orioles, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Ash-throated Flycatchers and Violet-green Swallows were ubiquitous. But it wasn't until we got far out on the trail overlooking a canyon sloping down to the San Joaquin Valley that we began to see warblers... lots of them. One tree was loaded as we sat under it and zeroed in on every flit of motion: Besides the most abundant Yellow-rumps, we spotted good numbers of Orange-crowned warblers, Nashville, Townsend's, Black-throated Grey and even Hermit Warblers, which seemed to me quite rare in the last year or two. The only expected species we missed was Wilson's Warblers. In addition to the warblers, we heard several Mountain Quail calling across the canyon; and another call that might be a Warbling Vireo (I have to check the tapes)!

Other species expected but I haven't found yet include Western Wood-Pewee, Lazuli Bunting, Western Tanager, and Western Kingbird. We can't wait to get out to Paradise Valley and see what's there!

Richard

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