Sequoia Audubon Society
                              San Mateo County, California

Field Trip Report

Mines Road Trip
Sunday, May 1, 2011, 8:00am

Sequoia Audubon's 2nd field trip this week to Mines Road was very successful. It warmed up nicely and the wind didn't seem to bother us very much. We saw most of the same species as Thursday - rufous-crowned sparrow, Lewis' woodpecker, wood ducks, green heron and phainopeplas in several locations. Also roadrunner along Del Puerto Canyon road.

This is a good time to visit Mines Road if you want to see Lawrence's Goldfinches and Chipping Sparrows. They were very visible today at the junction of Mines, San Antonio Valley and Del Puerto Canyon Roads. The Lawrence's could be viewed in the yellow fiddleneck flowers under the trees whilst sitting at the picnic tables at the bar. Maybe gas prices have kept the traffic down - it wasn't too bad today. We saw Chipping Sparrows there and at the Alameda/Santa Clara county line.

To add to what I reported on Thursday, it seems as though the migrants are moving - we had at least 2 flocks of Vaux's Swifts along Mines Road and at Frank Raines Park (which was amazingly devoid of humans on a Sunday and the bathrooms are deplorable) in addition to a continuing Hermit Warbler, there was Nashville Warbler and Western Tanager.

We saw more rock wrens today than I ever remember and were treated to 2 male Costa's hummingbirds at the usual place on Del Puerto Canyon Road. One tried twice to dislodge the other from its perch.

I want to "correct" something I reported on Thursday. I said that we saw an adult male Allen's hummingbird in the sticky monkey flower at MP 5.74 on Mines Road. I was reminded that any selaphorus hummingbird seen away from the coast at the end of April must be a rufous in migration because all Allen's would have been on their coastal breeding grounds by then. I stand corrected.

— Leslie Flint, San Mateo

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