[EBB Sightings] Harris's Sparrow at Sunol Regional Wilderness continues

Hi everyone,

At 8:20 a.m this morning, under occasional light rains, I was able to 
refind the Harris's Sparrow in Sunol Regional Wilderness, originally 
found and reported by Randy Little on Wednesday 3/16/05.

(Enter Sunol Regional Wilderness via Geary Road. After driving past the
entrance kiosk, go straight (do not turn left toward the visitor 
center), and then park in the first roadside parking lot on your left, 
which is immediately after the side road to the visitor center. In this 
roadside parking lot, you will find two outhouses/toilets standing next 
to each other; one is wooden and the other is plastic. The short dirt 
road on which Harris's Sparrow was seen starts right behind these 
outhouses. The short dirt road connects a paved pedestrian path and 
Alameda Creek, sloping down toward and actually into the water.)

While I understand that Randy originally found the sparrow closer toward 
the creek water on this short dirt road, I found it only about 20-30 
feet from the paved pedestrian path, which is the upper end of the dirt 
road, almost right behind the outhouses.

The sparrow was out in the open and in clear view, scratching and 
foraging and associating with a flock of Golden-crowned Sparrows and 
also at the time together with several California Quails. I observed it 
from only about 20 feet away with binoculars. After about 30-40 seconds, 
the whole flock of sparrows moved on toward the metal bridge.

Interestingly, at the time I found the Harris's Sparrow, I had been 
keeping a vigil over the dirt road area for over an hour, without seeing 
much sparrow activities there. And it was only at one of those times 
when I walked away from there to get something from my car that, upon 
returning, I found the birds foraging out in the open, with me literally 
"walking in on them."

I thought I was keeping a low profile, but perhaps it wasn't good enough.

I believe this Harris's Sparrow could potentially be found anywhere near 
the dirt road and also around the nearby metal bridge, where there are 
many thick vegetations with lots of sparrow activities. But the 
significance of the dirt road seems that it is one of the few areas 
where the sparrow could be seen out in the open. So I wouldn't rule out 
any nearby areas, but watching over the dirt road may still make sense 
for this reason.

I waited for another hour for a repeat appearance, but left there 
without success when the rain started to get heavier.

While waiting for Harris's Sparrow, I also saw: Wilson's Warbler, a pair 
of Common Mergansers rapidly floating down the creek (at first I thought 
they were some sort of Styrofoam trash), House Wren, Spotted Towhee and 
California Towhee all in the same general area. Also numerous Wild 
Turkeys, too.

The park gate opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 7 p.m. (Don't drive up there 
before 7 a.m. like I did.) The parking fee is $5.

Good luck and good birding,

Akira So
Pleasanton, CA

Randy Little wrote:
> Hello,
>  
> Today I was birding at Sunol-Ohlone Regional Park along Alameda
> Creek.
> 
> I found a Harris's Sparrow foraging with a flock of 6-8 Golden-
> crowned Sparrows.  The flock was just upstream of the metal bridge
> nearest the Visitor's Center.  There is a dirt road that goes down to
> the creek from just behind the wooden outhouse in the parking lot. 
> The road goes right into the river.
> 
> The Harris's Sparrow was seen for approximately 20 minutes from near
> water's edge to about 1/2 way to the restroom.
> 
> Also, my first of the year Warbling Vireo was seen along the river
> trail.
> Randy Little,
> Milpitas, CA
>