For the 6th year, the Lean Green Birding Machine birdathon team of Winnie Homer-Smith, Bill Walker, Mary Wiznewski and I spent the day biking from one side of Silicon Valley to the other, raising funds for the education programs of the Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance. Fittingly, on the 100th anniversary of SCVBA, we found an even 100 species, breaking our previous high of 94!

Our route:

Highlights of this year’s effort included an Osprey (at Rancho San Antonio!), a Bald Eagle (at Shoreline), and some heard-only Black Rails (in the Stevens Creek Tidal Marsh), all new for our count, plus the always elusive Wilson’s Snipe (at the Rancho wetlands), the recently arrived Ash-throated Flycatcher and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher (both personal favorites, both at Rancho), and a lone American Pipit (on the hardpan at the Stevens Creek Shoreline Nature Study Area). We failed to refind the Virginia Rail I had seen Tuesday in the Rancho wetlands, and missed several others like Great Blue Heron(!), Great Horned Owl (not nesting at Rancho this year for the first time in ages), Mergansers (almost always in the cemetery pond this time of year), and Black-headed Grosbeaks (which showed up on my balcony today, rubbing it in), so the 100 was an even more satisfying result.

The birdathon raises money for the education programs of SCVBA, which is used to subsidize nature programs for schools in poor areas who otherwise can’t afford the cost of such enrichment programs. Use this link https://scvbirdalliance.org/event-calendar/birdathon-lean-green-birding-machine if you’re inspired by our effort (27 miles, 8 1/2 hours!) and want to contribute.

All sightings were recorded in real-time, complete with GPS coordinates, with Birdwatcher’s Diary software (http://stevenscreek.com/birdwatchersdiary.htm). Green pins on the map represent sightings; red pins are “heard-only” species.

Our sightings: