Mountain Bluebirds near Tehachapi Post Office

Richard Sparks — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 21:26:00 +0100

After today’s field trip to Paradise Valley, I went to the downtown Post Office in Capitol Hills to look for Loggerhead Shrike. Instead I found 16+ Mountain Bluebirds on the north side of Capitol Hills along Athens St between Magellan and Challenger. They were on the ranch fenceline north of Athens St. Nice!

Mountain Chickadee Albinos?

Richard Sparks — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:59:41 +0100

This year, for the first time ever, I have Mountain Chickadees using one of my nest boxes at home. I just checked the box yesterday and discovered 5 of the 8 eggs hatched... But what's this? Two of them are nearly all white - partial albinos! What do you think of that?

Tehachapi Birders to join KAS

Gail Gewain — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:56:56 +0100

Thanks to everyone who participated in our organizational meeting on Tuesday June 28th, 2011. After a presentation by Kern Audubon Society and discussion about the interests of Tehachapi birders, a vote was taken to proceed with becoming a sub-chapter of KAS. More details will be forth coming when Angela writes up the notes she took at last nights meeting.

I especially want to thank Angela Guy for making contact with KAS on our behalf then meeting with them to get Read More...

Killdeer nest

Richard Sparks — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:42:16 +0100

We were out enjoying the nice weather this weekend, birding all around Tehachapi. At 4-Island Lake in Bear Valley, we happened across a Killdeer nest. As usual, Killdeer nest in apparently the worst location you can imagine. In this case in the gravel between the road and the parking lot where there's lots of activity to disturb her. Any encroachment near the nest and the Killdeer runs off a short distance and begins the broken wing distraction to draw predators away. We'll have to check backRead More...

Rufous Hummingbird

Marilyn K McCune — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 18:39:14 +0100

A male Rufous Hummingbird is now at the feeder; he has been here all morning. This is my first sighting of a Rufous this season. I have photos of them from 23-25 Mar 09 and on 03 Apr 08. This photo is from April 08 when two males were here at the same time and were fighting for dominance at the feeder. It made me wonder if they competed all along their journey north to their breeding area.

American White Pelican

Marilyn K McCune — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 20:43:18 +0100

A dozen American White Pelicans did a graceful fly-by through BVS this morning around 11:10. I caught sight of them at the western end of the valley flying WNW. I don't know if they had stopped at the lakes.

Our Trip to Salton Sea

Richard Sparks — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 02:20:33 +0100

Salton Sea on January 15-17 turned out to be not as birdy as expected. Normally it's thick with birds this time of year, but we were disappointed by the lack of activity. Strange considering the weather was sunny and warm. Granted, we didn't bust our butts looking for every rarity that has been recently reported (such as the Bean Goose). This was, after all, suppose to be a relaxing weekend away from work and routine.

Finney and Ramer Lakes lived up to their reputation as a heron colonRead More...

Wood Ducks at Sawyer Lake

Richard Sparks — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:00:53 +0100

Christine and I helped with the Tehachapi Christmas Bird Count yesterday. We were the only locals participating, and 1 of only 3 teams to cover the entire area. The day was sunny and clear, but very cold - 25-36˚ with snow and slippery ice everywhere. Brrrrrr! At least the wind wasn't blowing.

The highlight of our area (Golden Hills) was 3 Wood Ducks at Sawyer Lake - 1 male and 2 females. The lake was mostly frozen over except for a small area on the southwest end of the eastern Read More...

Green Heron in Stallion Springs

Richard Sparks — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:37:39 +0100

During the Bear Valley Springs Christmas Bird Count yesterday, Christine flushed a Green Heron at the golf course lake - in the pool below the spillway by the covered bridge. I caught a quick view of it as it flew away, which was enough to verify the identification.

This is a remarkable sighting since it's the first Green Heron we've seen anywhere around Tehachapi in the 9 years we've lived and birded here! The official checklist shows them as Rare in Fall and Spring, but I don't know Read More...

Bluebird monitors off-season lunch

Mary Dufrain — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 00:10:56 +0100

I just came home from the Bluebird Monitors Off-Season Lunch at Domingo's here in town. It was so nice seeing all the familiar faces of some of the volunteers who monitor the bluebird trails during the spring nesting season. All the data that they collect is sent on Read More...

Ducks in local lakes

Richard Sparks — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 04:35:06 +0100

Today Christine and I took a quick look at Lake Jean, the sewer ponds, Sawyer Lake, and the 3 lakes in Bear Valley (4 Island, Cub, and Jack's Hole). There are tons of ducks of many species, especially at Lake Jean.

As always Sawyer Lake offers some great sighting not found anywhere else. It's the best place to find herons/egrets, and this time we found Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, and 2 Black-crowned Night-Herons. The Canada Geese are always there. Another surprise was a Western GrebRead More...

Green-tailed Towhee

Marilyn K McCune — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 16:08:27 +0100

Now that the weather has become perfect for hiking, we hiked along the creek trails at BVS's Water Canyon Campground yesterday. Along with many of the regular bird sightings, there was a Green-tailed Towhee at one of the popular watering holes; a Wilson's Warbler is still around too.

Bird-busy at Central Park in Cal City

Jennifer Selbrede — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:09:21 +0100

For the last few weeks, I have been taking early morning strolls through the park in California City, camera in hand. The variety of birds calling this place home is amazing! I have seen snowy egrets, a great blue heron, a green heron (this morning), a pair of black-crowned night herons and a juvenline, a red-shouldered hawk, sand pipers, large flocks of turkey vultures, double-breasted cormorants, hummingbirds by the dozens, wilson's warblers, a barn owl, gold finches, western kiRead More...

Sage Sparrows in my yard

Richard Sparks — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 15:22:00 +0100

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 tRead More...

American White Pelicans on Migration!

Gail Gewain — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 03:59:51 +0100

While golfing in BVS this afternoon, 200+ pelicans passed over about 2:30. Migration has begun!

2010 Bluebird Trail News

Karen Pestana — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:42:18 +0100

The 2010 bluebird nesting season is well underway. First egg was recorded at Brite Lake on April 19th. The club monitors were at Indian Hill Campground on Friday May 21st and recorded 62 eggs as well as 5 nests with an adult remaining on the nest (therefore, we expect more eggs). Brite Lake has 43 eggs in 12 nest boxes! Antelope run has 3 eggs, and Meadow Brook has 5 eggs. Unfortunately, Tehachapi's changing weather from warm to cold is a major factor in egg and chick mortalitRead More...

Pileated Woodpecker in Yosemite

Richard Sparks — Sat, 22 May 2010 17:23:50 +0100

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 Read More...

America's Birdiest Inland County

Richard Sparks — Sun, 02 May 2010 01:26:24 +0100

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 Read More...

Purple Martin

Marilyn K McCune — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:31:42 +0100

A male and female Purple Martin arrived here at 4900' in Bear Valley Springs yesterday 25 April 2010; they were first heard in the morning and then we saw them on an ancient oak Acorn Woodpecker granary tree as we came back from a late afternoon hike.

Paradise Valley

Richard Sparks — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 02:16:46 +0100

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.&Read More...

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