It’s migration time, so get going
Blink and you’ve missed it.
That’s a shame, because if money’s a little tight and you won’t
be vacationing in Belize or Panama this year, this is the next best
thing.
It’s migration time, so get going
Blink and you’ve missed it.
That’s a shame, because if money’s a little tight and you won’t be vacationing in Belize or Panama this year, this is the next best thing.
Right on schedule, migration is in full swing, bringing a taste of the tropics to San Benito County as birds arrive from the tropics. Many are just passing through so the show will be brief.
As I led a group of people around Monterey County Saturday morning, birdsong was everywhere, making it easy to pick birds out of the lush fresh foliage.
A year-round resident, common yellowthroat, was everywhere. The males are bright yellow and olive, with a prominent black Lone Ranger mask. Black-headed grosbeaks sang back and forth, advertising their location before their bright orange, white and black feathers did.
Allen’s hummingbirds burst off of willows to do their shuttle displays, a rapid-fire horizontal flight back and forth in an hourglass shape.
Two days later, on a trip up Park Hill, I counted four western tanagers as I came up Hill Street. Orioles chattered from the eucalyptus around the small park at the end of Hill Street.
In the last few weeks, the “suWHEET!” call of the Pacific-slope flycatcher is everywhere. The small, olive colored birds can be maddeningly difficult to find, but their constant call – think of what it would sound like if a small bird whistled for a dog – gives them away.
The best place in San Benito County to see the spectacle right now is Vista Park Hill. City staff and a corps of young volunteers gave the park a much-needed sprucing up last Saturday. If it’s going to remain inviting it needs only one more thing – visitors. The park has a sometimes sketchy reputation, but fill it with kids enjoying the swings, adults enjoying the view or a good paperback, a dozen more running around the athletic field and it will not be attractive to vandals and petty criminals.
It’s the same lesson we learned when Old Stagecoach Road became a linear parkway. Once a place where people dumped trash and engaged in activities their mamas would not want to know about, today it draws hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders from throughout the area. And it remains remarkably trash-free.
But back to Park Hill and those arriving migrants. The best place to look for these globe-spanning commuters is right around the play area. Tanagers, particularly, are mobbing the bottlebrush hedge just to the right of the interest. Orioles and grosbeaks are more frequently found in the large eucalyptus. The conifers have their own population. In a few steps, the whole cast of characters can reveal itself.
Given that the park is right downtown, it’s a convenient quick stop on the way to work, or during a few minutes at lunch. The only cost is a few minutes’ time.
Standing there, listening to the chorus and admiring the colors, it’s hard to imagine what it must be like for a creature weighing only a few ounces to hop back and forth across continents each spring and fall. If only they could talk, what could they tell us about the world we share?
It would be a shame to miss the spectacle even once, so I make a point of not missing it each spring. I think you should too.
Prepare to be amazed.
