Focus on California |
 Arnel Guanlao, despite having a full-time job, spends his weekends wandering around the Bay Area checking out the trees, birds, wildflowers, critters, and whatever else crosses his path. Luckily for us, he enjoys sharing his findings with others. Here's his report dated March 3, 1998. Hi Carol: With the break in the rainy weather, I decided to visit Joseph D. Grant County Park in the Hamilton Range east of San Jose. The prolonged storminess of the past few months has made its mark here. Heavy rain and winds have felled trees throughout the park and caused huge boughs and branches to come crashing down on the trails and hillsides. Some of the trails have severe erosion in spots, although all of the trails are now passable. The soggy ground has also been trampled under by wild boars rooting for food in the underbrush of wooded areas along the riparian corridors, as well as cows grazing on the hillsides, leaving the park susceptible to severe erosion if the heavy rains resume. (Why the Santa Clara County parks district allows cows to graze on its land under these conditions is beyond me!) Despite the damage, this park is still well worth a visit, as there is an incredible diversity of wildlife here (especially birds). The early spring wildflowers, though struggling a bit with the damage caused by the boars, are nevertheless also beginning to make their appearance. Here is a rundown of what I saw: Wildlife: This is an excellent park for viewing birds! Though birdwatching here is best later in the spring, you can still find many of your typical "California" birds here, and the birdwatching only improves from here to the end of spring! Waterfowl and wading birds can be found in the park's five popular lakes. Grant Lake, near the park's northern boundary, is the largest; here you can observe and photograph ruddy duck, American coot, Canada goose, and great blue heron. During my visit, there were three great blue herons hunting along the lakes northern shore; apparently there is a heron rookery nearby, but I did not see it during my visit. On McCreery Lake, you can observe bufflehead, more American coot, and double-crested cormorant. The cormorant that I saw displayed an unusual behavior of spreading its wings out to dry while it was floating on the water; I usually do not see them do this unless they are on shore or perched in a tree. Raptors can be sighted soaring overhead throughout the park. Obviously, open grassy areas provide the best venue for watching them. One of the best viewing areas is along the Canada de Pala trail, where I saw red-tailed hawks, American kestrels, and at least two or three dozen turkey vultures gliding on the thermals. There is supposed to be a large turkey vulture roost in the hills to the immediate west of the park, which would explain their large numbers here. It was certainly an impressive sight to watch them rise towards the sunlight, almost in unison, once the morning fog had burned off! I carefully scanned each of the turkey vultures to see if any of them were actually golden eagles in disguise; golden eagles closely resemble the vultures when they are viewed from below. Golden eagles have been reported here in the past, although they are fairly uncommon; sadly, my efforts failed to turn up even one. Maybe next time.... Small passerines and woodpeckers are plentiful in the wooded riparian corridors near the Visitor's Center, along the Hotel Loop Trail, and especially along the Hall's Valley Trail. During the course of my visit, I saw acorn woodpecker, northern flicker, Nuttall's woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, oak titmouse, bushtit, mourning dove, western scrub jay, black phoebe, Anna's hummingbird, Bewick's wren, ruby-crowned kinglet, western bluebird, golden-crowned sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, hermit thrush, European starling, American crow, common raven, yellow-rumped warbler, yellow-billed magpie, dark-eyed junco, and California towhee. The western bluebirds are unusually numerous here, as the park district has set up nesting boxes for them throughout the area. If you don't mind a nesting box in your picture, you will find that these are excellent places to photograph the bluebirds. Open grassy areas aren't as rich in bird life as the wooded areas are, but such locations can still turn up California towhee, more yellow-billed magpie, and western meadowlark. The wet, weedy area between the Visitor's Center and the park's northern entrance is a good place to find red-winged blackbirds. Besides the birds, other animals are beginning to stir with the onset of spring. Most obvious are the California ground squirrels, which dig numerous holes on dry slopes throughout the area. These tough little critters have survived the winter in relatively good shape, and I observed one that was cleaning out its hole after a cow had stepped in it! There was a loud chorus of frogs in the dense underbrush along Arroyo Aguague Creek, which flows out from the north end of Grant Lake; however, the underbrush here is too thick for you to actually see them in adult form. You can, however, see them as tadpoles in the murky waters of the ditch that runs along the nearby Canal Trail. Judging by the number of tracks impressed in the mud along the Canal Trail, this location also seems to be popular with the local deer. Racoons, wild turkeys, bobcats, and even mountain lions have all been sighted here, although they all usually keep their distance from human beings. More dangerous are the wild boars, which you may actually find during your visit if you venture out along one of the more secluded trails. If you do see a boar, do not approach them; their tusks can be lethal weapons. Wildflowers: Despite the damage that the wild boars have caused along the Hall's Valley Trail, this is still one of the best places to find the first of the spring wildflowers: hound's tongue (Cynoglossum grande), California milkmaids (Cardamine californica), hillside gooseberry (Ribes californicum var. californicum), johnny jump-up (Viola pedunculata), and scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis). The delicate flowers of the Henderson's shooting stars (Dodecatheon hendersonii) have unfurled themselves along this trail, as well. In amongst them was another species of shooting star with much longer leaves; this was probably the padre's shooting star (Dodecatheon clevelandii ssp. patulum). The Los Huecos trail is mostly flowerless; however, if you keep your eyes open, you can find red maids (Calandrinia ciliata) blooming along the trailside. The field to the east of the Visitor's Center is a good place to find field mustard (Brassica rapa). Throughout the park, look for California buttercup (Ranunculus californicus), common peppergrass (Lepidium nitidum var. nitidum), shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), miner's lettuce (Calytonia perfoliata), common chickweed (Stellaria media), and summer mustard (Hirschfeldia incana). Joseph D. Grant County Park is at an elevation of maybe 2000 feet, so spring tends to arrive here a little later than it does at lower elevations. If you missed anything at the lower elevation because of the heavy rains, you can always go up in elevation a week or two later to find it. Mushrooms: The mushrooms have begun to fade with the drier weather of the last week. Here and there, you can still find good examples of witch's butter (Tremella mesenterica), gilled polypore (Lenzites betulina), turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) and false turkey tail (Stereum hirsutum), but the mushroom season here has reached a temporary hiatus until the next batch of good rain. However, the fallen trees and the large amount of woody debris on the ground guarantees some interesting mushroom seasons here for the next few years! TO GET THERE: In the San Francisco Bay Area, take Highway 680 to Alum Rock Road and proceed 3 miles to Mt. Hamilton Road. Make a right turn onto Mount Hamilton Road and proceed 8 twisty miles through some beautiful countryside to the park entrance. OR, take Highway 101 to Tully Road. Go east on Tully for 5 not-so-scenic miles for about two miles, where Tully turns into Quimby Road. Continue east along Quimby another 7 miles to the park entrance. The last 5 miles along Quimby are VERY twisty; drive it cautiously. There is a $4.00 parking fee on weekends, but no parking fee on weekdays. If we get any rain, you may want to call Caltrans or the City of San Jose to see if Mt. Hamilton Road or Quimby Roads are open, as they have been subject to mudslides all winter long. ©1998 Arnel Guanlao |
