When famed Central Park birder Christian Cooper wrote that watching birds in the wild opens a window “into the wondrous,” he could have been describing Big Junior and her amazing story of birth, tragedy, bonding and survival.
Big Junior is the female in a pair of bald eagles who established a nest this winter at Alameda’s Corica Park Golf Course. But on March 21, when a catastrophic “bomb cyclone” storm lashed the Bay Area with hurricane-force winds, the eagles’ egg was knocked from the nest.
Rick Lewis, a Corica Park neighbor and Golden Gate Audubon Society eagle expert, began tracking Big Junior and her partner after discovering their nest on Dec. 29. Lewis and his fellow monitors found the egg on the ground after the storm.
“We were devastated,” he says.
Lewis shared Big Junior’s story during a recent Audubon Society-sponsored field trip to the golf course, one of many “into the wondrous” adventures hosted by conservation groups around the Bay Area.
The Bay Area, which is home to several known bald eagle pairs, is filled with challenges for urban raptors. Big Junior’s brother, Little Junior, was killed, for example, when he crashed into high-voltage power lines while learning to fly. Big Junior, who was born in 2019 to a pair of bald eagles nesting near a Milpitas elementary school, suffered a broken shoulder in a collision at an Oakland park. She was treated at Walnut Creek’s Lindsay Wildlife Experience hospital, then released back in the park. At some point, she also lost a talon on her right foot.
An Alameda golf course might seem an unexpected place to find these majestic birds. (So is a Millbrae elementary school, which is where Big Junior was born in 2019.) But in late 2022, Big Junior, who has a wingspan of about eight feet, was seen soaring above the course with her partner. The two bonded some more while building their nest in a tree above the sixth tee. When the eagles took an “incubating posture,” Lewis and his group concluded the couple was caring for at least one egg that would hatch in early April.
Then came the windstorm. Lewis doesn’t expect there will be more eggs this season and doesn’t know if the eagles will make the golf course their permanent home. However, its canals are filled with carp for them to feast on all year, and Big Junior doesn’t seem bothered by the proximity of people. While the couple remain, they offer a window into the devotion of birds known to mate for life.
“This pair is pretty strongly bonded,” Lewis said. “Typical male: This guy is gone five days at a time, but when he comes back, they make a beeline for each other. Even when they’re sitting in different trees at other ends of the golf course, they keep each other in sight.”
The golf course is only accessible to birdwatchers via an Audubon Society walk. Find guided walks and tips on how to see the eagles off-property at https://goldengateaudubon.org.
Meanwhile, here are four more prime birding trails to explore.
Los Vaqueros Reservoir, Brentwood
To get a sense of the amazing avian spectacle that took place in a remote valley near eastern Contra Costa’s Los Vaqueros Reservoir in early June, imagine the sights and sounds of a bee hive – but on a much bigger scale and with thousands of tricolored blackbirds replacing tiny buzzing insects.
On a cool breezy morning, the birds swarmed around a massive Himalayan blackberry bush at the edge of a pond, the males displaying their signature colors — white and shades of red — on their wing “epaulets.” The colony is a welcome sight for scientists and bird lovers. Plummeting populations had landed the birds on California’s endangered species list.
The 18,500 acres of protected watershed southwest of Brentwood have been a prime spot for the highly social birds to nest, feed and embark on a possible second round of mating this season. To attract females, the males make a low, humming sound, reminiscent of a cat’s meow, meanwhile the recently hatched fledglings sing a chorus of cheep-cheep-cheeps.
Watershed resources superintendent Cary Richardson hopes they enjoyed their stay enough to return next spring.
Birds on view: Red-winged blackbirds in the wetlands along Kellogg Creek near the park’s north entrance. Plus ash-throated flycatchers, brown-headed cowbirds, starlings and a common yellow-throat. In June, bird experts were monitoring at least six golden eagle nests.
Details: Park ($6) at the Walnut staging area and follow a two-mile loop around the Montero, Salamander and Kit Fox trails; https://www.ccwater.com.
Palo Alto Flood Control Basin, Santa Clara County
This 618-acre basin of diked salt marsh – part of the beautiful Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve – is a great spot for birders interested in seeing a variety of fine feathered friends.
“On a good day, on a lunch hour, you can find 50 species here,” says Matthew Dodder, executive director for the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society.
Some 250 species have been spotted along the Adobe Creek Trail Loop, which includes Shoreline Park and Charleston Slough in Mountain View. You’ll likely see the California gulls and American white pelicans that make their homes on the islands in the basin. But there is always a chance of a much rarer sighting.
“That’s fabulously rare!” Dodder says as a black tern zooms by during a tour of the area. “That’s a celebrity here – there’s only one.”
Birds on view: Mallards, American coot, American avocet, marbled godwit, dowitchers, black skimmer, barn swallow, cliff swallow
Details: Begin at the San Antonio Road trail entrance in Mountain View. Street parking available. Find Santa Clara Valley Audubon tips at scvas.org
Chain of Lakes, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
One of America’s great urban parks lies along the Pacific Flyway, offering a stop for birds to rest and feed as they make their epic journeys from South America to the Canadian Arctic.
The park’s less-visited western end offers premiere bird-viewing at the Chain of Lakes in the park’s “Enchanted Forest.” Within seconds of stepping into the woods near South Lake, the rumble of traffic from nearby Lincoln Way almost disappears, replaced by a rising chorus of bird calls that are likely to send novice birders racing to the Merlin Bird ID app. Although the caw-caw-caw of a raven flying overhead was pretty unmistakable.
While leading a field trip in late May, Golden Gate Audubon Society volunteer Mitch Youngman said his group spotted a red-tailed hawk circling overhead, followed by a second hawk and what appeared to be a nest high up in a tree. A half-mile route around North Lake offers rustic views, benches and paths leading through the bramble to the shore — and recently, the sight of a female mallard perched on a half-submerged log, grooming her two ducklings.
Birds on view: Herons, kingfishers, egrets and woodpeckers, plus common yellowthroats, Allen’s hummingbirds and pie-billed grebes.
Details: Find the lakes at Chain of Lakes Drive East and John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park. Street parking is available, and there’s a parking lot at South Lake, https://sfrecpark.org.
Kelley Park, San Jose
This urban park delivers 172 acres of opportunities to check out an assortment of winged wonders.
“It’s a nice selection of birds, and it’s easily accessible,” says Matthew Dodder, executive director for the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society.
Until 1951, the land was a farm and orchard owned by the Kelley family. Today, it’s a recreation expanse that includes Happy Hollow Zoo, History Park and the Japanese Friendship Garden, as well as year-round birding opportunities and seasonal sightings of such migrant species as the black-headed grosbeak, which is found here in the spring and summer.
Birds on view: Hooded merganser, the rare black-chinned hummingbird, Hutton’s vireo, Bullock’s oriole, black-headed grosbeak
Details: Walk south along the Coyote Creek Trail to explore the redwood and oak groves and other bird-rich habitat. Parking is $6. Find Santa Clara Valley Audubon tips at scvas.org.