Belgatos Park and trail

Early in March, Red and I took advantage of the beautiful spring weather we were experiencing. We went to visit a nearby park that neither of us have ever visited before, yet I knew that local birders frequently visit. The park is located in Los Gatos, about a couple miles southeast of where we live. The park itself is nestled in a residential neighborhood at the foot of Blossom Hill, and the trails take you up around Blossom Hill where there is more housing with larger lots. Albeit, these homes are where the "wealthier" folks live. Homes around here can sell for more than $1.5 million.

The weather that day was perfect - a perfect temp for hiking uphill, and visibility was great as you will see in the photos I've posted here (near the end). As we headed up the hill Red and I would occasionally look back to get a view of where we started from. At one point Red noticed some deer grazing. So we took advantage of getting some shots. Take note there is a house just on the other side of the park boundary where the deer were located. (Don't forget to click on the photos so you can get a larger image.)

As we headed further up the hill we noticed quite a bit of bird activity. Some birds we saw but I did not get pictures of were a spotted towhee and a pair of hawks (we think they were sharpies). Other birds that were difficult to get were cedar waxwings. As you can tell from my photos the lighting was a challenge -- we were in a shaded area where the waxwings kept flying into. And as you can see in these two photos we dealt with a bright sunshiny day in the middle of the day.

Here is a chestnut-backed chickadee we saw on the trail. Actually there were several of them flitting around, but this one was a bit more cooperative as a photo op.

We also saw bushtits flying around with the chickadees. This was the only decent shot I could get. These little birds are much like chickadees and titmice - they don't sit still even for a second.

And the clowns of the bird species were there in abundance -- acorn woodpeckers. Here are a couple of photos I took of them. Isn't that a beautiful blue sky behind them?

And this is a shot of a woodpecker granary. See all the holes in the branches? Isn't that cool?

Here is a shot of Lick Observatory located on top of Mt. Hamilton, which is about 20 miles away as the crow flies.

And here is a shot of downtown San Jose with the Mt Hamilton range in the background. Downtown San Jose is probably about 8 miles away as the crow flies.

I can see clearly ...

In my previous post I showed photos of how smoky our valley has been during the course of the recent fires here in central and northern California. A few days ago the coastal/bay breezes returned and cleared out the smoke here in Silicon Valley. Those of us with respiratory problems and allergies can breathe a whole lot easier now. Here are some photos I took today. The sites/locations are about the same as the photos I took last week. Below is a portion of the Hamilton range (the range that separates us from the Central Valley). I left work early today since most folks who would use the library seemed to take the day off, getting a head start on the holiday weekend. I took this photo from the hospital employee parking lot.

Here is another shot of the Hamilton range, again from the employee parking lot. I do believe that is Mt. Hamilton, approximately 14 miles to the east and rising up to 4000 feet.
This photo (click to enlarge it) is looking west from the hospital. These mountains are part of the Santa Cruz hills where a couple of county parks are located.
This photo (below) is Blossom Hill in the foreground where the homes are located, approximately 800 feet in elevation and just about a mile to the south of where I live. The last ridge of mountains where you can see some towers is Mt. Umunhum and to the right of it is Mt. Thayer, each about 3200 feet in elevation. The ridge between Blossom Hill and Mt. Umunhum are the Los Gatos hills. These hills are about 1500-1800 feet in elevation.

Don't you just love seeing a palm tree in the midst of this picture? That tree is actually on the "valley floor" probably a few blocks away. In the foreground you can see the top part of the school where I snapped this photo. The elementary school is just a block away and has open space where I can get a decent photo without the power lines. If you look to the left of the palm tree you can see a big power "tower" and just behind it is Blossom Hill. The big hill or mountain would again be the Los Gatos hills (around 1500-1800 feet).