Berkeley Backyard Bird Blog: Arid Mitchell Canyon in Mount Diablo State Park a Comfortable Home for Birds

Mary walking on upper Mitchell Canyon Trail

With California burning through a drought plagued summer, the rugged, dry, hot as Hades, sunbaked hills of Mount Diablo State Park don't exactly beckon.

Mitchell Canyon trail into the heart of Mount Diablo's interior

Even in the park's dulcet canyons, normally perennial creeks chugging along in late August are now fossils of their once burbling selves.

Remnant pools stay fresh under Oak and Bay creek side canopy

Mitchell Creek is 100% stone dead dry – a desiccated artery in an inhospitable place, you'd think.

Handsome Western Bluebirds love the Oak cover

And yet birds flock here in sizable numbers.

Mount Diablo massif viewed from Mitchell Canyon Trail

Throughout the 3,849 ft. Mount Diablo's 20,000 biodiverse acres encompassing several distinct climate and eco-zones, an astonishing 200 birds species have been identified, with 150 species spotted in the vicinity of Pine Pond alone.

Pretty little reed pond is a bird magnet

Mount Diablo is a world-renowned

Top Birding Destination.

Tree-dwelling California Thrasher ground-feeding

The birds who call Mitchell Canyon home are protected in heavy forest cover of Oak, Madrone, Manzanita, Big Leaf Maple, Alder, California Buckeye, and Gray Pine ("Diggers"), sheltered from burnt auburn high sloping, open chaparral hill country.

Beautiful trees take root and thrive in Mount Diablo's diverse environments

Perfect habitat not just for birds, but for all kinds of insects, mammals, amphibians and reptiles. All need water, of course, so most are transient canyon dwellers.

Big Rattlesnake crossing the path minding own business

But the specially equipped masters of the aerial realm – birds – are able to easily find water in the dry throes of summer on the "devil" mountain: in hidden springs, remnant water holes, hard to get to ponds and otherwise inaccessible seeps.

White-breasted Nuthatch pecking in bark for insects or grubs

Birds can afford to take up residence in the provender-rich forests, riparian zones, and lower chaparral scrub habitat of lovely Mitchell Canyon. You gotta hand it to the birds for their evolutionary-resolved, supremely capable, self-sufficient capacity to thrive and survive in any environment on the planet.

Lovely Warbling Vireo

Despite the heat and utter lack of moisture, Mitchell Canyon supports elegant, mature Fremont Cottonwoods, stately trees requiring deep wellsprings for their roots to suck up threads of water to survive in times like these.

Rugged foothill ridges lend dramatic sense of scale

Beautiful, delicate yellow leaves shimmering in the breeze in a wedge of blue sky. Every which way you turn just beautiful.

Yellow leaf blue sky beauty

The first mile or so of the easy trail parallels shady tree-lined Mitchell Creek, making for a pleasant slow stroll rife with distractions at every turn, and always attentive to any and all bird activity:

Acorn Woodpeckers are masters of their domain

Bold-faced Acorn Woodpeckers

working gnarled Blue Oaks.

Rat-a-tat-tat refrain of the Ladderback (or Downie) Woodpecker

Ladderback Woodpecker,

hammering away up top.

Anna's Hummingbird in repose

Lone, elusive Hummingbird

sitting quietly for minutes on end.

What? No California Quail spotted?

Northern Flickers skirting away,

prominent white ass-spot showing.

Gray-headed Juncos

Teeming, energetic Juncos.

Oak Titmouse looking pretty much like an Oak Titmouse

Oak Titmouse

exhibiting baffling variation.

Steller's Jay eyeballing me

Scrub and Steller's Jays

carrying on some aggressive business.

Vulture circling high in the clouds

Vultures lazily circling

(what else is new?)

Bushtit taking it easy

Bushtits hanging upside down

like fruit bats.

Beautiful Red-tailed Hawk hanging on to thin branch perch

Red-tailed Hawks

seen and heard screeching in trees.

Family of Turkeys on the move

What?

No flock of wild Toms spotted?

California Towhee shying away

Even the "bland" California Towhee

enchants momentarily.

What? No Spotted Towhees spotted?

Then, what I think is a Bewick's Wren completely baffles me during several minutes of intense observation, when I simply cannot get a bead on his characteristic white eyebrow stripe.

Bewick's Wren poking head out of grasses

Based on pinkish-brown "camo" streaking on pale underbelly, my guess is that he's a juvenile Bewick's. Juvenile anythings always mess with me!

Ash-throated Flycatcher taking a breather

Then comes the sighting of the day: a pair of handsome Flycatchers feeding a young one through a hole drilled 50 feet up in a dead tree. I watch their down-pat routine for almost an hour, their expert back and forth flying off missions to return posthaste with a insect morsel.

Ashie feeding chick in hole-in-tree

In an unforgettable, lamentably unphotographed moment, one lands on a branch, stationed there for three precious seconds, with a big silvery dragonfly clenched in mouth.

Sharp-edged, dense and heavy Gray (or Digger) pine cones

What a thing of beauty!

Layers and textures and dimensions of beauty

Birds, through gender, seasonal and age differences, are highly nuanced in color, size, feather pattern, and other indicators of natural variation – heck, there must be a half-dozen or more different kinds of Flycatchers in the Mitchell Canyon vicinity alone to distinguish among.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

After some close up encounters, I can now positively ID a Pacific-slope Flycatcher, but even the "common" Ash-throated variety can throw me off, which goes to show my lame ID skills. This pair undoubtedly are Ash-throated, thanks to the ID prowess of Caribbean resident Mr. Binkie Van Es.

Life-giving pools of water dot otherwise dry Mitchell Creek in the summer

But I'm holding out hoping to spot a Great-crested, Hammond's, Willow's, Least, Olive-sided, Dusky, or Gray Flycatcher.

Hawk on Hawk attack?

What else – oh, yeah, the kill site! Mess of brown and white striped tail and wing feathers scattered about, soft white down plucked violently out, evidence of the death of a young Hawk, presumably, having been attacked and killed by a bigger red in tooth and claw Hawk.

Sere scrubland of Mount Diablo in summertime

Although it's a great day of birding in Mitchell Canyon, I can't help but feel a bit let down considering how little of the bird world of Mount Diablo I actually was witness to.

Varied Thrush exposed for 3 seconds, then gone

Get your head around this.

According to the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association:

Mount Diablo from the Berkeley Hills

33 varieties of Warblers can be spotted!

I've probably seen just five varieties in my days.

Great Blue Heron hunting on the pond

Scarlett and Summer Tanagers.

Never-before seen (by me).

Mitchell Rock dominates the lower portion of the trail

Phainopepla, for heaven's sake!

Golden hills and Oak Trees

Yellow-breasted Chats, Painted Buntings,

and Northern Parulas, are you kidding me!

Wood Thrush, I'm guessing

Two dozen kinds of mostly indistinguishable Sparrows.

Dense thickets of endemic Manzanita thrive on Mount Diablo

And many other "exotic" (to me) bird species who occupy, frequent, pass through, take up residence, visit, and drop in on Mount Diablo's immense welcoming bosom.

Irresistible pools of Mitchell Creek welcome idyll-wild reflective moments

As for me, I've seen a grand total of zero of these birds, and that includes non-sightings of 7 Wren species, 11 Finches, and 70 distinct breeding and migratory Waterfowl.

Back side of a Spotted Towhee

Mind-blowing, even if you're not a birder, and if you are, well, then, it's obvious you don't know Jackdaw when it comes to the multifarious, mysterious birds of Mount Diablo.