“Join Sugarloaf docent Dana Glei for a ~2.3-mile hike (~300’ elevation change) aimed at beginner birders. We will begin by talking about tools for identifying birds (e.g., bird ID books, binoculars, Merlin app) and tracking your sightings (eBird app). Throughout the hike, we will give you pointers for identifying particular species by sight, sound, flight pattern, and/or behavior.
On the hike, we are likely to see different types of woodpecker, corvids (such as CA scrub jay), raptors (such as red-tailed hawks), and New World sparrows (towhees) and other usual suspects such as Western bluebird, Black Phoebe, CA quail, Violet-Green swallow, and Oak titmouse.
Meet at the White Barn. We’ll start off hiking toward the Observatory and then take Lower Bald Mt. to the Creekside Trail. We’ll visit the back deck of the Visitor Center, which is a good site for birding, and backtrack to the Creekside Trail to continue on the Hillside Trail to the lookout vista. We will return along Hillside to the White Barn.”