Gates and Mix Canyon to Blue Ridge

Gates and Mix Canyon Roads head West up the Blue Ridge from Pleasants Valley Road.  Gates enters to the South of Mt. Vaca, the tallest Peak in the Ridge, and Mix Canyon Road reaches the crest to the North. They both give excellent views of the surrounding valleys on each side of the ridge. The lower section of the road leaves the pastures and farmland of Pleasants Valley Road to enter a rich riparian habitat where one can find many breeding birds and migrants. As you continue to climb you enter drier Chaparral habitat with sparse Oak Woodlands near the banks of the creeks and along the crest.

Common Resident and Breeding Birds: California Quail, Wild Turkey, Oak Titmouse, White-Breasted Nuthatch, Nuttall’s and Downy Woodpeckers, Western Bluebirds, Black Phoebe, Ash-throated Flycatchers, Bewick’s and House Wrens, Barn, Tree, Violet-green, and Cliff Swallows, Song and Savannah Sparrows, House Finch, American and Lesser Goldfinch, Brewer’s and Red-winged Blackbirds, California Scrub and Steller’s Jays, Black-headed Grosbeaks, and California and Spotted Towhees are common resident birds. American Kestrels, Red-tailed and Swainson’s Hawks, can be spotted flying above the valley farms in the lower stretches or soaring high above the ridge. This is also the home of Lark and Bell’s Sparrows as well as California Thrashers, Lazuli Buntings and Spotted Towhees, and many of our resident finches.

Migrants: Many birders head to the top of Gates and Mix Canyon Roads and travel North approximately 2 miles to a saddle in the ridge where migrants stream overhead. It is not uncommon to have several hundred or several thousand warblers and other migrants at the peak of Spring migration streaming up and over the ridge. An assortment of passerines pass up the canyons and over the ridge. Common migrants include: Western and Willow Flycatchers, Orange-crowned, Black-throated Gray, Wilson’s, Yellow, MacGillivray’s, and Nashville Warblers, and Western Tanagers, Lazuli Buntings. On occasion Yellow-breasted Chat can be found in the wetter zone of the canyons along the creeks. Cassin’s Finch and Green-tailed Towhees have been seen on their way to territory in the Sierras.