I am writing here while missiles are exploding over my head... What else is there to do other than reminisce about better days and hope for better days ahead.
After the first two full days of birding in California, I had to slow down a bit because of the Stanford conference I was taking part in. I had time only for quick pre-breakfast sessions on Stanford Uni campus and in nearby Palo Alto. My initial intention was to see enough birds to maintain my eBird checklist streak. However, urban birding in Palo Alto and Stanford was really enjoyable. I appreciated the common urban birds - good diversity, and several attractive species.
Acorn Woodpecker - this is a female (red rear crown), of ssp. bairdi I presume, with a broad pale forehead, solid black chest, and flank streaks.
American Robin is very common but always cool. This male singing by a main road has some skin infection on its legs (known as 'scaly legs'), likely caused by Cnemidocoptic mites or papillomavirus.
One morning I birded with Marty around Lake Lagunita, at the south side of campus, which was actually very nice. A Virginia Rail was calling from the little remaining wet vegetation, listen to it here, somewhat faint, at ''5 and ''14:
Lake Lagunita
Western Bluebird is a common urban feature too, but this male caught the early morning sun so beautifully that its photo had to be taken:
California Towhee - subtle, fairly range-restricted, but very common
Brown Creeper - superficially similar song to European trecreepers
Arizona Gardens in Stanford Campus - the tall palm hosted a Hooded Oriole
Warblers weren't easy to come by in Stanford and Palo Alto during my stay, so I was pretty pleased to stumble upon this singing Yellow Warbler. Listen to it here, at ''5, ''14 and towards the end (California Towhee in the foreground).
My final morning before heading back was spent at Bayfront Park in Millbrae, by the San Francisco airport. It wasn't easy to hear much with all the aircraft noise, but eventually I had good scope views of a Ridgway's Rail feeding along the saltmarsh edge - nice end to an excellent visit to California.
Check my eBird trip report here - 163 species, 57 checklists (most of them done by Brian and Aaron - thanks again), it was fun and I can't wait to be back and finally catch up with two species I keep missing (because I arrive at the wrong time of year) - Surfbird and Black Turnstone.
My second day in California (May 27th) was another full dawn-till-dusk birding day. I had the pleasure of spending the day with Aaron Maizlish. It was spent in San Mateo county, birding from the Pacific coast to the San Francisco Bay area. We met up at Pigeon Point and started off at Gazos beach and Gazos road going inland. The riparian forest was excellent with lots of activity, visual and vocal, and some good stuff.
'Russet-backed' Swainson's Thrush - horrible photo of an insurance tick ahead of a proposed split
Often seen flying up in tree canopies, Band-tailed Pigeon is quite spectacular when seen at eye level.
In more open, grassy areas a few stunning Lazuli Buntings were seen:
As well as equally-stunning Grasshopper Sparrows ;-)
And a tatty-looking Savannah Sparrow
At Pigeon point we had two Wandering Tattlers. We then headed up the coast towards Half Moon Bay, that produced some nice stuff as well. At sea we had lots of alcids including many Pigeon Guillemots:
At Devil's Slide we had one Rock Wren, but it didn't stick around for photos
Across the ridge, we arrived in San Francisco Bay. At Coyote Point the long-staying Harlequin Duck was located resting on distant rocks:
Nob Hill pond in Belmont provided nice urban birding, with Black Skimmers - that bill:
Cinnamon Teal - what it says on the tin:
We were in desperate need for lingering migratory shorebirds for the day list. We checked different mudflats and wetlands - nothing left behind. Finally, while driving on Dumbarton bridge at full speed, we spotted a group of 'brown' shorebirds in Don Edwards NWR saltpans. We pulled over and enjoyed a medium-sized group of Greater Yellowlegs that also contained a marvelous Wilson's Phalarope (my third ever, after two winter-plumaged vagrants, in Israel and in UK):
'Western' Willet
And a beautiful summer-plumaged Long-billed Dowitcher
We ran out of daylight at Coyote Hills Regional Park. Our daily total of 113 species was quite good, I think. Thanks again to Aaron for another great day out. Aaron worked hard all day, including keeping all the eBird lists.
I recently returned from a short visit to California. The main reason to travel there was to take part in a conference that was held in Stanford University. Before the conference I spent two full days of birding in California. The first day, May 26th, was spent in Monterey County with Brian Sullivan. During the day we met up with Paul Fenwick and Brooke Keeney. It was an almost Big Day. Originally Brian had offered me to leave at 2 am and search for owls but I opted for a slightly more 'relaxed' option because I arrived in Carmel Valley close to midnight. It was a fantastic, action-packed day, birding from dawn till dusk non-stop. That's one way to get over a jetlag. We saw so many birds, too many to mention in full here. These were my personal highlights.
We started our day birding along the Tassajara road up the Chews Ridge. The sunrise over the Sierra mountains was breathtaking.
Early in the morning we saw several Mountain Quails running along the road. The light was bad still, so the photos aren't great, but they are super birds.
Later on in the morning we didn't see them anymore but they remained vocal.
Up the top of the ridge it was very beautiful. So lush and green. Flowers in all their glory. According to Brian, the early part of the spring was exceptionally cold and wet, so breeding bird activity was at its peak when we visited.
BTW I uploaded this photo and other habitat photos to eBird - I really like this new feature available. I hope I got the plant names right - California Wild Lilac, Foothill Yuca, Sticky Monkey, Scarlet Bugler:
It was very birdy up the mountain, so much bird song, pretty overwhelming for me with all those unfamiliar calls and songs. We searched and found two very cool Black-chinned Sparrows in open habitat:
Lazuli Buntings were singing up there too - stunning birds aren't they:
Around some conifer stands we had the lovely Lawrence's Goldfinch:
Wrentit is such a cool babbler-thing
So is California Scrub-Jay
We bumped into two California Striped Racers up there. So cool how this individual performed the cobra-like the hooding motion:
When we descended into the foothills, we searched and found California's only true endemic bird, Yellow-billed Magpie. We were on a main road without an option to pull over, so the only photos I took are rubbish, through the window. Sorry for the poor quality.
We then met up with Brooke and headed to Moss Landing and vicinity, including Elkhorn Slough and Zmudowski SB. It was packed with birds, lots of waterbirds and coastal stuff, I enjoyed it.
We spent most of the afternoon on Point Pinos, where we met up with Paul. The wind was blowing properly, complete with snow caps, shaky tripods and tons of seabirds. I was hugely impressed by the constant passage of Sooty Shearwaters, 50-60 per minute, an endless stream. There were fair numbers of Pink-footed Shearwaters as well, we counted 76. I was especially pleased to watch Black-footed Albatrosses from land. What a delight.
Cetacean activity offshore was impressive, with several Humpbacks doing their stuff throughout the session, and a playful pod of Risso's Dolphins entertained us. Getting digiscoped footage of the whales was challenging (for me). It took me many attempts until I eventually got something.
Other cool birds that went through were a single 'Manx' Shearwater (is it actually a Manx Shearwater?), nice numbers of Pacific Loons and Rhinoceros Auklets, Heerman's Gulls - I enjoyed this session very much.
Heerman's Gull
Rhinoceros Auklets
Thanks to Brian, Brooke and Paul for an amazing day. Brian did almost all of the eBirding - hard work! You can check the checklists from May 26th in the Trip Report here.
