California

[vidler23]

Hi All,

Going to California in March 2005. San Franciso, Monterey, Yosemite.
Has anybody any trip lists that they can e-mail me, or give any advice were to visit.
Thanks
Andy :h?:

[James Eaton]

Hi Andy,

I went in September 2000, my trip report/list can be found here
http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/usa/california3/calif2000.htm

if you need to know anymore just email me,

also, I have a few photos on my website from there, all in all, a superb trip, especially Yosemite

all the best

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Nice to read your trip report James. I'm off to San Francisco on Saturday and hope to go on one of the whale-watching trips out of SF. Maybe a different selection of birds out to sea compared with what you saw but if it's one tenth as good I'll be happy.

[Dawsy]

Hi Andy
I was in California at about the same time last year and found Monterey great:loads of grebes divers and auks plus seals, sea lions and otters in and around the harbour. I went on a whale-watching trip from Monterey itself and saw (as well as grey whales) loads of shearwaters and great views of a black-footed albatross (flew right over the whales) so I'd say getting out to sea around there somewhere is a must. I also found point lobos pretty good. Also in San Francisco I saw lots of stuff in Golden Gate park.

[Ruby]

Reminds me of a story...

The family and I went to Yosemite a few years back and set off with some small trepidation on a bit of a back-country hike.

The cause for our concern was the helpful advice we had been given should we happen to come across any of the local wildlife. This consisted of...

"If you should be attacked by a Mountain Lion, you need to gather all of your party together, act big and aggressive, shout, wave sticks etc and it may get scared and run off"

"If however you get attacked by a Bear, the above advice is the very worst thing you can do. You need to lay on the ground and play dead - the bear may get bored and wander off"

Anyway..... Off we went... two young children in tow...Had a nice walk and bumped into the Ranger back in Yosemite Village.

"Pleased to say that we didn't bump into Mountain Lions or Bears." says I. "All we saw was a Mule Deer."

"Mule Deer!!" Says Mr Ranger. "We had one of those KILL a tourist last week!!!!"


Aarrrggghhhh......

[DavidP]

If you are up Frisco way check out the Point Reyes area, there's a national park which reminds me a little of Scotland even done to the town names "Inverness". Also there's a bird observatory there and its all about an hours drive north.

http://www.prbo.org/cms/index.php

Also this time of year there wintering waterfowl on the Pacific flyway, places around Sacramento the delta and rice fields would eb good as would heading north to check out Klamath lake.

Down south places to check are the Carrizo plain, Kern river, Morongo, coastal orange county, San Jacinto wildlife area and the Salton sea

http://www.audubon.org/local/sanctuary/kernriver/
http://www.bigmorongo.org/
http://www.southwestbirders.com/saltonsea.htm
http://www.newriverwetlands.com/saltonsea.html
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/emailmap.htm RBA's for the state


Its a big area and a lot of it is publically owned either parks, forests or desert, I believe about 30% at last count so that equals a lot of areas to check out. To put in perspective thats about the land area of England thats publically owned. So its easy to try and do too much that would be my advice.

If you're heading down south PM me and I'd be happy to take you out for the day.

As to the mountain lions and bears, only a few have been eaten recently and I don't think any by bears although maulings do happen especially in areas where they are fed. Seriously you're more likely to be hit by lightning, die in an earthquake, riot, landslide, wildfire, snakebite, death by Gila monster or of thirst in the desert.

David

[Katy Penland]

Nice to read your trip report James. I'm off to San Francisco on Saturday and hope to go on one of the whale-watching trips out of SF. Maybe a different selection of birds out to sea compared with what you saw but if it's one tenth as good I'll be happy.
Oooo, Andrew, I hope you're going with Oceanic Society Expeditions to the Farallon Islands! That is one fantastic trip, lots of birds, and this time of year, gray whales should be starting to show up there on their southbound migration. The Farallones are just inside the continental shelf dropoff (about 26 miles offshore San Francisco, if I remember correctly), so with the nearby upwelling, I've never been out there that there wasn't lots of marine mammal and bird activity. Trips to the Farallones have been equated to visiting the Outer Hebrides for sea state, so be prepared. I've not experienced this but I've usually gone in mid-summer.

If you have time to get south of San Francisco to Monterey, would highly recommend a Shearwater Journey. Monterey Bay is the jewel in the crown of California marine bird watching, IMHO.

I'm so envious! I hope you have a great trip.

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Hi Katy,

That's the trip I had in mind so it's good to know there should be a lot to see. The long range forecast looks reasonably calm, so I'm hopeful the sea won't be that rough, although I guess you never know. On the land I'll be a bit restricted as to where I can go because I'll mostly be relying on public transport. Having said that, from what I've read I should be able to see quite a lot around San Francisco itself. I've never been to the West Coast so there should be plenty of new birds to keep me occupied.

[BarbaraM]

Best wishes to both Andrew Whitehouse and Vidler 23 on your trips. AW - since you won't have a vehicle, I strongly recommend checking out the Birdingpal list (www.birdingpal.org - click on the Alameda, Berkeley and San Francisco names) and see if you can't find someone local to take you out. Vidler 23 - if you have a vehicle and plan to get over to the Sacramento area PM me or contact me through Birdingpal.org and maybe we can get together for some birding. Whatever you do - don't refer to San Francisco as "Frisco" - it's a major tourist no-no and really frosts the locals!
Barbara

[Katy Penland]

Here's a URL for local weather in San Francisco that contains a marine forecast section as well. I just cross-checked the marine data on this page to the offshore weather buoy, and it looks like they're linked, which is great.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/boatandbeach/weather/tenday/USCA0987?from=search_vert

At any rate, and you probably already know this, but if the "dominant wave period" is under 15 seconds, you're going to have one heck of a ride. Right now it's at 8 seconds which means you'd get beat to death on the way out there but running down swell coming back -- much more comfortable! I mean, you can have a 20-foot swell, which sounds awful, but if the wave interval is long enough, you won't even feel it. The shorter the interval, the rougher the ride.

As you say, the 10-day forecast isn't looking bad at all, and this weekend's gusty winds and wind chop will be decreasing. I see where the wave interval is already predicted to be at 12 seconds by Sunday.

I've never formally "birded" SF, but when we've stayed in the Marina district, we were within walking distance of Fisherman's Wharf and Oceanic Society's office and landing, and there were lots of birds along that part of the water. Don't know if you can get to Pt. Reyes National Seashore and the Observatory on public transport, but I'm honestly not convinced it's worth the time this time of year. Whenever I've been there, even in summer, the wind's howling a gale and the birdwatching was frankly a little disappointing.

When you get to the Farallons, ask the captain of the boat if Peter Pyle is on the islands. He's a well-known and much-published bird person but also studies the great white sharks that reside around the islands. He's a very friendly guy and will usually get on the radio and fill you in on something special to see on the islands (if there *is* anything special there at the time).

I hope you have a fantastic trip. Wish it were a better time of year, weather-wise, for your first trip, but I'm sure you'll get a lifer or ten! :-) Can't wait to hear all about it when you get back!


Hi Katy,

That's the trip I had in mind so it's good to know there should be a lot to see. The long range forecast looks reasonably calm, so I'm hopeful the sea won't be that rough, although I guess you never know. On the land I'll be a bit restricted as to where I can go because I'll mostly be relying on public transport. Having said that, from what I've read I should be able to see quite a lot around San Francisco itself. I've never been to the West Coast so there should be plenty of new birds to keep me occupied.

[BarbaraM]

The Presidio (former army base, now not) should be good for birding, also Golden Gate Park and along the Fisherman's wharf area (which I think you can walk along all the way to the Presidio). Point Reyes is unlikely to be accessed by public transport. Something else that might be fun if the weather is good is to take the ferry out to Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay. Barbara

[dacol]

Hi All,

Going to California in March 2005. San Franciso, Monterey, Yosemite.
Has anybody any trip lists that they can e-mail me, or give any advice were to visit.
Thanks
Andy :h?:

A good web resource for biridng in California is Joe Morlan's site:

http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/rare.htm

Dalcio

[sbrasuel]

March will be a great time to visit the bay area. The wintering birds will still be here as well as some spring migrants. Public tranportation in San Francisco/Berkeley/Oakland will be no problem, but Monterey area will be difficult. California is not public transport friendly. You have received many good ideas so far - Golden Gate Park, The Presidio, Angel Island, a trip to the Farralon Islands (but definitly bookmark Katy Penlands weather website posted previously). Fall is the best time of year on the Ca. coast. Also the Marin Headlands is a great place to spend a day. Contact them to see if there is any kind of public transportation available http://www.nps.gov/goga/mahe/ You can actually look down upon the Golden Gate Bridge from Hawk Hill and see the Farralon Islands on a clear day.

Another idea is to monitor the local Audubon chapters for weekend fieldtrips. They are free and do not require advance arrangements - just show up! Also, some chapters have a few mid-week field trips as well. Santa Clara County (San Jose area) has great field trips every weekend both Sat/Sun and every other Wed. However, its an hour from SF. On the other hand, its a great place for birding because we have the bay shore as well as the surrounding mountains for diverse habitat in a relatively small area (by California standards, of coarse).

http://www.sialia.com
http://www.goldengateaudubon.org/
http://www.scvas.org/
http://www.santacruzbirdclub.org/
http://www.ggro.org/
http://www.montereyaudubon.org/indexTrail.htm

Once you leave SF you might concider renting a car due to public transport issues. On your way to Montery travel down Highway 1 and stop at Ano Nuevo State Reserve, stop in Santa Cruz and at least drive along West Cliff Drive for the view (and maybe ride the roller coater at The Boardwalk), another good birding spot is Elkhorn Slough at Moss Landing and once in Monterey Point Lobos State Reserve is a must. The Carmel River is great for birding too, but in March there is probably water in it. I usually go there in the fall for migrants.

As for Yosemite, there is nothing to recommend. Its all wonderful, although there will still be a lot of snow in March. At least we Californians hope so because we need the water!


Thats all I can think of for now. Have a great trip!
Summer

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Thanks for all the further tips everyone. Probably a bit late for me as most of my trip is over! So far I've managed around 130 species since Saturday and 34 lifers. Highlights have been Clapper Rail, White-tailed Kite, Wrentit and just the sheer numbers of wildfowl, waders and raptors. Yesterday I also had a wonderful view of a Bobcat in the Marin Headlands and today I came across a Franklin's Gull at Lake Merrit in Oakland. I think they're supposed to be fairly rare in California and I certainly wasn't expecting to see one.

The major disappointment is that I won't be able to go on any whale watching trips. The two dates they were being run when I could go have both been cancelled - the first for bad weather (although it was beautiful on the land) and the second from a lack of interest. I guess I'll just have to come back to California again sometime.

[vidler23]

Excellant web-site and photo's James.
Thank you for all your advice, noted a lot of info.

Cheers
Andy