California
28 August - 14 September 2009
We arrive in San Francisco for a long planned dream holiday, a two week trip around California. Having read Jos's epic report on Birdforum we are really looking forward to it, despite the hassle of getting to the airport at the crack of dawn, booking in, and the long, long flight nothing can dampen our excitement as we finally land after a 10 hour flight... to find our wallet and credit cards left behind at Heathrow. Stolen or mislaid I don’t know but it’s a bad start. We have a bit of cash on us and luckily the first two nights at our first destination, Point Reyes, are all pre booked so we drive the 60 miles up to the hotel to relax and wait for the banks to open so we can transfer some money and enjoy the birding. Then the receptionist says the room wasn’t paid for all those months ago as we had thought, the credit card just holds it for us until our arrival when we actually pay. But no credit card so we go to the nearest campsite. Oh and its bank holiday in England, we wont be able to transfer money till Tuesday and its only Friday now.
Meanwhile off to Five Brooks. Parking up a covey of Californian Quail walk right out in front of us and Blue Jays with Black Phoebe pose on the wires overhead, as well as Brewers Blackbird in the bushes, common enough birds but all lifers for us. The pond itself has really limited views but we still saw smart looking Wood Duck and Pied Billed Grebe. Walking right round to the other side we had a mad few minutes trying to id everything flitting about. You really have to work for your birds here. It’s impossible to become an instant expert, despite all the planning and reading up. There are about a dozen possible sparrows to id for example, 10 peckers, so mistakes would be inevitable. We saw so much that we couldn’t tick because we couldn’t identify it before it popped back into the foliage! (I found YouTube brilliant for footage of various American birds, a real help. It’s a pity there is not a complete library of video footage of American Birds on the net. Anyway we had lots flitting around the tree tops as well as Hummers, Pied billed Grebe, Mallards, Acorn Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Wilsons and Yellow Warbler. Later we had a Night Heron roosting up a tree, and what seemed like a Bittern, but given the habitat was probably juvenile Night Heron. A quiet isolated spot had turned up trumps - and we had the place all to ourselves. We drove on down to Bolinas lagoon having heard a lot about this place, not least that the locals have taken the signs down. So we drove down the west side, had a look, did a u turn and came back. The views were distant on both shores but we picked up Great Egret, Great Blue Heron and Marbled Godwit. At Olema Marsh we heard Sora, but otherwise it was quiet apart from Turkey Vulture flying overhead. Just as we were getting ready to go a Green Heron got up and flew lazily over to the far side of the marsh. Just brilliant to watch. A really handsome looking Red Shouldered Hawk was found sitting on a telephone pole opposite the cafe where we had breakfast. White House Pool had views of great looking White Tailed Kite but little else of note except for sparrows, one of which turned out to be Brewers Sparrow. We then drove over to our favourite - Abbotts lagoon. It proved a long walk from the car park with lots of sparrows along the way most of which however turned out to be White Crowned. At the pools themselves there were Ring billed and Western Gulls, Short billed Dowitcher and a tour group who quickly moved off and missed Ruddy Duck and Red Breasted Merganser. 20 Pintail also flew over heading for the beach where they had a Snowy Plover colony. We drove down to the Lighthouse and Chimney rock. The private house with its surrounding trees looked good and had Barn Owl. We were intent on these when we noticed a fantastically camouflaged pair of Great Horned Owls perched rigid and unmoving on the branches! A bit further on we had Yellow Rumped Warbler and Wilsons Warbler in the trees.
We stopped off briefly at the ranches hoping to pick out Tricoloreds amid the hordes of Red Shouldered Blackbirds. At Francis Drake beach we found Whimbrel and some more Barn Owls around the monument and Scoter on the beach. A local birder said we had missed the Northern Parula. Well, we will probably miss others too, but it would have been nice to see one over this side of the country. All in all Point Reyes is a great place with really friendly locals. One guy, Anthony, let us use the phone in his bar and run up a tab and another said we could use his dads empty house when they heard we had problems. But we had lost a lot of time so now it was off to Yosemite.
We arrived early at Glacier Point to beat the crowds and managed to get great photos of a confiding Blue Grouse in the far corner of the car park where I read it had been seen but didn’t expect the same luck, as well as Spotted Towhee. Eating a hot dog and enjoying the view I was aware of a small warbler flitting about near the seating, which turned out to be McGillivray’s Warbler. A great find. By now the tourists were turning up so we went down to Bridleveil Falls were we saw Vaux Swift. Unable to get to Chevron Meadows as it was closed due to the fire there was no way I could try for the Great Gray Owl that has been reported there. We had to slog round to the other side of the park to get to the campsite. On the way we stopped of at the Dipper site at Pohono Bridge and sure enough it was there along with a pair of Merganser. At the campsite we saw several Clarks Nutcracker. We also drove all the way to Whitewolf for Pine Grosbeak, but could not find it. The next day we took off to Mono Lake, arriving at Bodie late at night hoping to see Sage Grouse early next morning. At the turn off from the main road there is a sign saying open at 8am, ignore that at this point. You can drive some miles up this road till you get to the ghost town which doesn’t open til 8. We drove into the sage and parked up. Getting out we separated and crissed crossed the sage but had no luck but we did find Horned Lark and Sage Thrasher which was a bonus. We went back to the main road to try elsewhere and I was amazed to see a line of them along the road lined up for our inspection, giving us brilliant views. Later we saw a car full of British birders who had just seen 20 of them at Bodie itself. So it just goes to show that they are there to be seen. My tip is to forget the sage and concentrate on the road edge very early in the morning just before the asphalt runs out. Of course they could be anywhere but that was our experience. We then drove happily off to Mono Lake County Park which like a lot of places we went to, were poorly sign posted but which turned out to be just as brilliant.
We stopped at a building, which had toilets and a sign for a board walk, where we parked. Opposite we could hear Orioles but just like the ones back home I couldn’t pin them down. In the trees were Waxwing which weren’t so shy. While we were watching them Pinyon Jays landed in the same trees just to spoil us. I had really hoped to see one and they landed in the very trees I had my bins on, while I was listening to Orioles and watching Waxwing. Not bad. It is certainly worth checking out the area before moving out along the board walk which ends in a viewing platform. There is a huge expanse of water where we picked out Shoveller, Avocet, as well as Wilsons and Red necked Phalorope, one lone Canada Goose and lots and lots of Eared Grebes. But no Black necked Grebes. Then we went on to the South Tufa area a series of strangely shaped salt formations where we took photos of Yellow headed Blackbirds and Bullocks Orioles and a bird I particularly wanted to see, the Green tailed Towee. On the track leading to the water we found Gray Flycatcher, Sage Sparrow and Savannah Sparrow. We also saw Ospreys feeding on the tufa. A Ranger told us there is no fish in the lake so they catch their prey and bring it back here where they have an all round view and feel safe from predators. I just wondered what predators? We stopped off at Lake Crawley which seemed empty at first but we found a single Great Northern Diver, Brown Pelicans, Cormorants, Sanderling, Bairds sandpiper and one Pectoral Sandpiper.
At Jawbone Canyon we arrived to the sound of dirt bikes. It was the week end and they were out in force. All this way to find a secretive, shy bird known to be in the area. The chances of finding it were low with all the racket. But they didn’t go beyond the second set of pipes and that’s where we parked. It was really hot, about 100 degrees but I decided to plod around in the general direction of the first set of pipes and... saw it straight away! I could have scoped it from the car almost, a mega piece of luck. My main target bird a Le Conte’s Thrasher. It even announced itself, singing happily from the top of a bush. What luck. Comparing it to the reddish sandy soil around the bush its pale colouring was noticeable enabling me to rule out other thrashers. Despite the great views I was still grateful to get back to the air conditioned luxury of the car and we sat scanning the trees around the house on the right hand side and managed great views of a Roadrunner, something I hadn’t expected there at all and another on my wish list. This was getting better and better. We were on a roll, nothing could go wrong now. So we went up to Butterbredt Spring not expecting much, just to have a look around. It was a long drive up a poor road much longer than it seemed in the book. It looked like it could be great in spring. We cast around but couldn’t find much of anything in the utter silence and we went on up Jawbone Canyon on our way to Kern. I am sure I read it was drivable which was true until we got stuck in sand. The sun was directly overhead, little water and about an hours drive to the main road - it was a tricky spot. We dug the wheels out and managed to reverse slowly back out but it was a scary few moments, so be warned. There is a petrol station on the main road just after the turn off where you can fill up with bottled water before you try this particular route.
From there we drove the long way round to Kern River Valley stopping at Isabella Lake which seemed a waste of time as it was full of water skiers. At the reserve itself we sat entranced at the feeders watching hummingbirds close up and Goldfinches hoping to see Lesser Goldfinch but these were around the trees on the other side of the buildings and we never saw any. A mountain lion was seen on the trails according to the sightings log! I tried to imagine that at Minsmere. What a place. Another one for a Spring visit. At Paul’s place we saw a California Towhee and Western Bluebirds on the fence. In the evening of that very eventful day we drove along Fay Ranch road listening to Nighthawk and Whip Poor Will being stared at by passers by who probably thought we were having an affair
On Sunday we arrived at Mt Pinos where we camped at Mcgill campground. We found Brown Creeper, and an amazing 5 White Breasted Nuthatches and a White headed Woodpecker on one tree trunk and a Northern Flicker. Iris meadow seemed dead and we took the long walk to the old condor lookout which gave stunning views but didn’t reveal anything new. We drove down to Ventura Beach via Lake Casitas marina where you had to pay to get in and was full of tourists anyway. According to the book there are some decent places to stop along Ventura Avenue for raptors, Phainopepla, gnatcatchers, and grosbeaks all of which I wanted to see but it was getting late and we wanted to find the campsite at McGrath beach in Ventura, so we had to give it a miss. The campsite was easier than I thought to find. You can find and it if you stay on Harbour Boulevard. The campsite itself was partly flooded which I thought strange as there had been such terrible fires around here. With birds in the pools it brought the nature reserve into the campsite and right up to our tent flap! I had brilliant close up views of Lesser Yellowlegs, Willets and Turnstone when suddenly a Goshawk swooped over the pool and landed in a nearby tree. Later we walked to the river mouth where we saw a Mockingbird and lots of Elegant Terns. You can book the Santa Cruz ship from here - their office is easy to find in the big car park over the bridge - but as we had lost so much time we decided to leave it for a spring trip. We stopped off at the sod fields close by in the Oxnard plains hoping to find Buff breasted Sandpiper but which was deserted apart from Killdeer but we had a great Vireo in the willows off Wood Road. Then it was on the motorway heading for Santa Cruz where we stopped at Devereux slough at the campus. Here we had really close views of Great White and Snowy Egret, Marsh Wren, Red Tailed hawk and lots of Phalarope. Following a great tip off from a local birder there we followed him round the corner to Hollister Rd to find the place was full of frustrating glimpses of birds around some pipes and a tiny pond where they were coming to drink in the heat of the day. A local lady joined us and we had a hectic time trying to get good views. But we saw amongst others, Bullocks Oriole, Nashville Warbler, Yellow Rumped, Orange Crowned Warbler, Black Throated Gray Warbler, Song Sparrow and one of my star birds of the trip, a dazzling Black Headed Grosbeak. A brilliant diversion and only a few minutes round the corner from Golleta Slough. Alisal canyon was next, a very picturesque side trip with great scenery where I saw another target bird, Yellow Billed Magpie straightaway on some telephone lines. Nearby at Moro Bay we stayed at the campsite which was full of birds. We were woken before dawn by hooting inside the campsite and found a pair of Great Horned Owls with a German tourist already there at the foot of the tree! A Nuttals woodpecker was drinking at a stand tap near the toilet block! The heronry opposite was an amazing sight with double crested Cormorants, Great Blue Herons and Egrets all flying overhead giving great photo opportunities. At the Elfin Forest we again had thrasher perched on bushes, this time California thrasher. We drove on along the famous coastal road up past San Simeon, hoping a Condor would fly over. I had read they might be seen near Carmel but we weren’t lucky. We stopped at laybys hopefully scanning the skies but we had no luck. We had no time to stop around Andrew Molera state park as we had booked a pelagic with Debbie Shearwater and wanted to stay the night in Monterey. A lot of the hotels seemed to be on the main street right as you come off the motorway, just a few minutes away by car from Fisherman’s wharf where you catch the boat. We booked into one and then walked along the beach to find where we were leaving from as we didn’t want to miss the boat next day.
The big day dawned at Monterey and we set off in thick fog which was to surround us the whole trip. Even Debra hadn’t seen it this bad. In a way it seemed to help as we didn’t waste time trying to get on some tiny dot in the distance. Still, everyone shouts out when they spot something giving us all time to zero in. Though I am glad it wasn’t me who shouted Albatross as a pelican came looming out of the fog! But we did see quite one close up, a Black footed Albatross, everything I had imagined it to be. Albatross, any Albatross was my main target bird of the trip and we saw it several times, keeping us company and I couldnt get enough of it. It was a brilliant trip and I plan to go again in spring. I couldn’t get onto everything that was spotted but managed to see Storm Petrels, Pomeranian, Long tailed and Parasitic jaegers and several close up views Sabines Gull. As we were coming in we suddenly put a spurt on and we were warned to get our cameras ready - Orcas on the surface in a feeding frenzy! It was an incredible sight, huge glistening black and white sides thrashing about, all very close up. It was an absolute privilege to have been there, well worth the price alone. I had definitely not expected to see a killer whale on the trip. Now we only had one full day left before our flight so we decided to drive out to the Pinnacles to try for Condor. We didn’t hold out much hope as they range far and wide and everyone we had met told us that they had seen them around Big Sur. Well, even before we got to the western entrance we saw the enormous flat winged outline of one. We managed to park up and get the bins on it before it was gone. Even though we drove to the pinnacles with the intention of seeing one of these huge and unmistakable birds it was still a surprise. Later in the afternoon we stopped off at Elkhorn slough. We paid our entrance fee and had a wander as far as the barn. All the trails seem quite steep and you can spend a lot of time here which didn’t seem worth it as there wasn’t much about so we went to Moonglow dairy on Dolan Street. This was the surprise of the holiday, a real gem of a place. When you drive in take one of the two roads on the left which leads past the cow pens to some ponds. There will probably be some other cars parked up. Here you can get really close views of Grebe, Phalaropes, Least and Western Sandpipers. On one tree by the car park we saw Prairie Falcon. Some local birders were there looking for Pectoral Sandpiper and as soon as they left we saw a few waders arrive and one of them was the Pectoral sandpiper! We spent a few hours looking around then reluctantly decided to leave. As we neared the car we saw another sandpiper, darkly elegant and more spotted on its upperparts. We took some photographs and it turned out to be a Solitary sandpiper. A brilliant final bird to a great trip. We hadn’t even planned to come here but it was near to our hotel in Monterey. It must be a pretty good place as we even met a woman who had come all the way from Cape May of all places! We decided to risk coming back early the next morning before our flight and found two van loads of British birders. They seemed a bit tight lipped so they either hadn’t found much or didn’t want to tell us. What a contrast to all the friendly, welcoming American birders. Or maybe like us they had to fly home too. The Sandpipers had gone but just over the car as we were packing up the scope we had a superb view of our final bird of the trip. A Townsends Warbler.
28 August - 14 September 2009
We arrive in San Francisco for a long planned dream holiday, a two week trip around California. Having read Jos's epic report on Birdforum we are really looking forward to it, despite the hassle of getting to the airport at the crack of dawn, booking in, and the long, long flight nothing can dampen our excitement as we finally land after a 10 hour flight... to find our wallet and credit cards left behind at Heathrow. Stolen or mislaid I don’t know but it’s a bad start. We have a bit of cash on us and luckily the first two nights at our first destination, Point Reyes, are all pre booked so we drive the 60 miles up to the hotel to relax and wait for the banks to open so we can transfer some money and enjoy the birding. Then the receptionist says the room wasn’t paid for all those months ago as we had thought, the credit card just holds it for us until our arrival when we actually pay. But no credit card so we go to the nearest campsite. Oh and its bank holiday in England, we wont be able to transfer money till Tuesday and its only Friday now.
Meanwhile off to Five Brooks. Parking up a covey of Californian Quail walk right out in front of us and Blue Jays with Black Phoebe pose on the wires overhead, as well as Brewers Blackbird in the bushes, common enough birds but all lifers for us. The pond itself has really limited views but we still saw smart looking Wood Duck and Pied Billed Grebe. Walking right round to the other side we had a mad few minutes trying to id everything flitting about. You really have to work for your birds here. It’s impossible to become an instant expert, despite all the planning and reading up. There are about a dozen possible sparrows to id for example, 10 peckers, so mistakes would be inevitable. We saw so much that we couldn’t tick because we couldn’t identify it before it popped back into the foliage! (I found YouTube brilliant for footage of various American birds, a real help. It’s a pity there is not a complete library of video footage of American Birds on the net. Anyway we had lots flitting around the tree tops as well as Hummers, Pied billed Grebe, Mallards, Acorn Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Wilsons and Yellow Warbler. Later we had a Night Heron roosting up a tree, and what seemed like a Bittern, but given the habitat was probably juvenile Night Heron. A quiet isolated spot had turned up trumps - and we had the place all to ourselves. We drove on down to Bolinas lagoon having heard a lot about this place, not least that the locals have taken the signs down. So we drove down the west side, had a look, did a u turn and came back. The views were distant on both shores but we picked up Great Egret, Great Blue Heron and Marbled Godwit. At Olema Marsh we heard Sora, but otherwise it was quiet apart from Turkey Vulture flying overhead. Just as we were getting ready to go a Green Heron got up and flew lazily over to the far side of the marsh. Just brilliant to watch. A really handsome looking Red Shouldered Hawk was found sitting on a telephone pole opposite the cafe where we had breakfast. White House Pool had views of great looking White Tailed Kite but little else of note except for sparrows, one of which turned out to be Brewers Sparrow. We then drove over to our favourite - Abbotts lagoon. It proved a long walk from the car park with lots of sparrows along the way most of which however turned out to be White Crowned. At the pools themselves there were Ring billed and Western Gulls, Short billed Dowitcher and a tour group who quickly moved off and missed Ruddy Duck and Red Breasted Merganser. 20 Pintail also flew over heading for the beach where they had a Snowy Plover colony. We drove down to the Lighthouse and Chimney rock. The private house with its surrounding trees looked good and had Barn Owl. We were intent on these when we noticed a fantastically camouflaged pair of Great Horned Owls perched rigid and unmoving on the branches! A bit further on we had Yellow Rumped Warbler and Wilsons Warbler in the trees.
We stopped off briefly at the ranches hoping to pick out Tricoloreds amid the hordes of Red Shouldered Blackbirds. At Francis Drake beach we found Whimbrel and some more Barn Owls around the monument and Scoter on the beach. A local birder said we had missed the Northern Parula. Well, we will probably miss others too, but it would have been nice to see one over this side of the country. All in all Point Reyes is a great place with really friendly locals. One guy, Anthony, let us use the phone in his bar and run up a tab and another said we could use his dads empty house when they heard we had problems. But we had lost a lot of time so now it was off to Yosemite.
We arrived early at Glacier Point to beat the crowds and managed to get great photos of a confiding Blue Grouse in the far corner of the car park where I read it had been seen but didn’t expect the same luck, as well as Spotted Towhee. Eating a hot dog and enjoying the view I was aware of a small warbler flitting about near the seating, which turned out to be McGillivray’s Warbler. A great find. By now the tourists were turning up so we went down to Bridleveil Falls were we saw Vaux Swift. Unable to get to Chevron Meadows as it was closed due to the fire there was no way I could try for the Great Gray Owl that has been reported there. We had to slog round to the other side of the park to get to the campsite. On the way we stopped of at the Dipper site at Pohono Bridge and sure enough it was there along with a pair of Merganser. At the campsite we saw several Clarks Nutcracker. We also drove all the way to Whitewolf for Pine Grosbeak, but could not find it. The next day we took off to Mono Lake, arriving at Bodie late at night hoping to see Sage Grouse early next morning. At the turn off from the main road there is a sign saying open at 8am, ignore that at this point. You can drive some miles up this road till you get to the ghost town which doesn’t open til 8. We drove into the sage and parked up. Getting out we separated and crissed crossed the sage but had no luck but we did find Horned Lark and Sage Thrasher which was a bonus. We went back to the main road to try elsewhere and I was amazed to see a line of them along the road lined up for our inspection, giving us brilliant views. Later we saw a car full of British birders who had just seen 20 of them at Bodie itself. So it just goes to show that they are there to be seen. My tip is to forget the sage and concentrate on the road edge very early in the morning just before the asphalt runs out. Of course they could be anywhere but that was our experience. We then drove happily off to Mono Lake County Park which like a lot of places we went to, were poorly sign posted but which turned out to be just as brilliant.
We stopped at a building, which had toilets and a sign for a board walk, where we parked. Opposite we could hear Orioles but just like the ones back home I couldn’t pin them down. In the trees were Waxwing which weren’t so shy. While we were watching them Pinyon Jays landed in the same trees just to spoil us. I had really hoped to see one and they landed in the very trees I had my bins on, while I was listening to Orioles and watching Waxwing. Not bad. It is certainly worth checking out the area before moving out along the board walk which ends in a viewing platform. There is a huge expanse of water where we picked out Shoveller, Avocet, as well as Wilsons and Red necked Phalorope, one lone Canada Goose and lots and lots of Eared Grebes. But no Black necked Grebes. Then we went on to the South Tufa area a series of strangely shaped salt formations where we took photos of Yellow headed Blackbirds and Bullocks Orioles and a bird I particularly wanted to see, the Green tailed Towee. On the track leading to the water we found Gray Flycatcher, Sage Sparrow and Savannah Sparrow. We also saw Ospreys feeding on the tufa. A Ranger told us there is no fish in the lake so they catch their prey and bring it back here where they have an all round view and feel safe from predators. I just wondered what predators? We stopped off at Lake Crawley which seemed empty at first but we found a single Great Northern Diver, Brown Pelicans, Cormorants, Sanderling, Bairds sandpiper and one Pectoral Sandpiper.
At Jawbone Canyon we arrived to the sound of dirt bikes. It was the week end and they were out in force. All this way to find a secretive, shy bird known to be in the area. The chances of finding it were low with all the racket. But they didn’t go beyond the second set of pipes and that’s where we parked. It was really hot, about 100 degrees but I decided to plod around in the general direction of the first set of pipes and... saw it straight away! I could have scoped it from the car almost, a mega piece of luck. My main target bird a Le Conte’s Thrasher. It even announced itself, singing happily from the top of a bush. What luck. Comparing it to the reddish sandy soil around the bush its pale colouring was noticeable enabling me to rule out other thrashers. Despite the great views I was still grateful to get back to the air conditioned luxury of the car and we sat scanning the trees around the house on the right hand side and managed great views of a Roadrunner, something I hadn’t expected there at all and another on my wish list. This was getting better and better. We were on a roll, nothing could go wrong now. So we went up to Butterbredt Spring not expecting much, just to have a look around. It was a long drive up a poor road much longer than it seemed in the book. It looked like it could be great in spring. We cast around but couldn’t find much of anything in the utter silence and we went on up Jawbone Canyon on our way to Kern. I am sure I read it was drivable which was true until we got stuck in sand. The sun was directly overhead, little water and about an hours drive to the main road - it was a tricky spot. We dug the wheels out and managed to reverse slowly back out but it was a scary few moments, so be warned. There is a petrol station on the main road just after the turn off where you can fill up with bottled water before you try this particular route.
From there we drove the long way round to Kern River Valley stopping at Isabella Lake which seemed a waste of time as it was full of water skiers. At the reserve itself we sat entranced at the feeders watching hummingbirds close up and Goldfinches hoping to see Lesser Goldfinch but these were around the trees on the other side of the buildings and we never saw any. A mountain lion was seen on the trails according to the sightings log! I tried to imagine that at Minsmere. What a place. Another one for a Spring visit. At Paul’s place we saw a California Towhee and Western Bluebirds on the fence. In the evening of that very eventful day we drove along Fay Ranch road listening to Nighthawk and Whip Poor Will being stared at by passers by who probably thought we were having an affair
On Sunday we arrived at Mt Pinos where we camped at Mcgill campground. We found Brown Creeper, and an amazing 5 White Breasted Nuthatches and a White headed Woodpecker on one tree trunk and a Northern Flicker. Iris meadow seemed dead and we took the long walk to the old condor lookout which gave stunning views but didn’t reveal anything new. We drove down to Ventura Beach via Lake Casitas marina where you had to pay to get in and was full of tourists anyway. According to the book there are some decent places to stop along Ventura Avenue for raptors, Phainopepla, gnatcatchers, and grosbeaks all of which I wanted to see but it was getting late and we wanted to find the campsite at McGrath beach in Ventura, so we had to give it a miss. The campsite was easier than I thought to find. You can find and it if you stay on Harbour Boulevard. The campsite itself was partly flooded which I thought strange as there had been such terrible fires around here. With birds in the pools it brought the nature reserve into the campsite and right up to our tent flap! I had brilliant close up views of Lesser Yellowlegs, Willets and Turnstone when suddenly a Goshawk swooped over the pool and landed in a nearby tree. Later we walked to the river mouth where we saw a Mockingbird and lots of Elegant Terns. You can book the Santa Cruz ship from here - their office is easy to find in the big car park over the bridge - but as we had lost so much time we decided to leave it for a spring trip. We stopped off at the sod fields close by in the Oxnard plains hoping to find Buff breasted Sandpiper but which was deserted apart from Killdeer but we had a great Vireo in the willows off Wood Road. Then it was on the motorway heading for Santa Cruz where we stopped at Devereux slough at the campus. Here we had really close views of Great White and Snowy Egret, Marsh Wren, Red Tailed hawk and lots of Phalarope. Following a great tip off from a local birder there we followed him round the corner to Hollister Rd to find the place was full of frustrating glimpses of birds around some pipes and a tiny pond where they were coming to drink in the heat of the day. A local lady joined us and we had a hectic time trying to get good views. But we saw amongst others, Bullocks Oriole, Nashville Warbler, Yellow Rumped, Orange Crowned Warbler, Black Throated Gray Warbler, Song Sparrow and one of my star birds of the trip, a dazzling Black Headed Grosbeak. A brilliant diversion and only a few minutes round the corner from Golleta Slough. Alisal canyon was next, a very picturesque side trip with great scenery where I saw another target bird, Yellow Billed Magpie straightaway on some telephone lines. Nearby at Moro Bay we stayed at the campsite which was full of birds. We were woken before dawn by hooting inside the campsite and found a pair of Great Horned Owls with a German tourist already there at the foot of the tree! A Nuttals woodpecker was drinking at a stand tap near the toilet block! The heronry opposite was an amazing sight with double crested Cormorants, Great Blue Herons and Egrets all flying overhead giving great photo opportunities. At the Elfin Forest we again had thrasher perched on bushes, this time California thrasher. We drove on along the famous coastal road up past San Simeon, hoping a Condor would fly over. I had read they might be seen near Carmel but we weren’t lucky. We stopped at laybys hopefully scanning the skies but we had no luck. We had no time to stop around Andrew Molera state park as we had booked a pelagic with Debbie Shearwater and wanted to stay the night in Monterey. A lot of the hotels seemed to be on the main street right as you come off the motorway, just a few minutes away by car from Fisherman’s wharf where you catch the boat. We booked into one and then walked along the beach to find where we were leaving from as we didn’t want to miss the boat next day.
The big day dawned at Monterey and we set off in thick fog which was to surround us the whole trip. Even Debra hadn’t seen it this bad. In a way it seemed to help as we didn’t waste time trying to get on some tiny dot in the distance. Still, everyone shouts out when they spot something giving us all time to zero in. Though I am glad it wasn’t me who shouted Albatross as a pelican came looming out of the fog! But we did see quite one close up, a Black footed Albatross, everything I had imagined it to be. Albatross, any Albatross was my main target bird of the trip and we saw it several times, keeping us company and I couldnt get enough of it. It was a brilliant trip and I plan to go again in spring. I couldn’t get onto everything that was spotted but managed to see Storm Petrels, Pomeranian, Long tailed and Parasitic jaegers and several close up views Sabines Gull. As we were coming in we suddenly put a spurt on and we were warned to get our cameras ready - Orcas on the surface in a feeding frenzy! It was an incredible sight, huge glistening black and white sides thrashing about, all very close up. It was an absolute privilege to have been there, well worth the price alone. I had definitely not expected to see a killer whale on the trip. Now we only had one full day left before our flight so we decided to drive out to the Pinnacles to try for Condor. We didn’t hold out much hope as they range far and wide and everyone we had met told us that they had seen them around Big Sur. Well, even before we got to the western entrance we saw the enormous flat winged outline of one. We managed to park up and get the bins on it before it was gone. Even though we drove to the pinnacles with the intention of seeing one of these huge and unmistakable birds it was still a surprise. Later in the afternoon we stopped off at Elkhorn slough. We paid our entrance fee and had a wander as far as the barn. All the trails seem quite steep and you can spend a lot of time here which didn’t seem worth it as there wasn’t much about so we went to Moonglow dairy on Dolan Street. This was the surprise of the holiday, a real gem of a place. When you drive in take one of the two roads on the left which leads past the cow pens to some ponds. There will probably be some other cars parked up. Here you can get really close views of Grebe, Phalaropes, Least and Western Sandpipers. On one tree by the car park we saw Prairie Falcon. Some local birders were there looking for Pectoral Sandpiper and as soon as they left we saw a few waders arrive and one of them was the Pectoral sandpiper! We spent a few hours looking around then reluctantly decided to leave. As we neared the car we saw another sandpiper, darkly elegant and more spotted on its upperparts. We took some photographs and it turned out to be a Solitary sandpiper. A brilliant final bird to a great trip. We hadn’t even planned to come here but it was near to our hotel in Monterey. It must be a pretty good place as we even met a woman who had come all the way from Cape May of all places! We decided to risk coming back early the next morning before our flight and found two van loads of British birders. They seemed a bit tight lipped so they either hadn’t found much or didn’t want to tell us. What a contrast to all the friendly, welcoming American birders. Or maybe like us they had to fly home too. The Sandpipers had gone but just over the car as we were packing up the scope we had a superb view of our final bird of the trip. A Townsends Warbler.
1.Pacific Loon
2.Common Loon
3.Canada Goose
4.Mallard
5.Pintail
6.Shoveler
7.Surf Scoter
8.Red breasted Merganser
9.Ruddy Duck
10.Pied billed Grebe
11.Clarks Grebe
12.Western Grebe
13.Eared Grebe
14.Black footed Albatross
15.Fulmar
16.Sooty Shearwater
17.Pink footed Shearwater
18.Bullers Shearwater
19.Ashy throated Petrel
20.Black Storm Petrel
21.White Pelican
22.Brown Pelican
23.Brandts Cormorant
24.Pelagic Cormorant
25.Double crested Cormorant
26.Great Blue Heron
27.Night Heron
28.Green Heron
29.Cattle Egret
30.Snowy Egret
31.Great Egret
32.Turkey Vulture
33.Osprey
34.White tailed Kite
35.Northern Harrier
36.Golden Eagle
37.Condor
38.Red shouldered Hawk
39.Red tailed Hawk
40.American Kestrel
41. Prarie Falcon
42.Wild Turkey
43.California Quail
44.Sora
45.Moorhen
46.American Coot
47.Black bellied Plover
48.Semipalmated Plover
49.Killdeer
50.Black Oystercatcher
51.American Avocet
52.Black necked Stilt
53.Willet
54.Lesser Yellowlegs
55.Solitary Sandpiper
56.Spotted Sandpiper
57.Whimbrel
58.Long billed Curlew
59.Marbled Godwit
60.Black Turnstone
61.Sanderling
62.Dunlin
63.Semipalmated Sandpiper
64.Western Sandpiper
65.Least Sandpiper
66.Bairds Sandpiper
67.Pectoral Sandpiper
68.Spotted Sandpiper
69.Short billed Dowitcher
70.Red necked Phalarope
71.Wilsons Phalarope
72.Sabines Gull
73.Heermanns Gull
74.Ring billed Gull
75.Western Gull
76.California Gull
77.Caspian Tern
78.Artic Tern
79.Elegant Tern
80.South Polar Skua
81.Pomarine Jaeger
82.Long tailed Jaeger
83.Parasitic Jaeger
84.Common Murre
85.Pigeon Guillemot
86.Rhinoceros Auklet
87.Band tailed Pigeon
88.Mourning Dove
89.Collared Dove
90.Rock Dove
91.Greater Roadrunner
92.Great horned Owl
93.Barn Owl
94.Screech Owl
95.Kingfisher
96.Nighthawk
97.Vauxs Swift
98.White throated Swift
99.Annas Hummingbird
100.Costas Hummingbird
101.Black chinned Hummingbird
102.Warbling Vireo
103White Headed Woodpecker
104.Acorn Woodpecker
105.Nuttals Woodpecker
106.Downy Woodpecker
107.Hairy Woodpecker
108.Northern Flicker
109.Western Wood Pewee
110.Grey Flycatcher
111.Olive sided Flycatcher
112.Dusky Flycatcher
113.Black Phoebe
114.Says Phoebe
115.Western Kingbird
116.Blue Jay
117.Stellers Jay
118.Scrub Jay
119.Pinyon Jay
120.Magpie
121.Yellow billed Magpie
122.Raven
123.Crow
124.Rough winged Swallow
125.Barn Swallow
126.Violet Green Swallow
127.Vaux Swallow
128.Horned Lark
129.Wrentit
130.Oak Titmouse
131.Mountain Chickadee
132.Chestnut backed Chickadee
133.Brown Creeper
134.White throated Nuthatch
135.Red breasted Nuthatch
136.Pygmy Nuthatch
137.House Wren
138.Marsh Wren
139.Canyon Wren
140.Cactus Wren
141.Dipper
142.Golden crowned Kinglet
143.Western Bluebird
144.American Robin
145.Mockingbird
146.Sage Thrasher
147.Le Contes Thrasher
148.California Thrasher
149.Starling
150.Cedar Waxwing
151.Nashville Warbler
152.Yellow rumped Warbler
153.Orange crowned Warbler
154.Black throated grey Warbler
155.MacGillivrays Warbler
156.Townsend Warbler
157.Yellow Warbler
158.Wilsons Warbler
159.Common Yellowthroat
160.Green tailed Towee
161.California Towee
162.Spotted Towee
163.Song Sparrow
164.Chipping Sparrow
165.Brewers Sparrow
166.Sage Sparrow
167.Savannah Sparrow
168.House Sparrow
169.Song Sparrow
170.Fox Sparrow
171.White crowned Sparrow
172.Dark eyed Junco
173.Black headed Grosbeak
174.Yellow headed Blackbird
175.Red winged Blackbird
176.Tricolored Blackbird
177.Rusty Blackbird
178.Brewers Blackbird
179.Great tailed Grackle
180.Brown headed Cowbird
181.Hooded Oriole
182.Bullocks Oriole
183.Lesser Goldfinch
184.Pine Siskin
185.House Finch
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