California late April early May (1 Viewer)

Hi all

I am doing a 2 week birding trip around California . Having looked at this forum was wondering if any other Brits might be out there between April 21 May 5 who might like to join up at any time. I have a car booked and so far am planning Monterey and Yosimite. Of course woiuld like to hear from any local birders who could offer help and maybe meet up too. I know you cant beat local knowledge!
Goyter

You might want to check out these groups as well

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CALBIRDS/

I'm sure if you posted on that site you would get some offers
http://www.ca.audubon.org/


Also Joe Morlans site has an interactive map of california which if you click on the county you will get information on that counties local audubon society and lists of bird related sites for that county. Usually the local audubon will have trips organised and usually they welcome non members as well, so you might want to see if any of your travels coincide with that. They will also usually have good descriptions of local birding locales.

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

Have fun great time to be there

Yosemite is a great place to visit, but not for birding. Check out this website: www.birdingonthe.net for regional postings.

Monterey is a great place, as is Bolinas Lagoon (just 10 miles north of San Francisco) and Bodega Bay for shorebirds. But also be aware that many of the shorebirds have already headed further north by mid-April.

More places

I lived in the Bay Area for 11 years.

I'd certainly visit Arrowhead Marsh, right next to Oakland Airport.

The San Rafael water treatment plant is excellent, too; the site is usually called Las Gallinas ponds.

For "inland" birds, it's hard to beat Mitchell Canyon, on the outskirts of Concord and on the edge of Mount Diablo.

Jeff