Central California advice (1 Viewer)

Greetings

Q: I will be driving from Monterey to LAX over the course of a week in late August on a birding trip. I am looking for any good birder/naturalist-friendly accomodation in this general area.

Thanks

Mike, check the ListServe and www.birdingonthenet and then go to the specific area, Central Coast or thereabouts.

Monterey harbor has lots of waterfowl but the really nice place to go is Moss Landing and adjacent Elkhorn Slough, both about 25 miles northeast of Monterey. You will see lots of shorebirds, waders, and sea otters.

wings thanks for your reply and link

Maybe helpful for others visiting this area late summer/early fall I found these links the most useful (mostly trip reports)

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/usa/California-8/california-07.htm
Birdwatching Trip Report from

http://www.surfbirds.com/trip_report.php?id=121
Surfbirds Birding Trip Report: California, July - August 2003

http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/USA/CA/CA-Index.htm
Birding The Americas - California Trip Reports

http://homepage.virgin.net/cliff.buckton/Birding/California/Calif.htm
California 17 September - 3 October 1998

http://www.birdfinders.co.uk/tours/california.htm
Birdfinders - Birdwatching Tours

http://users.ugent.be/~hmatheve/hm/CA2002.html
CALIFORNIA & ARIZONA Trip Report 2002

http://montereybay.com/creagrus/elkhornslough.html
Elkhorn Slough

http://fog.ccsf.org/~jmorlan/county.htm

http://www.beachcalifornia.com/piedras.html
PIEDRAS BLANCAS ELEPHANT SEAL ROOKERY

http://www.montereyaudubon.org/sarris files/indexTrail.htm
Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society

http://www.homeofyosemite.com/mariposa-accommodations.html

http://www.shearwaterjourneys.com/index.shtml
Monterey Seabirding with SHEARWATER JOURNEYS Pelagic Birding for over 25 Years

http://www.bajawhale.com/birdingtrips.asp
Searcher Natural History Tours: Whalewatching, Snorkeling, Wildlife Adventures

http://www.socalbirding.com/
Southern California Birding - Home

http://www.montereyseabirds.com/
Monterey Pelagic Seabird Cruises

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/07/06/MN3393.DTL
Owls Alight in Marin / Census of spotted variety find high density of endangered species

http://wingsbirds.com/tours/view/99
WINGS Birding Tours to California: The Southern Sierra and the Kern River Valley – Itinerary


Hmmmmm I think thats enough links. Anyway I am still looking for nice accomodation in the Mount Pinos area

Had a pretty succesful biridng trip to California the highlights being:
The Pelagic - not a huge list by shearwater journeys standards but I thought it was pretty damn good.
Red necked Phalarope an abundant bird everywhere along coast.
Pacific Plover - 1 nr moss landing
wandering tattler & black oystercatcher - point lobos
black turnstone - a number of places inc point lobos
surf birds 3 - just north of elephant seal beach near hearst castle
California Condor at the big sur just south of nepanthe restaurant at the A frame house under construction (apparently a reliable spot)
Poorwill 1 -at the top of Mt Pinos
Mountain Quail - bloody difficult - no response to calls. covey seen just below main campsite Mt Pinos
lecontes thrasher - Pair seen well in the middle of the day at the site near maricopa (exact spot mentioned in the ABA Guide) Couldn't find them at Jawbone Canyon.
Sage Sparrow abundant Jawbone Canyon.
White Headed Woodpecker - common top 3rd mt Pinos (respond to their own calls).
Townsends Warbler - Top Mt Pinos
all the other california specialties (in this area) except for costas hummingbird which I didn't reliably identify and hermit warbler.

By the way a great place to stay near Mt Pinos is 'the old bear bed and breakfast' at Pine Mountain Club.

Yay for condors!

My friend and I are talking about taking a condor tour. There is apparently a tour you can take and for $50 you go out with a small group and a biologist that knows exactly where to find them. We figure this way the 3 hour drive to Big Sur won't be wasted and we might get to meet new birders too.

Glad to hear your trip was a success. |=)|

loopybunny said:

My friend and I are talking about taking a condor tour. There is apparently a tour you can take and for $50 you go out with a small group and a biologist that knows exactly where to find them. We figure this way the 3 hour drive to Big Sur won't be wasted and we might get to meet new birders too.

Click to expand...

loopybunny:
have you done the condor tour yet? I've just learned about it, and wondered if it's worth it, and if it's a reliable way to see condors.