RFI - California in April (1 Viewer)

Good evening,

I will have a few days to explore the San Francisco area after a trip in Colorado this April.
My itinerary will be
21/04 - SF airport drive to Monterey along the coast: stop at Pescadore State Beach, Pigeon Point, Natural Bridge SB, Point Pinos (seawatching)
22/04 - Elkhorn Slough Reserve + Del Puerto Canyon Road+Mines Road, Drive to Point Reyes
23/04 Point Reyes area
24 - 25/04 - Sightseeing in SF

My targets are are YB Magpie, California Towhee, California Thrasher, Hermann's Gull, Hummingbird (Anna, Costa, Black-chinned,Rufous, Allen), Phainopepla, Tricolored Blackbird....
I guess these will be quite easy at these different locations.

I would like to see Black-footed Albatross and some species of alcids (Murrelets,...)

I have some questions:
- Should I need to go to Point Reyes or can I find these species without going there?
- My initial plan what to perform a pelagic trip but nothing seems to be scheduled. There are lots of whales whatching company but I don't know if we will reach the good area for birds in this kind of the trip. Any advice? I plan to instead some seawatching and I hope I can spot an albatross and some murrelets. Am I wrong?
- What about Least Tern? Will they be already return?
- any good spot for rails? Virginia and Ridgway's Rail ?
- what are my chance of spotting a Grey Whale along the coast at this time of year? Are they still in migration to the north?

Thanks for your help

Raphaël
Belgium

You'll need to get into the Central Valley for Yellow-billed Magpie. Point Reyes is always worth a visit, and you could be lucky with seawatching around there. I'll be visiting Monterey ( Moss Landing ) on Friday and should be able to cram in a visit to Elkhorn Slough on Saturday so I should be able to give you more info then. Anna's should be "easy", just look for flowering shrubs ( ones with single flowers, not double ), the Towhee should be in the drier, scrubby areas of Elkhorn Slough, the Thrasher is like most southwestern Thrashers, either unbelievably shy or running around in the open, it depends on luck. Ive never missed on Heermans Gull at Cannery Row. Phainopepla is reasonably straightforward in the right habitat ( Mesquite, particularly with Mistletoe ). Migrants, as always, depend on the weather so it would be best to check out local birding sites just before you go.

A tad north for Costa's. Anna's, Rufous, Black-chinned, and Calliope are present at this time in April.

Anna's Hummingbird and California Towhee are hard to miss... Anna's Hummingbird will probably become a "trash" bird soon after arriving.

California Thrashers, as Chris said, can be surprisingly tough to see. Your best bet is to get out early and hope to find one singing at the top of a bush.

Least Terns start returning in numbers in April down here, but I'm not sure about up that far north. Seawatching is often productive in that area, but a whale watching trip would probably get you some good birds much closer up. (probably not going to be stellar views, but better than from shore) The first ABA record of a Nazca Booby was from a whale watching boat, so they can definitely pay off. I think Grey Whales should be around then, but I'm far from an expert.

I saw yellow-billed magpie, Tricolored blackbird and plainopepla(plus Lawrence's goldfinch and Lewis's woodpecker) in del Puerto canyon road last May. I would go there before elkhorn slough as that doesn't open til 9am I think??(too many sleeps since!)

Thanks for mentioning Elkhorn Slough mightn't open until 9 JW. I'd have been wandering around at half past silly 'o' clock and ended up getting shouted at.
BTW Raphael. It's Allen's Hummer in CA, but Rufous will be making their way north so ........ have fun

Wouldn't take that time as a given as my memories terrible! But it's certainly too late in the day! Seem to recall its only open on certain days aswell. IMO it's not a site worth going out the way for

Rufous will be well on their way North by April -- the first start showing up in numbers (in SoCal, that is) in late February, and the last generally go through by late April. Allen's are year-round residents in most of the state.

Yellow-billed Magpie is closer than Central Valley. We found some near Hollister (lone tree road), about 2 hours drive from Monterey. Even so, we spent much of a day chasing this species.

Use Ebird.org for the map function showing locations for that species and limit the time to the last month, that should give you what you need of info for that.

Niels

The only way to call a rufous in Cal is to see a "pure rufous" male with no or barely any green on the back.

Costa's is usually local and uncommon. You could get lucky at any location. Make sure you are good with identifying females.