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Visiting California for the first time in November/ December (1 Viewer)

jimmyjames

jimmyjames

Well-known member
Hello all,

I'm a Brit, long time birder, from London with birding experience in a number of countries worldwide but none in the USA yet.

Having never birded in North America, this trip will be pretty exciting for me.

I'm hoping to find some key resources regarding sites I should try to visit in California and Arizona, and perhaps other spots.


Any advice gratefully received. I'm not on a big budget, and am not yet sure about car hire, but am interested in settling in to a good area for a few days at a time.

I wonder if there are any good out-of-the-way lodges, you might recommend for some top beginners birding?

Any advice gratefully received.

I'd be happy to join any trips and contribute petrol if there are any happening.

Many Regards

James
 
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Hi James,

It would be helpful if you said where in each state you were planning to visit.

California is about 800 miles long and 250 miles wide. Arizona is about 300 by 400 miles. Distances and travel times in these states can be deceptive. This website might offer some perspective:
http://thetruesize.com
Drag the US over Europe or the UK over the US to get an idea of relative size.

However, wherever you wind up you should be able to find good birding at many city parks and riparian areas. And, you can contact the local chapter of the Audubon Society to get local advice for each area you visit:
http://ca.audubon.org/about/chapters

Bruce
 
We're hoping to do 'Cali' coast all the way down to and including part of Mexico at some point to coincide with Grey Whale migration but haven't even started planning.

'Big Sur' is a must for the Condor I believe?

Andy
 
andyadcock said:
We're hoping to do 'Cali' coast all the way down to and including part of Mexico at some point to coincide with Grey Whale migration but haven't even started planning.

Andy
Click to expand...

Sounds great Andy. When are you doing this trip? Do you take stragglers?




bfoutch said:
Hi James,

It would be helpful if you said where in each state you were planning to visit.


Bruce
Click to expand...


Hi Bruce,

Thanks for the links.

Where I go in California will depend on the advice and research I receive. Nothing is of limits, and nor are neighbouring states. I have 1-3 months, before heading South to Mexico, so plenty of time to move around. Am landing in LA so will explore around there for a few days before heading out the city.

So far, Yosemite (and the Big Bug Lodge) is the only one park the list. I need will to figure out places to stay within touching distance of the great outdoors.

Hostels and airbnb look to be the most useful to my budget.
 
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ABA does a series of great area guides. There is at least one for Southern California and one for SE Arizona (both on my bookshelf). Those could be good starting points for figuring out where to go.

Yosemite will if I understand correctly only be open in the lower areas due to snow?

One of my favorite places in California and high on my list for everywhere is Joshua Tree Nat Park/Monument. That desert area just is special for me, even though the number of species to be seen isn't high.

Niels
 
I did a 3 week trip to northern and southeast Arizona and South/central California May last year, the books I used were the aba guides to Southern California and southeast arizona(I believe the latter has a newer site guide by someone else, Audubon??) and birding the flagstaff area, all these combined with recent sightings on ebird were very good and saw most desired species. I couldn't find a copy of the Northern California book for sale so all the more northern sites chosen were off ebird and trip reports. There is also a good book for Monterey bay, think it's called Monterey birds?. Would have thought a lot of the higher elevation sites would be out of bounds in winter or require winter tyres/chains
 
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