Whales, Condors and Warblers

Todd and I definitely made the most of our trip to California. On our quest to find a few lifers for me, we also came across other birds and sea life. Here are a few follow up photos including these California Sealions on the Monterey Jetty.

California Sealion

And plenty of Humpback Whales. Here is a photo of Pink-footed Shearwater and a whale together.

Pink-footed Shearwater and Humpback Whale

I've seen plenty of Humpback whales but this is the best "fluke" photo that I've ever had. This photo is not cropped. That is how close the whale was to the boat!

Humpback Whale Fluke

Remember, the boat is not allowed to chase the whale. We need to stop at some distance away. This one came really close. Very exciting. We also saw Risso's Dolphins on the trip. You can identify them at a distance because their heads look white. These guys came right at the boat and I was able to snap this shot. He looks like he's smiling for the camera! 

Risso's Dolphin

Back on land, we spent time just driving the roads along the coast, cattle fields and canyons looking for birds. Todd spotted a MacGillivray's warbler but I missed it. They are skulkers and hard to see. Todd is really good at understanding suitable habitat for birds and calling them out by "pishing". I used that information on another day and got to see this MacGillivray's warbler along another road. Ta-da!

MacGillivray's Warbler

Another sweet warbler that we found along the canyon roads was Wilson's warbler. You can easily identify these warblers by the black "yamaka" that they wear on their head. 

WIlson's Warbler

Anna's hummingbirds are common in California. We rarely stopped along the road and didn't see one. Here is a young male perched. You can see his throat patch coming in like a teenaged boy trying to grow a goatee.

Anna's Hummingbird

Back along the coast, we stopped at a beach for a walk. We were treated to this harbor seal basking on the rocks. Look at the waves splashing behind her.

Harbor Seal

We were also able to photograph some beach birds. Black Oystercatchers are the common species on the Pacific coast. Like our Oystercatcher, they have that bright orange bill and flesh toned legs.

Black Oystercatcher

Heerman'g gulls are some of my favorite. I love their muted gray tones. This one is ready to take flight.

Heerman's Gull

This crab was almost lunch for a Western Gull but the bird dropped the crab when he saw us walking up the beach. We snapped a photo before returning the crab to the water.

Purple Shore Crab

All-in-all, a great trip to northern California coast.

3 Days in California, 3 Life Birds for Linda

I'm getting to that point in my birding "career" where I've seen a lot of species. My total life list is almost 1300 birds. That's a lot of birds. Of that total, I've seen 669 species in the ABA area. The ABA (American Birding Association) area comprises the US and Canada. Traditionally, Hawaii is excluded but recently, the ABA allowed birders to include Hawaii in their totals but I elected to keep Hawaii separate. I have a goal of seeing 700 species in the ABA by age 60. That goal is not as easy as you would think.

When planning my trip to California, I looked up my "target list" on eBird to review any species that I could see in the San Francisco area and was surprised to find such a short list:

1. Tri-colored Blackbird
2. Lawrence's Goldfinch
3. Cassin's Auklet
4. Fork-tailed Storm-petrel
5. Flesh-footed Shearwater

Other birds were on the list but had probability ratings of less than 1% which means that they are very rare.

We arrived in California around noon but had issues with the rental car and never got down to Monterey area until 4:00 or so. Despite the delay, we found our first target easily - Tri-colored Blackbird. They are easily found at the dairy farm.

Tri-colored Blackbirds

Day 1, Bird 1 - check! We had the whole day on Friday to go birding around the area. We decided to take a drive out to Pinnacles National Park where bird #2 had been reported. Pinnacles is also a known area to see the very endangered California Condor. We arrived at the park around 9 AM and stopped at the Visitor Center to pay the fee. We met another birder who had his scope trained on some roosting Condors. The birds were in a tree at the top of a ridge. We asked if he had seen any Lawrence's Goldfinches. He said, "sure, they're at the pool". Dang if they weren't. We wandered over to the pool in the campground and viola. Day 2, Bird 2!

Lawrence's Goldfinch

We found some other birds in the park but our big find was more California Condors. The park is surrounded by cattle ranches. We saw something in the field under the lone tree.

California Condors

22 Condors roosting the shade. The calf wanted shade too but didn't dare to go too close to the huge birds. This photo shows the size comparison so that you can get a sense of how huge these birds are. Condors are the largest birds in North America. A member of the vulture family, they only eat dead animals. Unfortunately for the farmer, the flock had gathered to make the most of a dead cow in the field. Zooming in to the photo, we could see that the birds are tagged. Each bird was hatched in captivity and released into the wild with the wing band. We saw #97, 92, 58, 59, 31, 16, 40 and 78.

California Condors

On Saturday, we booked a pelagic trip out of Monterey Bay. We boarded the boat at 7:00 and by 9:00, I had bird #3 - Cassin's Auklet! Now, I know it doesn't look like much but it is a really cute alcid. Day 3, Bird 3 - check. My Total Life List is now at 1299 and our ABA list is now 672.

Cassin's Auklet

I have more photos and stories from our boat trip that I'll share in another post.

Sooty Shearwater Facts and Fun

So, last month I went out on the Atlantic ocean for the day. This month, Todd and I went out on the Pacific ocean for more birding at sea. We booked 2 trips with Alvaro's Adventures. The first trip was out of Monterey Bay which was pretty good and I'll post about it later. The second trip was out of Half Moon Bay and unfortunately was cancelled due to rough seas. Alvaro and the boat captain felt bad for us and agreed to take us around the bay for an hour so that we could witness the spectacle of a huge Sooty Shearwater  flock that had taken up residence in the bay feeding on a school of anchovies. This phenomenon does not occur often so it was worth the boat ride. You can see the black dots surrounding this fishing boat.

Our Captain drove the boat right into the flock slowly so that we could get a closer look. As the boat approached, the birds would run across the water.

You can see all of the splashing water behind the birds as they tried to take flight.

I took several videos so that you could see the birds but also hear the pitter-patter of their feet as they ran across the water to lift off.

It was tough to get a photo of a single bird. They are powerful flyers. In fact, Sooty Shearwaters complete the second longest migration of any bird traveling from their breeding grounds in New Zealand across the Pacific ocean to California and back each year. A total trip of 40,000 miles!

Unfortunately, with so many birds, there are bound to be casualties. We found this dead bird floating face down in the water with a big gash in its side. They are pretty hefty birds. I took this selfie with the bird and Alvaro. I guess its kind of morbid but at least the bird's death will have some positive effects. Alvaro will take it to the natural history museum for study. 

OK, so now comes the interesting part. You need to listen to the video for the story that Alvaro told us. As you read earlier, the Sooty Shearwater phenomenon doesn't happen often. It happened in 1961 and due to weather and other circumstances, the birds lost their bearings and flew onto land. I'll let you listen to the rest of the story.

I really love that movie and now I love it even more.

California by the Numbers

Now that I am in deep with the DVOC, I am rubbing elbows with some major birders. Some of the members are in the "700" club as in - they have seen 700+ species of birds in North America. 700 is a big deal in North America since there are only about 914 species that are possible to see. I'm sure that there are a select few approaching 800 or even more. Seeing that many birds means that they have traveled north and south, east and west and chased alot of rare birds. 

Anyway, their lists got me thinking about my own species count. I looked it up in eBird. My total species is just over 1100. Of those, I have 553 recorded in North America. Of those, 20 are not "countable" meaning that the bird was not considered wild, so my real number is 533. Now, I think of myself as pretty well traveled. I've been north and south AND east and west. I've also chased rare birds. So seeing my number left me feeling a bit inadequate. 

So, this year I am paying closer attention to finding birds that I haven't seen in North America and trying to plan birding outings that will increase the number. eBird has a feature called "Target Species" so I can enter the destination and it will show me a list of birds that I do not have on my list but are being seen in that area. The California list showed Yellow-billed Magpie, Hooded Oriole, Vaux's Swift and many others but those 3 were my target for this past trip. By now you know that Little Stint unexpectedly became #534.

I planned my route precisely. My first target was Yellow-billed Magpie. Many sites were listed but the map showed that they were all along one road - Mine Road so that is where I headed. Sure enough, the birds were literally ON the road. Here is one of them with a beak full of bugs. 

Yellow-billed Magpie

Here is another one sitting on the fence. You can really see the yellow bill in this photo. Count these as #535.

Yellow-billed Magpie

That was pretty easy but I wanted to continue down Mine Road and get to the Del Valle Regional Park since I was close. Glad I stuck to the plan as I was pleasantly surprised to find not 1 but 2 Bobcats wandering up the maintenance road. I couldn't believe my eyes. 

Bobcats

A short time later, another surprise. I spotted a mother turkey and her chicks were foraging in the grass by the edge of the road. Here they are crossing the road. Good thing there were no other cars on the road - not because of the turkeys but because I was laying in the middle of the road to take this photo. 

Turkeys

Here is one of the babies in the grass. You can barely see him. 

Turkey Chick

I headed out to another park and found a few more photographable birds including this Tom Turkey struttin' his stuff to impress a lady Turkey. Who could resist this guy? 

Tom Turkey

And this Western Scrub Jay. I love these birds because they always seem to pose for me. This one even gave me directions :-)

Western Scrub Jay

The unexpected sighting here was this lizard. Nothing to look at really until you see the blue belly. 

Lizard

The lizard became even more interesting when he jumped onto another log to hang with his friend the Minion. What an ironic photo.  

Minion

And then, #536 - Hooded Oriole. The bird hung out high in the tree so I couldn't get the a good photo. 

Hooded Oriole

I'll tell you about #537 in another post. 

Sometimes Things Just Work Out

Let's set the stage with some background. First, if you read this blog or related to me, you know I've been traveling a lot lately for my job. Next, if you live in the Philly area, you know that the weather has been terrible lately - overcast, rainy and cold - not really ideal birding weather. Lastly, if you are a birder, you know that this time of year can produce some really rare birds. All of these things came together last week in a big way.

I have 2 projects going on for clients in the Bay Area of California. Both projects require me to meet with them in person but my calendar is booked solid for May with both work and birding. As luck would have it, the weather was so bad that I cancelled a trip to the shore last weekend and started to look at airfare pricing to California. Things worked out and I booked a last minute trip leaving Philly on Sunday, staying in Berkeley through Wed and catching the red-eye home on Wed night/Thurs morning. I had a few target birds to look for on this trip which I will post later. This post is about bonus birds - in particular a mega rare bird that I stumbled upon on my last day of the trip.

The business part of the trip included a meeting with a client in Milpitas which is down near San Jose. The meeting was scheduled for 10 AM. How could I spend the morning? Hmmm. Birding of course. The night before, I searched eBird for a location close to my meeting that looked promising for shorebirds. I clicked the link for Alviso Marina and was shocked to see Little Stint in the list of recently recorded birds. Now, you need to know that Little Stint is a super rare bird from Asia. This bird was only the second ever recorded in all of California. I had to go.

Arrived at 6:15 to find that the park doesn't open til 8:00 AM. That didn't stop me. Over the fence I went with my binoculars and camera. I was surprised that I was totally alone for 2 hours looking for the Little Stint. I thought for sure there would be others but only one other birder came along. We didn't find the Little Stint. We did see these Eared Grebes floating on the glassy water.

Eared Grebes

The sky was overcast and there was no wind which created a bright and smooth water surface. The grebes were not afraid of us at all. In fact, they dove under water and popped up very close to shore which allowed me to take these shots.

Eared Grebe

You can see why they are called "eared" with that yellow tuft of feathers but I think they could also be called "Devil-eyed" grebe due to that red eye or "Crested" grebe due to the crest that is always up unless they are getting ready to dive underwater.

Eared Grebe

I am also a sucker for American Avocets. This location had a lot of them. They nest here and seem to be oblivious to people walking past them on the trail.

I never realized that they had those shocking blue legs.

One of the things that you might notice about all of these photos is that there are little black dots on them. This isn't a camera problem. The dots are tiny little flies that were here by the billions. So many that when I walked on the path, a cloud of them would rise up and fly around my feet to avoid being squashed. You can see it best in this photo. The Avocet is stalking the flies but they are too smart. They move just far enough so the Avocet can't reach them.

Avocet hunting flies

Obviously, the Avocet gets plenty of flies to eat but not in that photo. Here is another photo pocked with flies. These are Red-necked Phalaropes. We usually see these birds in the ocean but they stop along the mudflats in migration too. Looks like they were taking a break from eating flies.

Red-necked Phalaropes

The other birder told me that the Little Stint has been seen every day in the afternoon but not in the morning. Sigh. Why did I get up so early? Oh well, seeing Eared Grebes and Avocets made the trip worth it. But I had other ideas too.

My meeting went great. I was supposed to be there until 4 PM but when I told my client about the rare bird, he agreed to cut the meeting short. So, I tore out of there at 2 PM and headed back to the park. This time, the gate was open and there were many other birders there. All gathered at the end of the trail where I had been searching for the Stint earlier. I literally ran to get there. Tada! Little Stint.

Little Stint

I know it doesn't look like much after seeing the spectacular Eared Grebe and elegant Avocets but this bird is more sought after by far. Here he is with 2 other species - Dunlin and Western Sandpiper. He chased both of these birds away from his little mud island.

Little Stint (left), Dunlin (center) and Western Sandpiper

The other birders disbanded after awhile leaving me and one other lady there to watch this little lost bird feeding in the mud. The park is dissected by a train track which is very busy. Here is the scene. The Little Stint is there next to his island.

Little Stint and American Flyer

A few other birds that were seen include this Short-billed Dowitcher. I know, "short billed"? Believe it or not, there are also Long-billed Dowitchers. Imagine that.

Short-billed Dowitcher

Here are a group of them poking their long bills into the mud below the water.

Dunkin' Dowitchers

The most numerous species at this location is Western Sandpiper. Here is one getting ready to grab a fly from the water's surface.

Western Sandpiper

 The Little Stint was icing on the cake for this trip. I'm glad I made the last minute decision. My clients are happy too. Now, back home to witness spring migration.

From Desert to Mountains

I have to tell you that the mountains outside of Los Angeles are way nicer than the desert. The air is cooler and clear since you are above the smog. I drove up early on Sunday morning. The day started out on a down note. I had to stop for gas. Got off of the freeway and had to go to 2 gas stations before finding one that was open at 5:30 AM. Tried to use my credit card and had it denied because the credit card company saw that I was trying to use it at 5:30 AM in LA. Then couldn't get back on the freeway due to road closure. Finally got up to the mountains which requires a harrowing drive up a winding road with motorcyclists whizzing past me at high speed. The scenery is breath taking.

Got to my desired location. Found my target bird. Pulled out the camera and . . . nothing. The battery was completely dead! AAARRRGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

I got to the Visitor's Center and saw a few birders heading out of the parking lot. I hailed them down for some info and found out that they were part of Pasadena Audubon doing their monthly filed trip. The leader has the same camera as I do so I boldly asked if he had a spare battery that I could borrow while I was birding with the group. What a great guy! I still have the battery. He is a trusting sole and kept my battery in return for the charged one. Yay. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten these photos including this excellent shot of White-headed Woodpecker taking a drink at the Visitor Center.

White-headed Woodpecker

Or this shot of Pygmy Nuthatch.

Pygmy Nuthatch

 Or Oak Titmouse.

Oak Titmouse

Or any of the other birds that I saw like this Black-headed Grosbeak.

Black-headed Grosbeak

Or these GIANT pine cones.

Coulter's Pine Cone

Giant pine cone

Or this Black Bear that rambled past me at Mt. Wilson Observatory!

Black Bear

Thanks Hill - where ever you are!