So I was to be in my own company for the next week. This is how I usually bird for the majority of my time out birding anyway. As much as I enjoyed the tour and the participant's company I have to say it was a bit of a release not to be on other peoples timetable and trying to round up tour members into the van which was like trying to herd cats at times ;-) As I've mentioned before my aim for this week was to spend a bit more time by the coast and concentrate on some target species. I would also have a lot more time to spend on photography and found the quality of my shots increased during my solo week.
I had flown into San Francisco the previous evening and was out at the Lucy Evans Baylands Centre first thing in the morning. This is right by San Francisco Bay and the saltmarshes here are supposed to be a favourite spot for Ridgway's, Virginia and even Black Rails (rarely seen). The boardwalk across the saltmarsh beyond the Interpretive Centre was closed when I arrived as it looked like it was falling apart. So that was that plan for rails out the window! However the area around here was still excellent. I was amazed at how common Golden-crowned Sparrows were here and just about everywhere else during the week in Northern California. During the first two weeks we had only seen the species once up in the San Jacinto Mountains. There was a decent amount of duck about also. I really wanted to get acquainted with Canvasback on this trip. We had already seen numerous Canvasbacks on the trip already but I had some really nice close views of them at this site. Some of the birds seemed to digging around in the mud at the bottom of lagoons for food as a few came up with their foreheads covered in black mud. A few male Greater Scaup were also giving great views on the Duck Pond as well. Interesting wingbar pattern on one bird which flapped while I was there.
From here then I left the "Bay area" and headed west up into the hills which stand between the bay area and the Pacific coastline. I hadn't planned on stopping here but as I was making good time I dropped into Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. Some nice large redwoods here which was a habitat that I hadn't yet visited. I had been hoping to add new species such as California Quail (surprisingly missed it on the tour), Pacific Wren, Band-tailed Pigeon and Townsend's Warbler. Although I didn't get any of these here (got all later in the week) I managed one tick in the form of Chestnut-backed Chickadee, which proved to be common during the week. There were a few ther good birds here as back-up like a showy Wrentit, Pygmy Nuthatch, lots of Steller's Jays and Hutton's Vireo.
I hit the Pacific coastline next and headed south until I got to Pescadero State Beach. This proved to be a productive spot for me. My main reason for visiting here was the presence of male Harlequin Duck. It's an area of rocky shoreline and with a minute of setting up the scope I had ticked Surfbird and Black Oystercatcher along with the bonus of seeing more Black Turnstones. Following a tip-off from another birder on site I picked up the male Harlequin beyond the breakers. Harlequin's are far from common in this area of California so it was a good one to see. Most of the stuff was just too distant for photography unfortunately.
I continued south stopping off at Lake Lucerne which is just off the Cabrillo Highway. There wasn't a huge amount of birds on the lake although there were about 50 Mew Gulls washing in the freshwater, the biggest gathering of Mews that I had seen yet. They proceeded to fly overhead as they made their way back out to the coast which gave a good opportunity for photos. It was good to get an idea of the variation in the wing patterns of several individuals. Surprisingly of the 50 or so birds present there was only one second-winter and no first-winters at all.
The final stop of the day was Pigeon Point Lighthouse. This is know as a seawatching spot with the right conditions and I was hoping for possibly a few auklets and/or murrelets offshore. The conditions while I was there weren't obviously up to much as it was very quiet. Some nice views of Bottle-nosed Dolphins passing close by the point though. I spent the night in Santa Cruz.
I had flown into San Francisco the previous evening and was out at the Lucy Evans Baylands Centre first thing in the morning. This is right by San Francisco Bay and the saltmarshes here are supposed to be a favourite spot for Ridgway's, Virginia and even Black Rails (rarely seen). The boardwalk across the saltmarsh beyond the Interpretive Centre was closed when I arrived as it looked like it was falling apart. So that was that plan for rails out the window! However the area around here was still excellent. I was amazed at how common Golden-crowned Sparrows were here and just about everywhere else during the week in Northern California. During the first two weeks we had only seen the species once up in the San Jacinto Mountains. There was a decent amount of duck about also. I really wanted to get acquainted with Canvasback on this trip. We had already seen numerous Canvasbacks on the trip already but I had some really nice close views of them at this site. Some of the birds seemed to digging around in the mud at the bottom of lagoons for food as a few came up with their foreheads covered in black mud. A few male Greater Scaup were also giving great views on the Duck Pond as well. Interesting wingbar pattern on one bird which flapped while I was there.
From here then I left the "Bay area" and headed west up into the hills which stand between the bay area and the Pacific coastline. I hadn't planned on stopping here but as I was making good time I dropped into Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. Some nice large redwoods here which was a habitat that I hadn't yet visited. I had been hoping to add new species such as California Quail (surprisingly missed it on the tour), Pacific Wren, Band-tailed Pigeon and Townsend's Warbler. Although I didn't get any of these here (got all later in the week) I managed one tick in the form of Chestnut-backed Chickadee, which proved to be common during the week. There were a few ther good birds here as back-up like a showy Wrentit, Pygmy Nuthatch, lots of Steller's Jays and Hutton's Vireo.
I hit the Pacific coastline next and headed south until I got to Pescadero State Beach. This proved to be a productive spot for me. My main reason for visiting here was the presence of male Harlequin Duck. It's an area of rocky shoreline and with a minute of setting up the scope I had ticked Surfbird and Black Oystercatcher along with the bonus of seeing more Black Turnstones. Following a tip-off from another birder on site I picked up the male Harlequin beyond the breakers. Harlequin's are far from common in this area of California so it was a good one to see. Most of the stuff was just too distant for photography unfortunately.
I continued south stopping off at Lake Lucerne which is just off the Cabrillo Highway. There wasn't a huge amount of birds on the lake although there were about 50 Mew Gulls washing in the freshwater, the biggest gathering of Mews that I had seen yet. They proceeded to fly overhead as they made their way back out to the coast which gave a good opportunity for photos. It was good to get an idea of the variation in the wing patterns of several individuals. Surprisingly of the 50 or so birds present there was only one second-winter and no first-winters at all.
The final stop of the day was Pigeon Point Lighthouse. This is know as a seawatching spot with the right conditions and I was hoping for possibly a few auklets and/or murrelets offshore. The conditions while I was there weren't obviously up to much as it was very quiet. Some nice views of Bottle-nosed Dolphins passing close by the point though. I spent the night in Santa Cruz.
| Female Bufflehead with Ruddy Ducks. |
| Female Bufflehead |
| Male Canvasback |
| Male Canvasback |
| Male Canvasback |
| Male Canvasback |
| Male Greater Scaup |
| Male Greater Scaup |
| Male Greater Scaup |
| Male Greater Scaup |
| Male Greater Scaup, interesting wingbar pattern... |
| Male Green-winged Teal |
| American Avocet |
| Surfbird, living up to its name! |
| Adult California Gull |
| Adult Mew Gull |
| Adult Mew Gull |
| Adult Mew Gull |
| Adult Mew Gull |
| Adult Mew Gull |
| Adult Mew Gull |
| Adult Mew Gull |
| Second-winter Mew Gull |
| Male Anna's Hummingbird |
| Male Brewer's Blackbird |
| Common Yellowthroat |
| Wrentit |
| Wrentit |
| Wrentit |
| Wrentit |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow |
| White-crowned Sparrow |
| Bottle-nosed Dolphin |