Central California
I wrote earlier that the Christmas bird counts would play a big role in my big year effort. In Central California, several raritities were recorded including Rock Sandpiper, Ruff, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper and Red-flanked Bluetail. All of these were on winter territories so I wanted to visit the region before they left to breed in Alaska or Siberia. Three paying customers and a local guide joined me in a week of birding from Sacramento to Los Angeles.
March 8
We arrived around noon to Sacramento and reviewed our itinerary with the guide over lunch. A major Pacific Ocean rainstorm was forecast to reach San Francisco within 24 hrs so we scratched plans to bird in Marin and Sonoma counties and cancelled a whale watch out of Monterey Bay. During the calm before the storm, I picked up Red-breasted Sapsucker (425) and Yellow-billed Magpie (426) in Sacramento. Then at San Francisco Bay, we didn’t find the overwintering Rock Sandpiper at Heron’s Head Park. However we picked up Fox Sparrow (427), Golden-crowned Sparrow (428), Clark’s Grebe (429), Glaucous-winged Gull (430) and Short-billed Gull (431) as the sun set.
March 9
We began the day at dawn in calm weather at Lighthouse Field State Park in Santa Cruz. We were the only birders on site to find the overwintering Asian mega-rarity Red-flanked Bluetail. This species has only occurred in the continental USA a handful of times. It is an old world “chat-flycatcher” from China or thereabouts. Our guide pointed out the thicket where it usually appears around 9:30 AM each morning. The hunt was on. While searching, I added two new year birds: Brown Creeper (432) and Chestnut-backed Chickadee (433). The Red-flanked Bluetail (434) appeared right on cue around 10 AM making us all very happy. And then the rain started. We decided to try a sea watch from Point Piños at Monterey Bay before the storm became too severe. This was a good move. We got soaked in the rain but picked up numerous goodies including Common Murre (435), Rhinocerous Auklet (436), Pigeon Guillemot (437), Surfbird (438) and Pelagic Cormorant (439). By mid afternoon we headed inland hoping to escape the torrential rain, gale force wind and flooding expected near the coast. Arriving at Merced NWR near dusk, we drove the auto route in light rain and enjoyed a great diversity of waterfowl and shorebird species (including a Ruff) despite the thick cloud cover and gloomy aura of the storm. There were two new year-birds here: Cliff Swallow (440) and Swainson’s Hawk (441).
March 10
We began the day in the desert near Bakersfield in Kern County, hoping for respite from the rain. Fortunately we guessed correctly. Here we found numerous Bell’s Sparrows and a LeConte’s Thrasher. A Lawrence’s Goldfinch (442) gave some of us excellent views. And migrating Violet-green Swallows (443) were new.
A visit to Bitter Creek NWR failed to deliver California Condors which seemed to be grounded by the stormy weather conditions. Next stop was a search for exotic species in the city of Bakersfield where we found Rose-ringed Parakeet (444) but not Spotted Dove. We then headed a couple hours south to Los Angeles County to a stake out for Tundra Bean Goose at the Lancaster Water Treatment Plant but the goose, a rare stray from Eurasia, did not cooperate. We ended the birding day at nearby Apollo Park, home to many lost geese. No bean goose here, but we did find a locally rare Neotropic Cormorant!
March 11
We started the day at a dairy pond in San Bernardino County, 10 minutes from our motel. Here we found a rare Eurasian Wigeon (445) as well as a staked out Ruff.
Being close to Los Angeles, we decided to dedicate this day to finding exotic species that are considered countable by the American Birding Association because they have become established populations. Without much trouble we picked up Yellow-chevroned Parakeet (446), Egyptian Goose (447), Red-whiskered Bulbul (448), Indian Peafowl (449), Red-masked Parakeet (450), Red-crowned Parrot, Red-lored Parrot (451) and Lilac-crowned Parrot. Along the way I added several more year-birds including Black-throated Gray Warbler (rare in winter, 452), Northern Rough-winged Swallow (453) and Lark Sparrow (454).
March 12
We began the day with a longish drive from our hotel in Chino to the San Jacinto Wildlife Area in Riverside County. A normally closed section would be open today to accommodate birders interested in viewing two Asian shorebirds that had overwintered here: Little Stint and Wood Sandpiper. The stint evaded us, but we had great views of the Wood Sandpiper (455). Other new year-birds here included Canyon Wren (456), Rufous-crowned Sparrow (457) and White-throated Swift (458).
After receiving a rare bird alert that the Tundra Bean Goose had returned to the Lancaster Water Treatment Plant, we headed that way for another wild goose chase. This time it was a success!. By mid-afternoon we found the rare goose (459) foraging with a small group of Canada Geese.
We ended the day after sunset in Thousand Oaks, Ventura County. A visit to a County Park gave us several nocturnal species: Common Poorwill (460), Western Screech-owl (461) and Barn Owl (462).
March 13
With an hour to kill before boarding the Channel Islands Ferry at Ventura Harbor, we visited Mission Oaks Park. Here we observed Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Scaly-breasted Munia, Western Tanager (463), Bullock’s Oriole (464), Orchard Oriole (465), Hooded Oriole and Hermit Warbler (466). At Ventura Harbor we added Wandering Tattler (467). We departed the harbor at 9:30 AM and landed at Scorpion Anchorage on Santa Cruz Island about 75 minutes later. A brief visit to this unique island was adequate to add the Island Scrub-Jay (468). From the return ferry I got lucky when a northbound Ancient Murrelet (469) crossed our bow. Later in the afternoon, back on the mainland we added Lewis Woodpecker (470) and Greater Roadrunner to the trip list.
March 14
This day was dedicated to target birding in Orange County where we visited San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve, Santa Ana Rivermouth and Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve. Highlights included California Gnatcatcher (471), Swinhoe’s White-eye (472), Hutton’s Vireo (473), Elegant Tern (474), Black Scoter, Ridgeway’s Rail, Snowy Plover, Reddish Egret.
March 15
This morning we headed into the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains and the Angeles National Forest. Here we found California Thrasher, Mountain Quail (475), White-headed Woodpecker (476). We feturned to Bitter Creek NWR hoping for Condors but found it to be locked down by thick fog. A backup choice was Piura Reservoir where we found 11 soaring California Condor (477) as well as Williamson’s Sapsucker (478).
March 16
On the final morning of the tour, we visited a county park in Orange County and picked up Warbling Vireo (479). We were able to find the staked-out Burrowing Owl (481) at Ontario Airport just before dropping off our three customers who seemed satisfied by the productive trip. We had tallied 237 species for the eBird Trip Report which can be reviewed here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/112559.
My trip however was not yet finished. I still needed to return our rented minivan to the airport in Sacramento and our guide to San Francisco! This gave me an opportunity for more birding! Over the next 36 hours I would add ten more species to the trip list total, all found north of San Francisco in Marin and Sonoma Counties: Northern Saw-whet Owl, Varied Thrush (482), Pileated Woodpecker, Sooty Grouse (483), Pacific Wren (484), Cackling Goose (Aleutian), Tufted Duck (a staked-out Asian stray at the Petaluma River), Iceland Gull (pointed out to me by my friend Noah Arthur) and Black Rail (485).
Coming to Central California in late winter/early spring paid off in terms of the number of species found here. These species placed me firmly among the top five in the eBird leaderboard for the ABA area. For a few days I actually reached the top position. Many thanks are due to my three customers for their excellent companionship and to our able birding guide and driver.
For my next trip, I will be birding with my friend Scott Rashid in Southeast Arizona. Stay tuned for the details of that trip.
The bird trip to CA was remarkable in many respects, including birds, weather, California cuisines and companionship !
ReplyDeleteOne of the highlights for me was getting to know our young guide, Logan Kahle, who has deep knowledge of CA bird habitats and distribution. While the tour originally had targeted species
In Marin County and Monterey as well as southern California, we shifted the focus to central
and south to avoid the worst of the spring torrential rains that soaked northern California.
Some bird highlights included great looks at Black Oystercatchers along a jetty in San Francisco Bay, an unplanned stop along a super highway so I could view a life bird, the White-tailed Kite, a three hour adventure near the beach in Santa Cruz to find the very rare Asian species, the Red-flanked Bluetail and forty-eight other species, and a morning at a southern California private duck and pheasant hunting club, to locate a rare Wood Sandpiper among thousands of ducks and shore birds in the Ramona Hunt Club south of Riverside California. I enjoyed being part of Nick’s Biggest Year, in the moment he took the lead in the eBird USA rankings! We knew the trip was intending to chasing a lot of rarities. However I was really pleased that many California counties were covered very thoroughly by this tour, yielding well over 100 species each in Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
The group enjoyed a variety of cuisines for dinner, including Thai, Indian curries and a memorable visit to Japantown in Los Angeles to sample noodles, bento boxes and sushi.
I would sign up again to bird with Quetzal Tours! Nick strives to understand and exceed the expectations and birding goals of the birders on his tours.
Patricia Cullen
Longmont, CO