Bird report 2 - California

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Bird report for California, March 2006

After winter birding in Arizona, we moved west into southern California for spring. Birds began to take on their brighter breeding plumage and migration began.

24.2.06 Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge in hot, sunny weather. This lake and marshland area is 255’ below sea level and 25% saltier than the Pacific Ocean. That didn’t seem to deter birdlife as an excellent day’s birding at 3 different locations on the south and east shores brought us 19 new species for our American list, of which 13 were “lifers”. We got really excited by huge numbers of long-billed curlew, white-faced ibis and sandhill cranes in fields adjacent to the marsh areas. We marvelled at big flocks of snowgeese, not something you see every day. We glimpsed our first sora (a small rail) and Virginia rails, our first buff tinged American avocets and black-necked stilts, our first long- and short-billed dowitchers, marbled godwits and willets. Just to make a fantastic day even more complete, we discovered several comical little burrowing owls watching us from banks along the field ditches. And to cap it all, squadrons of white pelicans gave us a fly-past at our “sea”side campsite.
We tried to sort out some gulls on the sea, also spotting some white-winged scoter, goldeneye and red-breasted merganser.

27.2.06 Joshua Tree National Park an area of the high Mojave Desert, with yuccas, chollas, verdant palm oases and small man-made lakes. Whilst hiking we spotted many now familiar desert birds and plants, as well as our first prairie falcon, white-throated swift and Bewicks wren. At our campsite we heard great horned owl and coyotes.

1.3.06 Big Morongo Canyon Preserve A wonderful name for a great hiking and birding location just outside Palm Springs. The warden’s feeders alone provided great entertainment as we watched them being attacked by battalions of lesser goldfinches, house finches and hummingbirds. Around the marsh and desert willow trails, we also bagged Coopers hawk, several ladder-backed woodpeckers and our first spotted towhee, California towhee and Cassins kingbird.

2.3.06 Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mtns east of Los Angeles. Here we had a short walk mostly around the Ranger Station, where we were mesmerised by several cedar waxwings and mountain chickadees feeding in junipers. We glimpsed a red-breasted sapsucker and saw our first real numbers of American robins. The lake was disappointing, with the exception of a distant roosting bald eagle.

4.3.06 Kern and Pixley NWR are wetland areas in the central valley of California. On a pleasant day here we notched up 58 species, a good tally for us, mostly ducks, egrets and waders. New species included redhead (a duck), and greater and lesser scaup (also ducks). Highlights of the day included several thousand sandhill cranes, feeding in the fields initially, then flying in to the ponds to roost at sunset.
The following morning we had more fantastic views of the cranes again, this time circling in thermals to gain height and then flying off northwards, beginning their migration.

7.3.06 Yosemite Nat Park - more a scenic hike than a birding trip, we did manage to see loads of bold little red-headed acorn woodpeckers, Stellers jay, mountain chickadees, golden-crowned kinglets and red-breasted nuthatches. One of our best sightings was a pair of dippers swimming to feed. Also saw mule deer and a couple more coyotes.

10.3.06 Monterey Bay, Moss Landing and Elkhorn Slough - tidal estuaries, mudflats, marshes, sand-dunes, beaches and harbours.
Best sighting was large numbers of snowy plovers racing about on the beach. Other waders included black-bellied plover, black-necked stilt, American avocet, willet, long-billed curlew, marbled godwit and sanderling. Ducks included bufflehead, cinnamon teal, surf scoter and red-breasted merganser. Some Brant geese were quite a surprise and red-throated and common loons were quite a thrill, by their sheer numbers even though not yet in breeding plumage.

15.3.06 Big Sur coast - Big Sur, Andrew Molera and Point Lobos State Parks
A lovely sunny day beside pounding surf along the wooded coast just south of Monterey. Very successful with new species, beginning before we were up with a pair of wild turkeys lekking just outside the motorhome. Also saw thousands of Brandt’s cormorants displaying on some rocks just offshore. These cormorants have bright blue throats which they were proudly showing off as they postured to attract a mate. Some of today’s treats were easily found and in profusion, such as pygmy nuthatches and chestnut-backed chickadees playing in the cypress trees. Whilst watching these, we found a couple of hairy woodpeckers and a bright yellow and black Townsend’s Warbler. More hunting amongst the trees brought us purple finches (which are scarlet) and an orange-crowned warbler, which is bright yellow. To cap it all off we watched a peregrine falcon sitting boldly in the top of a dead tree, surveying the nesting cormorants.

21.3.06 Point Reyes National Seashore - mixed habitats including rocky headlands, lagoons and dunes, with some scrub, marsh and woodland. Fabulous walking and many excellent sightings, including loads of common murres (guillemots), surf scoters, common and red-throated loons, turkey vultures, red-tailed hawks, kestrel, Cooper’s hawk, nesting peregrine, northern harriers and Clark’s nutcracker. Also managed to pick out one rare Eurasian wigeon amongst lots of American wigeon. Whilst birding we also watched grey whales breaching, elephant seals basking on the beaches, plenty of deer and a couple of muskrats.

23.3.06 Napa Valley The rich mixed woodland where we camped should have been alive with birds enjoying the balmy spring weather. But in fact our 4 mile hike turned up very few species. The most common birds were merry little chestnut-backed chickadees and juncos. Eventually, after scanning every dead tree we could spy, David found a pair of pileated woodpeckers, unmistakable with their large pointed red heads and black bodies, feeding at the base of a redwood.

26.3.06 Mendocino Coast We found a Laysan Albatross swimming at Point Arena Cove. It’s the only one that can reliably be seen on the US mainland. He has been wintering here instead of Hawaii for the past 10 years and is fondly known to the locals as “Al”. He looks rather like a large black-backed gull, but has a large pink bill and a dark eye smudge. His wingspan is 78” and he obligingly did give us a flying display. Also along this coast we noted several peregrines and osprey, as well as western grebes, and more seals and grey whales out to sea. We also found our first downy woodpecker being harassed by a crowd of acorn woodpeckers at one of our campsites. We managed to pick out our first barn swallow (like European swallow) on 28th March feeding over a coastal lake in pouring rain.

30.3.06 North Californian coast An excellent area for waders and ducks, but more rain cut some of our planned excursions short. Highlights were hundreds of rare Aleutian geese (small Canadas), thousands of assorted waders giving aerial displays as the advancing tide brought them in to roost, and more white-tailed kites.

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Photos

Burrowing owl
in the banks near Salton Sea

Loggerhead shrike
in Joshua Tree National Park

Ruddy Duck
at Kern NWR

Steller's Jay
at Yosemite NP

Snowy plovers
at Moss Landing

Wild turkeys
a bit of a pest

Brandt's cormorants
at Point Lobos

Surf scoter
at Point Reyes

Junco
in Napa Valley

Laysan Albatross
Mendocino Coast

Snipe
at Kern NWR

Red-faced parakeets
in San Francisco