May 5, 6 2016 - Back home early on May 7 and was it all a dream???

May 5 & 6 - and home early morning on May 7

Our last day (May 5) before flying out the next day (May 6)  was a full one like all the other trip days.  We started out birding with Hugh and Rosita in Mitchell Canyon, part of Mount Diablo.  It was raining a bit. Then the rain came down hard and hail came down.  We stayed in the car until it let up.  We could hear thunder and there was a flash of lightning.  It cleared up and we went up the trail.  This is a very nice place and there were lots of birds around.  We wish we could have spent the day here but we had to move on.  The drive to our next spot was interesting.  We crossed the Bay Bridge and then there were miles of salt marches and pull-off spots too but it was raining and we did not have the time to spare either.  We could see shore birds and ducks as we drove by.

We drove about two hours to Point Reyes National Seashore.  This is a huge seashore just north of SF and Muir Woods.  The vistas are stunning and there are many beaches and cliffs.  The weather did not look good until we arrived and then it cleared up and the sun came out.  Thankfully it was not windy.  We walked to the lighthouse and the overlook and there were thousands of Common Murres sitting on rocks.  There were also seals on the beach with some pups.  We spent the afternoon on the trails here and this place is spectacular.  Another place we would like to spend more time but we had to get to SF and we had a place booked close to the airport.  We kept looking for the Elephant Seals with their pups but could only find Fur Seals.  On the trail back from the lighthouse, the girls were looking for a bird that had flown into the wind bent trees.  Instead they found a Nightjar on a branch almost entirely camouflaged.  Talk about luck.

Here is Connie at Point Reyes, an Dark-eyed Junco and California Quail along with the spectacular scenery of Point Reyes.

The drive back to SF from Point Reyes was also interesting.  We drove through a redwood forest housing development.  It was so dark driving through and the houses while were really nice, they all  had to have their lights on in daylight.  They never got any direct sun due to the Redwoods.  It looked like a permanent twilight suburb.   We drove near marshes and down rolling hills.  Then all of a sudden there was the freeway, 101, to cross the Golden Gate Bridge for the last time and then south to the airport.   We arrived at the Vagabond Inn and they had baked cookies waiting for us!!  We helped ourselves and then went off to the rental car place to return the car.

We had our last supper and bit of splash to celebrate the conclusion of the trip, it was 10 pm by this time.  We had to pack up yet and we had to get up for 4:45 am as we had to be on the 5:30 am airport shuttle.  This was on par for the whole trip with many early mornings.

So we each had about 3 to 4 hours of sleep and we made it the next morning.  The airport, border clearing and security went so much better than in Denver.  We had three flights to take and the traveling time was 15 hours including waits between flights.

Jane and I went through our bird lists and we wanted to see how many different bird species and subspecies we had.  For California we are at approximately 200 birds and for Colorado I added mine up and I have 159 species approximately.  There is no trip list yet, that will take some work.

We had our lunch in Vancouver and supper in Calgary.  The last flight went well and we got home early Saturday morning.  Each of us slept on the plane as we were missing so much sleep from the night before.  It will take a couple of days to recover from the long trip.

On May 6, while traveling home we talked about our number 1 birds for the trip.  Each of us said it was the Sharp-tailed Ptramigan.  It was a special a bird to us.  For Jane and myself the idea of this bird went back years.  For myself the bird was mythological  and I had wanted to see it someday and it had to be a white Ptarmigan, so in winter plumage.  It came down to seeing the Ptarmigan at Loveland Pass, Colorado   We were on a mountain after a recent heavy snowfall and somehow on that mountain there was a pair of Ptarmigan about 50 yards away from us and Jeff heard the Ptarmigan call and told us where to look.  It was so slim a chance and it was there before us.  We had great looks in the white-grey environment that day and saw a white bird!!  We viewed a white bird on white snow against grey skies!!   We were so fortunate to see the Ptarmigan. My number two bird was the Black-throated Grey Warbler which was amazing and we saw this warbler several times on different days.  The girls also said that the Rosey Finches, all three subspecies: Black, Brown capped and Grey-crowned were special.  This was the morning at Margery's cabin about 27 miles west of Vail which was so special and Margery herself is a special person. 

This was a great trip.  Lots of bird experiences, adventures and laughs.  It did not seem long, it went quickly.  We even had a day to tour San Francisco.  Hard to believe it is over.

This morning I went off to visit with J and Ashley's Avery Marie, born May 1.  Gramma got to hold her several times and Avery Marie is an alert baby that looks around and follows voices.  She is a real cutie!  Love her to the moon and back!
Gosh there is so much to be thankful for; babies and birds and friends and life.

May 4 - Birding with the Mount Diablo Audubon on Mount Diablo

May 4

This morning we drove to Danville to meet up with the Mount Diablo Audubon group.  The outing was let by Jim Edgar and we car pooled in Hugh Harvey's car.  Hugh is the club's record keeper and list keeper. Hugh is very knowledgeable of the area as he pretty well grew up here.  There were about 20 people on the outing and we stopped at several stops on the way to the summit of Mount Diablo which is almost 4,000 feet above sea level.  While we did not get any lifers here, we did get lovely looks at some the birds we have seen such as the Hermit Warbler, a Western Bluebird pair on the nest in a hole in a live oak, Townsend's Warbler, Pacific-slope Flycatcher and Hammond's Flycatcher.  We saw a covey of about 4 California Quail and then in the afternoon we saw a pair crossing the mountain road.

On the road up the mountain and down, we met up with several cyclists.  Apparently there is a race here every year which is famous and is on TV.  The race attracted people like Lance Armstrong in his heyday.  This is a tough mountain.  Hugh told us that he cycles the mountain once a year on his birthday, the 17th of July and he has been doing this for years.  It takes Hugh two hours to get up the mountain and 45 minutes to come down.

One really special sighting we had was the Calliope Humming Bird, which was the first time we saw this hummer on this trip, taking a bath in a mountain stream.  It was so neat to see this tiny bird enjoying a cool shower under the trickling water.

We met many members of the Audubon group and there are group members who are plant and flower experts.  We saw Stinky Monkey Plant, Black Sage, Chemise Sage, Ethereal's Spear, and Miner's Lettuce.  There were some lovely butterflies such as the Western Tiger Swallowtail and the Variable Checkerspot.

After lunch and the group bird list compilation, we continued to bird the mountain with Hugh.  We climbed to the very top observation tower at the lighthouse beacon of the mountain.  This is where the above photo was taken.  From this spot we could see the towers of downtown San Francisco and the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge and the mountain nearby (forgotten the name of this mountain).  It is said that one can see over 80 miles away from this spot.  The vista is stunning.

Hugh then drove down the mountain.  We stopped at point to listen for sparrows as we did not have any today.  Hugh was hoping for Sage Sparrow or the Black-chinned Sparrow but it was quiet.  Hugh graciously invited us to his home.  We drove back to the meet-up spot and we followed Hugh to his home as it was on our way back to our motel.  We met Hugh's wife and visited their lovely patio where they have bird feeders set up.  In addition they have a bird house where a pair of Chestnut-backed Chickadees had just fledged three young ones.  Hugh feeds them meal worms and there was constant activity from the parents in feeding their young.

We watched the humming birds come to the flowers and the hummingbird feeders also and both Anna's and Allan's Hummingbirds showed up to feed.  We ended up going out to supper with Hugh and his wife and we had a delightful supper conversation covering education, politics a bit, and other interesting topics.  We said goodbye to this gracious couple and headed back to our motel to make arrangements for tomorrow.  We worked out the routes and GPS addresses for tomorrow so we are set for not getting lost.  Usually this works. Sometimes the GPS acts up and we drive on directional ideas and sometimes this works.  Generally we are fine.

Below are Western Bluebird and Allen's Hummingbird.

May 3 - Day in San Francisco and some birding and then east to Concord

May 3

We went back on the Hop on Hop off tour bus again today.  So over the Golden Gate Bridge for the 5th and 6th times and then hopped off at the Rose Garden/Chinese Pavilion section of the Golden Gate Park.  We were thinking that flowers and water would bring in the birds.  It does but it was just the usual suspects;  Anna's and Allan's Hummingbirds, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, California Towhee and crows and ravens and not much else.  We looked for the Chinese Pavillon or tea house or whatever it is.  We could see it from the bus yesterday and today it was invisible.  We asked people and park staff and got conflicting directions.  We walked miles in several directions, it was like a movie.  We would meet someone and they would say go that way and we would walk and walk with no luck.  Then meet someone else and followed their directions.  Why don't people say they don't k?  Instead they sent on a wild chase.  The map we had showed one direction and the park map showed something else.  Conclusion: the place does NOT exist.  We all had a legs workout on this one.  It was ridiculous and we fell for it.
Instead, we ended up at the De Young Gallery of Modern Art and had a lovely lunch on  the patio with dessert and some laughs on the Chinese or Japanese Pavilion or Tea House search.  We were going to have tea there if we found it.  On the patio, it was so nice outside.  We identified the wandering little birds looking for crumbs as male and females Brewer's Blackbirds.  So a bit of food and a bit of birds and it was really relaxing.  The day was warmer than yesterday but still, if one is near the bay, it is freezing cold.   We took the hop-on bus back to Fisherman's Wharf and visited the Sea Lions again.  Connie had her camera this time and took some photos of the action.   I think we could watch the Sea Lions for hours but it is so cold there by the water.  There is always a brisk chilling wind, even in the mid-afternoon. 

We then looked for a particular store in the Ghirardelli Square with no luck.  But we did stop for a little dessert at Ghirardelli's:  some ice cream which hit the mid afternoon slump.  We left SF at 4:30 just at rush hour, not a good idea but we were ready to leave by then for Concord which is east of SF.  We crossed the Bay Bridge which is even a bigger bridge than the Golden Gate.  The drive went well and we are in our motel in Concord now.  We went to the Safeway to pick up a hot supper and lunch for tomorrow.  We all thought Concord would be a small town with one big road.  Instead we are in suburbia with huge roads and box stores.  No small towns exist around SF.  This is silicon valley for the HiTech industry.

The photo is on the top level of double-decker tour bus today.

Tomorrow we are joining the local Audubon Club for an outing to Mount Diablo which is around 4,000 feet high.  Connie and I just worked out the route, so we won't get lost trying to find the meet-up spot.

Baby Avery Marie is doing well and Ashley and baby are still in the hospitial.  Not sure when they are coming home, maybe tomorrow. Everyone is thrilled that the baby is finally here and I am so looking forward to holding her on Saturday!

May 2 - Pacifica to San Francisco

May 1

Today we said goodbye to the ocean up close.  We saw the Black Scoters who were always on the waves in front of the motel.  The ocean was high and blustery and sent spray up over the rocks regularly.  We had listened to the pounding all night long.  The power of the ocean is awesome.

We headed directly to Muir Woods which is north of San Francisco.  Muir Woods is renown for it Giant Redwoods and these are amazing as one can see in the attached photo.  We were looking for one particular bird, the Pacific Wren.  We started looking when we got there and then we saw a fellow doing point counts and we asked him.  He found one on a wild fern. We had great looks however briefly and did not see another Pacific Wren for the rest of the morning. By 10 am bus loads of people were arriving from the cruise ships and tour buses.  I counted 12 buses when I left.  The trails were crowded and the toilets were out of order and so they brought in portapotties and lots of them.  It was like  a zoo.  When I got to our car in the parking lot, a man came and asked me for the parking spot.  We left at 11 am with the one lifer.  We were very happy with that lifer.

We birded a bit next in the Golden Gate Parks and had a picnic lunch in the car.  Then we checked into the Holiday Inn at Fisherman's Wharf here and parked the car.  We then took the hop on hop off bus tour.  We crossed the Golden Gate bridge for the fifth and sixth time today on the open top of the double decker bus.  It was sooo cold and windy up there and we were glad we did it.  Tomorrow we are going back on the bus and stopping at the Rose Gardens to bird and then to have tea at the Japanese Tea House.

When we were done with the bus tour we walked to Pier 39 to see the Sea Lions on the docks outside.  There were tons of them and we watched them for quite a while in the cold.  Some of the Sea Lions just slept,  others crowed or called out and others fought each other.  It was quite interesting to see.  By then we were frozen and we had gloves and hoods and windbreakers on.  We went for a fish supper at the Fish Market and it was very good.  I had the Teriyaki Salmon, Connie has fish and chips and Jane had Clams with linguini.  We walked over to Ghirardelli's chocolates and I tried out their ice cream, it was sublime.  The evening was typical San Francisco weather, don't leave home without a windbreaker and a fleece, you will need it plus gloves.  It gets so cold so fast and it is always windy here each time I visit the place. 

We did a lot of walking this morning and we all got chilled to various degrees on the bus, so tomorrow we will have to dress up for the weather better.

Our room is pretty big and we have a wonderful night view of the Oakland Bridge and the financial district's buildings.  We can see homes up the sides of the hills of SF and on the bus tour we saw the street where the car chase was filmed for the movie named Bullet.  So it was fun playing tourist.  Connie had never been in SF before and we thought we would at least spend some time doing some tourist things.  Tomorrow it is back to birding.  Here are some of today's photos.

May 1, Avery Marie Chouinard born late May 1 by C-section, 6 pound, 15 ounces everyone OK

May 1 - FINALLY the news I have been anxiously awaiting and two weeks overdue!  Grandbaby #3 arrived healthy and Mom Ashley is fine also.  Dad Jason sent me the text so he must be OK!!   I am so relieved to hear that Avery Marie is born finally and Ashley almost did hold out for me, I will be home in six days!!  Love you guys to the Moon and I am missing the first days and the first cuddling of Avery at the hospital!   I will see you all on Saturday morning at your house - Early!!!

On the birding front today we had a great day with our birdingpal Julio.  Every day is great on this trip.  This area is south of SF and it is Silicon valley.  There are blocks of Apple Buildings and Google and many many others.  There are also two great park systems, Steven's Creek Parks and Ed Levin Parks and Alison Marina Park (Salt Flats). 

We started our day at the Edgewood Park and Ride about 1/2 hour from our motel in Pacifica.  As I write this the surf is pounding hard and the tide is coming in very loud.  It is booming every few seconds.  The rising waters are about 50 feet away and this evening when we got back, Connie and I went down to watch the tide come in.  I could do this for hours, trying to figure out which wave is going to be big or not.  While we were there two young sweet things were drenched with a rogue wave about 25 feet from us.  It is really wonderful to walk a minute through our parking lot and have the ocean right there. Our room is ocean front. 

We met up with Julio and off we went to Steven' Creek Park System.  We stopped at the Perchetti Winery for the birds and NOT the wine, it was only 8 am!   We had a lifer here, the White-tailed Kite, which is a delicate looking almost all white Kite.  We thought we had seen this bird in Southern California and decided today we did not see this bird earlier but a larger white bird that flew very fast and now is a "mystery bird".  White birds are special and the White-tailed Kite is very pretty and fast.  According to Julio, when they find something interesting in the air, the Kite will hover like a Northern Harrier.

In the Ed Levin Park System we saw hang glyders up in the sky like a kettle of hawks and Connie and I watched some of the hang gliders land.  Today was sunny and it was in the 80s.   As for the birds, we had Hooded Oriole and Bullocks and Western Bluebirds and others.  The park was busy but not packed lots of families out for a BBQ picnic in the afternoon.  We visited the Audubon Ranch and watched and took photos of birds at the nearby feeders and then we walked the ranch part looking for the California Quail.  We were not lucky to see the Quail.

We stopped at a golf course for lunch with Julio and we all enjoyed our lunch.  I had a huge Chicken Quesadilla which I finished for supper.  The girls had food from the Organic Store Grocery hot buffet which they said was really tasty.We did more of the Ed Levin Parks and then went on to the Alviso Marina Park which is a no longer used salt flats where salt was obtained from the salt water.  These are huge levies with pools as far as the eye can see.  The above photo was taken there.  We are smiling because we had viewed a rare bird from Asia the LITTLE STINT.  This is a very grey sandpiper sized bird that has been at this salt flat for the last four or five days.  Julio mentioned it and we were grateful for him to take us there.  Julio is an enjoyable and knowledgeable birder.  By 6 pm it was time to bid Julio farewell and we appreciated his day with us a lot.   It was a full 12 hour day.

We returned to Pacifica via Half Moon Bay again and there was no traffic in our direction this time and all the traffic which was probably the tourists here for the weekend, was bumper to bumper in the one lane in the opposite direction to us.  The girls picked up supper and I had most of my Quesadilla left from lunch which was still very good with salsa, sour cream and guacamole sauce.  We made it back to our motel with our take out food and then we watched the water for a while.

We re-arranged our schedule and decided to spend tomorrow night in the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco so Connie can see some of the SF sights.  Both Jane and I have spent time in SF before and we enjoyed it a lot.  So we told Connie no cat naps on the road tomorrow traveling into SF as she may miss something!!  Connie missed the Hollywood sign the first time we went through LA and Friday she finally saw the Hollywood side in the high hills around downtown LA the third time we were going through LA.    We are birding first thing in the morning in SF.  We are not far from SF here in Pacifica, only about 1/2 hour.  We want to visit Muir Woods first thing once they open at 8 am as this location is our best chance for Pacific Wren according to Julio.  In the afternoon we will do a tour or two, visit the SF Botanical Gardens to bird and then do the Piers and the tourist hot spots.

So another great day just like all the others.  We are happy to see the same birds frequently as this reinforces our knowledge.  The constant sound of the surf is making me sleepy and I am still very excited thinking about the baby born this evening, so I don't know if I will sleep or not; probably not....  This is our second and last night in the Sea Breeze Motel/dump.  You get what you pay for and this was our most expensive room so far on the trip.  We ended up in an adjacent beach town, next to the resort of Half Moon Bay.  I am thrilled we were beside the ocean at least for two nights just the same.

Hard to believe this trip is going to end soon, better not think of it, but by Friday I will be anxious to see and hold and talk to Avery Marie.

Here are some lovely sightings from today.  American Avocet,
Black Phoebe and  Western Kingbird

April 30, 2016 - Driving on I5 to south of San Francisco - sun and big gusts of wind and Anderson's Pea Soup

April 30

We started the day on slow side as we just had to take it a bit easy after all those early morning starts for three weeks.  We were on our way by 9 am and we had a long drive today after driving through the passes north of LA last evening.  The day was sunny and windy, very gusty.  We saw a large transport truck in front of us on the highway get blown sideways by a couple of feet in a gust.  The road was very flat until the end where we had a low pass to get through.  We stopped at a roadside fruit and nut stand and it was an oasis in the middle of so much dry land.  They really have a drought problem even though we saw some huge reservoirs.

We all bought some nuts and fruit at the oasis stand and everything was fresh and very good.  We also finally got to try the famous Anderson Pea Soup.  We stopped in Anderson's Santa Nella restaurant for a bowl of pea soup at lunch time.   This pea soup is put through the blender and vegetarian and it is very tasty.  Sides such as ham, bacon, scallions and cheese are served with it and this makes for a lovely tasty soup.

We continued on with our drive and we first drove to Half Moon Bay where the pelagic was to have started.  This is a real beach town and it was the perfect day to be at the beach with the surf so high and wild for the surfers.  The sand here is black so it is a little different from the sand I am used to at Daytona.  The streets were packed with cars and it was beach weather.  We then drove the 13 miles or so to Pacifica which is a small little grouping of motels and restaurants and some homes between three walls of mountain and the ocean.  No cell service is what I found here.  Our hotel here is the Sea Breeze Motel/ Dump.  It is our most expensive motel on the trip and it is because it is in a resort area.  The rooms only have no electrical outlets available, there are all taken.   The room is dim with the lighting and it could be cleaner.  The whole point in staying here was to be close to the pelagic.  BUT we have the ocean about 30 feet away!!!  I can hear the surf pounding and the tide is coming in.  The waves were incredible today and so it was sensible to cancel the pelagic with the severe conditions.   The view is stunning and people were at the beach today.  After a seafood supper at the Rockaway Restaurant which was excellent, I watched the sunset from our room and took some photos on my Iphone.  The spray from the ocean makes a mist and we know we will have to clean off our binoculars to get rid of the salt splotches. We saw several Surf Scoters in the wild surf and they are smart.  It there was a big wave coming they dove into the water.  If is was a small wave, the Scoter would ride it out.  There was not a cloud in the sky.

We are going to bed early tonight as we have to be at a birding meet up spot for 7:30 am but it is a 1/2 hour away and we don't know where we are going exactly.  We are meeting up with a birdingpal, Julio.   Today  was not a birding day, even though we car-birded getting here,  we did not get any new lifers!

The weather was in the 70's today but as typical, the evening's temperatures are cool and it is not humid at all so it actually feels chilly.   It is going to be lovely to get to sleep tonight with the surf pounding so hard outside the open window.

Here is a California Thrasher 

April 29 - from San Diego to LA to Stockton

April 29

We went back to birding the Tijuana Regional Park System this morning to try for the Black-billed Magpie Jay but we had no luck and no time left to look more.  We heard the bird call but then it was silent and there was no more communications.  It must have flown away.  We put in a good effort but had no luck. 
Now we don't have to get to San Francisco area by tonight.  This was the original plan, but with the pelagic cancelled tomorrow we had an extra day.  So we decided to bird in LA today.

We had a picnic lunch in an ok area; Colonel Leo Washington in Compton, Cudahy in LA.  Our guide yesterday, Steve suggested that we try for the Spotted Dove which we did.  There are only a few of these doves left.  We were very lucky to find two Spotted Doves!!!  A new lifer for us.  The Spotted Dove is darker red/brown breast with a spots and very pretty. 

We then left the park to try for other lifers.  We drove about an hour to the Los Angeles County Arboretum.  We found the Yellow chevron Parakeets and the Red-whiskered Bulbul, but did not find the Red-faced Parakeets.   The Arboretum is a beautiful spot where we would have liked to spend the day.   The park has many pheasants and pea hens running all over the place and squawking really loudly.  We found the parakeets in the trees eating some kind of fruit. 

So one lifer today and we are happy with that.  In order to put some miles toward SF, we drove a couple of hours and ended up here in Stockton.  So it was a busy driving and walking day.  We were on our own  today and we did fine.  Our drive north was in the dark and I wish it would have been in the daylight as it seemed we were going through some passes and it was a huge road, the view must have been fantastic and we didn't see anything except the traffic.

Tomorrow we will be in Pacifica and the motel is on the beach, so I am really looking forward to the beach.

Here are some birds from today.  Peacock in all its finery. the Western Scrub Jay and the Red-whiskered Bulbul!

April 28 - Tijuana Birding Hermit Warbler, California Gnatcatcher and Mountain Quail Lifers

April 28

Today we went birding with Steve who is a great bird guide.  We started out in the Tijuana Regional Park system and walked a steep road that led up to the Mexican border and the fences/wall between the US and Mexico.  It was a steep walk up and we could hear but not see the California Gnatcatcher. We looked hard and long and we were up quite high on this road and finally had views of the male and female California Gnatcatcher.  They were obviously feeding a family on the steep hill.  From here we went into the desert area of the Regional Park system to look for the Black-throated Magpie Jay but no luck there.

At the nearby Butterfly Garden park there were many migrating warblers including the Hermit Warbler!!  This was a lifer for us.  We then headed to mountain country, to Mount Laguna for the Mountain Quail.  Mount Laguna is about 4,000 feet above sea level and it has dry sage scrub areas and forested areas.  We traveled up and it turned cool and cloudy and we were in the clouds here.  We stopped at numerous spots up there and it wasn't until the end of the day when we saw the Mountain Quail cross the road in front of us on a isolated road.  The area had the favourite bushes of the Mountain Quail.

While we were coming down the mountain back to San Diego, and while the girls were not catching 40 winks in the back seat, a Bobcat was spotted in a field.  The Bobcat looked very healthy and beautiful.   After this pleasant interlude some of us went back to snoozing.   We decided to try for the Black-throated Magpie Jay again as it was sunny and warm and almost sunset in San Diego.  Steve heard the bird in the desert area in the Tijuana Regional Parks.  We went looking for the bird and Steve and Jane had good looks at the bird.  Connie and I were parking the car.   It was dusk and too late to do much more.   We have decided to look for the bird tomorrow morning.

We just received an email that our pelagic for this Saturday is cancelled due to high ocean winds.  As a result, we have decided to split our trip to the San Francisco area into two days to avoid having one long day of driving.  So there is some planning to be done yet to figure all that out.

We are doing great here but the early mornings and all the chores that have to be done before we go to bed keep us up.  Sometimes there is splash to celebrate a new lifer.  There is laundry to be done some nights.  So there is NO free time.  It will take us days to recover from this trip!  But then tomorrow is a new day with new birds for us which is sweet and we are keen to get going.

April 27, Huntington Beach birding with Harriet and YES to Nutmet Mannikin !! YES to Ridgeway Rail!!! Lifers plus supper with Ed & Sandy !!

April 27

We had another super day birding today in Huntington Beach.  We met up with Harriet in Long Beach and we went off to Huntington  Beach Central Park.  The first birds we heard were American Crows mobbing the Great Horned Owl at the Public Library Building.  There was the adult Great Horned Owl along with 4 owlets (we only saw 3).  One of the owlets was still white and fuzzy and the other two had more adult plumage.  We walked around the lakes and saw California specialties such as the Bushtit, the California Thrasher and several warblers.  We stopped to have a drink as it was warm until the wind started up and it cooled off.   I looked over at a bird at the top of a bush and it was the Scaly-breasted Munia, also known as the Nutmeg Mannikin which is a much nicer name for the handsome bird.  This was the bird we really tried for last Sunday without success.  We were thrilled to see it and we all had time to take photos.

With Harriet with us we looked for the Pintail Whydah bird, but no luck.  We decided to have a picnic lunch at Bolsa Chica Wetlands which is an estuary on the north end of Hungtington Beach.  This place is shorebird and wading bird and duck heaven.  We had Least Terns, Elegant Terns, White-faced Ibis, Caspian Terns, Short-billed Dowwitchers, Willets, and Horned, Eared and Pied Grebes.  We started looking for the Ridgeway Rail where Harriet said to look and it was THERE!!  We had great looks at the bird and we took photos. It is a large rail.  We enjoyed this lifer and kept looking at the large groups of birds.  There were Great Blue Herons and babies in a rookery in the palm trees, so a bit different from home.

 Here are some of the birds we saw today, Cinnamon Teal, Red-shouldered Hawk, Scaly-breasted Munia and an anole.

For supper we went to visit with Barb's friends who live in Huntington Beach where we had a Salmon BBQ and some splash for the evening (photo above).  Thank you,  it was a lovely evening.  We even got to do all of our laundry at their house so we were set for the next couple of days. From here we drove the 1 1/2 hours to San Diego to bird there tomorrow.  We are staying at the Best Western on San Ysidro.   We have a reasonable starting time tomorrow of 7:15 am, so we are looking forward to that.

Two lifers today were sweet and we were really lucky to see them. 

April 26, 2016 - Lifers with WES - White-headed Woodpeckers!!! Red-breasted Sapsuckers!!Tricoloured Blackbirds & Bell's Sparrow!!

April 26, 2016

Photo of us in the snow Today

We had another great day with Wes today.  We started out at 7 am to head north to the Sierra Madre Mountains.  Along the way in the prairie and oil country area we saw the Tricoloured Blackbirds.  These stunning birds were already on their nest in the swamp and we saw them fly in and fly out, no doubt bringing food for their young.   In the scrub and sand area of the first drilling rig oil leak in 1910, Wes located Bell's Sparrow, a very pretty mostly grey sparrow.  We also tried for the Le Conte's Thrasher but did not have success.

 From there we drove up to 8,000 feet to Mount Pines area.  We looked for the California Condor here and the girls had a look at four of them in the far distance.  The day was beautiful and  these flying birds are surprisingly fast.  There one second and gone the next.  So we hoped for better looks and we really tried following them from pull-out to pull-out.  We did see other raptors such are the Red-tailed Hawk.  Wes has seen this group of Condors many many times.

From here we went to the top of Mount Pinas which still had snow on the ground to try for the White-headed Woodpeckers which have a special significance to us as we tried for these birds in Washington State 7 years ago.  This time we were successful and had great looks at the pretty clownish-looking birds.  It was a sweet moment and we had big smiles on our faces.  Wes also found the Red-breasted Sapsucker for us and this is a beautifully coloured woodpecker.  Wes is a great birding guide and enjoyable to travel with and the day went so quickly.

Here is the Red-breasted Sapsucker

Here are some of our photos taken today, thanks to Jane again.  There is the delicate looking Black-necked Stilt, the Sage Sparrow and the White-headed Woodpecker pair.  All are spectacular birds.  The last one is the Tri-coloured Blackbird

After we finished birding with Wes we bid Buellton and Wes a fond goodbye and drove south to Long Beach where we will bird the Huntington Beach area with our birdingpal Harriet tomorrow.  The drive was fine and we arrived at the motel around 10 pm.  So a late night and an early start tomorrow, so just a short blog tonight.

On the home front, no baby yet for J and Ashley.  Any day now, like tomorrow maybe.  We are so excited for them!

April 25, 2016 Buellton Birding with Wes and Lifers

April 25, 2016

It was a beautiful "fresh" (cool) day today in the mountains around here and at the ocean the wind was blowing from the east pushing the waves in the ocean away from shore.   This wind is unusual and it was really brisk.  We had to hold on to our scopes when we were birding at Ventura Beach.  In the mountains it was too windy to hear the birds.   But it was bright and sunny and lovely for us nevertheless.

This was our first day with Wes and he picked us up at 7 am and we stopped at a Danish bakery in nearby Solvant which is the Danish style town.  Of course if one is in a Danish town, one must have a Danish in the Danish bakery.  Connie and I did and the pastries were great.  Salvang is really beautiful and looks like a town in Europe.  We did some birding here and then off we went into the foothills and up into the hill country.  On the way we had lovely views of a pair of California Quail and Western Kingbirds.   We stopped at a private ranch which belongs to friends of Wes where we saw had the great view of over 50 Band-tailed Pigeons flying around the front yard of the ranch house.  We saw many birds here and two lifers for us; the Lawrence's Goldfinch and the Yellow-billed Magpie!   We had great looks at these birds and many photos were taken.  We also had the Acorn Woodpecker again and its markings are such that the bird looks comical.  Something a child would draw.  We also met the ranch's dogs which included a Black Lab-type dog, an Australian Sheepdog and a small 17 year-old terrier.  They were all friendly.  There were also horses on this ranch.

From here we drove up Mount Figueroa to 5,000 feet and part of the San Rafael Mountain Range.   It was windy so it was hard to hear the birds but we did manage to get great views of the Rufous-crowned Sparrow. up the mountain.  Wes tried for the Mountain Quail but were not successful at the top of the mountain.  The view from the top was spectacular and the photo was taken at the summit.


You can tell we were thrilled by mid-morning.  We drove down the mountain making a couple of stops and ended up at the gates of Michael Jackson's Never Neverland Ranch.  People have written messages on the stone walls.  Apparently it has been emptied but the ownership may still be with the estate of MJ.

We had lunch at a nice grocery store/delie gourmet store.  This area in the hill country is where many famous people have ranches and this is probably where they shop, there was all kinds of expensive food items like $400 olive oil and $200 bottles of wine on the shelves.  But it was a good lunch.

Then we drove to the Stow House in Santa Barbara where we tried again for the Scale-breasted Munia with no luck.  From here we drove to Ventura to the lake estuary where we had many nice ducks and wading birds and the Savannah (Beldings form).  Then we went in the very strong winds to the Surfers Cove and Channel Island Visitor Center/Marina Park.  Here we saw the Surf Bird, the Wandering Tatler, Black Oystercatcher, Black Turnstone and Marbled Godwit.  These were lifers for some of us.  So in the sand whipped wind we viewed these in our scopes.  None of us took photos because of the sand winds. It would be too hard to get the sand out of our cameras, so no photos.  The above photo is a poor one from my Iphone.  It is the Wanderting Tatler on a rock if you can find it.  If we talked we got sand in our mouth!  We had to hold on to our scopes and our hats.  It was wild and the surf was wild, there was one windsurfer fellow out in the cove.  It was really brisk and it was great.

When we got back to Buellton, we felt sand in our hair and clothes.  We enjoyed the birds that Wes showed us and we really enjoyed Wes' humour and stories.   Another great day to add to the list.  It is almost midnight and we have to get up in five hours to start our day at 6 am

This group of  Band-tailed Pigeons had an interesting resting stop.

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The photos below are from this day`s birding. The stunning California Quail, Western Kingbird, Band-tailed Pigeon and the Yellow-billed Magpie.  The Acorn Woodpecker is spectacular even the female in the photo below.  The two yellow birds are the Altamira Oriole and the Lawrence's Goldfinch both spectacular birds!

April 22, 23 and 24 - had no internet for two days and catching up

April 22

 April 22, 2016 - Denver to John Wayne Airport in Orange Country California to VenturaDenver to California – 

We had no internet for two days in this place, so will send it when I get internet access.  This post is the catch-up. 

This is was a travel day flying on the 8 am flight from Denver to California and then getting the rental car, organizing our bags, bags, and more bags in to car and then driving to Ventura.   We were settled into the Motel 6 in Ventura (recommendation is to never stay in this place but it is clean).  Then we went to check into the boat trip to Santa Cruz Island tomorrow (Saturday).  Everything was organized. 

We then found a place to bird just by the Ventura Water Reclamation plant and saw our first California Towhee, Bushtit and Western Gulls.  There were many more ducks and other birds too.  The place was covered with flowers such as Coreopsis and succulents too.  It was beautiful.  Also someone had put out tape to stay away from the poison oak.  I now know what poison oak looks like.

 When we got back to the motel, we met up with Jeff who had flown into California in the afternoon for supper and we went to a fish place, Lure, which was excellent.  I had the Idaho Lake Trout with pineapple coleslaw and corn with coriander.  Everyone had a great dinner.

Ventura is a nice place with plenty of history and it has a very nice downtown restaurant area which was close to the hotel.

April 23 – Island Packers boat ride to Santa Cruz Island  for the day

There were lots of birds including the lifer Island Scrub Jay, Orange crowned Warblers, and humming birds, Allen’s and Broad-tailed.  The island was very interesting with various habitats.   WE were thrilled to see the new birds.   Connie and Jane and Jeff stood at the front/aft of the catamaran for the whole 1.5 hours of the boat trip to the island.  On the way back to the mainland Jane and Jeff stood for the whole boat trip again and Connie joined me on the chairs long enough for a nap and then went to stand.  I was amazed at their ease in standing there.  I last about 5 minutes at the start, ended up on my knees crawling for the seats, the boat was so tippy with the big waves.  It was a rough crossing.  During this time I was also starting to feel nauseated despite taking two Gravol pills and some ginger.  I knew this was not going to be a good trip.  Once I got on the chair, I was still in the cool strong wind and felt better but not good enough to stand.   I enjoyed the island.  It really is a great place with lots of different habitats.   Everyone enjoyed the place.

Here is the Island Scrub Jay along with its colour bands.

On the return trip, the water was a bit better with fewer up and downs but more rocking side to side.  There were many whitecaps on the water.  The highlight of the trip was the Island Scrub Jay and the Island Foxes which were visible during the day, wandering around  the arrivals area.  The foxes were chubby and more like a dog than a fox. 

We came back and had supper at another restaurant in Ventura, this time a Thai place which was very good.  It was a another early morning rising at 4 am for the next day.

Here is a photo from today

April 24, 2016 - from Ventura to Zuma Canyon to Maronna Marsh in Torrance to Buellton north east in the hill/mountain country.

 We left Ventura early so that we could be at Zuma Canyon Park at first light to see the Nanday Parakeets and the other parrots come by before they dispersefor the day.  And we saw the Nanday Parakeets, the Lilac-crowned Parrots and the Red-lored Parrots!  Each species was beautiful.  We also saw the Anna's, Allan's and Rufous Hummingbirds and the California Thrasher to name a few birds.  We also had a coyote follow us on the trail  Zuma is the perfect place to bird for us.  It has picnic benches, bathrooms/johnny on the spot and great birding.  We could be happy here birding all day.  It is a super spot.  We had Jeff with us here and so Jeff identified the birds which was great.  If we didn't have Jeff with us we would have had  to take photos  of the birds then discuss each bird and agree on the ID, which would take up the evening or more.  We have been known to discuss one bird for three hours.  So we were so lucky to have Jeff with us.  This is a Black Phoebe.

From there we traveled to Torrance, to the Maronna Marsh in hopes of viewing the Scaled-breast Munia or Nutmeg Manekin.  We walked around this place for 3.5 hours and we did not see the bird.  It got hot and it was sunny so it felt like a long time.  We met up with several locals who gave us advice but we had no luck.  We finally had to leave to travel north so we could meet up with Wes our guide for the next two days.   On the drive we followed the PCH for a long time and so we had the view of the ocean and the coast and the lovely beaches on a Sunday.  We saw surfers, wind surfers and also something that looked like cliff jumpers with parachutes.  After all this is California.  We saw many beautiful homes and cars and people out at the beach on Sunday.  It was beautiful.  We left the PCH and then headed into wine/hill country to Buellton.  We went through the top Danish town in the US just before Buelton and it looked like a Danish town.   There were quaint homes and restaurants made to look like those one would see in Denmark.  We will find out from Wes tomorrow why there is such a Danish influence there.  The drive through the San Marco Canyon Pass is stunning in the sunlight and the views were really impressive. 

Here is a Green Heron and several ducklings that we saw.  

Once we arrived at Buellton, Wes came over to meet us, find out what birds we had seen to date and to plan the next two days.  Wes is a character and once he saw our scopes on the shelf in our room, he commented that the Kowas were all stacked like logs in a woodpile!  We start out with Wes tomorrow at 7 am which is really sleeping in for us.  He also commented on our large motel room and told us we did well with our huge room which is costing us $59.95 per night!   Wes is an all-round naturalist expert in addition to be being a birder so we are looking forward to asking our questions tomorrow.

So the adventure continues and we figure we have picked up several lifers just in our trip into Zuma Canyon  today which would be a perfect location for us to explore and bird the canyon longer, but that would have to be for another trip.  I am going to keep this one on the wish list, it is just a super place.