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