Bunny Meadows - 6th October 2012

Back in the UK I thought this weekend would give me the chance to catch up with some bird ringing at Titchfield Haven, but heavy rain overnight, continuing onto Saturday morning scuppered those plans. So after doing a few domestic chores I headed out to Bunny Meadows to catch the rising tide. High tide was at around 14:30 and being a sunny Saturday   afternoon there were lots of people out walking, but there were still good numbers of waders around. The most abundant species was Common Redshank so I started to count them a immediately picked out a colour ringed bird. I was unaware of anyone locally colour ringing this species but text a colleague just in case it was one of his, and got an immediate response. It was, he hadn't ringed many but this bird had been ringed on at Hamble Point, 4 km to the south on 27th March 2011, 18 months previously. 

Eurasian Curlew

Continuing on there were a few Curlew, Eurasian Wigeon, Eurasian Teal, Grey Plovers and a flock of 96 Golden Plover. Having been away for the last few weeks these were the first I had seen this autumn. I spent a few minutes working my way through them just in case there was something different in the flock, but they were all Eurasian Golden plovers.

Eurasian Golden Plovers

My attention was drawn to  a couple of Oystercatchers on the far bank, one adult and one juvenile. The adult was one of the colour-ringed birds I had previously seen tending their newly hatched chick, so it looks like the chick survived. Whilst on the subject of those Oystercatchers, whilst away I heard back from the BTO details of their original ringing, and as suspected they were both ringed at Hamble Point. Interestingly they were both on the same date 29th December 2007, nearly five years previously. Since they were both ringed together I wonder if they were paired up then, and whether Oystercatcher are monogamous?

California, September 2012 - Angels Camp and Yosemite National Park

After eight days on the coast it was time to move on, this time inland. Our plan was to spend a few days at Yosemite National Park, despite the warnings from the locals in Bodega Bay, who suggested that we would not like it since there were too many people around. But having never been there before, and seen so many interesting wildlife programmes about Yosemite, we had to go a see for ourselves. We set off early as we had a long drive ahead of us and wanted to arrive in good time since we had yet to book any accommodation. After a couple of stops on the way, we eventually stopped in the town of Angels Camp, just to the north of Yosemite.

Yosemite National Park (along the Tioga Pass)

Angels Camp was an interesting place with a mix of modern industrial units and old buildings typical of a scene from a John Wayne Western! Some of the saloons still had swing doors and I wondered that if I ordered a beer it would have been slid down the bar to me. We managed to get the last room in the local Travel Inn, and after a quick break we headed out to find somewhere to stretch our legs. At the eastern end of the town we found a recreation area called 'Glory Hole recreation Area' and so decided to go and have a look. By now the light was fading, but we found an area that looked as if it might produce some birds, and got out for a stroll. Given the lateness in the day there wasn't much around but we did see a covey of over very vocal 30 California Quails. The scrub produced a flock of 10 Bushtits, and six Californian Towhee, Cooper's and Red-tailed Hawks, several American Robins, American Kestrel, Merlin and over five Acorn Woodpeckers.

Bushtit

The next morning five Lesser Goldfinches were feeding in the car park at our Travel Inn, so after a quick look at them we headed off. Our first stop on the way to Yosemite was Big Trees State Park. I was eager to do some woodland birding, and hopefully catch up with some new species, but I hadn't expected it to be so hard. A combination of evergreen foliage, very tall trees and all the birds being in the canopy, made birding pretty tough, nonetheless I did manage to find a few species that had opted for a lower elevation to feed at. Red-breasted Nuthatches, Oregon Junco, Brown Creeper and Chestnut-backed Chickadee were numerous.

Hermit Thrush

In addition, we saw Wilson's, Orange-crowned, Nashville and Black-throated Grey Warblers and a cracking male Golden-crowned Kinglet. A single Hermit Thrush was a nice find, whereas the juvenile Townend's Solitaire had me scratching my head for a while.

Townsend's Solitaire

Our next stop was Yosemite, our accommodation was located in the village of Buck Meadows along Highway 120, which was located approximately 25 minutes drive from the entrance to Yosemite. In the grounds over 15 American Robins, more Acorn Woodpeckers and Californian Towhees, Mourning Doves and a large flock of Brewer's Blackbirds were present. For our first full day in Yosemite we elected to go into Yosemite Valley and see some of the famous sites. Parts of the valley were spectacular, but as had been suggested, there were a lot of people around, and it was difficult to find places that we could be alone. The birding was fairly poor also, with the highlight being White-throated Swift, which as swifts go is a cracking bird. Other species included American Dipper, Steller's Jay, Band-tailed Pigeon, Bushtit, Hairy and Acorn Woodpeckers, Black Phoebe and Northern Flickers, the latter of the western Red-shafted form. At the end of our first day in Yosemite Valley I have to say I felt very underwhelmed by the experience, I expecting to see large open areas and get a feeling of wilderness as we wandered, but with the network of managed walkways, lots of traffic, organised stopping places, large numbers of people, and lack of wildlife, I unfortunately did not get that.

Oregon (Dark-eyed) Junco

For our second day we decided to take Highway 120, otherwise known as the Tioga Pass. We began at Chevron Meadow, which is located behind the gas station at the junction of Big Oak Flat Road (the road to Yosemite Valley), a dawn start can produce Great Grey Owls, but I did not see them, but did see White-headed Woodpecker, Lincoln's Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Oregon Junco, Band-rumped Pigeon, Mountain Chickadee, Red-brested Nuthatch, Steller's Jay and White-Crowned Sparrow.

Mountain Chickadee

Our next stop was White Wolf Camp, the camp itself was closed, but there are meadows and woodlands to explore. There must have been a fall on the day we were there since I was seeing loads of warblers, on the move, the majority of which were Yellow-rumped Warblers but also Yellow and Orange-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

We stopped in the lay by at Porcupine Flat and were immediately greeted with a flock of several hundred birds, the majority of which were Oregon Juncos and White-crowned Sparrows. There were also a few MacGillivray's Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a Downy Woodpecker. Violet-green swallows were also present overhead.

Yellow-rumped warbler

Tenaya Lake was an excellent stop where the highlights included Clark's Nutcracker, more MacGillivray's and Yellow-rumped Warblers, White-throated and Song Sparrows. 

Yellow-rumped Warbler

In contrast to Yosemite Valley, the Tioga Pass was everything I expected, wild and open space, fantastic scenery and very few people and traffic. It was possible  to walk a trail and not meet another person for a couple of hours, which is what I was hoping for, more importantly  the birding was much better.

California, September 2012 - Bodega Bay and the Cordell Bank Pelagic 21st Sept

Well this was the day I was scheduled to go out on my first pelagic of our trip. I had booked this trip months before and had partly based our trip itinerary around it, and was pretty excited about what seabirds and cetaceans we might encounter. Fortunately I was blissfully unaware of the debate the day before about whether the trip would go ahead, but when I returned to our accommodation that evening, the first email I saw was from Debi Shearwater, it was titled 'WE ARE A GO!!', scrolling down I then saw all the others discussing the offshore wind and heavy seas, and the predicted forecast. The weather to me looked great, clear sky, warm sun but a stiff breeze in the afternoon, foolishly I didn't appreciate that a stiff on shore breeze, and winds from the north-west meant for high seas 30 miles out on the Cordell Bank! But it didn't matter now, we were going!

Our day began with a pre-dawn start at the Mariner off Bay Flat Road, Bodega Bay, and after our safety briefing we headed out to sea on the New Sea Angler, I didn't ask what had happened to the old one! The sea in the harbour was like a mill pond so it was difficult to understand what all the fuss had been about, but nevertheless I listened intently to Captain Rick Powers' warnings. Birding in the harbour was good with American White and Brown Pelicans, three Black-crowned Night Herons, two Belted Kingfishers and my first Black Turnstones of the trip. The intertidal was full of waders too, but with no scope and a moving platform there was no point in trying to identify them all.

Pink-footed Shearwater

Out of the shelter of the harbour the swell began to increase along with the numbers of seabirds, initially it was just Common Murres and Red-necked Phalaropes, but before long we were seeing our first Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters. 

Pink-footed Shearwater

We were spoilt on this trip, because as well as Debi Shearwater and Lisa Hug we were graced with the presence of two of the leading Californian seabird experts, Todd Mcgrath and Steve Howell, Steve is the author of the recently published Petrels, Albatrosses, & Storm-Petrels of North America which I urge anyone interested in seabirds to get.

Buller's Shearwater with Black-footed Albatross in bound in the distance.

After a steady trickle of shearwaters that included more Sooty and Pink-footed and our first Buller's, we were visited by our first Black-footed Albatross of the trip, and at the same time a group of Pacific White-sided Dolphins and two Humpback Whales. 

Black-footed Albatross

Pacific White-sided Dolphin

Two Humpback Whales

I didn't know which way to turn, but eventually things settled down as the dolphins and albatrosses stayed with us for a while. It was so tough trying to photograph things as the swell had really picked up by now, standing up was only possible whilst holding onto the side, so I had to wedge myself into a corner in order to let go and get some shots. 

Black-footed Albatross

Black-footed Albatross - note yellow colour ring with black writing,
which is apparently from the French Frigate Shoals.,
unfortunately its not possible to read the whole number.

The albatrosses were coming in very close, several landing on the sea near the boat, one of these birds had a yellow colour ring with black writing, on its right leg. It appears, according to Monterey Bay Whale Watch, that birds with this combination come from the French Frigate Shoals, which are over 2700 miles away. For those interested, other Black-footed Albatross leg bands are from the following locations: Black/white letters - Kiaulea Point, Blue/white letters - Laysan Island, Purple/white letters - Kaena Point and Green/white letters - Kure Atoll.

Hawaiian Petrel

Hawaiian Petrel

Whilst engrossed in trying to get more photos of the albatrosses a close Buller's Shearwater passed the boat, quickly followed by a Hawaiian Petrel. It all happened so quickly, as I was focusing on the Buller's, Todd Mcgrath hollered from the back of the boat, I looked up saw the bird and quickly grabbed a few shots as it passed, unfortunately it didn't return! This is a mega off the Californian coast so it was great to get some shots, for the American Birding Associations Rarity Committee.

Hawaiian Petrel

The seas were getting pretty rough now and a couple of smacks on the side of the boat by a large wave made us all concentrate on holding on again, albeit with a little bit of smugness at our recent finding. We were heading along the Cordell Bank, to an area where the captain had recently seen hundreds of petrels, when a Black Storm-petrel flew past, then a Fork-tailed and then an Ashy. Before long, and with the help the menhaden oil slick, which the captain ordered we put out, we were soon surrounded by the largest number of storm-petrels I have ever seen in my life! There were thousands, they appeared to be mainly Fork-tailed, with Black being the second most numerous, then Ashy, there were even a few Wilson's for good measure.

Fork-tailed Storm-petrel

Black Storm-petrel

Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel

The sea was alive with storm-petrels literally riding the crest of waves, then drifting up off the surface before settling back down on a calm area of water, hundreds were constantly streaming past the stern over the menhaden oil slick...it was simply spectacular. I tried so hard to get some shots, to try and convey what we were seeing, but bouncing around on a very rough sea made it pretty tough....I'm glad I took my sea sickness pills!

Raft of Fork-tailed, Black and Ashy Storm-petrels

Raft of mainly Fork-tailed, but also Black, Ashy and
Wilson's Storm-Petrels

Raft of mainly Fork-tailed, but also Black, Ashy and 
Wilson's Storm-Petrels

With the wind speed picking up and the seas stacking up it was time to head back. I couldn't believe what I had just experienced and we were still adding new species, Pomarine and Long-tailed Jaegers were regular, with occasional Parasitic (Arctic), a few Red (Grey) Phalaropes, Rhinoceros and Cassin's Auklets, Pigeon Guillemot and then a species of cetacean that had always been high on my wish list...Dall's Porpoise. These stocky black and white porpoises are just stunning and so fast, they are like mini Orcas. I tried so hard to get some shots but the rough sea and unstable boat made it just impossible, so I settled down and watched them ride to bow.....amazing!!

Black Storm-petrel

Safely back in Bodega Bay the talk was all about the Hawaiian Petrel, a very good bird off the coast of California, and one that so many of the American birders on board had wished for. But for me, whilst the moment of the passing Hawaiian Petrel had been exciting, so many of the birds I had seen were new to me, and the spectacle of seeing thousands of storm-petrels in such dramatic seas will live with me forever. I was so excited about this trip that I immediately booked myself on a trip out of Monterey Bay the next week, but that's for a later post. Debi Shearwater and her teams ID skills and Rick Powers, with his mastery of the sea, were fantastic, if you love sea birds you have to come to California and take a trip with Shearwater Journeys. For details of the numbers of different species seen on this trip check out Debi Shearwater's Blog. Our trip ended with a fly by from some hopeful Brown Pelicans who foolishly thought that we had been fishing.

Brown Pelican

California, September 2012 - Bodega Bay and Jenner

Continuing north our next destination was the Bodega Bay area, which was chosen due to a planned pelagic with Debi Shearwater on 21st September, but I will write about that in the next post. We headed north on Highway 1, and since we planned to stay for two nights in Bodega Bay we continued north eventually stopping at the small village of Jenner. Jenner is situated at the mouth of the Russian River, and our accommodation looked out over the creek. A colony of Harbour Seals haul out at the mouth of the creek affording excellent views. We drove out onto Goat Rock, which forms the western, outer side of the creek; there was some great birding to be had in this area. 

Harbour Seal

Most notably were good numbers of Western Grebes, but despite my best efforts I could not turn any of them into Clark's Grebes. Red-throated and Common Loons were feeding among the crashing waves, and further out there were good sized flocks of scoter, mainly Black but also occasional Surf. Brandt's and Pelagic Cormorants, Common Murres, Brown and a flock of 30 American Pelicans were also present. 

Americam White Pelican

In the evening a small flock of Red-breasted Mergansers and two Belted Kingfishers were also recorded. 

Anna's Hummingbird

Behind our accommodation a small green, enclosed with scrub was present and a pre-breakfast visit produced several Anna's Hummingbirds, Spotted Towhee, Fox Sparrow (of the Pacific Coast sooty form), Lincoln's Sparrow, loads of White-crowned Sparrows and a rather gothic looking Turkey Vulture, warming its wings in the morning sun.

Turkey Vulture

After spending the day north of Jenner we headed back towards of Bodega Bay, stopping at various viewpoints on the way. Our stops produced the usual gull species, more Red-throated and Pacific Loons and the occasional passing Pomarine Jaeger (Skua), but the highlight was two Hump-backed Whales that were feeding just offshore. A brief stop at Portuguese Beach, one of the beaches on the journey south, had over 20 Red-throated Loons, 10 Eared and two Western Grebes, another Pomarine Jaeger and two Glaucous-winged Gulls.

Glaucous-winged Gull

Salmon Creek, is situated just to the north of Bodega Bay, and consists of two pools to the east of the road, and the main creek to the west. The pools apparently hold loads of ducks during the winter, but chatting to a couple of birders revealed that they had arrived early this year as within the resident Mallards were Cinnamon Teals, Shovelers, American Wigeon, and as we stood chatting five Pintail dropped in. There were also a few waders on the pool, the most notable being a Pectoral Sandpiper, along with four Long-billed Dowitchers and a Spotted Sandpiper. The mouth of the creek was even more productive with Least and Western Sandpipers, Semi-palmated Plovers, Sanderling, Dunlin and a Marbled Godwit.

Marbled Godwit

Bodega Headland, known locally as the West Side is an excellent birding location. Spud Point Marina is located on the east side of West Shore Road (the main road onto the headland), and support a large wader roost at high tide. We stopped here twice and recorded a peak count of over 200 Marbled Godwits, 100 Willets, 24 American Pelican, four Sanderling, one Long-billed Dowitcher, two Brent Geese and a Black-bellied Plover (grey). 

Mixed Wader Roost, Marblled Godwit, Willet, Long-billed Dowitcher
and Black-bellied Plover

Moving on to the headland itself we spent a while looking out to sea, but by this time the wind had picked up and the sea was not in a good state for looking for cetaceans. The headland and patches of scrub had some interesting species present including Warbling Vireo, Savannah Sparrow, Purple Finch, American Goldfinch, Glaucous-winged Gull and a cracking Northern Harrier. 

Northern Harrier

The Port of Bodega was another good birding spot with several hundred Western and Least Sandpipers roosting on the rocks, giving me an excellent opportunity to get some photos.

Western Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Returning to our accommodation 20 Killdeer, 2 Western Bluebirds and a Black Phoebe  were present in the field behind and a flock of Pine Siskin and a White-tailed Kite flew over.