Monterey Bay Birding Festival 2010

Last weekend was the 6th annual Monterey Bay Birding Festival. Here are some photos I took while on one of the events, Elkhorn Slough Safari. This was done on a 27-foot pontoon boat, and the Captain was Yohn Gideon, owner and operator. The weather was great and my husband and I wish we could have gone for at least another 2 hours.

Sea lions hanging around the pier.

Cormorants - double-crested, pelagic, and Brandt's, hanging around the pier.

Notice the upper center cormorant with his beautiful blue throat-patch - a Brandt's cormorant.

Heermann's gull perched near the pier. He was hanging around with other gulls and cormorants.

A group of sea otters in the slough.

Close-up of some of the sea otters. The otter in the foreground with the whitish face is apparently the "grandfather" of the group. Actually, we were told that the older the otter gets the "whiter" or grayer their faces get.

Close-up of an otter eating a clam.

Harbor seals. Notice they are smaller than the sea lions, and they lack the "ears" that sea lions have.

Close-up view of a few harbor seals.

Brown pelicans along the edge of the shore.

Close-up view of a few brown pelicans.

A white pelican taking a snooze, and a couple of gulls standing guard.

Landscape of the Elkhorn Slough area. Notice the farming area in the background. This is a well-known agricultural area, especially known for artichokes, lettuce, cabbage, etc.

Brown pelicans watching the humans on the boat.

A brown pelican hanging around all those cormorants.

Captain Yohn took everyone's picture, or at least those folks who were sporting a camera. This Safari is highly recommended, and is available for various events/outings. There's also a special Photo Safari scheduled for Oct 23rd on a Saturday afternoon. I sure wouldn't mind going again.

Birding Festival - part 4 - Saturday's events

Saturday's events were another coastal field trip and then a couple of workshops in the afternoon back in Watsonville. Our coastal trip was to be Waddell Beach and Rancho del Oso located north of Davenport (which is north of Santa Cruz, CA). Now as a reminder we were traveling back home for the night and getting up around 5 a.m. each morning and driving in the dark. We drove all the way down to Watsonville to "check in." Then we are told we will meet our leader at Waddell Beach at the parking lot across the road from Rancho del Oso at 7:30. These two spots are located north and west of where we live. So that was another 45-minute drive north whereas I would have preferred to save a little time and mileage. Oh well. This birding festival is only in its fourth year. I do believe they have more organizational matters they need to learn and work on. This festival does cover a lot of geographical area, but I do think there should be various check-in areas so "locals" don't have to drive all the way to Watsonville and then drive back north again.

The photo below is what greeted us at 7:30 on Saturday morning at Waddell Beach. It was so different from Friday morning's beautiful sun shiny views. Cold, gray, and foggy. We were supposed to see or hope to see shearwaters, petrels, and/or marbled murrelets. But as you can see visibility was to be desired. The black "dots" you see out in the water are not birds of any sort, they are surfers, crazy surfers.

[Click on the images for a larger view]

I turned around away from the waves and wind and looked east and this is what I caught a glimpse of - the sun trying to burn its way through the fog/marine layer. This was also looking toward the area called Rancho del Oso where we were headed next.

Rancho del Oso is located on the coast (CA Hwy 1) as the western portion of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. This riparian area includes chapparel, coastal scrub oak and Monterey pines with Waddell Creek winding through. Birds we could expect to see were wrentits, band-tailed pigeons, CA thrashers, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and woodpeckers.

There were several birds we did get to see at quite a distance, and a few others in such thick bushes it was difficult to get any pictures. I finally got to see a wrentit (lifer) and was surprised at the bird's size. I was expecting something the size of a chickadee, but this bird was as large or larger than a house finch. Below is a tree "dressed" in Spanish moss. I thought it was quite pretty and graceful looking. I guess it's not a parasite per se, it's considered an epiphyte. I would consider it more symbiotic where it needs to live on oak trees (and other trees) in a humid locale. I was surprised to learn that it is part of the Bromeliad family.

As we were hiking up a portion of what is known as the Skyline Trail I was able to stop and admire what was below. As you can see in this photo there are agricultural fields all around on the flatter parts. The Pacific Coast is ideal for many vegetables grown here in California.

Here is a shot of looking down at the trail. This photo shows that it was still foggy while we were hiking. Some other birds we saw on this field trip were Black Phoebe, band-tailed pigeons, chestnut-backed chickadees, oak titmice, scrub and Stellar's jays, and a few woodpeckers.

The afternoon was back in Watsonville for a couple of workshops we signed up for. Both were given by Jon Dunn who has been an editor for all 5 editions of "Field Guide to the Birds of North America" published by National Geographic Society. The first workshop was "Honing your birding skills - identifying large shorebirds." The second workshop was "Honing your birding skills - identifying small shorebirds." Mr. Dunn had a slide presentation for each workshop with excellent photos he has taken of various shorebirds. I personally feel that more advanced birders probably enjoyed the presentations more than I. I felt much of what he presented was "over my head." I also feel that it would have been good to have some type of handout to point out the differences between similar looking species. Each workshop was only 90 minutes long, so we were home bound by 5 p.m.

Birding Festival - part 3

Our third destination for the day was Pinnacles National Monument. Pinnacles has two entrances, the west side and the east side. Friday afternoon we were to meet the group at the west entrance to Pinnacles. We got separated from the group when our "fearless leader" suggested stopping by a winery in the town of Gonzales, and he didn't try to keep us all together. We already knew where we were going, so no need to caravan with the group. So we chose to find a place to stop for lunch where we found a McDonald's there in Gonzales. After a refreshing lunch we were on our way again, headed for Pinnacles. When we reached our destination and entered the park, we paid the fee and proceeded to the parking lot where we found a few folks from our group also hanging around wondering where our "fearless leader" was. After waiting an extra half hour it was the consensus to leave the park and slowly drive down the road where we came in, hoping to see the rest of the group including the leader.

[To see a larger image, click on the photos]

These photos were all taken around the Pinnacles area. The countryside is so beautiful. Apparently this whole area located in San Benito county, also known as the Salinas River Valley, has vineyards all over. Even though this whole valley looks quite dry they must have a decent water table to accommodate all these vineyards. Most every vineyard we came across used the drip irrigation system.
Nevertheless, birds around here were few and far between. Most of the birds we saw (while still looking for the birding group) were what I would find locally in the Silicon Valley -- lesser goldfinches, scrub jays, house finches, etc. Below is a scrub jay hanging around this "water tank." It was fun watching all the finches darting in and out of the "spout." That's the area below the scrub jay where the tank is showing white where it was dry and black where it was still wet from the water spilling out. Visit Red's blog to see more photos.

By the way, this was the area where we finally ran into our "fearless leader" and the other birders. The group that had been driving around with us told the others that there were more birds up around the vineyard we had just come from. We chose to leave the group at this time, since they wanted to go back up to the vineyard and we were running very low on gas -- and it was about 10 miles to the nearest gas station, luckily downhill all the way. Overall, the best and most birdy part of the day was at Moon Glow Dairy. But it was a lot of fun going from Zmudowski Beach (wet, watery, oceany) to Moon Glow Dairy (Elkhorn Sough, mudflats, riparian) and then on to a much drier and warmer locale, Pinnacles/Salinas River valley area. We definitely saw a lot of varied geography as well as a variety of birds. Our next post will be about Saturday's events.

Monterey Bay Birding Festival

Friday, September 26, begins the Monterey Bay Birding Festival. I've been looking forward to this weekend since last year. The photo above is from last year's trip.

This year Red will be attending along with my husband and me. I've considered Red to be my professional (or at least semi-professional) photographer. Tomorrow's event is called California Specialties. It begins at 7 a.m. and we have about an hour's drive to get to the check-in place in Watsonville. This is a full-day's trip focusing on birds like yellow-billed magpie, Calif Thrasher, snowy plover, Lawrence's goldfinch, etc. We will be traveling from the Pacific beaches to the foothills of the Salinas Valley (think John Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath").

Saturday's trip starts even earlier, 6:30 a.m., which means we will have to leave home around 5:30 a.m. Ugh! Oh well, it's for a good reason. The morning event is called Rancho Del Oso which will give us the opportunity to bird in riparian areas around Monterey pines and mixed evergreens and the coastal redwoods. We should hopefully see wrentit, pygmy nuthatch, hermit warbler, northern pygmy-owl, marbled murrelet and various woodpeckers. We may even see raptors. Since this is a half-day event we also signed up to attend a couple of afternoon lectures given by Jon Dunn. Each lecture is 90 minutes long focusing on honing one's birding skills. The first one is on identifying large shorebirds, and the second lecture will be on identifying small shorebirds. I'm sure glad the lectures are split up regarding small and large shorebirds.

Then on Sunday we will be attending another full-day trip to Pinnacles National Monument. This will be a super exciting trip for me because I am hoping to get a look at some of our California Condors that have been residing there. We should also hopefully see other birds like canyon wrens, greater roadrunners, prairie falcons and loggerhead shrikes.

Hopefully I will have lots of photos to post. I'm also expecting Red to post to her blog, too. I hope everyone else will have a great birdy weekend. I know I'm planning on it.

Monterey Bay Birding Festival - Day 2

Saturday (Sep 22) started out as a rainy morning. Actually, it had started raining overnight. I think I woke up around 2 or 3 a.m. and could hear the raindrops softly falling on our roof. Dave got home Friday night in time for us to pick him up at the airport, and then grab a quick bite to eat on our way to our first pre-season Sharks home game at the Tank (aka HP Pavillion of San Jose).

OK, back to birding, namely the Monterey Bay Birding Festival. The drive to Watsonville was rainy, and when we arrived to check in at the Red Roof Inn, it was raining a bit harder. But, sometimes rainy days are good weather for birding - at least that's what I have heard. So I didn't let the rain hamper my thoughts or feelings for the day. I would just deal with it. Oddly enough, the rain we got was the first of the season for us, and everyone was commenting that it was a tad bit early. Usually our rainy season doesn't begin before late November. But, we'll take what we can get in the way of rain, especially since our rainy season last year was less than expected for a normal year.

The first field trip for the day was a 2-hour Beginning Birders field trip that took us to an area called Pajaro Dunes. Most of this area consists of summer beach homes surrounded by a riparian habitat as well as a sandy beach area. When we got started it was still raining, but gradually the rain slowed and then actually stopped. Because of the rain we did not get to see any raptors, but there were plenty of shore birds around. And later, we also saw some passerines. Unfortunately, I was without my camera for the day. I accidentally left it behind; I sure hope I don't do that again. This was a day that turned out so fruitful, and there I was without. Sigh.

Once the 2-hour field trip was over, we headed back to the check-in table to get ready for our second field trip. This second trip ended up being a three-hour plus trip and was well worth it. It was the best of all three trips I was on. This trip took us on the Watsonville Slough area, which included Harkins Slough and part of Struve Slough. Both of these sloughs flow into the larger Watsonville Slough. The weather turned out great, too. And there were many birds to see. And the best of all was that we saw an abundance of raptors.

My list for Saturday:
American white pelican
Brown pelican
Snowy egret
American coot
Black-bellied plover
Heerman's gull
*Violet-green swallow
Chestnut-backed chickadee
Northern mockingbird
California towhee
Song sparrow
White-crowned sparrow
Red-winged blackbird
House finch
Mallard
*Cinnamon teal
Pied-billed grebe
Eared grebe
Double-crested cormorant
Great blue heron
Great egret
Green heron
Turkey vulture
*White-tailed kite
Northern harrier
*Red-shouldered hawk
Red-tailed hawk
*Peregrine falcon
*Snowy plover
*Semipalmated plover
Killdeer
Black-necked stilt
*Greater yellowlegs
*Red-necked phalarope
Mourning dove
Belted kingfisher
Black Phoebe
Loggerhead shrike
Western scrub jay
European starling
Brewer's blackbird

Asterisk = lifer

The biggest highlight of the day was at the end of our trip. There was an abundance of raptors in this one location. It was exciting to see a pair of peregrine falcons, but best of all was watching a white-tailed kite fluttering suspended in air -- much like a hummingbird would do at a feeder.

Monterey Bay Birding Festival - Day 1

September 21, 22, and 23 was the weekend for the Monterey Bay Birding Festival. My husband and I had signed up for one afternoon trip for Friday, and two trips for Saturday. Unfortunately, unforeseen circumstances arose and Dave was still visiting his Dad in Arizona on Friday. So I went alone to do the Elkhorn Slough (Coastal) birding trip. It's only about an hour's drive from where I live. I met another woman who seemed to also be alone for the afternoon birding trip, and she told me she was waiting for her friend. Her friend lives in the Monterey area, and she is from Palo Alto. Both women graciously asked if I would like to tag along with them since carpooling was encouraged. We all had to meet and check in at the registration table located at the Red Roof Inn in Watsonville. But the birding trip was located a few miles down the road, and at various locations, thus the carpooling situation. It was great tagging along with these two ladies since they were certainly more knowledgable than I. And the woman from Monterey also brought along her scope. The weather was mostly cloudy, and a bit windy at times, but no rain. The Bay Area was expecting rain for the weekend, but we did not experience any on Friday while on the trip.

These photos are various spots where we visited which was all considered a part of the Elkhorn Slough, Coastal area. The birds in this photo (above) are mostly brown pelicans. If you enlarge the photo you might be able to see the elegant terns that are mixed in with the pelicans. In the water are a couple of gulls (sorry, can't ID them), and to the right of the gulls are a couple of dark birds - those are common murres.

This was also one of the areas where the kayaking took place. And the photo above is one of the otters we had seen.

Photo above of brown pelicans flying over part of Elkhorn Slough.

And again, a group shot of brown pelicans more or less trying to sun themselves under partly cloudy skies.

The list of birds that we saw and heard as a group:

Mallards

Eared Grebes

Western Grebes

American white pelicans

Brown pelicans

Double-crested cormorants

Great blue herons

Great egrets

Snowy egrets

Turkey vultures

*White-tailed kite

*Black-bellied plovers

*Snowy plovers

Black-necked stilts

*Marbled godwit

*Sanderling

*Red-necked phalarope

Heermann's gull

Ring-billed gull

California gull

*Elegant terns

Common murres

Belted kingfisher

Black phoebe

*Say's phoebe

*Loggerhead shrike

European starlings

Red-winged blackbirds

Brewer's blackbirds

The ones marked with an asterisk are lifers for me. So many birds, so little time. When it comes to gulls and sandpipers I'm glad someone else was there to ID them. I'm gonna have to study these birds on several more trips so I will be able to ID them on my own.