Wednesday, January 1, 2014

One last bird--326

On the 28th of December, I rode up to Half Moon Bay to find a dark SNOW GOOSE that Malia found at Pilarcitos.  The last bird of the year.
  The really cool thing was that the Snow Goose was associating with a flock of resident CANADA GEESE which had already picked up a CACKLING GOOSE and a ROSS'S GOOSE.  Ross's and Snow geese don't turn up every year on the coastside of San Mateo County.  Cackling geese do, but they are uncommon.  Having them all grouped together was great, but it was also the best viewing of a dark Snow Goose that I've ever gotten.
  After I checked out the geese, I decided to look for the BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER that seems to be overwintering on a different spot on Pilarcitos Creek.  Black-and-White is a good bird for this part of California.  I don't find them every year.  Glad I got another look at one.  It wasn't too shy so I got a picture.

Dark variant of the SNOW GOOSE-Pilarcitos Creek


BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER upstream from the geese.

I'll post at least once more with my complete year list.  That's it for now though.






4 comments:

  1. Great Year! I know you worked hard, and pedaled your ass off! CONGRATS!! (What was your highest green year count for a single county? For a single day? Most mileage in a day?) I'd love to join you for a green big day in 2014.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations! Your hard work really paid off! Do you have any goals for 2014?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats, Mark. And a cool last bird--which we also saw in our last week of our big year, but down at the Salton Sea!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations, Mark! I did the European "version" (304, 10.004 kms by bike). You did an incredible job! Best wishes and, please, if you send me and Email, I'll send you my report (pfeliu@serpa.cat) (www.ecobigyearcatalunya.blogspot.com). Thanks! ponç

    ReplyDelete