My first trip over to the Bay

  All of last week, I was scratching my head trying to think where I could stay over on the San Francisco Bay side of the county.  There is zero camping anywhere over there, and most people I know live down farther in San Jose.  So, I signed up for WarmShowers.org and sent a message to a couple that live in the city of San Mateo.  WarmShowers is a website for bike touring folks to get a place to stay and a shower as they travel on bike trips.  I was stoked to find it, but didn't really expect to hear anything back.  So a couple of days later, on Friday, I was convinced that I wasn't going to ride to the bay.  So, at 9 pm Friday night, when I got the email from Brad and Joy in San Mateo, I was stoked. But, it made for some last minute frantic packing and a rush off to bed so I could get up early.

  I stepped outside on Saturday morning at 6:30 am to a NORTHERN PYGMY OWL calling in the foreground, with two GREAT HORNED OWLS calling more distantly.  A great start to the day, as I wasn't sure when I would get to hear a pygmy.

  I was pedaling a little before seven, and made decent time to get to Skyline Blvd. which is more or less the ridge or spine of San Mateo Co.  I'm not sure the elevation there, but it's probably around 1600 feet.  That mountain is kind of a funny boundary for a few species.  We, down here on the coastside of the county, don't get too many Nuttall's Woodpeckers or Oak Titmice for example, so I was excited to see and hear them both.  A HERMIT WARBLER was a nice find on the way down Old La Honda Rd. toward the bay.  

  When I finally reached the bay, I was very near the border with San Mateo Co., but in Santa Clara.  That is where the CAPE MAY WARBLER was.  YAHOO!  a life bird!  Those are getting few and farther between now.  I was so excited.  I was also stoked to find a female BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, out of season, but also in the same tree.  I found out later that another birder, John Sterling, found a female Baltimore Oriole at that location a few weeks ago.  That's too bad.  These two female orioles are VERY similar and since I have limited experience with female Baltimore's, I think I'm going to take my Bullock's off of my list.  At least for now, as I'll probably see another later, but what really bugs me is that I am not likely to see another Baltimore this year.  This one is going down as a ORIOLE SPP. I guess.

   Not realizing this fact yet, I was riding high and so happy to have seen a few good birds.  I added AMERICAN PIPIT and a ton of other great birds along the bay; especially shorebirds.   The next real stop was Radio Rd. to look at more shorebirds and ducks.  That spot is so packed with birds sometimes, but since I was there near low tide, most of the shorebirds were out scattered along the bay elsewhere.  High tide is a bit better.  And though I missed any Lesser Yellowlegs (kind of a hard bird anyway) and Barrow's Goldeneye, not all was lost.  A drake EURASIAN WIGEON was hanging with a few American Wigeon.  

  Well, that about did it for the day.  I was tired and ready for dinner, which went down quick. 

  After dinner, I found my new friends Brad and Joy, who, without knowing me, opened their door and gave me not only a bed, but great conversation and a nice way to wind down the evening.  Thanks again!!!

  Waking up in San Mateo made a huge difference in my ability to get up to San Bruno the next morning.  I set out for the Golden Gate National Cemetery, which is not ordinarily the type place I'd like to visit, but when there is a rare bird there, it turns into a great destination.  The target this time was a ROSS'S GOOSE.  I arrived at the cemetery feeling really good about the weekend and all the great birds I had seen, without any real disappointing misses.  

  So there I was, biking up and down through this national military cemetery.  For about an hour I was up and down, looking down the rows for the goose.  However, it wasn't as easy as I had hoped.  All the headstones were white marble, yup...the very Crayola color...Ross's Goose White.  I gave up.  I decided to head for the gate and start the 60 mile ride home.  Well, maybe one last look down some random cemetery row...

"It's like finding a Ross's Goose in a cemetery."
-Mark Kudrav

  The ride home was sweet.  Nice birding along Crystal Spring and San Andreas Reservoirs, and good punishing climbs over mountains.  Dinner, when I finally made it home after 4pm, was a banana milkshake.  

  

Just like old times

Last weekend (2/2-3/13), my friends Scot and Kristin came up for an Imbolc (half way point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox) celebration and stayed with Claire and I in Pescadero.  These are old friends from back in the day when they worked at the outdoor school where I still work.   Scot and I were old birding buddies from back when we were just learning some of the basics.  I still remember very clearly learning how to tell Hutton's Vireos from Ruby Crowned Kinglets in Worley Flat together.  Since then we've had some fantastic adventures including a week-long camping/birding binge in all those great canyons south of Tucson.  It was awesome to have him back in the spot where he and I started birding together.  Plus, he's one of the only people that I know that can hang with a long birding/biking day.  Actually, he outlasted me this time.
  On Saturday (2/2), we headed out a bit before 7:30 and made for the coast.  It was fun to show him how my route had changed after all these years.  We caught up on good birds we had seen and a bit about his job working for the Tejon Ranch Conservancy.  We ended up getting to Pigeon Point Lighthouse for our first focused birding session.  We pulled up just as Garth Harwood was leaving.  It was slow in terms of numbers of birds, which is why Garth was leaving, but Scot hadn't been to Pigeon Point for a while, so we stuck it out.  Good thing we did.  We ended up finding a few Rhinoceros Auklets and two Northern Fulmars that joined a small feeding frenzy about halfway to the horizon.  One of the last times Scot and I birded there together, we wondered how anyone could identify things like Rhino Auklets so far away, so we left feeling good about the session.  We had to scoot quick too, as Garth came back to the lighthouse to let us know he had found a Glaucos Gull on Gazos Creek Beach a couple miles south.
  We didn't waste too much time pedalling down, but the bird didn't stay too long.  We missed it.  Drat!
  Onward to Cascade Ranch, otherwise known as Brussel's Sprouts National Monument.  This weedy ag. field is home to a Brussel's sprout composting heap that has been attracting good birds for about 10 years now.  Last year, a Harris's Sparrow turned up.  Years ago, a Hooded Warbler, not to mention, tons of other great birds.  Not a ton of birds were about for us that day however.  There was a beautiful White-throated Sparrow which was so bright it looked like it must have just recently molted.
 Returning home we took Cloverdale Rd. and Butano Cut-off Rd where Scot got a picture of this Accipiter.  It was a rock solid day and I was stoked to get to spend the day birding with Scot.

Big Birding

Chasing birds has never been my thing (for those who don't know, "chasing" means tracking down birds other folks have already found).  Local birder and friend Peter Metropolis once said, "why would I want to go look for someone else's used up bird?"  I certainly agree that it takes a lot of the fun out of birding when you chase, but as far as doing a Big Year goes, especially a Green Big Year, I'll be chasing birds quite a bit.  I better get used to it.
  Last weekend, I rode up to Half Moon Bay.  I had two birds I was really looking for.  One was a Rock Wren that Barbara Kossy found on the riprap just above the beach.  The other were the Short-eared Owls that are seen at Wavecrest every winter.  I've looked for them before, but missed them every time.
  The ride up was fantastic.  I left after work, which means in the winter, I was riding partly at night.  It was so pleasant; nice and warm, minimal wind, Great-horned and Barn Owls along the way.  Kind of stupid is the 1 night limit that HMB State Beach has for hiker-biker spots, which I didn't know when I made my plan to stay up there for three nights.  I guess they are just trying to keep the transient type folks from setting up shop there.  It's really their loss. 
  Anyway, the reasonable camp host allowed me two nights stay.  That meant I could spend all day looking for HMB birds on Friday.  Friday morning started with the ROCK WREN at Miramar, right where Barbara found it.  I arrived at the same time that Al "Ears" Eisner (as I like to call him based on his birding-by-ear skill--last name pronounced "Eyes-ner") and helped him get on the bird.  He helped me find a Black-headed/Rose-breasted Grosbeak hybrid once, so it was nice to return the favor.  It was pretty cool to see a bird that usually hangs out in arid to semi-arid desert or alpine zone hanging out at the beach.
  On to Pillar Point, where the big wave surf competition would be happening in about 48 hours.  No swell at all while I was there.  Flat as a pancake really.  Highlights were a Spotted Sandpiper, Wandering Tattler, and a Sea Lemon (nudibranch) that I help a group of 1st-2nd graders identify on their tidepooling fieldtrip.  I wish I would have gotten to do that as a youngster.  Alas, I grew up in the mountains of Virginia.
  By days end, I made it to Wavecrest in HMB and saw a Short-eared Owl.  Finally!  After a few trips up looking for this species, I finally saw one shortly before the sun when down.
  I should mention, a big hearty thanks to J.R. and Annie for the resupply and wonderful dinner that night at HMB Brewery.  It was great to reconnect with friends and talk about our futures, science, educating kids and all kinds of other stuff.  Great company and good beer goes a long way in helping with a big year.
  The next day I made for home, skipping out on the Harris' Sparrow a mere 22 miles (one way) away.



 

Quality Birding

Well, at this point, I'm averaging over a bird per mile (117species/110 miles).  If only I could keep this up and end with 3000 species for the year!  My guess is that I'll be right around 1 bird/10 miles in the end if all goes well.  We'll see.
  It's been a great weekend here.  I've been out Friday, Saturday and Sunday looking for birds.  A highlight, however, has to be getting a chance to bird with my friend Dan Irelan who's down from Alaska right now.  Last time we birded together was about 8 years ago, so it was great to spend time finding birds, talk green birding, and just catch up.  We birded Pescadero Marsh on Saturday with Jessica Pollock. It was wild to see a Peregrine trying to fly with a female Common Goldeneye that it got somewhere out over the ocean.  When we first saw it, I couldn't quite rap my head around what was going on.  I just saw a large raptor with webbed feet that could barely fly.  It was struggling to stay in the air, until it finally had to drop the duck.  According to David Sibley, a Common Goldeneye weighs 1.9 lbs while a Peregrine weighs 1.6 lbs.  No wonder.
  That didn't end the show however, as the Peregrine made it to land, a second Peregrine (an immature)came screaming over and attacked it.  The aerial maneuvers were incredible.  Seemed that the young bird won as the other bird u-turned out of there fairly quickly.  The Goldeneye, though still hanging out on the ocean, seemed to be doing just fine.

  I've been dreaming up a trip to Monterey for this three day weekend.  I'm not sure if it's feasible or not.  180 miles round trip.  The Arctic Loon found by the marina sure seems enticing, plus there are a few others that would be fun to see.  If not, maybe I'll head over to the SF Bay and look for a few birds that are much easier over there.

  All in all, it's been nice to cross over the first 100 species and first 100 miles.  I'm adding species quickly, which is expected at the beginning of the year, but that will change soon.  Strangely though, there is pretty minimal duck diversity around Pescadero these days.  I'm sure the blue-winged teal will show up soon.


 Oh yeah... my buddy Tod and I led an animal tracking inservice for my San Mateo Outdoor Education naturalist coworkers down at the beach.  It was sweet to see a Peregrine standing on the beach.  Tod got pictures of the tracks.

Full day of bike birding

  It's kind of a tradition for some birders, to go out on New Year's Day to see as many birds as they can.  Some go at it casually, others plan out routes carefully, making sure to spend only the allotted amount of time at each habitat or birding hotspot.   Big Days are what they are called.  Similar in concept to the Big Year of course.  I didn't exactly do a big day, but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss some birds that were unexpectedly around this part of California.  I didn't race around nearly as much as if I were doing a big day.  Not that the bike and these hills would allow me to race too much compared to the birders who were using their cars.
  But I can say that by all accounts, yesterday was a great day of birding for me.  Mostly I chased down local rarities found in 2012 on the Ano Nuevo Christmas Bird Count or from before.  Definitely nice to get some time looking at the ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK that Ron Thorn found out on Stage Road.  I lost the bird as it went over a ridge near San Gregorio, when suddently the bird flew right over me coming from behind.  I was left wishing my camera wasn't in the bottom of my panniers somewhere.  By the time I got it out, the bird was sitting on the distant ridge again.  And, wouldn't you know it, took off just as I was taking a picture through my scope.  Not sure how it turned out in the end.  I'll try to get the photo of it up as soon as I figure out how to do such things.
  Another great bird, actually the first I tried for was the BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER that my friend Garth Harwood found up by his place about two weeks ago.  I rode my bike up to see the bird a few times at the end of December, but there is nothing like a little nervousness about having this (the first morning of a Big Year) be the morning that the bird doesn't show up.  It's a nice little nervousness and it keeps it fun.  As does watching bird behavior.  I've notice this bird following a Red-Breasted Sapsucker up a Sweetgum (Californians call it a Liquidambar I've noticed).  It was feeding on the dripping wells of sap that the Sapsucker had drilled.  A Ruby-Crowned Kinglet was doing the same (I've seen Chestnut-Backed Chickadees and Anna's Hummingbirds feeding that way in my garden too).
  Anyway, its cool to see another Black-Throated Blue Warbler.  The last one I saw was when I was a National Park Ranger in Isle Royale NP in Lake Superior. These guys bred there and became my favorite warbler.
  Those two birds,  the RLHA and the BTBW, I didn't get to see in 2011, so it felt good to see them this year.  Gives me hope that the 276 mark from my last effort will be surmountable.  I have a lofty goal of seeing 300+ this year, but who knows.  It helped that the YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER we found at my house on the Christmas Bird Count was still around.  Also the EASTERN PHEOBE was an easy bird to miss in a year of birding in San Mateo County.  Tons of other great birds too and lots that I missed.  None of the misses were critical in the sense that I won't see them again this year  (I'm knocking on wood right now so that the Harlequin Duck continues to stick around).

The Black-Throated Blue Warbler at Dearborn Park.  Photo taken by Chris Johnson.

  In total, after one day:  7 Hours birding/biking, 89 species, and 38 miles.

1/1/13--Just after midnight

  Happy New Year!  I certainly meant to be in bed by now, but couldn't pull myself away from good company and a campfire too early tonight.  Looks like I'll get a little less sleep, but the BIG GREEN BIG YEAR is under way.  I stepped out of my house at 12:01 a.m. to hear a GREAT HORNED OWL (#1).  A great way to get the big year going.  My place is actually pretty good for owls.  Eventually, I hope to hear at least 3 other species of owls from the front step.  I love where I live.
  For now it's late so... Happy New Year.