Birding Trails
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
GUIDE TO NORTHERN California Birding • Birding festivals • E-resources • Hotspots • Must-see birds • Stories about birding in NorCal a special publication from Northern 5 California Birding 18 27 Hotspots 7 22 26 3 8 28 9 21 17 2 16 1 20 13 14 30 25 11 15 29 19 6 10 12 4 23 24 GUIDE TO NORTH CALIFORNIA BIRDING was produced by Hotspots listed in order of the staff of Bird Watcher’s Digest. For Bird Watcher’s Digest subscription information, call us toll-free at species count according to eBird. 1-800-879-2473 or visit birdwatchersdigest.com. Table of Contents So You’re Birding in California Birding Festivals 2 Pelagic Birding in 4 Northern California? Northern California, by Lucky you! towhee. Take a pelagic trip some- Alvaro Jaramillo By land area, California is the where between Eureka and San California Birding 8 third-largest state, but no other Diego for an even longer list of Resources U.S. state can boast the habitat possibilities. In fact, the official diversity found in the Golden California bird checklist shows Must-see Birds of 9 State: the highest peak in the 666 species, more than any other Northern California Lower 48 (Mount Whitney); the state. In such a vast and diverse lowest elevation in North Amer- area, even a list of 30 hotspots Cannery Row Revisited, 10 ica (Death Valley); 3,427 miles barely skims the surface. by Julie Zickefoose of Pacific coastline (parts sandy, We hope this Guide to North- others rocky); year-round snow- ern California Birding will help Rediscovering 18 capped mountains; the lush Cen- you find some amazing birds. California’s Desert Wetlands tral Valley; and the arid Mojave The hotspots shown on the map and Plains, by Jerry Uhlman Desert. boast the highest species tallies California has two endemic in Northern California, but there Elephant Seals bird species (found in California are hundreds of others. Wherever —close-up 26 and nowhere else): island scrub- you’re headed in NorCal, odds jay and yellow-billed magpie, are, there’s good birding nearby. and several other species that are Have fun! easiest to find in California, such as Allen’s hummingbird, Nuttall’s Dawn Hewitt woodpecker, oak titmouse, tricol- Editor, Bird Watcher’s Digest ored blackbird, and California Birding Hotspots and Species Count 1. Southeast Farallon Island 17. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, (restricted access) (372) Presidio (268) 2. Hayward Regional Shoreline (361) 18. Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area (268) 3. Point Reyes (351) 19. Salinas Wastewater Treatment Plant (permit 4. Andrew Molera State Park (345) required) (265) 5. Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary (336) 20. Lake Merced (264) 6. Point Pinos (336) 21. Coyote Point Recreation Area (253) 7. Bodega Bay (315) 22. Marin Headlands (252) 8. Rodeo Lagoon (302) 23. San Simeon State Park (251) 9. Bolinas Lagoon (295) 24. Morro Bay Estuary (250) 10. Moonglow Dairy (294) 25. Half Moon Bay State Beach (249) 11. Ano Nuevo State Park (293) 26. Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District (249) 12. Carmel River State Beach (291) 27. Mono Lake County Park (249) 13. Coyote Hills Regional Park (283) 28. Stinson Beach (249) 14. Pescadero Marsh (279) 29. Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (247) 15. Natural Bridges State Beach (277) 30. Fitzgerald Marine Reserve (246) 16. Pillar Point Harbor (272) 1 California Birding Festivals • Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival, mid-Jan- uary, Morro Bay, morrobaybirdfestival.org • Snow Goose Festival of the Pacific Flyway, late January, Chico, snowgoosefestival.org • San Francisco Bay Flyway Festival, mid-February, Vallejo, sfbayflywayfestival.com • San Diego Bird Festival, late February, San Diego, sandiegoaudubon.org/ events/bird-festival • Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festivals, mid-April, Arcata, godwitdays.org • Owens Lake Bird Festival, late April, Lone Pine, friendsoftheinyo.org/ owens-lake-bird-festival • Point Reyes Birding and Nature Festival, late April, Point Reyes Station, pointreyesbirdingfestival.org • Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua, late June, Lee Vining, birdchautauqua.org • San Francisco Bay Osprey Days Festival, late June, Vallejo, sfbayospreydays.org • Monterey Bay Birding Festival, late September, Watsonville, montereybaybirding.org • Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival, early November, Lodi, cranefestival.com • Central Valley Birding Symposium, late November, Stockton, cvbirds.org/events/ symposium/ BRUCE WUNDERLICH 2 Mountain quail. California towhee. Pacific cormorant. Anna’s hummingbird. White-tailed kite. WIKI COMMONS (5) Pelagic Birding in Northern California A LV A RO J A R A MILLO When birders contemplate wilderness, they often imag- into perspective, it is one of this continent’s most incred- ine a tropical forest, a roadless green space where rare ible bird shows anywhere. It rivals the sandhill cranes on birds and magical creatures like jaguars may be found. the Platte River, the shorebird spectacle of Delaware Bay, Others think of being in the deep mountains, in thin air; the “duck factory” of the Prairies and Great Plains, hawk Winhospitable and rocky habitats where only an Andean migration at Hawk Mountain, you name it. Northern condor or a mountain goat may feel at home. I have California offshore birding is fantastic, but not easily ac- been there, deep in the West African forest, at least a cessible, and it’s sometimes framed in a way that makes it day’s walk from any village or settlement. I have been intimidating. But don’t cheat yourself out of what can be way up in the Andes, in some places so high and so dry a life-changing day of birding! Let me tell you why I like that nearly no life exists. Those places are truly wild. But it, and how to make it most comfortable. when people ask me about what I consider wilderness, California’s oceans are rich because they are biologically my answer is immediate—the ocean, a pelagic trip! highly productive. There are lots of nutrients in the water, For me, there is no feeling quite like being on a boat, in and they are near the surface where sunlight is available. the realm of seabirds, whales, and fish. Nowhere else do Lots of food and light means a lot of growth. Also, in I feel like such a visitor—privileged to be able to spend this part of the world there are consistent winds from the some time with these creatures in a place I know I don’t northwest, particularly in spring. The winds move the sur- belong. It is true wilderness, and when you experience face water offshore, causing cold and nutrient-rich water what you can see off the coast of California and put it to rise up to take its place. This process of “upwelling,” as well as the slow flow of the California Current that trans- ports cold, nutrient-rich water from north to south, creates Pink-footed shearwater. the food bonanza that brings in the whales and the birds. California is also endowed with amazing under- sea canyons and mountains. With immense undersea topography getting in the way of currents, you can have amazing levels of oceanic productivity from the crazed upwellings that ensue. This makes northern Califor- nia one of a kind among the oceans and coasts of the Northern Hemisphere! This is also why you want to get yourself on a boat and see what’s out there. Setting Sail On a classic “Nor Cal” pelagic trip, you board the boat in the early morning, hear a brief talk about boat birding, safety, and the like, and then head out of port. WIKI COMMONS (2) 4 Often you may see your first seabirds, maybe red-necked phalaropes or pigeon guillemots, before you even leave port. If you are in Monterey, there are those cute sea ot- ters to look at too. Then you start heading out to deeper water. Common murres and three (sometimes four) species of loon are around. Sometimes the first iconic seabirds, perhaps sooty shearwaters, show up right near shore, but as you proceed out, there are more and more, often thousands or tens of thousands of birds. In fact, millions of sooty shearwaters move through northern California each summer and early fall, as many of the birds that breed in the southern Pacific come to Califor- nia for the pelagic feast. A single nesting colony in Chile has approximate four million sooties, so you can imag- ine the kind of numbers that descend onto California’s food-rich waters. Added to this spectacle are thousands of pink-footed shearwaters, hundreds of Buller’s shear- waters, a flesh-footed shearwater if you are lucky, and black-vented shearwaters if it is a warm-water year. You Sabine’s gull. can really have a shearwater fiesta out there. Don’t forget about the rhinoceros and Cassin’s auk- lets, and maybe a Xantus’s murrelet if you are having a lucky day. Three species of jaegers, Arctic tern, and south polar skua often appear in the mix too. Then Tip: If it is a good day there are the extreme wanderers—the black-footed albatross is sometimes (but not always) seen by the for Cassin’s auklets, it means hundreds, and its rarer white-bellied cousin, the Laysan albatross, may pay a visit. The sheer diversity and abun- dance of birds are fantastic. there is an abundance of Northern California is also a wonderful place to see humpback whales. If the upwelling has been good, you their food source—krill. might find a blue whale, sometimes with pods of hun- dreds and sometimes thousands of dolphins of various So be on the lookout for species, including the fantastic northern right whale dolphin—a personal favorite of mine. After the initial declaration of “Sign me up!” many a much bigger krill special- first-time seafarers begin asking important questions: “What do I do? What do I bring? When do I go? Will I ist—the blue whale.