2 March 08

No Al B. Tross, But...

With a friend visiting from Massachusetts and another one eager to see more California birds, we took a trip out to Point Arena and Bodega Bay yesterday. It’s a long drive: it took four hours just to get to Point Arena from Davis. We left at five.

The Laysan albatross that has been wintering in Point Arena for the past 14 years wasn’t there. We knew it was a long shot, since this is right around the time it has historically departed for (presumably) Hawaii, but we decided to spend a good time there, look for it, see what else we saw, and head down the coast.

Point Arena yielded a flotilla of horned grebes; black oystercatchers, and Hutton’s vireo plus unhoped-for Allen’s hummingbirds; Willow Creek Road, just south of Jenner, turned up wrentit and more Allen’s; Bodega Bay was an orgy of gulls (we had all four cycle Western gulls on adjacent picnic tables for comparisons) plus my first black scoters for many years, Pacific loon, the huge and impressive array of shorebirds, more photographable oystercatchers, pelagic cormorants, pigeon guillemots, and a fierce northwest wind by mid-afternoon.

These long birding days, in the company of enthusiastic and skilled people, are delightful, even if you pay for the early mornings and long drives later. Christopher, I hope you got home safely. We loved having you here. Fernando, cuando quieras, salimos otra vez…

Posted by at 08:31 PM in Bird of the Day | Link |

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