NorCal Birding

09/07/2024

Another incredible birding excursion with visiting birder from Florida, Pam Meharg, yesterday in the Pinnacles National Park area. We nailed 100% of our targets!

Those targets included:
California Condor
Yellow-billed Magpie
Bell's Sparrow
Lawrence's Goldfinch
Tricolored Blackbird
Hutton's Vireo
California Scrub-Jay
Pacific Wren
California Quail
Wrentit
Oak Titmouse

It was hot (97f), but that actually helped us as there was no crowd at Pinnacles and birds were concentrated and active at water.

The rarest bird found was an early HERMIT THRUSH (possibly a local breeder of the slevini subspecies.

Thanks Pam for a great day!!

02/06/2024

Something about birds with crests!

Check out this Hooded Merganser video at Shoreline at Mountain View in Santa Clara County, California.

11/10/2023

An amazing birding excursion with returning visitor birder and friend, Mark Hoffman from Virginia, yesterday. One of our main targets was VARIED THRUSH.

We started at Henry Cowell State Park for Varied Thrush and then weaved through the Santa Cruz Mountains before starting from Pigeon Point working our way south to Santa Cruz searching for Ancient Murrelet.

We ended the day with 71 species with highlights being 4 VARIED THRUSH with great looks, large flocks of PINE SISKINS, a large flock of TRICOLORED BLACKBIRDS, lots of TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS up close, hoards of RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, a large group of SURFBIRDS, a foraging RHINOCEROS AUKLET relatively close range, a close Bobcat, and thousands of monarch butterflies!

05/26/2023

An epic day spent with visiting photographer and birder Alan Zhou from Texas! The focus was to get good photos of lifer birds, not quantity for him and we accomplished that! He even got his nemesis bird, the Hooded Oriole.

Insane views and experiences with Pacific Wren agitated because a Steller's Jays feet away from its nest, Wrentits up close giving its bouncing ball song point blank, a male California Quail showing off, a family of Chestnut-sided Chickadees feeding recently fledged young, nesting Pigeon Guillemots, Whimbrels on the ocean edge and many more.

Thanks for the great memories and I can't wait to see all your photos!

A few of Alan's pics (Hooded Oriole and California Quail).

04/13/2023

Pinnacles NP with Andrew Bradshaw and visiting birder from the Netherlands! Go time!

10/24/2022

An exciting day taking visiting birders Madison and Juan from South Carolina around the SF area with a western focused target birding, as well as a chase for the mega rarity WILLOW WARBLER at Rodeo Lagoon. The warbler is a first California and a 3rd? lower 48 states record! It winters in southern/central Africa! As you can expect there was a crowd.

We nailed most of our targets and had insane views of the Willow Warbler. We tallied 58 species in our short day and enjoyed perfect SF weather (sunny, light wind and 70f!).

10/10/2022

It has been a while since I posted! Will get back on it!

Today I chased arguably one of the most beautiful members of the Parulidae family in North America, the PAINTED REDSTART (Myioborus pictus) This individual has wandered out of its normal range and is the first Santa Clara County record and California rarity. It was found by Meg Barron and Elly Corey on September 28 at Agnews Historic Park in Santa Clara.

This is a common bird in Arizona and is usually the place that people get their lifer, but it has a relatively restricted range, but is know to wander and move especially during dry years when resources are limited.

We located it today by its Pine Siskin like call (at least to me but some say like House Sparrow, but I think closer to PISI). It showcased that flaring white tail, the reason some checklists and authorities call them whitestarts, not redstarts.

A truly pictus bird, which is the species latin name.

A new Santa Clara County and California bird for me!

02/27/2022

Back at it! First private birding excursion in 2022 with New York birder and now friend Alison Daly.

We had an incredible two days of target birding, but also observing all wildlife thrown at us. We birded Henry Cowell Redwoods SP, Natural Bridges SB, Panoche Valley and Pinnacles NP. We nailed almost every target and even found an unexpected Rough-legged Hawk. Highlights included 6 CALIFORNIA CONDORS, MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS, GREATER ROADRUNNER, LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCH, MARBLED MURRELET, FERRUGINOUS HAWK, PACIFIC WREN, PHAINOPEPLAS, CANYON WREN, HUTTON'S VIREO, LONG-EARED OWL, TRICOLORED BLACKBIRD and so many more. We even had an incredible show of mammals including a bobcat and the endemic San Joaquin Antelope Squirrel.

We tallied 93 species during our target birding and 9 species of mammals!

It was an incredible two days with great company. Thanks Alison!

02/05/2022

Mega rarity, Oriental Turtle-Dove found by our good friend Andrew Bradshaw ! A third California record! And only a handful of other North America records. Andy always has a knack for finding good birds or spotting the best birds when out birding. But this is an incredible find that is a candidate for best ABA bird of the year ( https://www.aba.org/rare-bird-alert-february-4-2022/ )
Had great looks at it today. It is a migratory subspecies and has been know to move large distances, so while some question if escapee or wild, I believe it is a wild individual.

Congrats Andy! Cheers to Turtle-Doves!

https://ebird.org/checklist/S102035982

Submitted by Ryan Phillips.

05/29/2021

Day 6- Final day!
Beatty's Guest House Hummingbird Spectacle!

It was our final day today and the main location this morning was Beatty's Guest House in Miller Canyon with our target being hummers.

We had a hummingbird spectacle! We waited about 30 minutes before the rare and only known WHITE-EARED HUMIINGBIRD in the United States arrived! A lifer for the group and it made several appearances. We also had the magnificent RIVOLI'S HUMMINGBIRD, BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD, BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD, and BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD.

What an amazing trip with an even more amazing group!

05/29/2021

Day 4 and 5 SE Arizona!
Tubac, Patagonia, Ramsey Canyon, Carr Canyon!

The past two days we have seen so much and have had some incredible birds.

Day 4 we started out visiting Tubac for the second shot at the only nesting site of ROSE-THROATED BECARDS in the United States. We arrived at 8:01 and by 8:32 we had not seen any sign of them at the nest. Then 8:33 the female came in multiple times with nesting material! We even watched a parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird visit the nest, BUT it never went in. We then tried for the Green Kingfisher at Guy Tobin but no luck, but we had stunning looks at a pair of Gray Hawks soaring overhead. We then continued on to Patagonia Lake where we were immediately excited by a COMMON BLACK HAWK and numerous NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS. We then stopped at the famous rest stop and had a pair of THICK-BILLED KINGBIRDS after much searching and nearly giving up. Persistence paid off! Then it was on to the famous Paton Center for Hummingbirds were we had an incredible array of birds. But as usual the best bird was the famous VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD! A life bird for all in the group. We also had incredible looks at BROAD-TAILED HUMINGBIRD. It was a spectacular day with incredible birds.

For Day 5 we changed up the itinerary and decided to make the hairpin switchback drive to Reef Campground up Carr Canyon as most of our targets were in the highlands. In Ramsey Canyon we had the continuing BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, an unexpected bird for the trip, as well as RIVOLI'S HUMMINGBIRDS and 4 SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS. We then made the treacherous drive up to Reef Campground. Those hairpin switchbacks!! It was all worth it when we had a pair of OLIVE WARBLERS, multiple BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHERS, GRACE'S WARBLERS, RED-FACED WARBLER, and a unique sub-species of EASTERN BLUEBIRD, called the Azure or Mexican Bluebird, which is endemic to the Sierra Madre Occidentalis and and its northern limits in the Huachuca Mountains.

Our total trip species count so far is 135 and we have observed 80% of our target species. Tomorrow we go for the rare WHITE-EARED HUMMINGBIRD and BLUE-THROATED MOUNTAIN-GEM.

Stay tuned!

05/27/2021

Southeast Arizona Day3: Box Canyon and Florida Canyon/Wash

A memorable day full of life birds and incredible mammal observations that ended with great Mexican food and margaritas! How can it get any better with such an amazing group of people.

The highlight of the day was the extremely rare and difficult to find BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER, a lifer for everyone in the group including myself. Other highlights included the LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRD, RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW, CURVE-BILLED THRASHER, BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW, CANYON TOWHEE, a family of GAMBEL'S QUAIL with young only a day or two old, and others.

Exciting mammal finds included a Coatimundi in Florida Canyon and two Collared Peccaries (Javelina) in the Green Valley neighborhood. Our mammal trip list is impressive with Ringtail Cat, Coati, Collared Peccary, Lesser Long-nosed Bat, Mexican Long-tongued Bat, White-tailed Deer, chimpunk sp., and numerous rabbits.

Tomorrow we depart to try for the Rose-throated Becard again and Green Kingfisher along Santa Cruz River before heading to Patagonia Lake for Common Black Hawk, Neotropic Cormorant, Thick-billed Kingbird, Mexican Duck and others, and Paton Center for Hummingbirds for the Violet-crowned Hummingbird before heading to Sierra Vista.

What a day so far! What will the next few days bring!?

05/26/2021

Day 2 SE Arizona: Madera Canyon Part 2

An incredible experience with birds and mammals tonight!

It started with the smallest species of owl in the world, the ELF OWL, then a RINGTAIL CAT at the hummingbird feeders at the Santa Rita Lodge while MEXICAN WHIP-POOR-WILLS serenaded us, followed by a pair of WHISKERED SCREECH-OWLS heard and then a Mexican Whip-poor-will seen!

A magical day with many in the group getting over 20 lifers today as we spent the day and night in the iconic Madera Canyon.

Tomorrow we go for the Five-striped Sparrow, Lucifer Hummingbird and many more.

Stay tuned.

05/25/2021

Day 2 SE Arizona: Part 1 of Madera Canyon

We had some really nice SE AZ specialty species today.
A pair of Elegant Trogons (female pictured here), Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Arizona Woodpecker, Varied Bunting, Red-faced Warbler, Painted Redstart, Varied Bunting, Hepatic Tanager, Grace's Warbler, Botteri's Sparrow, Bridled Titmouse and many more!

This evening we head back up for Elf Owl, Mexican Whip-poor-will, Berylline Hummingbird, and Whiskered Screech-Owl!

Stay tuned!

05/25/2021

Day 1 SE Arizona in the books!

Morning scouting was fruitful with highlights being Botteri's Sparrow, Varied Bunting, Red-faced Warbler, Grace's Warbler, and many more.
The group arrived in the afternoon and we headed to Tubac for the one of two nesting locations for the species in the entire United States! We located two nests, but no birds were seen. We will give it another try over the next couple days. The highlights today were Zone-tailed Hawk, Gray Hawk, hoards of Lesser Nighthawks foraging over the Amdo WTP, numerous Gila Woodpeckers which were lifers for most in the group, and a female Ladder-backed Woodpecker feeding at least one youngster.

Tomorrow, Day 2, we head up to the iconic Madera Canyon for the highland specialties such as Elegant Trogon, Red-faced Warbler, Olive Warbler and many others.

05/23/2021

Tomorrow marks Day 1 of our Southeast Arizona, sky islands, adventure! One of the greatest and unique birding experiences in the world! If you are infatuated with bird movement like me this is a special place. On the tip of the northern Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico and the southern tip of the Rocky mountains where two major deserts converge. It is magic.

I will have daily posts of our specialties seen as 10 of us go on this 6 day adventure.

05/19/2021

Back guiding again! Feels great to get out with folks to do what we love again together, birding!

Steve Patt, was the prize winner of my donated Loma Prieta Trip for the Santa Clara Audubon Society Birdathon. So Steve, as well as Diane and Peter Hart set out for a morning of fun at Loma Prieta. We did good!

The highlight was at least two BLACK-CHINNED SPARROWS, which is the northern extreme of their range. We also had hoards of Lazuli Buntings and other great birds.

Thanks for a great day Steve, Diane and Peter.

01/21/2021

Let's start 2021 with a Northeastern Asian vagrant species! Meet the White Wagtail (Black-backed subspecies). A rare vagrant along the California coastline. This individual was found in Santa Cruz on November 14 by Sharon Hull. It has been seen at multiple locations, but today was at the San Lorenzo River mouth.

Other photos here:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S79616200