A State Bird, Spring Shorebirds and a Requirement for Avosex

Early in the spring, I lurked into the Central Valley, where an Emperor Goose would have been a welcomed year bird. Those of you who enjoy their schadenfreude would like to know that the bird decided to leave the night before, but it was a good sunset with lots of Cackling and Greater White-fronted Geese to sort through.

Well, here we are. June. California's best spring in memory has come and gone, with May bolstering the Vague Runt roster with another White Wagtail, Kentucky Warblers, a Buff-breasted Flycatcher, an inner circle Pterodroma caught in a mist net (which is a Meguh) and another mainland appearance by the Kelp Gull. Don't worry, I did manage to at least get out and look for the Kelp Gull...which I dipped on. I also dipped on the Northern Gannet a couple times, which is so unsurprising that it doesn't even bum me out any more. Dip dip dip dip dip dip dip fucking dip.

That said, I did go birding this spring, and I did see some birds, including some good ones.

A friend of mine, "Fob Rowler", is one of the admins of a 5,000+ member birding group on Facebook. His members look up to him like a birding god...and who is to say that he isn't? It often looks like a thankless task, but one day Fob was looking at one of the bazillions of bird pictures that is posted to the group every day and noticed something strange in a flock of flying White-faced Ibis...there, in the corner, was a unmistakable Glossy Ibis. This is a rare bird in California...one that I hadn't seen in the state before. So a week after Fob's Facebook find, it was off to Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, and I have to thank Fob and Facebook for this sexy state bird.

Yolo Bypass has a healthy population of Swainson's Hawks, which I never tire of seeing. I also got my lifer mink that morning, which was a bird I was not thinking I would get that day. Some kind folks pointed it out to me as it swam out to a patch of reeds, but unhelpfully tried to convince me that it was a small river otter with a short furry tail. The nerve!

Every spring I spend some time shorebirding, partially because I am always hoping to find a spring vague runt plover or sandpiper (which rarely happens) and partially because spring shorebirds are really, really good looking birds. Dowitchers suddenly become exponentially more interesting...you don't have to sweat IDing them by sight, they make weird noises that go unuttered in fall and winter, and they actually are very appealing birds. This is a Long-billed Dowitcher, at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, Oakland.

Here is a Short-billed Dowitcher. Look at that short bill. It's like rosy Jack Snipe.

Another Short-billed. No one thinks of dowitchers as gaspers, but I will argue that they are worthy of the occasional gasp.

I want to be real with you nerds, so here we go...BB&B is one of the only trendsetters in birding. So with that in mind, let me ask you this...do people take pictures of Canada Geese anymore? No? Good...well I'm bringing them back. Soon everyone is going to be posting Canada Goose photos. Cardinals are going to be over, and the masses will instead glorify the majestic Canada Goose.

One morning Billy and I cruised to Bedwell Bayfront Park in San Mateo County to look at Pacific Golden-Plovers, a decent bird almost anywhere in the bay area and rarely encountered in alternate plumage. They had been roosting on a salt pond for some time, and we found them just hanging out and looking great. This species is a pain in the ass to photograph though, at least in this state...go to Hawaii if you want to crush them, as they are a lawn bird there. It's really trippy.

A rare (for me) spring visit to the Radio Road ponds in Redwood Shores was productive. Short (front) and Long-billed Dowitchers provided a great comparison when we showed up. If only it were always this easy to tell them apart.

There probably isn't a better place in the bay area to see breeding Forster's Terns, which nest on the small islands here relatively close to the edge of their favored pond. On this visit, there was a lot of courtship going on and a lot of birds on nests already.

As always, American Avocets were around, sporting the buffy heads required to convince each other that they should have avosex. The bay area has both long-legged shorebirds in abundance.

This is the other long-legged shorebird, obvi. Black-necked Stilt is another signature, sometimes-annoying shorebird species of many of California's marshes. Like the avocets, they are resident year round and are common breeders at many marshes around the bay. The debate continues over which nesting shorebird is more annoying to be around...Killdeer (dee dee dee dee), avocet (kleep kleep kleep) or stilt (yap yap yap yap yap yap yap).

The Antibirder...Sunsick...Moronic and Crazed...Scumbag Birders Stick Together

Within the last month, I have seen a paltry 9 warbler species here in the bay area...although this is very embarrassing, it's not completely my fault. Townsend's Warbler is one of the few species I am cursed to see regularly. It's worth mentioning that this was shot at 3200 ISO on my newish D7000, looks deec if you ask me. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA.

It's been a quick, strange fall this year. Life changes both inside and outside of the realms of birding...and the more I bird, the more grateful I am to have a life outside of the realm of birding. So many birders are not as lucky...but it is hard to weep for those who take something so humorous/fun/nerdy so deadly seriously. It has become vividly clear that a lot of birders seek a kind of birder antihero to illuminate a brighter path of birding for those still groping through the darkness...but who will it be? Of course, it is also pertinent to distinguish between the antibirder (antihero) and birding antichrist, of which there are already several.

So what's new? It is the weather. There is too much sun. Too much northwest winds. Where is our fall marine layer???? It has been a pathetic year for vagrant passerines in the bay area...I've seen a few fun migrants (Blackburnian Warbler, Prairie Warbler, American Redstart, Indigo Bunting), but it's been very slow in general. The birders offshore on Southeast Farallon Island, normally a vagrant magnet, have had one of the worst years on record in terms of finding rare birds out there. They weep daily, even though they get to see Northern Gannet and Blue-footed Boobies together all the time. The good word has it that they have resorted to trying to befriend a Sandhill Crane that has settled on the island, whom may or may not be lapping up their tears for sustenance.

Speaking of boobies, they are still happening. I have now seen them in both Marin and San Francisco Counties this fall, which I would really be excited about if I was a county lister (I'm usually not). Call me old-fashioned, but I just like looking at boobies, even if they are too far to crush. Their northward "push" seems to have stalled out, but they are still regularly being seen in the bay area.

Wilson's Storm-Petrels have been seen with regularity in storm-petrel flocks in Pioneer Canyon and Cordell Bank this year, but if you really want looks at them, go to the east coast. This ambitious bird grabbed a chunk of chum from off the stern of the Stormy Petrel II, off Hatteras, NC.

Laysan Albatross was a bird I really wanted to get on a Shearwater Journeys boat this year...as you can see, the bird gods answered my repeated blood sacrifices. This is a fresh juvenile...I've heard a number of birders suggest that the Laysans found off the coast of California are from the Mexican population, but I haven't seen any actual evidence of that. Photographed off Half Moon Bay, CA.

Unlike the relatively poor passerine scene, seabirding has been very good this fall for me. Two Cape Hatteras trips in August (seven lifers and an ABA bird) and leading on seven Shearwater Journeys boats (a state bird and great birds and whales in general) has been more than fruitful for me. Uncommon and rare shearwaters have been seen with regularity off the central coast this year (Great, Manx, Flesh-footed), and storm-petrels have put on an amazing show in a couple places. Too bad I wasn't able to get it on the Craveri's Murrelet and Least Storm-Petrel action off San Diego this fall, but even Number 7 can only be in one place at a time. The pelagic season will be winding down soon, so get on a boat when you can!

So many crucial birding spots are found on federal land...but they are no longer options, thanks to the profoundly ignorant/crazed/moronic Tea Party and their allies. So, we must find birds like this White-faced Ibis on state, municipal and private lands...it's an interesting challenge, to have a "handicapped" arsenal of hotspots to choose from, but not exactly fun in early October. Photographed on state property at Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, Davis, CA.

The government shutdown is bad for everyone, and lets face it, birders have it the worst. How are we supposed to bird national wildlife refuges? National parks? I am supposed to be going to Yosemite National Park in a few days, and guess what? Not fucking happening...life is pain. Those Great Gray Owls will just have to wait, and my heart grows blacker every day. It is a known fact that if one goes too long without seeing a Great Gray Owl, their life becomes futile. In fact, that is why most human beings die.

The best place to consistently find Pacific Golden-Plover in the bay area is Schollenberger Park in Petaluma. If they are around, they are not difficult to distinguish from Black-bellied Plovers...I don't think I need to tell you which of the above birds is of the golden variety. Schollenberger is lit up brightly on the new eBird Hotspot Explorer, reflecting the good number of species recorded there over the years.

Have you peeped the eBird Hotspot Explorer yet? Give it a look. This long overdue new chapter of eBird lets one conveniently find and compare different hotspots...I think I will be putting it to use in the near future. This is an excellent tool for scouting out places to bird in an area you are unfamiliar with, and may assist researchers in examining sites with differing degrees of species diversity.

Pygmy Nuthatch is a bird. It is not a rare bird, but it is a good bird. In this area, an abundant bird. Despite a full day of local terrestrial birding with Nate from This Machine Watches Birds, I could not get him on any of these things. Blue-footed Booby? No problem. Vaux's Swift? Ok. Eurasian Wigeon? Sure. One of the most abundant birds in the area? No. Photographed someplace we did not bird...Sutro Heights Park, San Francisco, CA.

Lastly, it's been a great fall for migrant birders in the bay area, with lots of old and new friends being observed in the area (often on pelagic trips). I'm grateful to be located someplace that sees so many shining/disgusting examples of humanity drop by regularly, especially since I don't bird with anyone who lives here! So thanks to all of you who have stopped by for birding, raging, etc., and I look forward to crossing paths again soon....scumbag birders must stick together, or else our weird kind may be wiped out completely.

Lost Along The Way

Did you know this is the end of National Volunteer Week? Thats a strange week.....I feel like I should be reveling in it, but then again I've never taken compliments very well. Volunteer somewhere, anywhere........its good times.

Everything is hatching hatching hatching. There are White Tern chicks all over the place, and Red-tailed Tropicbirds are popping up as well. Bonin Petrel chicks are getting big too. The other day I found a Laysan Albatross trying to incubate a Bonin Petrel chick. I had to shoo it off. The chick was somewhat squashed-looking, but otherwise unharmed. It's hard to understand the albatross sometimes.

Not much going on this weekend. Its been a bit breezy, so Ive spent more time indoors. Watching the Red Sox vs. Yankees game right now....it looks nice over there in New England.....but, obviously, not as nice as Midway. Jacoby Elsbury had a straight steal of home....beautiful. Stealing home on a regular pitch has got to be one of the ballsiest moves in any sport, I reckon. The crowd ate it up.

Of course, there are some places in the world where being crammed into someplace with 40,000 people is not a good idea.....yes, in the proud tradition of SARS, West Nile Virus and the doubly-redundantly-named Avian Bird Flu, we now have The Swine Virus on our hands. Unlike most viruses, it has been targeting people between 20-40 year olds, for reasons no one can explain. Consider yourself warned, especially those of you reading from Mexico or states already stricken (California, Kansas, Ohio, Texas, New York). Everyone on Midway has a heightened state of paranoia about getting sick, so I'm sure this will be the talk of "the town" soon.....but for the sake of everyone, hopefully this disease will fizzle out sooner than later. Even if this does develop into a global pandemic, I highly doubt that any action in the right direction towards human overpopulation and factory farming will be taken......in fact, I don't know what it would take for people to do something about this......and its certainly not something that is fun to dwell upon. Argh.

As your self-appointed bird advisor, I recommend you move to the woods and go Raw for a while until this thing blows over. I will consult my colleagues (i.e. albatross), for I think they may have The Answer to all this. More to follow.



This is the side of "The Old Seaplane Hanger", which housed PBY Catalinas in World War II and for several years after. It was bombed and strafed by the Japanese during the Battle of Midway, the damage from which can still be seen, even though much of it had to be rebuilt after the attack. Its not in very good condition now, but is still a pretty great piece of history.