Bay Area Specialties

Heermann's Gull is one of the many California specialties that the bay area is home to. It's just one of our common local birds, but visiting nerds from outside the state drool over a lot of the species we get to enjoy on the regular.

The bay area. Home to millions of people, millions of birds, and several thousand birders. Nine different counties come into contact with the bay, and almost all of them offer a multitude of high quality birding spots. If you put aside the unfortunate traffic factor, it's a perfect recipe for quality birding almost year-round.

Because the bay area has so much to offer in the way of birding opportunities, and is such a population center and transportation hub, we get a lot of visiting birders here. Aside from chaseable rarities, they are usually looking for the same set of species. Since we at BB&B are here to serve you, dear sweet most loveable reader, we thought we would slap together a quick post on where to find some of the most highly sought-after local goodness.

Before we dive in, I have to get the standard disclaimer out of the way...eBird and the local listservs are invaluable resources on where your target birds and bonus rarities have been observed lately. Check them thoroughly and frequently!

Ridgway's Rail can be challenging to see, but they have multiple strongholds in the bay where they are relatively common. They vocalize frequently and loudly, so if you are into counting heard-only birds, tracking this species down should not be problematic. Far and away the easiest place to see RIRA is at Arrowhead Marsh in Alameda County. They can be seen at any tide, and during winter king tides it's not unusual to see multiple individuals at once that have been pushed out of the marsh. Black Rails, while almost impossible to see, are resident at China Camp State Park (Marin), Martinez Regional Shoreline (Contra Costa), and the saltmarsh next to Alviso Marina (Santa Clara), among other places.

Mountain Plover is exceedingly rare in the coastal counties, but are regularly found in Solano County during winter. Explore the fields east and west of Highway 113 (east of Vacaville, west of Rio Vista) during the winter. Again, eBird may be able to save you some time and point you toward the right pasture.

Pacific Golden-Plovers are very uncommon and tend to only sporadically show up within the bay, but a reliable place in fall and winter is Schollenberger Park in Petaluma (Sonoma County), where they often roost at high tide, or can be seen feeding in the adjacent mudflats if you are there with the right tide and a good amount of luck. Spaletta Plateau on Point Reyes is another reliable place for golden-plovers during the fall.

Rockpipers are consistently in high demand. Surfbirds can be found both in the bay (the little island at the San Leandro Marina (Alameda), roosting on the south side of Marina Park Pathway at high tide at the Emeryville Marina (Alameda)), and along the coast. Wandering Tattlers are much easier to find on the coast than in the bay, but are the most difficult rockpiper to track down. Check structures off Fort Mason, the rocks at Sutro Baths (both in San Francisco), and the outer breakwaters at the Pillar Point Harbor (San Mateo County). Black Oystercatchers and Black Turnstones are common and widespread.

Thayer's Gulls are typically not hard to find, but often present a significant ID challenge to those inexperienced with them. We have no shortage of confusing hybrid gulls to confuse them with. Thayer's can be tracked down in winter in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park (Stow Lake and Lloyd Lake), the mouth of Pilarcitos Creek (San Mateo County) and the north end of Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline, among many other places. Herring runs can feature impressive numbers of Thayer's and regularly lure in a Slaty-backed Gull or two every winter; check listservs for San Francisco, Marin and Contra Costa counties if you are around in January or February, it is great gulling and a great spectacle.

If you can't get on a pelagic trip, there are several good spots for seawatching - try Pigeon Point (San Mateo), the south end of Ocean Avenue (San Francisco), Sutro Baths (San Francisco), or Bodega Head (Sonoma). Depending on the time of year, you can find sea ducks, loons, shearwaters, jaegers, alcids (including Ancient and Marbled Murrelets in winter), etc. Of course, a scope is a requirement and the earlier in the morning you go the better.

Burrowing Owls have lost much of their habitat around the bay to urbanization, but thankfully are still holding on in a few areas, especially down in Santa Clara County (i.e. Azino Ranch), near the east shore of Cesar Chavez Park (Alameda) and the access road to Arrowhead Marsh (Alameda). Fall and winter is typically best for finding these cute little bastards.

Yellow-billed Magpie is an endemic, and rightfully one of the most sought-after species in the entire state...luckily we get them along the western edge of their range. Try Mines Road, just south of Livermore (Alameda), where a little effort should reward you.

California Thrasher is widely distributed, but uncommon in patches of chaparral in many bay area counties. They are resident and can be found year round, but are easiest to find in spring when they are singing the most frequently. Mount Diablo and Claremont Canyon (Contra Costa County), and Mines Road come to mind as reliable areas...this species is relatively widespread in the bay area, but many of their strongholds aren't places that get besieged by birders.

If you are new to West Coast birding, you may not know how tricky (to put it nicely) it can be to find many western migrants here that are not as difficult in other parts of the state, both in terms of quantity and diversity. For example, spring birding in Kern County will easily bag you migrant Gray, Hammond's and Dusky Flycatchers...but those birds all come with a *rarity* tag here in the bay. Actually, I've never even seen a Dusky Flycatcher here, now that I think about it. I've seen more American Redstarts on the coast than I have MacGillivray's Warblers...migration is a bizarre and wonderful thing.

Despite how uncommon a lot of western migrants are here at any given season, I would be remiss to neglect mentioning Point Reyes, one of the best migrant traps on the entire west coast, best birded from late August to early November. While known as a magnet for eastern birds, the Outer Point patches will give you a better shot at bagging species like Hermit and Black-throated Gray Warblers than other coastal migrant traps through the fall. The patches at Bodega Bay (Sonoma) can also be very productive in fall. During spring migration, Mount Diablo (Contra Costa) can offer a nice variety of western migrants and breeders, including the drab but ever-popular Cassin's Vireo.

Tricolored Blackbird is a near-endemic, sought by many out of state birders. Luckily, a significant proportion of the population hangs out at Point Reyes during the fall. A quick look at the blackbird flocks at "B" Ranch or "C" Ranch always rewards birders. Rush Ranch Open Space (Solano) and Del Puerto Canyon Road (Santa Clara) are also good bets.

Lawrence's Goldfinches are a tough customer...you may just have to grind and grind to find one of these little cripplers. Sometimes they are present throughout the year, sometimes they don't linger so long, but spring and summer is your best bet, though you have a legitimate chance of getting them in the fall. Try Mines Road (in both Alameda and Santa Clara counties) and Del Puerto Canyon Road (Santa Clara County).

I know, I know, I probably didn't mention one of the birds you are looking for and you're pretty bummed about it, but life goes on. Some birds are just really tough to connect with (i.e. Northern Pygmy-Owl) and others are so common that you should have no trouble tracking them down (Allen's Hummingbird in season, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Wrentit, etc.). At any rate, hopefully this post will come in handy for a few people and some wanton lifering will be carried out. Good luck out there!

Dumpy Goodness, Majestic Murderer, Wearing Hoodies On The Regular

Western Sandpipers roost at high tide in the Arcata Bottoms, Arcata, CA. The habitat in the background is Lesser Frigatebird habitat, believe it or not. The Vague Runts that put down in Humboldt County never cease to amaze.

March is upon us, and in California that means two things: spring migrants, and no rare birds. It is bloody hard to find unusual birds this month, though lingering winter birds usually mean something good is around, somewhere. Perhaps it is a good month to go track down some scrub-jays...for that Island Scrub-Jay you still have not looked for, or for Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay, which some believe will be an imminent split. Tracking down a Bendire's Thrasher would not be a bad idea either...I've still only seen one ever, about 20 years ago...it's probably time to rethrash.

But I will not be doing any of those things...weird scrub jays and novel thrashers are far from me, and my wage slavery will keep me in the bay area for the time being. So without further delay, here is a classic/cliche I-went-birding-locally-and-this-is-what-I-saw post from a few spots over the winter.

Here it is, the most overrated bird. Note that I did not post this sighting on a listserv, unlike most people. I did not need to say "I saw a Pine Siskin too!" It is simply not necessary. It is a common bird that can be found in many different habitats, from sea level to the mountain tops. The appropriate way to report this species is something like "The redpoll was associating with a flock of Pine Siskins", right? Photographed in the Arcata Bottoms.

On a trip up to Humboldt County earlier in the winter, I was rained out when it came to birding. I accomplished much drinking, but birding was unproductive, with one exception. On the way home, I pulled into Fields Landing (which sometimes is ablaze with waterbirds), and was shocked to find a flock of Red Knots foraging in a puddle next to the parking lot. Knots are rarely seen in southern Humboldt Bay in winter, and getting within 20 feet of them anywhere in California is an impreesive feat. I just parked next to the knot puddle and crushed away as the rain came down.

Look at this dumpy goodness. What a lovable bird.

These birds belong to the roselaari subspecies, the only subspecies expected on the Pacific coast of North America.  I'm glad they are not getting completely hammered (on a population scale) like rufa, but on that note there are less than 14,000 of them (and maybe less than 10,000). Be grateful for the knots you see in California and Mexico, because there are not many of them.

The knots were not expected at Fields Landing, but there is often a flock of turnstones checking out the wrack line next to the boat ramp.

Black Turnstones are the most abundant rockpiper in California, and generally the most confiding as well. They seem a bit more opportunistic in their foraging than other rockpipers, and were feeding side-by-side with the knots in this rain puddle.

I've hardly been to Lake Merritt at all this winter...lame. Canvasbacks like this one have not been getting much attention from me, though they are absolutely deserving of it.

This Great Egret looks like it had just killed the shit out of something. Berkeley Meadows, Berkeley, CA.

Majestic murderer.

Barrow's Goldeneyes can often be found in the tidal channel south of Lake Merritt, where they are easy to see but often stay just outside true crushing distance.  This is an absurdly difficult bird to get further south in the state, with the Colorado River being the only exception.

Lloyd Lake in Golden Gate Park (San Francisco) is one of the best places to get up close to Hooded Mergansers. These birds were so unapproachable where I grew up birding that I still feel compelled to stop and look at them whenever I'm birding in the park.

This thick-necked bastard looks like he is doing some courtship display.

With spring in the process of springing, I may have seen my last Hoodie until the fall. In the meantime, I will honor them by wearing lots of hoodies.

Trembling and Giddiness, Globetrotters, Winning Hearts and Minds with Weird

Shorebirds.  Gotta love 'em. I've always loved shorebirds...the first rare birds I ever saw, on the same day, were a god damned Mountain Plover and a fucking Ruff.  So an affection shorebirds is deeply ingrained in me.

I recently went out to Alameda in order to track down my county Baird's Sandpiper, something I used to see on the regular...but for some reason it has not been a forthcoming bird for me in recent years, at least here in the bay area. The juvenile Baird's was easy to find, and quickly the outing devolved from a noble chase into a gluttonous crush fest of small shorebirds. This Baird's was the most cooperative of its species I have ever met, and its proximity caused much trembling and giddiness.

The birds were feeding on a big mat of algae that had piled up along a breakwater at the north end of the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary, which can be a great shorebirding spot at the right tide...considering the number of birds that pile up there, the place is overdue for a solid rarity I reckon. The number of flies feeding on the algae was staggering, and the peeps were loving it.

Baird's Sandpipers have longs wings!  So majestic.

Sorry if you thought that last shot was too far away. Here is a closer one.

Most Western Sandpipers I've seen lately have been juveniles, only a few months old.  I can't fathom how these birds (and many other species) hatch on the tundra and then migrate thousands of miles away in the correct direction a few months later. Well, I can fathom it, but it's still a difficult thing to accept.  A human being is essentially worthless at three months of age, and a peep is a globetrotter.

There are a lot of juvenile Least Sandpipers around now as well. Some of these birds are very bright...too bad their reward for making it through their first year will be looking incredibly drab for the rest of their lives.

These tiny flies must look enormous and juicy if you are the size of a Least Sandpiper.

Black Turnstones will abandon their rocky strongholds if there is enough food to attempt them.

There are a lot of crisp juvenile Sanderlings around now as well. While they do have a distinct preference for wintering in saltwater/brackish habitats, they can do it about anywhere. This bird could decide to drop anchor here in San Francisco Bay for the winter or keep going all the way down to Chile or Argentina.

Black Oystercatchers hold down the breakwater with bigger breakwater buddies.

I haven't been to Radio Road in days. By days, I mean hella days, like hundreds of them. They had some avian cholera popping off in the ponds last year so they had them all drained for a while. Eventually they refilled the ponds and it is essentially back to the good birding spot it once was. A bunch of Forster's Terns bred there this year, so I thought I would lurk down to check out the tern scene and see if any interesting shorebirds could be parsed out from the masses.

There were terns of all ages present...tiny downy chicks, recently fledged juveniles (like this one), and somewhat haggard looking adults.

Whenever an adult tern would fly by, all the juveniles would start begging in unison.

Even the juveniles have some burgeoning elegance in them, although it is mostly buried under young awkwardness.

A pair of Black Skimmers were also present, looking weird as usual and being generally enjoyable to look at. Skimmers never fail to make a mark on someone who has not seen one before. Most birds that are so good at leaving an impression are either majestic, facemelting...or an owl. People really like owls. Skimmers win over hearts and minds by just being weird.

Radio Road is the best spot in northern California to see skimmers, which are irregular north of Santa Barbara County. The birds are pretty reliable for a good chunk of the year and do not require any sort of scoping to get a decent look at.

Hella shorebirds at Radio Road, as usual, but nothing weird outside of a couple Lesser Yellowlegs. Here is an s-shaped roost for the hell of it.

No, I'm not going to do a "why did the tern cross the street" joke, that would be highly regrettable and ultimately tragic. Radio Road is in Redwood Shores and is a good place shorebirds, waterfowl (Eurasian Wigeon in winter) and crushing in general, it's a good spot to check out if you're visiting the bay or want to take a beginner out birding.

Rockpipers Are The New Sandpipers

With new camera in hand, the other day I followed up on legendary Venturan Don DesJardin's report of good shorebird concentrations on one of the local Ventura beaches. It was not hard to find the large flock of courageous rockpipers ravenously feeding on mole crabs along the sandy shore. No matter how many annoying people and off-leash dogs came through the area, the birds would continue to move from a short breakwater to the adjacent beach to feed. They even tolerated the girl who wandered down the breakwater to the edge of the flock to photograph them with a point-and-shoot. This was a great source of stress for me and created an inner dialogue of many expletives.

Eventually I figured out the birds' routine and staked out a spot on the beach. They quickly realized that I was not a threat; just there TO CRUSH THEM INTO OBLIVION. That worked fine for them, because at that point all they on their minds was decimating the local marine invertebrates that tried pitifully to escape into the wet sand. The tattler's longer bill seemed like a good match for the crabs, but even the snub-nosed turnstones and surfbirds were plunging their faces into the sand and coming up with struggling invertebrates that knew their brief existences were about to end. The slaughter was almost too much to bear.

It was a magnificent morning, uninterrupted by other birders and photographers who came to swarm the site the next day.

In all my previous years of shorebirding, I've seen Surfbirds feeding away from rocky shores maybe twice. It was hard to reconcile the flock of Wandering Tattlers, Surfbirds, Black and Ruddy Turnstones, and single Red Knot (?!) hammering the sandy beach like they did it every day of every year. Most of the Surfbirds were still in breeding plumage, but this duder was well on its way to the basic grays of winter.

It was a bit strange watching Surfbirds plunge their stubby bills into the sand for succulent mole crab goodness, but their facial handicap did not seem to do deter them. Of course, they looked good doing it.

I cannot claim to know what the Surfbird was doing to attain this strange posture. Judging by how intimidated I was while cowering behind my camera, it was a little-known (and highly effective) threat display specific to birders.

Out of the local rockpiper community, Wandering Tattler is both the least common and least approachable species. They can be a pain in the ass just to find, let alone photograph, so I found myself getting emotional when tattlers decked out in full alternate plumage would trot within 20 feet of me while playing "Sanderling" with the waves.

All that fine patterning is something else. In a couple months they will all be in a Willetesque winter disguise.

They seemed right at home feeding in the sand, constantly picking out mole crabs. If you thought that this one looked like it was bringing me a crab as a gift, you would be absolutely correct. I will cherish it always.

Don't know how I got this picture.

It has been years since I've found tattlers this cooperative, and I never thought I would have the divine luck of finding a bunch of tame ones while I had a camera in hand. The bird gods have been kind. I always like to study these birds when I can, to be on top of my game for when the next Gray-tailed Tattler appears in my binoculars. I did hear one atypical Wandering vocalization on this day, but it was nothing like the golden-ploveresque mellowness that a Gray-tailed chirps when alarmed.

Unlike the usually-wary tattlers, Black Turnstones are not quite as skiddish. When the Red Knot, Surfbirds and tattlers were too far out, I would turn to my old and reliable turnstone friends and attempt to wreak photographic havoc.

Nothing strikes more fear into the admittedly small heart of a mole crab like the vibrations of a Black Turnstone landing on the sand above them.

Luckily for the mole crabs, this fear is short-lived. Literally.

Of course Ruddy Turnstones are no strangers to sandy shores, but we love them all the same. Ruddy Turnstones are truly successful species...the only Californian rockpiper that is on both sides of the continent, I've seen them in the Aleutians, Midway Atoll, North Dakota, the Dry Tortugas, etc. They really get around. This can likely be explained by their stimulating leg color.

All of these photos were taken just south of the Ventura Harbor, usually a reliable place for the above rockpipers, and Black and American X Black Oystercatchers. If you are coming from out of state and trying to track these species down, this is a good place to start...but you should probably check the rocks first. I swear.