John's lifer Golden-crowned Sparrow. Last Friday I was hired by Florida birder, John Erickson, for some "Power Birding" (John's words). He first contacted me by finding my name on the Redwood Region Audubon website (www.RRAS.org) since I am the field trip coordinator for that organization. John first asked if I knew of anybody that might be willing to bird with him while he was in Humboldt County for a couple of days and I said I did know of some local birders that might be available, and also mentioned that I was a guide. Long-story-short, he hired me for a half day of birding, hoping to see as many lifers possible in five hours. Since John had never been birding on the West Coast he had a lenghty list of potential lifer western birds. The night before I made a list of the his potential lifers we could see along the coastal slope around the north Humboldt Bay region and came up with a list of 45 species! It's always SOOOO fun to be able to potentially help a birder get so many lifers that has never visited the West Coast before.
I met John around 8:30 at his bed & breakfast in Arcata, The Lady Anne. We made the short drive to one of my favorite birding patches, Shay Park, and started our "Power Birding" session. The first lifer for John was a GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW, which we saw almost immediately after getting out of his rental car. Second lifer was a SPOTTED TOWHEE while still standing by the car! After birding around the entrance to the park a bit we headed east along the railroad tracks to try and find the chickadee flock that has had some Townsend's and Black-throated Gray Warblers. On the way we ran into John's lifer WESTERN TANAGER and were amazed by the number of White-crowned Sparrows (pugetensis subspecies) present in weedy areas adjacent to the park = a lot of migrants! Right when we stopped and I said, "in this area I usually see some Lesser Goldfinches," John was looking at his lifer pair of LESSER GOLDFINCHES seconds later! We then located the chickadee flock at the east end of the park and quickly started racking up more lifers for John. WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE (unexpected), WARBLING VIREO, TOWNSEND'S and MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER (also unexpected) were all new birds for John. Bonus was a hatch-year female CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER that had been present off and on in the park for over a week! It was pretty funny to see John pay little attention to that bird as that's always a decent, but expected, eastern vagrant warbler for us California birders in the fall season. Western lifers were the motivation of the day and we were racking them up. On our way out of the park we ran into another local birder, Paul Rousch, who had attracted another mixed flock and in it was John's lifer BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER! Amazingly we missed Hutton's Vireo here as I've had one here almost every visit to the park during the whole of 2013.
Some of the birds from Shay on this day:
Some of the birds from Shay on this day:
John's lifer Spotted Towhee. Pretty poor shot but that was the bird.
We had a couple of Common Yellowthroats in Shay Park this day, also, like nice looks at this hatch-year male. Common Yellowthroat is a common migrant in the spring and fall but is a pretty rare breeder and winterer along the coastal slope of Northwestern California.
John's lifer Western Tanager, probably a hatch-year female by the dullness of the plumage. Western Tanager is an expected and somewhat common spring and fall migrant along the coast of Northwestern California. It is a very common to abundant breeder in many inland conifer forests in the area.
After Shay Park John and I ventured to a portion of Janes Creek in Arcata where a Lazuli Bunting was hanging out, which is a rather rare bird in the fall along the coast here but is a common to abundant breeder in the summer. We didn't have any luck with that bird and moved on pretty quickly.
On our way out to the north spit of Humboldt Bay we briefly drove through the Arcata Bottoms. Of note was the large mixed flock of VAUX'S SWIFT and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS, maybe a combined total of 300-450 birds (very rought estimate). Our destination on the north spit was the north jetty of Humboldt Bay which is the most convenient spot to pick up the West Coast rocky shorebirds and various nearshore seabirds.
Before the north jetty, though, we made a brief stop to look at the Coast Guard breakwater to make sure no Blue-footed Boobies were roosting with the numerous Brown Pelicans and Heermann's Gulls (John had got his lifer Heermann's earlier in this current trip). Blue-footed Boobies have been staging an unprecedented invasion into California and all of us Northwestern California birders have been keeping an eye out for Humboldt Counties first record ever, which was almost (hopefully?!) bound to happen sooner or later. We didn't find a booby but John did pick up his lifer WESTERN GREBE.
After our brief stop to scope the breakwater we stopped at the "Cypress Patch" to look for potential migrants. Here we had the first flock of migrant MYRTLE and AUDUBON'S YELLOW-RUMPED WARLBERS that I had seen this fall, plus a TOWNSEND'S, and another BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER.
We then made our way out to the jetty to find John's lifer rocky shorebirds and seabirds. John's first lifer here was an adult GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL on the beach adjacent to the jetty. Walking out onto the jetty it quickly became apparent that the most noticeable bird around the jetty today were the numerous SURF SCOTERS, including some gaudy males. We soon hooked up with John's lifer SURFBIRDS and BLACK TURNSTONES, enjoying leisurely views of both of them as they were feeding along the rocks during the falling tide. While seawatching from the tip of the jetty we picked up John's lifer PACIFIC LOON, an adult flying by with some larger COMMON LOONS. The jetty was overall pretty slow, however, and was probably due to the overall calm and sunny conditions. On the walk out we picked up a WANDERING TATTLER which was pretty skittish and kept flying further north along the jetty whenever we tried to approach it.
Some photos from the jetty:
On our way out to the north spit of Humboldt Bay we briefly drove through the Arcata Bottoms. Of note was the large mixed flock of VAUX'S SWIFT and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS, maybe a combined total of 300-450 birds (very rought estimate). Our destination on the north spit was the north jetty of Humboldt Bay which is the most convenient spot to pick up the West Coast rocky shorebirds and various nearshore seabirds.
Before the north jetty, though, we made a brief stop to look at the Coast Guard breakwater to make sure no Blue-footed Boobies were roosting with the numerous Brown Pelicans and Heermann's Gulls (John had got his lifer Heermann's earlier in this current trip). Blue-footed Boobies have been staging an unprecedented invasion into California and all of us Northwestern California birders have been keeping an eye out for Humboldt Counties first record ever, which was almost (hopefully?!) bound to happen sooner or later. We didn't find a booby but John did pick up his lifer WESTERN GREBE.
After our brief stop to scope the breakwater we stopped at the "Cypress Patch" to look for potential migrants. Here we had the first flock of migrant MYRTLE and AUDUBON'S YELLOW-RUMPED WARLBERS that I had seen this fall, plus a TOWNSEND'S, and another BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER.
We then made our way out to the jetty to find John's lifer rocky shorebirds and seabirds. John's first lifer here was an adult GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL on the beach adjacent to the jetty. Walking out onto the jetty it quickly became apparent that the most noticeable bird around the jetty today were the numerous SURF SCOTERS, including some gaudy males. We soon hooked up with John's lifer SURFBIRDS and BLACK TURNSTONES, enjoying leisurely views of both of them as they were feeding along the rocks during the falling tide. While seawatching from the tip of the jetty we picked up John's lifer PACIFIC LOON, an adult flying by with some larger COMMON LOONS. The jetty was overall pretty slow, however, and was probably due to the overall calm and sunny conditions. On the walk out we picked up a WANDERING TATTLER which was pretty skittish and kept flying further north along the jetty whenever we tried to approach it.
Some photos from the jetty:
John's lifer Glaucous-winged Gull.
One of the many Surf Scoters present around the jetty this day. I kind of like this photo as I took it while some waves were splashing up in front of this bird giving an interesting effect to the picture.
One each of some of the Surfbirds and Black Turnstones that were foraging on the rocks along the jetty. Both of these species were lifers for John. Surfbirds obviously try oh so hard to feed themselves!
You aren't getting tired of Surfbird photos yet, right?!
After the jetty we made one last stop at the "Horse Pasture" willow patch to try and find a Hutton's Vireo for John. We had no luck with finding this bird (one was here last week) and it was pretty slow overall with just a small flock of BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES. One ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER (probably of the orestera subspecies), of which I got a digiscope of while it was putting a decent-sized caterpillar out of it's misery. I took a minute to show John the spectacular "Golden Pond" at the north end of the patch, which was named for the GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLERS that were found here in September, 1975. After showing John the only fall water source in the patch we decided to call it a day as John still had to drive down to Shelter Cove in southern Humboldt County to continue on his trip.
Photos from the "Horse Pasture":
Photos from the "Horse Pasture":
Orange-crowned Warbler (kinda oresteraish looking) pounding a green caterpillar to its death.
The magical, the mystical, the Golden-winged-Warbler-attracting "Golden Pond." WOW! Amirite?! No...really, that is water there!
All told John ended the day with 16 new life birds and was a very happy man, I'm sure, while driving on his way down south to Shelter Cove. John did post something on his morning with me on his travel blog.
Below are the eBird lists from the morning and the full species list.
eBird lists:
Shay Park
Janes Creek--Zehdnter and Q Street
Arcata Bottoms--s. of Lanphere Rd.
North Spit--Cypress Patch
Humboldt Bay--north spit jetty
Species list: 66 total species
Cackling Goose 10
Canada Goose 30
Surf Scoter 50
White-winged Scoter 10
Red-throated Loon 15
Pacific Loon 1
Common Loon 10
Eared Grebe 1
Western Grebe 10
Pelagic Cormorant 6
Brown Pelican --
Turkey Vulture 6
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Wandering Tattler 1
Black Turnstone 6
Surfbird 10
Common Murre 1
Heermann's Gull 5
Ring-billed Gull 1
Western Gull 10
Glaucous-winged Gull 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove 6
Vaux's Swift 205
Anna's Hummingbird 3
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 2
Western Wood-Pewee 1
Willow Flycatcher 1
Black Phoebe 5
Warbling Vireo 2
Steller's Jay 2
American Crow 1
Common Raven 3
Violet-green Swallow 210
Barn Swallow 13
Black-capped Chickadee 18
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 3
Pacific Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Swainson's Thrush 1
European Starling 170
Cedar Waxwing 5
Orang-crowned Warbler 1
MacGillivray's Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Yellow Warbler 8
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 7
Black-throated Gray Warbler 3
Townsend's Warbler 5
Wilson's Warbler 1
Spotted Towhee 1
Savannah Sparrow 2
Fox Sparrow 11
Song Sparrow 10
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
White-crowned Sparrow 40
Golden-crowned Sparrow 11
Western Tanager 2
Red-winged Blackbird --
Brewer's Blackbird --
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
House Finch 5
Lesser Goldfinch 3
American Goldfinch 25
House Sparrow --
Below are the eBird lists from the morning and the full species list.
eBird lists:
Shay Park
Janes Creek--Zehdnter and Q Street
Arcata Bottoms--s. of Lanphere Rd.
North Spit--Cypress Patch
Humboldt Bay--north spit jetty
Species list: 66 total species
Cackling Goose 10
Canada Goose 30
Surf Scoter 50
White-winged Scoter 10
Red-throated Loon 15
Pacific Loon 1
Common Loon 10
Eared Grebe 1
Western Grebe 10
Pelagic Cormorant 6
Brown Pelican --
Turkey Vulture 6
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Wandering Tattler 1
Black Turnstone 6
Surfbird 10
Common Murre 1
Heermann's Gull 5
Ring-billed Gull 1
Western Gull 10
Glaucous-winged Gull 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove 6
Vaux's Swift 205
Anna's Hummingbird 3
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 2
Western Wood-Pewee 1
Willow Flycatcher 1
Black Phoebe 5
Warbling Vireo 2
Steller's Jay 2
American Crow 1
Common Raven 3
Violet-green Swallow 210
Barn Swallow 13
Black-capped Chickadee 18
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 3
Pacific Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Swainson's Thrush 1
European Starling 170
Cedar Waxwing 5
Orang-crowned Warbler 1
MacGillivray's Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Yellow Warbler 8
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 7
Black-throated Gray Warbler 3
Townsend's Warbler 5
Wilson's Warbler 1
Spotted Towhee 1
Savannah Sparrow 2
Fox Sparrow 11
Song Sparrow 10
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
White-crowned Sparrow 40
Golden-crowned Sparrow 11
Western Tanager 2
Red-winged Blackbird --
Brewer's Blackbird --
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
House Finch 5
Lesser Goldfinch 3
American Goldfinch 25
House Sparrow --
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