Some of the trip participants birding Alexandre Dairy in the Smith River Bottoms. On Saturday, 7 December, I led a group of 6 other birders around many of the coastal hotspots in Del Norte County--the northernmost coastal county in California. This was the first of my local day tours that I am billing as "Stewardship Day Tours" since part of the proceeds from each trip will be donated to a local environmental non-profit. For this trip part of the proceeds went to Redwood Parks Association.
We've been having a real cold spell in Northwestern California (well, most of the West Coast, really!) and the day ranged from 25 F to about 40 F with winds from 0-15 mph making for a pretty chilly day! Despite the chill in the air we had a great day of birding, tallying 95 species! Highlights included FOUR species of jay [Blue (a stakeout in Brookings, OR), Gray, Steller's and Western Scrub]. Other highlights for the day were: BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, BLACK SCOTER, ROCK SANDPIPER, and GLAUCOUS GULL. The "Best Looks Ever of a Common Bird" award went to some WILSON'S SNIPES that were foraging out in the open from just 10 feet away and perfect lighting on some male COMMON MERGANSERS that made their green head sheen shine like an emeral more than any of us had even thought was possible!
We've been having a real cold spell in Northwestern California (well, most of the West Coast, really!) and the day ranged from 25 F to about 40 F with winds from 0-15 mph making for a pretty chilly day! Despite the chill in the air we had a great day of birding, tallying 95 species! Highlights included FOUR species of jay [Blue (a stakeout in Brookings, OR), Gray, Steller's and Western Scrub]. Other highlights for the day were: BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, BLACK SCOTER, ROCK SANDPIPER, and GLAUCOUS GULL. The "Best Looks Ever of a Common Bird" award went to some WILSON'S SNIPES that were foraging out in the open from just 10 feet away and perfect lighting on some male COMMON MERGANSERS that made their green head sheen shine like an emeral more than any of us had even thought was possible!
We started off in Crescent City Harbor where we met up with the Del Norte County participants. We spent about an hour and a half birding the harbor and ocean adjacent to it, enjoying all the waterbirds present. From Crescent City Harbor we went to Point Saint George to look for rock shorebirds, sea ducks and alcids. At the Point we found all our expected rocky shorebirds, including one ROCK SANDPIPER, and had a high count of about 8-10 HARLEQUIN DUCKS, both males and females. One BLACK SCOTER was present here, also, though that was certainly a low number for this location as years ago you could expect up to 100+ individuals of this species here.
From Point Saint George we made a quick visit to Dead Lake for inland waterbirds and freshwater ducks (and a quick bathroom break!) and after our quick visit here we visited Church Tree Road to look for the ever-present Gray Jays that have been coming to feeders here for a long time. Church Tree Rd. is THE easiest spot to see Gray Jay in Del Norte County and are often "drive-up-to-and-not-even-have-to-get-out-of-your-car-to-fully-enjoy" birds!
After enjoying the Gray Jays it made sense to continue on our "jay quest" and try for the BLUE JAY that has been coming to a feeder in Brookings, Oregon for over 2 weeks. Steller's and Western Scrub-Jay are also present in in the same area there and it only took about 15 minutes for the BLUE JAY to stealthily arrive, hop down to it's favorite ground feeding area at the house that is feeding it, and quickly take off back over the house to a more discreet location. The Blue Jay did this one more time and both times it came in really quick and left. It was the sneakiest jay of the 3 species here by far and I couldn't manage to get a photo of the bird. The whole yard was quite birdy and we picked up maybe 10 species here for the day that we didn't see anywhere else in Del Norte County for the day.
After dipping into Oregon a bit, acting like the Blue Jay we stealthily dropped back into our home state and made our way to the mouth of the Smith River, which was somewhat slow and the lighting wasn't that good. After the Smith River mouth we made our way south but quickly tooled around the town of Smith River to look at the various apple trees found inside the town limits. Just about every winter these apple trees harbor up to 4 species of orioles but we didn't find any with our quick drive through, and, after a quick break for some caffeine, we made our way to one of Del Norte's most famed birding location in the Smith River Bottoms-- Alexandre Dairy.
The Alexandre family has always been very open to visiting birders and this location has maybe has had more rarities here than any other location in Del Norte County. Almost every shorebird that has been detected in the county has been found here at the dairy pond (except for maybe Spotted Redshank and Red-necked Stint) and other species like LITTLE BLUE HERON, GYRFALCON and RUSTY BLACKBIRD, etc. have been found here. We didn't find any species here of such rarity on this day and the rarity of the locationwas a 1st cycle GLAUCOUS GULL. We weren't really focused on finding rarities, however, and the trip participants especially enjoyed the numerous ducks that were present here. Maybe the top highlight while here was having "drop-dead" looks at the intricate and beautifully-plumaged WILSON'S SNIPE from just 10 feet away, a pretty rare experience in itself. Most of time that you try get that close to Wilson's Snipe like this they flush up and are quickly on their way as far to get as far away from you as possible! These birds frankly didn't give a damn how close we were or what we were doing.
After Alexandre Dairy we made one last stop on the Smith River to look for reported BARROW'S GOLDENEYES that are always considered a rarity in Northwestern California. I ended up finding a male pretty readily amongst the other Common Goldeneyes, Common Mergansers, and other ducks. All of these birds were diving frequently and it was hard to keep up with the Barrow's and get everybody on it and the lighting wasn't that great anyways. Quite frankly, most of the trip participants enjoyed seeing the male COMMON MERGANSERS that were closer and in absolutely perfect late-afternoon sunlight, with their green heads shining as bright of deep iridescent emerald color. Shockingly beautiful! After enjoying all the diving ducks and other species here we decided to call it a day, being satisfied with the 95 species we found on our full day outing. We ended up birding for about 8.5 hours and were ready to make the hour and a half journey back to Humboldt County.
Below are photos from the day, eBird lists from all the locations we visited, and the cumulative species list from the day. Thanks for reading!
From Point Saint George we made a quick visit to Dead Lake for inland waterbirds and freshwater ducks (and a quick bathroom break!) and after our quick visit here we visited Church Tree Road to look for the ever-present Gray Jays that have been coming to feeders here for a long time. Church Tree Rd. is THE easiest spot to see Gray Jay in Del Norte County and are often "drive-up-to-and-not-even-have-to-get-out-of-your-car-to-fully-enjoy" birds!
After enjoying the Gray Jays it made sense to continue on our "jay quest" and try for the BLUE JAY that has been coming to a feeder in Brookings, Oregon for over 2 weeks. Steller's and Western Scrub-Jay are also present in in the same area there and it only took about 15 minutes for the BLUE JAY to stealthily arrive, hop down to it's favorite ground feeding area at the house that is feeding it, and quickly take off back over the house to a more discreet location. The Blue Jay did this one more time and both times it came in really quick and left. It was the sneakiest jay of the 3 species here by far and I couldn't manage to get a photo of the bird. The whole yard was quite birdy and we picked up maybe 10 species here for the day that we didn't see anywhere else in Del Norte County for the day.
After dipping into Oregon a bit, acting like the Blue Jay we stealthily dropped back into our home state and made our way to the mouth of the Smith River, which was somewhat slow and the lighting wasn't that good. After the Smith River mouth we made our way south but quickly tooled around the town of Smith River to look at the various apple trees found inside the town limits. Just about every winter these apple trees harbor up to 4 species of orioles but we didn't find any with our quick drive through, and, after a quick break for some caffeine, we made our way to one of Del Norte's most famed birding location in the Smith River Bottoms-- Alexandre Dairy.
The Alexandre family has always been very open to visiting birders and this location has maybe has had more rarities here than any other location in Del Norte County. Almost every shorebird that has been detected in the county has been found here at the dairy pond (except for maybe Spotted Redshank and Red-necked Stint) and other species like LITTLE BLUE HERON, GYRFALCON and RUSTY BLACKBIRD, etc. have been found here. We didn't find any species here of such rarity on this day and the rarity of the locationwas a 1st cycle GLAUCOUS GULL. We weren't really focused on finding rarities, however, and the trip participants especially enjoyed the numerous ducks that were present here. Maybe the top highlight while here was having "drop-dead" looks at the intricate and beautifully-plumaged WILSON'S SNIPE from just 10 feet away, a pretty rare experience in itself. Most of time that you try get that close to Wilson's Snipe like this they flush up and are quickly on their way as far to get as far away from you as possible! These birds frankly didn't give a damn how close we were or what we were doing.
After Alexandre Dairy we made one last stop on the Smith River to look for reported BARROW'S GOLDENEYES that are always considered a rarity in Northwestern California. I ended up finding a male pretty readily amongst the other Common Goldeneyes, Common Mergansers, and other ducks. All of these birds were diving frequently and it was hard to keep up with the Barrow's and get everybody on it and the lighting wasn't that great anyways. Quite frankly, most of the trip participants enjoyed seeing the male COMMON MERGANSERS that were closer and in absolutely perfect late-afternoon sunlight, with their green heads shining as bright of deep iridescent emerald color. Shockingly beautiful! After enjoying all the diving ducks and other species here we decided to call it a day, being satisfied with the 95 species we found on our full day outing. We ended up birding for about 8.5 hours and were ready to make the hour and a half journey back to Humboldt County.
Below are photos from the day, eBird lists from all the locations we visited, and the cumulative species list from the day. Thanks for reading!
This bull California Sea Lion was just asking for his picture to be taken in Crescent City Harbor.
Surfbirds and Black Turnstones at Point Saint George.
Can you really ever get tired of seeing Black Oystercatchers? Nope! Point Saint George.
Even thought the other crested jay that was present at a yard in Brookings, OR wouldn't stop to pose for pictures, this Steller's Jay did. Thanks, Steller's, I appreciated it.
This Western Scrub-Jay also allowed for me to photograph it in Brookings. Far from a photo "crush," however.....
Immature White-throated Sparrow behind bars. Brookings, OR.
Wilson's Snipe. Alexandre Dairy, Smith River Bottoms.
Wilson's Snipe. Alexandre Dairy, Smith River Bottoms.
The view from the main pullout at Alexandre Dairy. Looks pretty nice for a dairy!
Our last stop of the day, the end of Pala Road in the Smith River Bottoms. This was our goldeneye spot. This really IS a beautiful spot.
| Cumulative Species list and numbers: 95 total Cackling Goose 5 Canada Goose 6 Gadwall 10 American Wigeon 84 Mallard 4 Northern Shoveler 10 Northern Pintail 1 Green-winged Teal 66 Ring-necked Duck 5 Lesser Scaup 3 Harlequin Duck 8 Surf Scoter 33 White-winged Scoter 2 Black Scoter 1 Bufflehead 30 Common Goldeneye 16 Barrow's Goldeneye 1 Common/Barrow's Goldeneye 1 Hooded Merganser 1 Common Merganser 8 Red-breasted Merganser 10 Ruddy Duck 6 Red-throated Loon 15 Pacific Loon 3 Common Loon 4 Pied-billed Grebe 2 Horned Grebe 32 Red-necked Grebe 1 Eared Grebe 2 Western Grebe 20 Brandt's Cormorant 10 Double-crested Cormorant 16 Pelagic Cormorant 40 Great Blue Heron 2 Great Egret 8 Turkey Vulture 3 White-tailed Kite 1 Northern Harrier 3 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 Red-tailed Hawk 5 American Coot 41 Black Oystercatcher 10 Black-bellied Plover 20 Killdeer 210 Greater Yellowlegs 1 Black Turnstone 40 Surfbird 30 Sanderling 60 Dunlin 6 Rock Sandpiper 1 Wilson's Snipe 3 Common Murre 10 Bonaparte's Gull 3 Mew Gull 30 Western Gull 93 Herring Gull 1 Glaucous-winged Gull 180 Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 10 Herring x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 2 Glaucous Gull 1 gull sp. 180 Eurasian Collared-Dove 60 Anna's Hummingbird 1 Belted Kingfisher 1 Northern Flicker 3 Peregrine Falcon 1 Black Phoebe 3 Gray Jay 7 Steller's Jay 2 Blue Jay 1 Western Scrub-Jay 1 Common Raven 9 Black-capped Chickadee 8 Chestnut-backed Chickadee 7 Pacific Wren 1 Marsh Wren 2 Golden-crowned Kinglet 4 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3 American Robin 41 Varied Thrush 5 European Starling 165 Yellow-rumped Warbler 3 Townsend's Warbler 2 Spotted Towhee 2 Savannah Sparrow 5 Fox Sparrow 7 Song Sparrow 6 White-throated Sparrow 1 White-crowned Sparrow 17 Golden-crowned Sparrow 5 Dark-eyed Junco 6 Red-winged Blackbird 5 Western Meadowlark 16 Brewer's Blackbird 40 House Sparrow 20 | eBird lists from the day: Crescent City Harbor: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15905950 Point Saint George: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15905897 Dead Lake: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15905881 Church Tree Rd: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15905881 Blue Jay stakeout in Brookings, Or (couldn't get a darn photo of the star bird!) http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15904630 Ship Ashore resort at the mouth of the Smith River: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15897398 Alexandre Dairy: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15896932 Smith River at Pala Rd.: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15896791 |
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