California (birding) trip: part 4 of 4, Moss Landing + Monterey area

We set off from Yosemite National Park in the morning. The last birds there were Steller's Jays, Brewer's Blackbirds and a lone Brown-Headed Cowbird. It was a long journey through agricultural fields. The drive was quite good for raptors with Swainson's Hawk, Red-Tailed Hawk, Bald Eagle, Turkey Vulture, White-Tailed Kite, American Kestrel and Northern Harrier all being seen from the car window (these were spread across 4-5 hours). There was one new bird for the trip seen on the car journey, a Tree Swallow. We arrived at the Monterey Dunes, Moss Landing early evening. We went for a walk into Moss Landing where we saw a Common Tern and a flock of Pintail. 

Pintail

On the 28th I got up early and walked to the beach (about 30m away from the accommodation). I was greeted by masses of Sanderling, Willet and Marbled Godwit, scattered in amongst them were Long-Billed Curlews and Western Sandpipers. Les then joined me and a spot of seawatching produced two Great-Northern Divers (Common Loons) and a handful of Surf Scoter. We then set off to spend the day in Monterey. On the way there I spotted a Pied-Billed Grebe in a ditch by the road. Once at Monterey we started at the aquarium. It was amazing to see all the fish (including Tuna) on display. We also went on a guided tour behind the scenes on what the aquarium was doing to help Sea Otters. The aquarium also had rescued birds including three Buffleheads and a variety of waders (these were either abandoned or rescued). From the aquarium we also saw a Spotted Sandpiper and a Black Oystercatcher on the rocks. Whilst eating lunch a Peregrine flew overhead, not what I had expected. After the aquarium we walked around Monterey itself. Amazingly from the town we watched a pod of Risso's Dolphins, as well as these we also found a Botta's Pocket Gopher by the road in it's burrow. That evening I did a little seawatching, much to my amazement there was a constant stream of Sooty Shearwaters as the sun was setting way out on the horizon. Then after about half an hour they had all disappeared.

Spotted Sandpiper

Mixed Waders

The 29th was the day of the first whale-watching boat. However before this I got up early again to see waders on the beach, I saw all of yesterdays as well as two Grey Plovers (Black-Bellied Plovers) (flew south) and a few Snowy Plovers on the beach. There was also, to my surprise, a Black-Necked Grebe (Eared Grebe) just beyond the surf. A Black Scoter then flew north. Not a bad start to the day! When we got to the jetty (in Moss Landing) we saw a Least Sandpiper and a couple of Black Turnstone. The boat arrived, captained by Kate, and we got into it (a six person rib so just enough to fit the 6 of us in). We set out, we saw lots of Steller's Sea Lions (even miles out in the open ocean) and also an Elephant Seal, which often favour deep water. We kept going out. Suddenly Adam shouted shark! He was right beneath the boat there were two Blue Sharks! We hadn't expected to see these. We started seeing Humpback blows in the distance, so we pushed on, going further out we started to see flocks of Red-Necked and Grey Phalaropes as well as a flock of small waders which were probably Sanderling. Once we got to the point where land was fading away behind us we seemed to enter a world of Sooty Shearwaters! There were thousands and thousands of them sat on the sea and flying past. In amongst them were quite a few Pink Footed Shearwaters and three Black-Vented Shearwaters (Black-Vented Shearwaters used to be a rare winter visitor, but over the last few years they have become more common). We then started to see quite a few Humpback Whales which were absolutely amazing, they even breached for us! Then something nobody expected happened. 10+ miles offshore a tiny Townsend's Warbler landed on the boat. It stayed with us for quite a while eating the Kelp Flies which were on the boat from the harbour. The bird then sat and posed for photographs whilst digesting it's food, it even landed on my mum's arm! Then, after having eaten a sufficient number of flies it took off and headed south over the ocean. This just shows the amazing ability of birds to travel huge distances across very dangerous waters. As well as the Townsend's Warbler there were quite a few Barn Swallows migrating over the ocean and even (unbelievably) the odd Dragonfly. The boat then went towards some more Humpbacks and a large whale-watching boat that had none other than fellow Filey birder and ringer Pete Dunn on it, doing a tour for nature trek. He then went on to take some pictures of us whilst everyone else was looking at the whales. The only two things that we hadn't seen were Blue Whales and Albatrosses, Kate took the boat out further and stayed out longer but our luck was out. However I can't complain the experience was amazing, and we still had half a day left! Coming back into the harbour we saw two Hudsonian Whimbrels overhead and a Western Grebe on the water. Mum and Adam then returned to the accommodation but Les, Shirley, dad and I went to Elkhorn Slough. This is a large wetlands area. Pete had recommended that we went to the dairy where the owner lets people park near his cattle enclosures. The smell was very strong but attracted to the cows were thousands of (Eurasian) Starling, Red-Winged Blackbirds (both normal and bicoloured) and a few Tricoloured Blackbirds. As well as these there were (Oregon) Dark-Eyed Juncos and American Red Squirrels. We walked towards the water. We straight away saw Killdeer and Semipalmated Plover as well as Forster's Tern overhead. There was also quite a good mix of wildfowl which were unfortunately in eclipse: two Cinnamon Teal, a few Green-Winged Teal, a Ruddy Duck, a Shoveler, a Blue-Winged Teal, hundreds of Mallards and a couple of flocks of Pintail flew south. Waders (as well as the plovers already mentioned) didn't disappoint: a Solitary Sandpiper, lots of Least Sandpipers, a Western Sandpiper and a Black-Necked Stilt were the best. As we walked between the pools there were also good numbers of passerines: Nashville Warbler was probably the highlight but there were also lots of House Finches, American Goldfinches and a Common Yellowthroat. Dad saw a bird that was later identified as a Marsh Wren but I missed it unfortunately. The last bird three birds of the day were three fantastic lifers with a Cliff Swallow, a Western Kingbird and a Clark's Grebe. This truly was one of the best birding days of my life!

Snowy Plover

Blue Shark

Townsend's Warbler

Humpback Whale

Townsend's Warbler

Pink-Footed Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater

Clark's Grebe

It was the 30th and we didn't really have any plans as such. We decided to just walk along the beach and see what was about locally. Down on the beach, with Long-Billed Curlews, was a Hudsonian Whimbrel. It was incredibly confiding! What I hadn't expected (with us being so close to the sea) was a party of California Quail. In the dunes there was also a House Wren. We walked along the beach and watched Bottlenose Dolphins and a Sea Otter just behind the breaking waves (thus showing how it gets deep very quickly). Whilst watching these an Arctic Skua flew south close in and an Osprey flew north (further out) Part of the afternoon I spent in the pool, but this didn't mean no birds. California Towhees, Bushtits, White-Crowned Sparrows and Anna's Hummingbirds were all in the vicinity of the pool. That evening we went on a guided canoe tour in Elkhorn Slough focussing on bio-luminescence in plankton. As we left the harbour to get into the slough curios Harbour Seals approached us and slapped the water. We got into the slough and talked about the plant life as it was getting dark. Even after it had got dark Elegant Terns were still flying in a large flock overhead, I could just make out there ghostly silhouettes. Once it was dark enough we were free to move our hands through the water. The bio-luminescence was phenomenal, it was like sparks were moving through the water like tiny fireworks around your hand. On return the odd Great Egret was alarmed by us and bolted away grunting in the darkness. Once back in the harbour a Black-Crowned Night Heron watched us clumsily get out of the boats. Back at the house we planned what exactly we were going to do the next day. We were originally going to drive down Big Sur but the fires there meant we couldn't. We contacted Pete to see if we could fit on the boat he was on and we could!

Hudsonian Whimbrel 

House Wren (in the fog)

It was the last full day and we were scheduled a boat trip. We greeted Pete, bought our tickets and got on. On leaving the harbour there was a Surfbird on the rock armour in amongst the Sea Lions. We told Pete about our experience with the Townsend's Warbler and he said it then came onto their boat! As we went out we got straight onto a pod of Risso's Dolphins. We then went through the Sooty Shearwaters also seeing some Pink-Footed but no Black-Vented. We again also saw both Phalaropes and lots of Guillemots (Common Murres) mainly fathers and chicks. Then on the horizon, whilst watching Humpbacks, I saw a huge bird. I couldn't believe my eyes I had found an Albatross, it was a magnificent Black-Footed Albatross, which for me was the best bird of the trip. It glided effortlessly across the hull of the boat. People started seeing some slightly larger blows on the horizon, we headed that way. They were enormous Blue Whales. Although they weren't as 'showy' as Humpbacks their sheer size was a sight to behold and, just to top things off, sat with them were four Black-Footed Albatrosses! On return we found a group of Humpbacks, they were lunge feeding. The sea was red with krill and the Gulls and Shearwaters were going mad for it. As we headed in from this already highly successful trip a Rhinoceros Auklet flew past the boat. After this we spent the afternoon in Carmel. Here we saw Red-Breasted Nuthatch and a flock of Yellow-Rumped Warblers as well as a colony of Brown Pelicans. Not a bad last day!

 

Black-Footed Albatross

Blue Whale 

Humpback Whale

Pink-Footed Shearwater 

We had to leave mid-morning. As I walked through the dunes for the last time I was hopeful, this paid off. A pair of Anna's Hummingbirds were sat in the tree but the very last bird of the entire trip was a Bewick's Wren. This ensured that I had had at least one lifer every single day!

Anna's Hummingbird

This truly was one of my best trips ever and I highly recommend it to anyone especially birders. It is a place I definitely would love to go to again in the future.

By the end of the holiday the mammal list was as follows- California Sea Lion, Harbour Seal, Harbour Porpoise, Rat, Grey Squirrel, California Ground Squirrel, Bush Tailed Woodrat, Yellow Pine Chipmunk, Douglas's Squirrel, River Otter, Elephant Seal, Thule Elk, White-Tailed Deer, American Red Squirrel, Mexican Free-Tailed Bat, Sea Otter, Little Brown Bat, California Myotis (Bat), Botta's Pocket Gopher, Risso's Dolphin, Humpback Whale, Bottlenose Dolphin and Blue Whale.

By the end of the holiday the bird list looked like this -  

 Feral Pigeon                              Great Blue Heron                             Pelagic Cormorant                        

House Sparrow                          Collared Dove                                  Black Turnstone

Raven                                        Starling                                             House Finch

Western Gull                             Willet                                                Snowy Egret

Brown Pelican                          Pigeon Guillemot                              Barn Swallow

Surf Scoter                                Caspian Tern                                     Marbled Godwit

Brewer's Blackbird                   Heerman's Gull                                 Elegant Tern

American Crow                        Black-Crowned Night-Heron             Long-Billed Curlew

Great Egret                               Purple Finch                                     Semipalmated Plover

Double-Crested Cormorant     Anna's Hummingbird                        Turkey Vulture

American Goldfinch                 Killdeer                                              Cooper's Hawk 

Canada Goose                         Red-Tailed Hawk                             White-Faced Ibis

Lesser Goldfinch                     California Gull                                   Brown-Headed Cowbird

Bald Eagle                              American Kestrel                               Acorn Woodpecker

Red-Shouldered Hawk           Vaux's Swift                                       Oak Titmouse

American Robin                     Wild Turkey                                        Pacific-Slope Flycatcher

Hairy Woodpecker                 Steller's Jay                                        Western Scrub-Jay

Belted Kingfisher                    California Towhee                              Western Wood-Pewee

Wilson's Warbler                    Olive-Sided Flycatcher                      Northern Flicker

Mourning Dove                      Northern Mockingbird                        Northern Rough-Winged Swallow 

Western Bluebird                   Red-Winged Blackbird                       American White Pelican 

Sharp-Shinned Hawk            Greater Yellowlegs                             American Avocet

Loggerhead Shrike                Black-Necked Stilt                             Western Sandpiper 

Dunlin                                    American Coot                                   Canvasback

Least Sandpiper                    Northern Harrier                                 White-Tailed Kite 

Bushtit                                   Yellow Warbler                                   Golden Eagle

Lesser Yellowlegs                  Short-Billed Dowitcher                      Baird's Sandpiper

California Quail                     Brown Creeper                                   Spotted Towhee 

Pacific Diver                          Western Grebe                                   Townsend's Warbler

Rock Wren                            Arctic Skua                                          Ring-Billed Gull

Swainson's Hawk                 Forster's Tern                                      Dark-Eyed Junco

White-Throated Swift            Yellow-Rumped Warbler                     Mountain Chickadee 

Western Tanager                   Red-Breasted Nuthatch                     Tree Swallow

Pintail                                   Common Tern                                     Great-Northern Diver

Pied-Billed Grebe                 Spotted Sandpiper                             Peregrine Falcon

Sooty Shearwater                Snowy Plover                                     Grey Plover 

Black Scoter                        Grey Phalarope                                  Black-Necked Grebe 

Red-Necked Phalarope       Black-Vented Shearwater                  (Hudsonian) Whimbrel

Pink-Footed Shearwater     Western Kingbird                                (Dark Eyed Junco - Oregon ssp.)

Tricoloured Blackbird           Clark's Grebe                                     Green-Winged Teal

Common Yellowthroat         Cliff Swallow                                       Solitary Sandpiper 

Shoveler                             Nashville Warbler                                Cinnamon Teal

Ruddy Duck                        Blue-Winged Teal                                Mallard

House Wren                        Black-Footed Albatross                      Surfbird

Rhinoceros Auklet              Bewick's Wren