Target Birding

What is 'Target Birding'?  It probably means many things to different birders, but to me, it means making a trek to focus on one particular species of bird.  The one species might mean a rarity that has shown up in the most unlikely place such as the Lesser Sand Plover that showed up in northern Arizona last fall.  Or it might mean chasing a bird that has a limited range and is endemic to a particular area or region.  Such was the case this past week for me and I made a trip to southern California to 'target' an endemic species.

This species for me was the Island Scrub-Jay that is found only on Santa Cruz Island which is part of the Channel Island National Park off the coast of California near Ventura.  The only access to Santa Cruz Island is by sea via a boat and taking the ferry was my only option.  I opted to take the ferry to Prisoner's Harbor where most reports were coming in for the ISSJ (banding code for Island Scrub-Jay), and where most people recommend for seeing this bird.  The ferry does stop at Scorpion Bay before venturing on to Prisoner's Harbor and that is the point that most people got off.  My primary focus was to find the Island Scrub-Jay, so that is what I did before focusing on other birds and interesting flora and fauna.  I could hear the jays calling from the hillsides, but those hillsides were on the Nature Conservancy property where we were not allowed access.  Eventually, 2 of them ventured down to the stream and I finally got my first views of them and managed to capture a few photos.  

Island Scrub-Jay

Allen'a and Anna's Hummingbirds were fairly common on the island, and since Anna's is a species I get in my back yard, I focused on the Allen's Hummingbirds.  I have seen this species once before in southern California, but this was a long time ago and I had never gotten any photos.  It was a treat to see these and observe their behavior and listen to them for a change.

Allen's Hummingbird - Male

During my stay on the island, I was constantly hearing a call that I was unfamiliar with and eventually I was able to track it down and found out it was an Orange-crowned Warbler and they were plentiful.  This is a sub-species (sordida) that is endemic to the Channel Islands and they look different and sound different than the other sub-species of Orange-crowned Warblers. 

 Orange-crowned Warbler (sordida)

There were also many sea birds that we observed on the ocean from the ferry and also from land.  Birds on the ferry were almost impossible to identify and photograph as this boat was fast moving and they were not focusing on the pelagic birds.  Only when it slowed down or stopped for whales or dolphins, I was able to snap off a few photos.   

 Brandt's Cormorant

 Black-vented Shearwater

 Caspian Tern

Common Murre

The ferry did not focus on sea birds, but it would stop when ever they spotted mammals in the ocean such as whales, dolphins, and seals.  Of course everyone on the boat got excited in seeing whales, as did yours truly!  I had the privilege to see 2 groups of these whales from the boat; a group of 2 and then later a group of 6.  Pacific Gray Whales migrate down the coast of California this time of year to areas off the coast of Baja California where females give birth to calves.  

    

 Pacific Gray Whale

Also VERY numerous out on the water were large groups of Common Dolphins.  One group we encountered was estimated at over 2000 by the crew and they would swim up to ans around the boat as if playing games.  They are very fast and nimble and hard to photograph, but what a wonderous sight to see.

 Common Dolphin

Elephant seals were also seen, specially on the ride out to the island in the early morning.  They will raise their flippers out of the water to expose them to the sun for warmth.

Elephant Seal

On the island I found this butterfly that I had never seen before and after a little research, I came up with an identification of Gray Hairstreak.  A very striking butterfly in my opinion.

 Gray Hairstreak

I was also impressed by the Giant Coreopsis that grows on the Channels Islands.  This variety is almost like a small tree as it grows up to 3½ feet tall with a trunk that is almost 4 inches in diameter.  

 Giant Coreopsis

More adventures of my birding trip will be covered in another post in the very new future.  The rest of the trip involved birding on the mainland and chasing a couple of introduced species that have established some breeding regularity in the United States.

        

San Diego: The Quest For a Tattler

In preparing for this trip to San Diego, I had gone through a lot of lists and reports to see what new birds I could possibly find in San Diego.  Surprisingly, the list was relatively small.  Only 2 life birds stood out for me, without taking a pelagic trip for sea birds out on the ocean, the Wandering Tattler and the Scaly-breasted Munia.  Most of the other species in southern California were either birds that could also be found in Arizona, or birds that I had already found on a few previous trips to the area.  Prime target was Wandering Tattler.  After perusing the many eBird reports on this bird for the month of January, it appeared that it was most frequently encountered around the La Jolla Cove area on the coastline.  I decided that this would be my first stop to see if one might be hanging out in this area. Thanks to all the new smart technology and the use of my iPhone, I was able to locate this place in a reasonable amount of time.  What a view this was from the parking along the street high above the ocean waves crashing on the rocks below.  It was early morning and the cliffs were covered with cormorants; Brandt's, Pelagic, and a couple of Double-crested in the mix.  A few Brown Pelicans dotted the rocks as well.  But what quickly caught my attention was a Brown Booby on the cliffs with all the cormorants. Not a bird that I see that often and fairly close.

 Brown Booby

 Brandt's Cormorant

Brown Pelican

I decided to walk the entire coast road and along the way, I had the pleasure of seeing some California Sea Lions and at the far end, some Harbor Seals.  Both species had pups and they were pretty darned cute if you ask me.  And for those that are interested, sea lions have small visible ear flaps, whereas seals do not have visible ear flaps

 California Sea Lion & Pup

 Harbor Seal & Pup

Harbor Seal

Just as I reached the end of the walk, I noticed a different bird on a large boulder along the shore and once I got my binoculars on it, then I knew that I had struck gold; Wandering Tattler!  Sandpipers can sometimes be notoriously difficult to identify, but knowing behavior of many birds can most assuredly help in the ID process.  The Wandering Tattler has a behavior of bobbing and teetering as it walks or stand still.  This behavior is also seen in Spotted Sandpipers, but these 2 birds are vastly different in appearance, so it would be difficult to get them confused.

 Wandering Tattler

Also along this area I was able to find and photograph a Black Turnstone, a Royal Tern, and a Western Gull.

 Black Turnstone

Royal Tern

Western Gull

Mission accomplished for my number 1 target bird and I still had a lot of time left in the day.  My next plan was to visit Tijuana Slough, which is a place I had visited in May of last year and I liked it so well, I wanted to go again.  But along the way, I decided to make a slight detour off the freeway and visit Tecolote Canyon Natural Park.  Reports of the Scaly-breasted Munia had been sketchy on eBird up to this point, but this spot seemed to be the most likely possibility.  I pulled into the lot, parked my car and got out to hear an American Crow calling and then heard something unfamiliar to me on the north side of the parking lot, and lo and behold, there was the Scaly-breasted Munia!   That just seemed too easy, but then I remember so many of the times I have dipped on birds, so I guess I was due for a bit of good luck!

 Scaly-breasted Munia

Scaly-breasted Muni

But since I was there, I decided to hike a ways up the canyon to see what else I could find.  Got some decent looks at Bushtits, California Towhee, and California Thrasher.

 Bushtit

 California Towhee

California Thrasher

I then made my way to Tijuana Slough, and while there, my zoom lens on my camera quite working.  I was left without a workable zoom lens for the rest of Saturday and all day on Sunday, so photos became a bit tougher.  Nevertheless, on Sunday I headed out to the area of the San Diego Harbor area.  I was looking for another bird that I had only seen once before in Rocky Point, Mexico, and at quite a distance.  This time I was hoping to see a Brant a little closer and also add it to my USA list.  I not only saw it, but I saw over 100 of them!  Without a zoom lens, I still had an issue with photos, but did the best I could with my regular lens.

Brant

Also, quite plentiful, were Surf Scoters, which is a bird we see occasionally in Arizona in the winter, most generally females.  But this time, I got to see the males and they are outstanding!

 Surf Scoters

One last stop on Sunday, gave me a view of a new reptile for me; a San Diego Alligator Lizard.  What a cool looking reptile, very long at probably about 14" from snout to tail and such tiny legs.

The trip was most definitely worthwhile and I got my 2 new life birds that I had targeted plus so much more.  

  

Day 4 of California Birding

Tuesday arrived and the planed birding trips had come to an end.  But Jim and Vince were staying a few extra days and Chuck Hoppe was flying into the San Jose Airport that day and we were going to spend some time with my cousin.  So,  the 3 of us headed out to find some more birds before heading to the airport and our main target bird was the Yellow-billed Magpie.  This bird is endemic to California and cannot be found in any other state except California.  But one has to travel to some interior areas of the state as they would not normally be found along the coast.  Growing up in southwestern Nebraska, the Black-billed Magpie is a fairly common bird; and they have a fairly large range covering much of the western United States and as far north as Alaska.  So the Yellow-billed was our focus bird.  I had been given directions by one of our guides that we had on Sunday and was told they could be found near Ed Levin Park near Milpitas, CA.  So we set the GPS and took off.  We followed Al's directions and sure enough we found a pair of them almost exactly where he directed us.  They can be very vocal and would be hard to miss with their size and bold black and white markings.  Yes, another life bird for all of us!

  

 Yellow-billed Magpie

Yellow-billed Magpie

We had achieved our goal already and had some time to spare, so we drove back to Ed Levin Park to kill some time there and at this stop, I finally got a photo of the Oak Titmouse.  Although I had seen them on Sunday, this was my first photo of one.  

Oak Titmouse

We stopped once along the road to admire 2 more Golden Eagles (this brought my total of Golden Eagles up to 6 on this trip!), and I had the opportunity to snap a photo of a Common Raven from the car window.

Common Raven

Couple of items that caught my interest in the park were the ground squirrels that were very prevalent in the park and in the fields and pastures near the roads all around the area.  Have done a little research and I think the species is the California Ground Squirrel, but I could be wrong and if someone reading this can give me a better ID, I will be more than happy to make a correction.  Jim also discovered a nice large Tarantula which was not a creature he wanted anything to do with.  He went running one way and I couldn't get to the spider fast enough to get some photos!  Lovely creature that I estimated to be about 4" to 5" across.

 California Ground Squirrel, (I think)

California Ground Squirrel, (I think)

Tarantula

So much for the birding on this day as our attention then turned to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium.  for those of you still following along, expect to see some mammals, some fish and yes, some more birds!  First things first, Sea Otters!  That in my opinion is the biggest reason to come to Monterrey Bay.  They do have a couple of these enigmatic mammals in the Aquarium itself where they can be viewed up close and personal and putting on a show for the spectators.  But to me, it is more satisfying to actually see some out in the open water of Monterrey Bay and capture photos of them in their wild state.  Such marvelous creatures and so unique.

 Sea Otter

Sea Otter

Of course the Aquarium itself is full of various underwater life all in huge and sometime very small aquariums.  I did attempt a few photos of some of the fish, but found it difficult to focus with my large zoom lens, so remember these photos were being shot through a thick aquarium glass without a flash.  I have no clue what species we have in these photos, but I think they are simply beautiful.

Also within the confines of the aquarium itself is an area where they have rescued and rehabilitated injured birds and one can see them up close.  Here are a couple of photos of a couple of birds, that were in this open area that were almost too close for photos, but this is closer than I have ever gotten to either one; a Ruddy Turnstone and a Snowy Plover.

 Ruddy Turnstone in Captivity

Snowy Plover in Captivity

Once we left the Aquarium we made a side stop to the docks and jetties of Monterrey Bay.  Really came to see the California Sea Lions up close and in the process I was able to discover a couple of birds up close.  Brandt's Cormorant was one that I had seen at several places around Half Moon Bay, but was not able to get very close for photos, but this time it was different.  They were going to roost on the pilings all around the seal lions.  And by peering down and over the edge, I also discovered a Surfbird on the rocks.  Another bird that I had seen from a distance earlier in the trip, but was never able to get photos.  

 Brandt's Cormorant

Surfbird

And of course the California Sea Lions were what we came down to look at.  Got one up close and personal, but also got a view of the jetty with just about every rock covered by one of these magnificent mammals.

 California Sea Lions

The Monterrey Bay Aquarium is a must see for anyone that is near this area.  Their displays of all types of marine life including many species of jellyfish and anemones and corals are outstanding.  The huge 2 story aquarium of fish and kelp is awesome and readily shows how fish move with the water currents.  If I lived in that area, I would not hesitate in purchasing a year pass.