Puerto Peñasco, Mexico: Day 2

Our focus for the second day was going to be the Choya Bay area which is just a short drive north of the condos area and the roads are all sand.  There is a bit of a trick to birding this area to get the most bang for the buck; check the tide charts before exploring the area.  Choya Bay is a fairly shallow bay, but it is wide and covers a very large area.  The ideal time is low tide, when you can walk out into the bay and have a lot of shore birds foraging on exposed sandbars or rocks.  Expect to get your feet wet in the process, but it is so worth it as you never know what might fly in while you are wandering around.

During our visit, we found 5 species of plovers; Killdeer (which I did not photograph), Wilson's Plover, Semipalmated Plover (another one that I did not photograph), Snowy Plover, and Black-bellied Plover.  It is fun to see all these species and be able to make comparisons among them.

Wilson's Plover

 Snowy Plover

Black-bellied Plover

Of course there were many more shore birds than just plovers.  How about American Oystercatchers? They are always a favorite of mine and they look a bit bizarre, but very stunning dressed in black and white with a red bill.

 American Oystercatcher

The Willet is a very common bird in this area and when looking at one standing around on the mud or in the water, they appear to be very boring to look at in the dingy grayish-brown plumage.  However, when they take flight, it is a whole different story as they then show how flashy they really are.

Willet

 Willet

Another shore bird that was in fairly high numbers was the Surfbird.  It too, shows amazing wing patterns when in flight.

 Surfbird

Surfbirds in flight

A couple more shore birds, then we will move on to some different species.  Ruddy Turnstones were quite numerous as were Long-billed-Curlews.

 Ruddy Turnstone

Long-billed Curlew

The next bird on the list was truly an amazing experience.  As we were observing all the shore birds in and around the water, we looked up to see an incoming bird in flight, a Magnificent Frigatebird!  My first sighting of this species was in Chiapas, Mexico, last July as a couple were seen at a distance far up in the sky.  This one in Puerto Peñasco, kept flying towards us a a fairly low altitude and it was a male.  What a sight to be able to get some decent photos of this pirate of the seas.

 Magnificent Frigatebird

What a wonderful day of birds we had.  Will close out this post with a shot of a House Finch, which is not a bird that I spend a lot of time photographing as they are very common, but I liked the yellow coloration of this one instead of the more common red color.  And it just happened to take flight during my photos which created an even better photo.

House Finch

Evening presented us with a fabulous sunset in Puerto Peñasco.  A fitting close to the day.

The third and last day, which will be upcoming on my next and last post, covered a new area to explore.  

  

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. 

Rocky Point--The Beginning!

Puerto Penasco, Mexico, known by many as Rocky Point, Mexico.  Really hard to start this post as I really am not sure where to begin.  Spent 3 days and 2 nights in this splendid ocean community.  Guess it could be called Arizona's closest beach with sand.  Just a wonderful little get away where life is much more relaxed and a place to turn off one's electronic devices such as cell phones (roaming charges will add up quick!).  I did visit this spot about 3 years ago, but it was a short visit and most of our group was more into shopping and not birding.  Finally got the chance to go back this year and this time got to spend more time birding.  Being from a land locked state of Nebraska, many water birds were easily new life birds for me and with advanced guidance of a few experienced birders in Arizona, I had a great time and came away with 12 new life birds. 

Arrived fairly early on a Wednesday and it was cloudy (which is very unusual) and windy, and I spent my time birding around the fishing boat docks and near to downtown.  Sea gulls of many different species thrive here and they could be found all over.  Many of them were juveniles and for novice birders, these birds can be very difficult to identify.  Many species take up to 4 years to finally molt into their adult plumage, and they can look very different from year to year before they reach adulthood.  Then to make it even more confusing, some of these species seem to be a bit promiscuous and will hybridize quite readily which just adds more confusion to the identification process.  I decided to spend my time only trying to identify adult birds and leave the juveniles to the more experienced birders.

First birds I saw were large numbers of Eared Grebes on the water feeding on the fish in the clear water.  While I have seen Eared Grebes before, most usually in their winter plumage, most of these were all decked out in their breeding plumage and they are quite striking.  They were very active in diving for fish and the water was so clear that I was able to somewhat capture a photo of the fish in the water which they were feasting on.

Also located a Heerman's Gull along the rock near downtown.  The red beak is unmistakable.

Both the Heerman's Gull above and the California Gull below are 4 year gulls indicating they need 4 years to completely molt into their adult plumage and both of these are clearly 4 years old.

After spending some time downtown we returned to the condo where we were staying and and I spent some time in the later afternoon under the dark and gray skies on Sandy Beach.  It was approaching high tide and it was at this time that I discovered 2 of the birds on my 'want' list right on the beach following the waves that were rolling in and out.  The first birds were a pair of Sanderlings and they were very active probing in the sand and while I was trying to capture photos of them a pair of Surfbirds flew in nearby and actually were spending time in and around the Sanderlings.  I was able to get both species in one photo.  The Sanderlings are the smaller, whiter looking birds.

Later on as it started to turn to dusk and the waves were a full high tide, the gulls flew in and became very active and it took a while, but I finally found out the reason.  There were some fish coming in on the waves and beaching themselves in the sand and the gulls were feasting on those they could catch.  Not sure of the species of fish, but did manage to capture a photo of some of them and also a photo of one of the gulls that had caught one and it proceeded to swallow it whole.  The gull appears to be a a 2nd year Ring-billed Gull which are smaller than those earlier in my post.  The Ring-billed Gull is a 3 year gull instead of a 4 year gull and they are all over down in Rocky Point.

So far this was just the first day at Rocky Point and the 2nd day which will be posted later was even more memorable.