Date: 4/27/25 10:10 pm From: Logan Kahle via groups.io <logan...> Subject: [northbaybirds] Marin county Big Day 4/20/2025 191 species; continuing Common Teal, Black Scoter, Red-breasted Sapsucker (long)
Hi All,
On 4/20 Team Crocodrillo, consisting of Dessi "lil stud" Sieburth, Lucas
"We gotta grind Platform Bridge" Stephenson, Eric "the Hazinator"
Heisey, Adrian "I wish this were Oregon" Hinkle and I set off on an an
epic 24 hour Marin county big day. We started at Midnight in Muir Woods
and ended at 11:45pm at Loch Lamond Marina. Over the course of the day
we traveled about 250 miles in Marin county and detected 191 species
including only 2 "dirty birds" (species not seen by every member of the
group). This broke the previous Marin county Big Day record of 181 set
in the early 90s by Rich Stallcup and G. Bryan.
A trip report can be seen here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/354942 Note
that the total you can see includes Mute Swan which does not count by
big day total rules, but does not display Spotted Owl or Black Rail,
which are hidden as they are sensitive species in eBird.
Special thanks to Ethan Monk, Caitlin Chock, Joanh Benningfield, Cedric
Duhalde, and Josiah Clark for their help (conscious or otherwise!) in
scouting out this day.
We all slept in San Francisco, all arriving by 4pm to get some rest
except for Lucas who had started the day after a 5 hour study
grind-a-thon and decided to come into the day with no sleep. Hardcore, I
guess.
Regardless, we packed out stuff around 11:15pm and by 11:35 were on our
way to our first spot, conveniently located not far from SF in Muir
Woods. Eric had scouted out our owls the previous week so we were set
right at 11:57 at a place where we knew two of the tougher owls were
located. We waited. Like clockwork, at midnight, a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL
sounded off, and close. We were hoping to see it but fell through. After
another 20 minutes, our hoped for Spotted Owl sounded off not far away.
With patience, we managed to get nice views of it perched low in an oak.
Our day was off to a good start.
From here we had a decision to make: we could rocket to the bayshore or
try for the reported Barred Owl elsewhere in Muir from a month previous.
We opted for the latter. While energy was high and the night was young,
we headed to a different parking lot and hoofed it down the trail about
a quarter mile to listen deep into the canyon. Another Saw-whet was
tooting away. We let out some some Barred Owl hoots for good measure.
Silence. Another couple Spotted Owls piped up, and our first GREAT
HORNED OWL of the day. More silence. Then, screaming through the night,
came a calling flyover WESTERN GREBE! This was pretty cool. I've spent a
while at night listening for nocturnal migrants and I've heard a fair
few, but this was my first grebe (they are a very well documented known
thing in San Francisco, though). But, 30 fruitless minutes later we left
with no Barred Owl.
We zipped off to the bayshore. First spot was Bahia where Eric had
pinned down several key species during his biking effort a week prior.
We went up to the small oaky hill overlooking the marsh and listened for
Screech-Owl. We whistled. We trilled. A WILD TURKEY seemed to get the
memo but not the elusive micro-owl. After about 10 minutes, a lone
trilling WESTERN SCREECH-OWL made its presence known. We were off to the
marsh for rails. We briefly stopped by the small fresh water pond on the
east side of the oaky hill. There, in short order, we riled up a SORA
and VIRGINIA RAIL. In the distance, calling GADWALL, AMERICAN AVOCETS,
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS and MARSH WRENS clattered away from the street-lit
vegetation. Rolling out to the edge of the saltmarsh we picked up a
(clean) Great Horned Owl along with a lone BARN OWL screeching in the
night. We got to our Black Rail spot and waited. And waited. A while
went by. Sometimes they aren't that vocal in the middle of the night,
and these birds were no exceptions. But, after about 20 minutes a BLACK
RAIL started calling from the adjacent saltmarsh. We were off. We walked
up onto the berm overlooking the rest of the marsh. Before long, the
irruptive cackle of a RIDGWAY'S RAIL broke through the night. As we
returned to the car, we kicked up a BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON in the
nearby pond and a SEMIPALMATED PLOVER flew by, calling. On to Hamilton
Wetlands.
It was high tide at Hamilton and we were hoping it would force some
shorebirds into the ponds, as they come pouring in by the 1000s in the
daytime high tides. But, as I have learned with many big days, daytime
high tide roosts and nighttime high tide roosts are often not the same.
And, turns out this is a daytime high tide roost. Nonetheless, we added
some bird in the form of calling DUNLIN, LEAST SANDPIPERS, and a lone
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER heard by all in the group but Adrian. Running back
to the car, we felt good about cleaning up some shorebirds so we
wouldn't have to worry about them in the daylight.
We now had a choice to make. It was overcast and pretty cold, and we
were hoping to get Grasshopper Sparrow out of the way in the predawn.
Unfortunately, we were also very worried about Horned Lark. So, we opted
to abandon the original strategy of going to the numerous and aggressive
Grasshopper Sparrows along Novato blvd to instead try for both them and
Horned Lark at Big Rock, where Eric had staked out territories. As we
got out of the car at Big Rock, I feared this was a mistake: a cold wind
crested over the foggy ridge and an eery silence swept through the
sometimes-active predawn hours. It was too cold. Didn't bode well for
our Grasshoppers or Larks but we thought maybe they would at least sing
once. We got to the spot and it was completely silent. To our amazement
though, every single owl species that we'd heard thusfar (Barn, Great
Horned, Screech, Saw-whet, Spotted) sounded off from the canyons below
during our wait. Crazy. But, much to our disappointment, the desired
grassland species never uttered a peep. And we'd run out of time. As we
jogged back to the car the first SONG SPARROWS and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS
belted out their wake-up songs. Alas, we had to leave.
At this point, we were not behind but we had distinctly not seen any
bonus birds. No birds ahead, no birds behind. We were doing fine. The
previous day in scouting Adrian and I had kicked up 2 poorwills off the
road on our dawn region of Bolinas-Fairfax road, just east of Pine
Mountain. It seemed reasonable that a repeat of the same drive at the
same time of day might yield the same result (and would save us a long
multi-mile schlog in Tennessee Valley). So we arrived at our desired
time and starting cruising the road. We blew by the poorwill spot. Hmm.
We drove another mile. Nada. We backtracked to the original spot. Errr.
This was starting to not feel promising. Feeling somewhat defeated, we
booked it straight to our dawn starting spot of Alpine Lake. I'd scouted
BoFax on 4 different mornings in the previous week and as such felt
pretty solid about the optimal route. We got out of our car at the
overlook south of Alpine Lake to an explosion of song: HERMIT THRUSHES,
WESTERN FLYCATCHERS, WARBLING VIREOS and BROWN CREEPERS all singing
their hearts out. As we scanned the lake we quickly picked up on the
local COMMON MERGANSERS, as our staked out WOOD DUCKS calling away. As
we listened, a single BELTED KINGFISHER sounded off. Kingfishers are a
pain in the ass in almost any big day, but as it turned out we ended up
with 4 different birds, and Marin is probably one of the best routes for
kingfishers. Anyways, having found most of the lakeside species we were
hoping for, we began rocketing to pine mountain. On the way there, we
picked up a nice assortment of residents and breeders like NORTHERN
FLICKER, CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, PACIFIC WREN, WILSON'S WARBLER, and
a desired RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. I had staked out a Townsend's Solitaire
several days before the day in scouting but it had disappeared on the
previous two days. But we pulled over regardless, scoring our first
HUTTON'S VIREO and a nearby YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER but no solitaire. We
cruised on to a staked out spot where we all got out of the car and
listened. An OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER sounded off. That bird hadn't been
there the day before (we had stopped for quite a while). As with several
other migrants on this route (Ash-throated Flycatcher being the most
prominent), the first Olive-sides seemed to arrive on territory in Marin
literal days before our route. Luck was on our side. We waited. There
was a specific stakeout we were eager to get out of the way here. Some
ALLEN'S HUMMINGBIRDS were displaying nearby, and a HAIRY and PILEATED
WOODPECKERS called nearby. We waited some more. Then, down the canyon, a
COOPER'S HAWK erupted with an angry series of "keks!" We were doing
well. We proceeded up the road slightly an added a BLACK-THROATED GRAY
WARBLER in a nearby oak. We continued up the slope to a place Adrian and
I had pinned down a bird from the road that we thought we were going to
have to hike up the trail for. We pulled off and listened. There, from
just below the road, a RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW sounded off. Things were
lining up. It was now time for the dry oaky section.
As we crossed the hill at Pine Mountain and the habitat changed
abruptly: moist douglas-fir and oak woodlands and canyon gave way to
much drier, opener, grassier oak woodlands with extensive clearings and
neighborhoods, and almost no native conifers in sight. Which, for us,
meant the opportunity of ample new day birds less than a mile from our
dawn exploits. As we cruised down the hill, we eagerly added OAK
TITMOUSE, a staked-out ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, TREE SWALLOWS and ACORN
WOODPECKER. We pulled off for a pinned-down Chipping Sparrow. There it
is! Well...I think. What had started as a very typical chippy song had
morphed into weird trilly nonsense and we felt we had to see it to keep
the list squeaky clean. But it was nowhere to be seen. We were right on
top of it! What gives! Eventually after navigating some poison oak I
could see its beautiful little red cap and gray face peering out of the
understory. Lets roll. With CHIPPING SPARROW pinned down, we had only a
few more targets on the oaky section of the road. We rolled down to a
certain canyon most of the way down the slope where I had had success
with one of Marin's more restricted oaky breeders in scouting. We pulled
off, and its cousin the PYGMY NUTHATCH sounded from the pines on the
ridge. Our first NUTTALL'S WOODPECKER made some noise and, as hoped, our
target WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH made itself known. We were doing well,
with not much remaining for us on the east side of the hills. We dropped
even lower yet, right to where the true neighborhoods meet the road. As
scouted, a HOODED ORIOLE sounded off before we were even out of the car.
As we re-crested the ridge, we weren't missing much. But we were missing
Purple Martin, a bird we'd had plenty of the previous day but not much
on the other scouting days. So we stopped at a place where we'd had
martins. Nothing. We stopped again where I'd had the solitaire. Nothing
again. So we boogied up past Alpine Lake to where all of our remaining
targets were the day before. As we started to climb way up towards the
top of Bolinas Ridge the conifers got huge and drippy and the air got
cool. We were entering the true ridgeline regions. We pulled off to a
snag that Eric had pinned down during his biking effort and sure enough
several PURPLE MARTINS were swirling around, calling. With only two real
targets to go we went to the core of the forest. We started walking. A
chorus of warblers could be heard but we wanted to be extra sure with
Hermits and Black-throated Grays. The two can be extremely deceptive and
to be sure we either wanted to see one or hear them chip along with the
song. We'd already seen a Gray but were rolling up to our only Hermit
territories. We found the one we'd heard in scouting that sounded like a
slam dunk but still couldn't see it. We walked around, looking into the
treetops but it remained hidden. As we were searching, a GOLDEN-CROWNED
KINGLET sounded off, our other final target for the road. Eventually,
the warbler came lower and started chipping.....not a BT Gray. A HERMIT
WARBLER! We blasted on.
Reaching Bolinas Lagoon we quickly racked up a baseline of common
coastal birds: BUFFLEHEAD, WESTERN GULL, CASPIAN TERN, GREAT EGRET and
others. We continued immediately to a spot where Adrian and I had found
an actively calling Swainson's Thrush which we took to be on territory
in some willows just east of the highway. We got out, fully expecting it
to greet us as we did. Nothing. Uuuuh. We waited. We whistled. Nada.
Some of the group went across the road to look at the lagoon adding some
more birds like SNOWY EGRET and GREAT BLUE HERON. Still no thrush. Damn.
Maybe just a migrant after all? We went on to the south end of the
lagoon. While driving there, we noticed one of the continuing COMMON
GOLDENEYE swimming along a channel. We still hadn't found the local
mergansers but a quick additional stop gifted us the continuing group of
RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS. Distantly over the lagoon, our first BARN
SWALLOWS swirled over the marshy edge of the lagoon. We were still
missing Bald Eagle and it was starting to bother us. We scanned the
channels and sloughs of the lagoon but the two that had been hanging
around for a few days were nowhere to be seen. We pulled off at our
favorite spot and quickly found the continuing large group of ELEGANT
TERNS and started peering through the gulls. We were genuinely worried
about California Gull and sure enough, none to be found. Luckily we
picked up on a HERRING GULL (though not everyone got on it), as well as
LONG-BILLED CURLEW and MARBLED GODWIT. Adrian got on a flyby group of
WESTERN SANDPIPERS and shortly after yelled that he had a SHARP-SHINNED
HAWK! With none in scouting, this was a serious bonus and not one we
were counting on. Unfortunately, it disappeared before almost anyone
else could get on it. We were still missing eagle and it was starting to
be concerning. Reaching the true south end of the lagoon we looked
through the teal and found the continuing EURASIAN GREEN-WINGED (COMMON)
TEAL that Dessi had staked out in with a small group of Green-wings. We
were cookin.
Our next stop was a seawatch vantage on highway 1 just south of the
lagoon. This spot, overlooking Stinson and such of the rocky coast to
the south, was an excellent big day vantage and we were eager to test
our luck. Passing through residential Stinson Beach we found a single
EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE and a couple BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS.
Proceeding on to the overlook, we looked down the beach and quickly
added WHIMBREL, though Sanderlings proved absent as they had in
scouting. Looking offshore, we found all 3 regular LOONS, COMMON MURRE,
a flyby pair of BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS, BRANDT'S CORMORANTS, and many SURF
SCOTERS. Eagle-eyed Lucas picked out a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER on the water,
Dessi snagged us our first GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL flying far offshore and
Eric keyed in on a distant OSPREY flying way out over duxbury reef as
well as a close in CLARK'S GREBE among the swarms of Westerns. Looking
north on the beach I was delighted to see our first CALIFORNIA GULL.
Astoundingly, California Gulls had been truly scarce in scouting, to the
point where I was genuinely concerned about missing them on the day
(while Ring-billed Gulls, including coastally, were present in
abundance). The things big days will show ya....With our baseline of
ocean birds in the bag, it was time to jam.
Cruising back north on the lagoon we had only one bird in mind: Eagle.
We'd seen eagle both of the previous two days in scouting here and knew
they must be around somewhere. We looked and looked. No eagle. Luckily
Eric had one pinned down in Tomales Bay that he'd "seen 5/5 visits".
There were enough in scouting it seemed we must connect somewhere, but
our Bolinas luck wasn't a good start.
Getting to the north end of the lagoon Lucas reminded of us a spot we
had to check: the flooded field on the way to Bolinas. We stopped
briefly on the west side of the road and added an assortment of new
birds, including GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW, AMERICAN GOLDFINCH and a
rare-on-the-coast female GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE for a nice morning
surprise. The pond was a wonderful and quick stop, netting us several
new waterbirds: BLUE-WINGED and CINNAMON TEAL and LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER.
Blue-winged Teal was one we had seen plenty of in scouting but is always
patchy and scarce, so we were more than happy to get them out of the
way. We decided to make a brief stop at Pine Gulch Creek for one bird
that was evading us still and for which we didn't have a backup plan. We
wandered into the dense brambles and tangles and listened. Nothing. We
saw a small flock and squeaked, tooted and pished until a they started
drawing near: Hutton's Vireo, Downy Woodpecker and other assorted
breeders. Then, behind us, we heard the distinctive calls of a
SWAINSON'S THRUSH. Back on track!
Shooting up highway 1 we were almost out of targets for that entire
habitat. But we still needed one. So we stopped at a pullout. Nothing.
Stopped at another pullout. A singing BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK graced our
ears. Lets Roll. We stopped briefly at Olema town and while I was
staring at my day BLACK PHOEBE Eric spotted a flyover WHITE-TAILED KITE.
Score! Kites are always finicky on these efforts and finding one in the
morning is always a welcome relief. Lucas insisted we stop at Plaform
Bridge road with repeated phrases like "its key" and "its gonna be
great". Of course, we had scouted Platform Bridge road the day before,
thoroughly, and distinctly found no birds we hadn't already seen. But,
we figured it might as well be worth a shot in case a Bunting or Pewee
had come in overnight. And after all...it's key. Well, unsurprisingly,
the total new birds was a nice round 0. We did hear a few more
grosbeaks. Rolling in to Point Reyes Station we headed immediately to
our staked out sparrow spot, looking for Waxwings as we rolled up. After
arriving and pishing a little bit, the flock came in, and with the group
of 10 or so Golden-crowned Sparrows were 2 beautiful WHITE-THROATED
SPARROWS. We were off.
Continuing up the Tomales Bayshore we took a tip from Lucas and rolled
slowly through the Inverness Park Market. Sure enough, we pulled over to
find a small group of CEDAR WAXWINGS in a nearby tree. Awesome. We
proceeded on to Eric's 5/5 eagle spot to look for the eagle and stare at
the bay. Eric's staked out mega scaup flock was present, holding both
LESSER SCAUP and (much more numerously) GREATER SCAUP. We all scanned
for a while and while I picked up on our first NORTHERN HARRIER of the
day, no eagle was found. Hmm. We were starting to get actually concerned.
We jammed out through Sir Francis Drake knowing not much additional
could be found on this chunk of the route. We stopped briefly at Mount
Vision road and two other places for MacGillivray's Warbler but it was
not to be. Lucas and I briefly heard we heard one singing a bit before
oyster farm but we couldn't stop for long to hear it again. Drat. As we
entered the grasslands near the Outer Point, we quickly found a WESTERN
MEADOWLARK and SAVANNAH SPARROW along the roadside. We headed out
towards Drake's Beach, picking up AMERICAN KESTREL as we got farther
down. Getting out of the car at Drake's, we immediately saw an odd gull
on the beach. Running closer we were stunned to find it was a MEW GULL!
We'd had none in scouting and this came completely out of the blue.
Scanning the bay we immediately picked up on the continuing White-winged
Scoters and several PIGEON GUILLEMOTS. We scoped out towards limantour
and found a few BRANT bouncing around on the water, a lucky save since
we didn't end up having any on a seawatch! Looking more intensely at the
bay, we found our trifecta of grebes: RED-NECKED GREBE (many), HORNED
GREBE (many), EARED GREBE (just one!). Having found everything we wanted
in short order, we zipped off to the lighthosue.
Parking at the lighthouse had been hellacious lately so we were happy to
find someone pulling out right as we arrived. We ran out there, seeing
our first PELAGIC CORMORANT on the way out. As the rest of us rushed to
the platform, Adrian took his time and snagged a LINCOLN'S SPARROW. We
planned to just look for it when we went back. We started scanning and
pretty quickly Adrian spotted a SOOTY SHEARWATER and managed to get
Lucas on it but the rest of us missed it. We kept watching, cleaning up
Herring Gull and seeing a variety of loons and other birds flying north.
I took on Rock Wren/Peregrine duty and ran down the stairs a ways to
look. Nothing. Hmm. I went up to the top again. Nothing. This was our
only shot....I joined the seawatch for a bit during which time a
RHINOCEROS AUKLET flew by, seen everyone but Eric. In the middle of us
all trying to get on the Rhinos Eric spotted a Sterna Tern, likely a
Common but we weren't able to confirm. We were doing well but still
couldn't find a Rock Wren or a Peregrine. After a while we decided it
wasn't worth it to linger despite the possibility of those additional
targets so we headed on to the lupine bowl to look for the Lincoln's
Sparrow. We rolled up to the top of the bowl, pished, and sure enough
out popped the Lincoln's Sparrow. And and Orange-crown! Then Adrian
called out FOX SPARROW!! We couldn't believe it. After dipping on one
Eric had pinned down the morning before near Olema we were presuming
we'd miss it all together. And not just any Fox Sparrow, but a
SLATE-COLORED FOX SPARROW! A spring vagrant! Pretty cool! Checking the
remaining cypresses for any lingering migrant like a Townsend's Warbler
we saw something small fly between two trees. When we tracked it down we
found it was a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET! An awesome late score! Plus a
rare-for-the-point Band-tailed Pigeon. As we reached the parking lot a
bobcat came to hang out with us. We mobbed out.
Rolling up to sunset overlook we had to give it one more try for
Peregrine and Rock Wren. So we got out. We scanned. We listened. We
scanned some more. We couldn't believe it. I'd assumed both would be
easy! But as time wore on we knew we had to leave. We headed on to the
Fish Docks. The first part of the Fish Docks was fantastic. Right off
the bat we rolled to the bay and almost instantly found Eric's stakeout
immature male BLACK SCOTER for a 3-scoter slam! Then as Adrian walked to
the Fish Docks proper a gift from god dropped in in the form of a second
year male LAZULI BUNTING! We were on a roll. As tempting as it was to
keep grinding the point in this kind of day, we probably should've
rolled out 5-10 minutes after this. But we felt like grinding. And there
WERE migrants. The Fish Docks also yielded a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a
rare-for-the-outer-point Northern Mockingbird but nothing new. After
about 20 minutes, we seriously had to go.
We blasted east, and as we passed Abandoned Ranch Dessi spotted a flock
of Black-bellied Plovers flying over the road. We screeched to a
halt....Adrian still needed that. Adrian hopped out but the flock was
too distant, but a new flock was coming! But this one was all dowitchers
and Dunlin! D'oh! And none of the Dowitchers called. Feeling kind of
miffed we rolled on to the "5/5" Bald Eagle stakeout again. The scaup
were still there. The vultures were still there. All the other birds
were still there but where were our eagles?? Nowhere. We continued to
scan. Nada. After about 5 minutes of hardcore scanning we realized we'd
just have to get lucky and luck with eagles can be....finicky. But we
cruised on. As we cruised down Sir Francis Drake through Inverness and
by Olema Marsh we felt there was really not much for us to add, but kept
our windows down anyways. As we were rolling up to Point Reyes Station,
Dessi yelled to stop the car. "RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER!!" Much to our
amazement, there was a pure Red-breasted Sapsucker on a willow riddled
with sap wells on April 20th. We couldn't believe our luck. Where the
bird was felt like a winterer but it could well have been breeding
there. Regardless, we'll take it!!
At this points we had no stops between here and eastern Marin. So we
hauled ass. 20 minutes later we were pulling up to the grounds of the
esteemed Marin French Cheese Company home to the esteemed Marin French
Cheese and also some nice breeders. So we pulled into the lot and
started looking for kingbirds and orioles. We walked around the grounds,
knowing they wander around quite a bit. Before long, a male BULLOCK'S
ORIOLE flew from across the road into the grounds of the Cheese Company.
We wandered around a bit and in a few minutes, a WESTERN KINGBIRD came
flying in and landed by the houses. We were off!
Novato blvd had been great in scouting and hosted a number of our
targets, but varied wildly in birdability based on how many cars were
using it. Today, there were plenty. Nonetheless we pulled off at a
somewhat precarious spot along the road where I'd found Grasshopper and
Lark Sparrows in scouting. Almost immediately a GRASSHOPPER SPARROW
sounded off, quickly followed by a second. Lets jam. We proceeded down
the road and soon after Lucas spotted a LARK SPARROW teed up on a wire.
We were in a good place. We had only three more passerine targets before
reaching the bayshore and we'd found the others very quickly. Our next
stop was Stafford Lake, home of couple lame geese and the last scouted
place on the route with a seemingly very possible Bald Eagle. We rolled
up to the lake and almost instantly found the two CACKLING GEESE loafing
with the resident Canada flock. A brief scan of the lake produced a
single RUDDY DUCK, some AMERICAN COOTS, several PIED-BILLED GREBES, and
a couple RING-NECKED DUCKS, all the first for the day. We had cleaned up
almost all the truly dumb needs for the day. On to eagle duty. We broke
into teams and scanned different parts of the shoreline, sky, and
ridgelines but still no eagle. While we were doing this, a Sharp-shinned
Hawk flew over, seen by the whole group, cleaning up one of our few
remaining "dirty birds". But the eagle was not to be. Shucks.
We blasted on to Dessi's stakeout fiddleneck patch. Caitlin Chock had
remarked on this area as we were driving by a week previous during
scouting that it was a ton of fiddleneck and we should check it for
Lawrence's. So I relayed the information to Dessi who checked it the
very next day and....voila. So we arrived on the small side road running
north off Novato blvd and started wandering around. No goldfinches were
immediately apparent. As we were walking around Eric realized he left
something in the car and needed the keys. So, in a heroic leap of logic
I tossed the keys about 50' over to eric when they landed 10 feet from
him and promptly obliterated over the ground near the car. Fortunately,
the motherboard thing was still intact so after stitching it back
together we got...keys! Good stuff. After while we were fumbling around
with fixing the car keys Adrian called out that he was looking at a
LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCH, then two, then three! We were wracking up.
We arrived to Mount Burdell earlier than we anticipated. This was good
because one of our targets we forgot to scout (but knew were up here)
and one of them is a notorious pain. So, walking up the slope and
running into a pair of Lark Sparrows on the way we decided to split up
(but stay within earshot) and listen. We hiked about a quarter mile to
an area where Dessi had found Gnatcatchers in scouting. We waited.
Nothing. Just down the road Eric and Dessi yelled at us to run over. As
we got close, the singing HOUSE WREN that they had heard was easily
audible. Screw the gnatcatcher. It was time to bust.
We got to the bayshore with a good amount of time, and a reasonable
number of targets to clean up. Arriving at the overpass going to Rush
Creek we spotted some of the WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS that nest under the
overpass. Pulling up to the marsh proper we quickly found the staked-out
NORTHERN PINTAIL, a small group of AMERICAN WIGEON in the distance, a
single BLACK-NECKED STILT, and a smattering of FORSTER'S TERNS. We
pulled up a smidge farther and found the nesting NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED
SWALLOWS winging about the overpasses with their longer-winged cousins.
With the last of our truly easy birds out of the way for the day, we
headed off.
Next up was bahia where we had basically one target. We rolled up and
almost immediately could see three of the lingering CANVASBACKS
associating loosely with a group of scaup. Dessi connected with his
Northern Harrier, cleaning up yet another dirty bird. We then took a tip
from Lucas to detour to the "costco pond" a place I had never been
before but sounded interesting for some of our targets. As we rolled up,
we were greeted by our first "in range" Great-tailed Grackles of the
day. We scanned the ponds and reedbeds and found a variety of birds from
Night-Herons to Forster's Terns. Then, on one of the small islands, we
located a single SPOTTED SANDPIPER. Lets jam.
Proceeding to Pocheco Pond we quickly checked the Marsh Drive Flooded
field. We found many Yellowlegs but no desired Lessers, and we finally
cleaned up Western Sandpiper for everyone who is not named Adrian.
Heading on to Pocheco Pond proper we quickly found the continuing
AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN Dessi had noted the previous day. Now it was
grind time. The primary target left at Pacheco was Snow Goose, but it
was a walk and we weren't sure if we should do that or zip over to Las
Gallinas (where some of the targets may be easier earlier in the
afternoon) and come back. After a fair amount of deliberation we opted
for going for the goose. At this point Lucas was wiped after his
all-nighter and had turned into zombie mode, and I wasn't far behind
him. Fortunately our two athletes, Adrian and Eric went zipping off
ahead to scout it out. We got to the goose spot. "well.....there are no
Canadas here" Dessi observed. Uuuuh....shit? We could see the whole
pond. We tried to look around. There were a few geese but the flock
was...somewhere else? Lucas and I were exhausted. We hung back. This was
feeling like it had been an enormous and fruitless waste of time.
Sometimes you don't make the right call on these days after all. But
Dessi and Adrian charged on and soon we heard shouting from their
general area. We ran over. There, in a field off to the east, was the
one and only SNOW GOOSE. Legendary. We started back but Eric (who'd
brought the scope all the way out here!) started scanning the ducks and
we all started looking through for any lingering daybirds. All of the
sudden Eric yelled out "HOODED MERGANSER!" And there in the back edge of
the pond was our third merganser species for the day, the lingering
female Hooded. The trip turned from a massive flop to a huge success in
a matter of minutes. We charged back to the car with what little stamina
we had remaining. We got back to the car and all of the sudden were
actually doing well on time. Time to bust.
Things were lining up. We just needed these last few hours to line up
too. We got to Las Gallinas around 6:20. The big tossup was Vaux's
Swift. Adrian and I had them the previous day in scouting but it was
earlier in the afternoon and that seemed better for them. After leaving
Las Gallinas there were no real lock new additions, so we had a choice
to make: do we end at Hamilton Wetlands with the potential for Snowy
Plover, Pipit, and Horned Lark or do we end at McNear Brickyard with
Vaux's Swift and maybe Black Turnstone. The swift at McNear was the only
really lock thing so it was a genuinely tough decision. We walked out
the path at Las Gallinas and looked down at the pond. Adrian was looking
up. Within minutes he shouted out "VAUX'S SWIFT!!" This was a welcome
cry. For the most part, the day changed pace around now. There was no
rush any more. We just had to spend the time it took to see the Las
Gallinas birds then we should have enough time at Hamilton to wrack up
what we need. So we walked around the pond. Our last truly easy addition
swam out in front of us: our first COMMON GALLINULE. We'd done it. We
had successfully not missed anything truly dumb today. But the rest of
the birds may all take effort. We walked slowly around the first pond,
checking all the channels and reedy edges. Reaching the edge of the
riprap-lined second pond we immediately saw a GREEN HERON kick up. We
were rocking. One more target to go and only 25 minutes in. We just had
to be patient. So we continued to the north side of the main pond. And
waited. We all took different vantage points in case we saw the orange
micro-heron fly across the reeds. But nothing. We had time. We waited.
Adrian and Dessi wandered to the far side of the pond. We waited some
more. Then, it started vocalizing: the LEAST BITTERN! We called the team
over. They came sprinting our way and, for a minute or two, the bittern
sounded off. Then it fell silent. Now on to the chill end to the day.
We arrived at Hamilton wetlands and decided to take 3 scopes. We decided
to split up to cover ground (while staying within earshot), so lucas and
I took off to the north running around looking for Larks and Pipits in
places I'd had them the previous week. I'd tried to see if the larks
sound off at dusk (which they distinctly didnt) so flushing one up it
was. Right as we were about to start running Eric called us over. They'd
found one of our targets, a few SNOWY PLOVERS. We peered in the scope
then took off running. We ran a solid loop but no larks and no pipits.
We started running closer to the crew and heard a singing HORNED LARK. I
guess they do sound off if the night is warm enough... We started
screaming at them which they heard and started yelling something back.
When we got there the lark was still going off (and they had heard it)
and they said they'd found something else. After about a minute Eric
spotted it again. Crawling around on the mudflats was a lone AMERICAN
PIPIT. We couldn't believe it. At the last stop of the day. And the crew
had seen tons of other stuff like White Pelican flying by too. Time for
the high tide roost.
We ran back to the car and headed to the south end of the complex. The
tide was not as high as hoped. As we arrived at the south end, it was
clear the shorebirds weren't right where they often are. Still, as we
got to the bend in the trail there were a good number of Western
Sandpipers and other shorebirds. We waited. Game on. Fish on. We spend
the last half hour of light scoping through hordes of Gulls, Terns,
Godwits, Sandpipers and others. Adrian finally cleaned up his
Black-bellied Plover and we all scoured for a Knot or Short-billed
Dowitcher or some other random end-of-the day score. Alas, it was not to
be.
Just before it got truly dark, we decided to peel. it was a nice warm
evening, and we liked our chances for poorwill. We had a decision of
going for Poorwill on BoFax or Tennessee Valley. But because the BoFax
ones seemed to be migrants, and because we'd scouted out the Tennessee
Valley ones already, we lobbied for the latter. Much to our dismay, when
we got near to Tenneessee Valley the nice warm conditions made way for
foggy cold San Francisco like weather. Bother. Still, they'd been easy
two nights ago. So we set out. The following 2.5 hours had us walking
about 5 miles of Tennessee Valley trails with no Poorwills. How it goes.
After re-energizing at a Dominos stop we decided to blast out for one
last bird: Black Turnstone. Eric had staked out a flock at Loch Lamond
Marina a few days ago so we knew exactly where they were. And the marina
felt like the kinda place u could actually see one. Dessi and Lucas
stayed in the car but Eric, Adrian and I wandered out with the
flashlight to search. So we looked. And looked. We checked all the areas
that seemed likely. We couldn't find one. We got back to the car at
11:50pm and started to head home.
All in all, it was a fantastically fun effort and a great way to learn
one of the Bay Area counties in a more intimate way.
As with all big days, we came with our selection of misses: Greater
White-fronted Goose (present just two days prior), Sanderling
(incredibly nowhere in scouting between Stinson Beach, Drakes Beach and
North Beach. Crazy), Black Turnstone (present in scouting and on the day
in daylight at Loch Lamond. Scouted birds at fish docks left 2 days
early), SB Dowitcher (surprisingly absent in scouting), Wilson's Snipe
(absent in scouting), Lesser Yellowlegs (absent in scouting), Common
Poorwill (present both of the previous two days of scouting. Our second
biggest miss), Bald Eagle (our biggest miss), Burrowing Owl, Merlin,
Peregrine (shocking), Pewee (not in yet), Rock Wren, Cassin's Vireo
(always hard in Marin), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Red Crossbill,
MacGillivray's Warbler (!!!), Townsend's Warblers (few in scouting),
Western Tanager (not in yet). Of these, 4 or more (Turnstone, Eagle,
Merlin, Peregrine, and I believe a couple others) were reported by other
observers on this day. You never get em all.
We were worried in scouting of the date being too early, especially
given very low numbers of returning migrants by the 15th of April
(numbers of Warbling Vireos, Western Flycatchers, Black-headed Grosbeaks
and others being way down at that date) but considering we barely missed
any breeders that arrive in the next 3 weeks (Pewee and Mac, basically)
and ended up with an impressive assortment of waterfowl (26 species not
including Mute Swan or Common Teal, plenty of which left in the ensuing
week), lingering winterering landbirds (Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Lincoln's
Sparrow, Fox Sparrow etc) and later arriving just on time migrants (e.g.
Olive-sided, Ash-throated, Lazuli) its hard to imagine the date having
worked out much better this year.
Several birds (Least Bittern, Elegant Tern, Grackle) are recent
colonists in the county and Marin is actually one of a few counties that
probably has a higher baseline of birds on this kind of effort now than
it would have 30 years ago.
