Earlier in the week, I received a phone call from my good friend Peter Metropulos, a birding legend of San Mateo County. He wanted to tell me that he was coming up to Humboldt County for birding with Francis Toldi, another good friend of mine, and wanted to know if I was available on that weekend to go birding at all. Although I had a Zoology midterm on that monday, I had been studying all that week strenuously, and I felt rather prepared, so a long, hard day of just birding was well-earned. So it was decided that they would pick me up at 7:00 AM outside my dorm on Sunday, November 3rd, and we would head up to Del Norte County for a jam-packed day of all-out birding.
Once they picked me up and caught up after a few months of not seeing each other, we were off to our first stop, Point Saint George, a known location for sea watching in the county. Having my new scope and new camera, I felt prepared to find and identify every species, and snap a shot of any interesting species we would find. Once we got there, the first birds I noticed were a cluster of "rock-pipers", consisting of Surfbirds and Black Turnstones, two species restricted to the west coast of the North America. Unfortunately, my target species wasn't present within that cluster. This species is the Rock Sandpiper, a species that breeds further up north, and winters as far down as Humboldt County. Humboldt and Del Norte being the only counties in California where this species is regularly found, this species is one that I am especially after. Maybe next time. This sea watch was rather fruitful. We had several hundreds of Pacific Loons fly south in flocks numbering from 3 to 65. There were also large numbers of Surf Scoters and almost as many White-winged Scoters migrating south.
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| Female White-winged Scoter |
I was also able to pick up three distant Bonaparte's Gulls just beneath the horizon. I was able to identify them by noticing their small and daintier appearance than the nearby Western Gulls, and their all white outer primary feathers. Soon afterwards, I noticed two other small gulls, but this time with black outer primary feathers. These were juvenile Black-legged Kittiwakes, a species that was a lifer for me exactly a week before. Although this species winters as far south as Southern California out at sea, they are much easier to see from shore in Northern California, which is why I hadn't seen one until so recently.
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| Juvenile plumaged Black-legged Kittiwakes |
The only other highlights from that sea watch were a flock of about ten Red-breasted Mergansers headed south and my first-of-season Mew Gulls. Because birding had started slowing down, we decided to leave and head to our next destination: Lake Earle. We stopped at the Lake Earle
boat ramp. Although not a particularly known spot, we nonetheless found some great birds. Beset by reeds, were heard the "barking" of Song Sparrows and the rattling of Marsh Wrens. Francis and I noticed a particularly small gull on an islet just off the end of the boat ramp. It was a Bonaparte's Gull offering much better views than the 3 we saw while on our sea watch.
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| Bonaparte's Gull |
As we observed the small larid, Peter called out "Swamp Sparrow!". Excited we both rushed to where he was and looked for it. After a little pishing, the juvenile Swamp Sparrow popped out and gave me the best view I've ever had of this species. Although this species is typically found on the east coast, they are regular vagrants to California. I actually remember finding one last year in Humboldt County at the Humboldt NWR. It was a pleasant find that certainly made this random spot a little more special. Aside from these two birds, this spot didn't yield all that many species, so we decided to leave and head to a road where we would search for a lingering mega-rarity.
A few years ago, a Crested Caracara, a species of falcon found from the southwest all the way down to South America, was sighted 15 minutes from Lake Earle in Del Norte County. It has persisted in this location ever since, it hasn't migrated back down south. Unfortunately, caracaras are scavengers which means that they'll fly far distances in search of food, meaning that there isn't a spot where this individual was for sure going to be seen; it could be several miles away. We searched for about an hour at a dairy farm, seemingly great habitat, but our search ended up unsuccessful. We took a break and headed to the Smith River and see if we could find any interesting waterfowl or any peculiar gulls. Much like the dairy farm, this spot didn't yield all that many species either. However, we did find a gorgeous male Common Merganser.
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| Common Merganser |
After returning to the dairy farm, and searching for the caracara once again to no avail, we decided it was time to head back to Humboldt County. As we were driving we realized it wasn't all that late, so I proposed we go down to the Ferndale Bottoms and search for some migrating hawks or shorebirds.
We stopped at a quaint taquería in Crescent City for a late lunch, and made our way all the way down to Ferndale, which was about 1 hour south from Del Norte County. The day was ending slowly, the sun began to set, and once we arrived, the sound of Killdeer surrounded us. Suddenly, a huge flock took off and landed in a nearby field, so we pulled over in front of that field and began scoping through. As we did so, Peter pulled out a Pectoral Sandpiper! A species that is starting to get a little late given the date. Then I pulled out two more, which made for a total of three! Not bad at all!
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| Pectoral Sandpiper |
Suddenly, Peter called out "Pacific Golden-Plover!" I immediately asked where he was seeing this bird, for this would have been an ABA bird for me (I had seen them on Kaua'i before, which isn't within ABA boundaries). He directed me to it and I then saw this thin, slender-billed and golden-colored plover.
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| Pacific Golden-Plover |
This plover was the last highlight of the day, and made for a great way to end it. Birding with friends from home in my new hometown was really fun. It also made me realize how much I missed home, and made me even more excited to head back for Thanksgiving break. The highlights of the day were certainly the Swamp Sparrow, the Pectoral Sandpipers and the Pacific Golden-Plover. Birding is always fun, but it's birding with your close friends that make it a really special experience.
Pacific Golden-Plover!!!! Nice!
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