Gualala Birds

Every 1-2 months, DeeDee and I come back to the bay area to do certain up keeping – haircuts, dental appointments etc. This time we’re getting ready to spend a week on the road going to Dallas to see our grandson, Odin.

I’ve had a few days to do some birding in the area and have managed a few lifers locally.

I also went to my first birding festival with my step-daughter. Unfortunately for us, the festival activities filled up fast; we were “relegated” to a mostly marine-mammal activity with some birding.

Well, within a minute of entering Point Reyes for the festival, we were greeted by a Great-Horned Owl; it’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen any owl and it was an incredibly exciting welcome to the park. I think if he was all we saw all day, I would have been satisfied.

We reached the lighthouse where our group started. Our leader Chris quickly took us to an overlook to see an uncommon visitor – a Steller Sea Lion. We saw at least three individuals, and these were BIG BOYS.

While our leader, Chris, was a good birder … the rest of the group seemed pretty quiet. Luckily, I have a lot of recent Gualala California birding experience and I started naming out species at the lookout.

We saw Pigeon Guillemots, Double-breasted and Brandt cormorants, numerous gulls ( Western Gull was my only positive i.d. ) and … at our first location, a few dozen Common Murres. Jessica helped spot White-crowned, Golden-crowned, Song and Savannah Sparrows along with calling out our first Northern Harrier and Red-tailed Hawk.

We moved closer to the lighthouse where we saw an absolutely epic colony of Common Murres. I mean, it was RIDICULOUS.

Around the corner from the Murres, we saw a nesting Peregrine Falcon. My supposition is that the falcon chose his location next to the supermarket of Murres.

We continued to see various marine mammals when Jessica quietly said, “Whale.”

Then louder… “WHALE !”

Right below our feet, a humpback calf and her mother leisurely swam below. Wow!

The 4 hours with our group quickly came and went – it was a good time. We saw some more marine mammals and a few more bird species. The group as a total came up with just shy of 20 species.

Jessica and I wanted more bird species, so we agreed after leaving the group to do some more exploring in the park.

At our next stop, we found Elephant Seal babies and a lifer for me,

#174 Common Yellowthroat

We made one more stop in the park, and found a second Great Horned Owl !

We ended the day with exactly 40 unique species ( 2 new lifers for Jessica and the 1 for me.)

Closer to home, I’ve added two more lifers.

#173 – Lazuli Bunting

I have not got a great photo of this bird, but it is beautiful. I just need better light.

#175 – Ash-throated Flycatcher

The last few-weeks have been good to me birding; I’ve been afraid that I’ve actually been over-birding. I’m going out 6 nights a week, every week the last couple of months. The results seem slow on the day-to-day, but the broader view is very good for this year.

Looking forward to seeing Odin ( and seeing some eastern birds !)