October 7 Part 1 - Pescadero State Park, CA

I wanted to do something different with my last birding day before going home. In 2013 and 2015, I birded only on the East Bay. This year I decided to visit the West Coast and try to see some different birds. There was species one in particular that was reasonably common over on that side that I'd never seen.

Getting from east to west sounds easy but there are limited options for doing so. There are two available routes that both involve crossing the Santa Cruz mountain range. These are two lane highways with lots of traffic on the weekends.

Google gave me two options and the GPS elected to send me on the grey route through Half Moon Bay.






From there I turned south and first stopped at Pescadero Beach.



As mentioned in previous posts, the first bird of the day was a White-crowned Sparrow.


White-crowned Sparrow - Pescadero State Park Beach, Pescadero CA

There were some large rocks on the beach which were accessible by foot. On top of them I found some Black Turnstones, a common Pacific shorebird.

Black Turnstone - Pescadero State Park Beach, Pescadero CA

Usually when you see one of these birds there are others nearby.

Black Turnstone - Pescadero State Park Beach, Pescadero CA

Further out on the shore there was a huge rock formation that was home to numerous Pelicans, Cormorants and Gulls.

Brown Pelicans, Pelagic Cormorants and Heerman's Gulls -
Pescadero State Park Beach, Pescadero CA

There was one other rare species on the rocks, the Rock Pelican!

One of the main reasons I made the trip west was the chance to see a White-tailed Kite. This is a smallish raptor that is mostly white with black shoulders and a pure white tail. This and similar species are called Kites because of their hunting technique; they hover in one spot and then pounce on their unsuspecting prey.

I went inland following directions I'd printed. After parking I walked along an entrance road into a forested area in a creek valley. As I neared the valley bottom I spotted the bird in flight.

White-tailed Kite - Pescadero State Park, Pescadero CA

Life List #423 - 2017 Bird #208

Here's the kiting behaviour.

   White-tailed Kite - Pescadero State Park, Pescadero CA

My only regret is not getting clearer photos of this bird. It was only present for a few minutes and quite far away. 

When I got to the valley i met a couple of local birders and we swapped stories about the kite and other local birds. The only other bird we saw was a Black Phoebe.

Black Phoebe - Pescadero State Park, Pescadero CA

We parted company and I headed back to the East Bay for some afternoon birding. This had been a colourful outing with White-tailed Kite, White-crowned Sparrow, Brown Pelican, Black Turnstone, and Black Phoebe.

October 7 Part 2 - Redwood Shores

It took quite a while to get back from Pescadero, so I only had time for two more stops.  I decided to first visit Redwood Shores, an upscale waterfront community that is also home to a number of technology companies, including Oracle and Electronic Arts.

I had some good luck around the Oracle headquarters in 2015, but first went to see if the Radio Road Sewage ponds had been restored. I'd visited there in 2013 but the ponds were drained in 2014 due to avian infections. This year, they were still dry.

I did see one bird in a canal where I'd parked, a good shot of a Cormorant.

Double-crested Cormorant - Redwood Shores, CA

I then drove over to Oracle headquarters and parked in a small park just across the street. Here's a shot of the Oracle Campus.

I'd taken a great shot of a Black Phoebe in the park in 2015 and took this one in pretty much the same location. It could even be the same bird as two years ago.The phoebes sit in a high perch and sally out when they spot prey. This one came back with an unsuspecting dragonfly.

Black Phoebe - Redwood Shores, CA

The Belmont Slough is just behind the Oracle campus and there's usually some shorebirds in there. I did see a few species but this Egret was the only one that photographed well.

Snowy Egret - Redwood Shores, CA

I circled the Oracle campus as a Turkey Vulture flew over.

Turkey Vulture - Redwood Shores, CA

Oracle is still celebrating winning the America's Cup yacht race back in 2013. Their winning craft is displayed in the large pond at the front of the campus.

The pond is home to a few water birds such as this Pied-billed grebe.

Pied-billed Grebe - Redwood Shores, CA

And another cormorant:

Double-crested Cormorant - Redwood Shores, CA

The last notable birds of the day were a pair Eurasian Collared-Doves.

Eurasian Collared-dove - Redwood Shores, CA

I visited one other location that was devoid of birds, and then headed back to my hotel for dinner and sleep. I'd be flying home the next morning.

August 21 Solar Eclipse - McMinville Oregon

Evergreen Space Museum

20 Minutes Before Totality

6 Minutes Before Totality

3 Minutes Before Totality

Start of  Totality

Totality

Totality

Aviation and Space Museum

SR71 Stealth Aircraft

Spruce Goose Interior

August 22 - Crater Lake National Park, Oregon USA

Trolley Driver and Tour Guide

Smokey View of Crater Lake

Group Photos

Research Boat

Castle formation

Cricket

Waterfall

June 24 - Manning Park and Princeton

Edith and I left home fairly early on this Saturday morning. Our destination was Grand Forks which is only a 7 hour drive from home. We'd make a couple of stops along the way to stretch it out.

Our first stop was Manning Park. Rather than do the usual Resort stop, we headed north up to the Cascade Lookout. This is an 8 Km paved road with many switchbacks. When you reach the lookout, here is the view. The markings on the bench identify the names of all the mountains visible to the south and west.



There were some people here who were feeding peanuts to the Chipmunks and Clark's Nutcrackers.

Clark's Nutcracker - Cascade Lookout, Manning Park BC

They shared some peanuts with us and Edith gave it a try. She had a Nutcracker on her hand shortly.

We went down and I made a quick tour of the Beaver Pond. It was quiet today, I only saw the usual Mallards and this Dragonfly. I don't think I can identify it.

 

We continued on to Penticton and made quick stops at Wayne and Swan Lakes. Wayne Lake had the usual collection of Ruddy Ducks and Coots, but none came close to shore. There were nesting Blackbirds nearby. Here's a shot of a female Yellow-headed.

Yellow-headed Blackbird (F) - Wayne Lake, Princeton BC

We stopped next at Swan Lake and I took a half-decent shot of a Western Meadowlark. It's not great quality, but beats what I took in April. Some years I get brilliant photos of this species, this year it's been tough.

Western Meadowlark - Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary, Princeton BC

I was hoping to get my first House Wren of the year here and was successful almost immediately. I'd see more in Alberta in the days to come.

House Wren - Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary, Princeton BC - 2017 Bird #167

I saw another small bird nearby and grabbed a couple of shots. It was a Chipping Sparrow. Both of these birds are fairly common in the Okanagan, they cause more of a stir on the coast. Luckily, the sparrow stayed nearby as I snapped some excellent shots.

Chipping Sparrow - Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary, Princeton BC - 2017 Bird #168

Chipping Sparrow - Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary, Princeton BC

That was it for birds on this first day, we'd see more as we headed east.

June 25 - Creston Barn Swallows and Cranbrook Water Birds

Our second day of travel involved a fair amount of driving. We left Grand Forks quite early and set out for Wycliffe, a very small town located between Kimberly and Cranbrook.

There are two places I like to visit in the Kootenays, the Creston Creston Wildlife Management Area and Elizabeth Lake near Cranbrook. When we arrived at the Creston location there were warning signs for Grizzly Bears, so I didn't venture too far from the visitor centre!

On the entrance boardwalk I heard a familiar call and snapped one shot of a Western Wood-pewee.


Western Wood-pewee - Creston Creston Wildlife Management Area, Creston BC

At t back of the visitor center is a covered deck with some picnic tables. At this time of year it is taken over by Barn Swallows. There are four to six nests in the area with three or four nestlings in each. The parents are darting in and out continuously with food for the young.

This is the first nest we saw as we entered the area.


Barn Swallows - Creston Creston Wildlife Management Area, Creston BC

Here's a parent taking a respite from the feeding activity.



I caught sight of a small bird hopping around on the picnic tables. It turned out to be a Song Sparrow.


Song Sparrow - Creston Creston Wildlife Management Area, Creston BC

There were some hummingbird feeders in the area, but traffic was sparse. I was hoping for a Calliope Hummingbird, but the only bird I saw was a Rufous male.


Rufous Hummingbird  - Creston Creston Wildlife Management Area, Creston BC

I went out into the open to walk the short trail around the center. It was almost noon now and there was little bird activity except for the Swallows



I did spot an Eastern Kingbird near a small creek. It was a struggle to get a good exposure in the noonday sun.


Eastern Kingbird - Creston Creston Wildlife Management Area, Creston BC

I headed back in and took a zoom shot of one of the other Swallow nests. It looks like the two on the left side of the photo think it's their turn next.


Barn Swallows - Creston Creston Wildlife Management Area, Creston BC

I did a quick tour of the gift shop and admired some of the taxidermy on display. This photo shows the size difference between a Sharp-shinned (left) and Cooper's Hawk.



We left Creston and drove east to Cranbrook. Just to the south of Cranbrook is a small wildlife area name Elizabeth Lake Sanctuary. The lake sometimes provides close-up views of Ducks and Grebes. It was fairly quiet on this day but there were a few waterbirds on the lake.


Ruddy Duck - Elizabeth Lake Sanctuary, Cranbrook BC


Lesser Scaup - Elizabeth Lake Sanctuary, Cranbrook BC (Female at back)

Farther out as an Eared Grebe, perhaps performing a mating display.

Eared Grebe - Elizabeth Lake Sanctuary, Cranbrook BC- 2017 Bird #169

We stayed the night at a fantastic Bed and Breakfast overlooking the St. Mary River in Wycliffe BC. The last bird of the day was a Robin just before sunset.

American Robin - Wycliffe BC

My last photo of the day was this interesting cloud formation: