California Trip Summary mostly northern CA; some southern CA and AZ

Stuart Healy December 10-22, 2011

This is a brief summary of a trip that I made to California in December, 2011. You can find day to day details of the trip (in my journal); see the the overall trip list and view the bird photos that I took by using the links above. Comments and questions welcome.

From December 10-22 I traveled 3300 miles mostly in northern California. On the outbound journey I lingered a couple of days in southeast Arizona and southern California then worked my way north through the central valley to my initial coastal destination of Crescent City in northern California (near the Oregon border). I then traveled south down the coast with stays in Arcata and Fort Bragg. I spent a little time in the central valley near Fresno on both the outbound and return journeys and ended up in Orange County in southern California. I saw a total of 182 species, two of which were new (see below); and I photographed 22 species, 4 of which were "photo firsts".

When I planned this trip (initially as an idea back in August then firmly in October), I didn't have any target life birds. California being what it is in winter though, I ended up seeing two new birds -- Falcated Duck at Colusa NWR and Masked Booby at Dana Point Harbor (see journal for Dec 12 and 21). A Ruff/Reeve near Petaluma was the only other unexpected species.

Over the years I've used trips such as this to reinforce my knowledge of places that I've visited before and to expand my range of coverage by checking new locations. However, now that my career as a guide is winding down, this aspect of any trip seems less important. Nevertheless, I did check a few new places. My objectives and expectations for the trip were to look for a few photo opportunities, enjoy the coastal species and hopefully see a few year birds. Varied Thrush was a main photo target but I actually only looked for it once; other birds got in the way. Rock Sandpiper was another photo target and I had some success. I had also hoped to renew my acquaintance with "Big Al" the Laysan Albatross and to improve on my photos of the bird. The albatross has been visiting Point Arena cove in winter for many years and is now quite a celebrity there. Unfortunately, Al was absent on the two days that I checked Point Arena. As John Lennon said "life is what happens to you while you're making other plans".

Bird highlights were my time at Virgin Creek Beach in Fort Bragg, Mendocino County doing battle with Rock Sandpiper (I'd have to say the Sandpiper won); and many sightings of Chestnut-backed Chickadees (a delightful little bird that used to be a backyard bird for me in Bellingham, WA). In a general sense, I enjoyed my time in the coastal locations where I was able to get my fill of those birds that I rarely see during the course of my work. Disappointments were minor and mostly related to my poor photo results.

Weather conditions were exceptional (in a good way). I saw plenty of sunshine on the northern California coast and temps ranged from freezing to about 60 degrees. I had several cloudy days but only one day of serious rain. It's very unusual not to see rain along the northern California coast at this time of year (and heavy rain at that). Even the fog in the central valley was less dense than normal. All in all, far better than I could ever have expected.