Species List

Stuart Healy Journal - February, 2001 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

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This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Thursday, February 28, 2001.

Thursday, February 1, 2001    Previous Day    Next Day
On a typical Arizona winter day (quite cold in the morning, sunny and warm in the afternoon and a little blustery at times), I was out with Mel and Gyneth Fredbeck from Franklin, IN. We did some casual, non-target birding at Patagonia Lake, Paton's yard and Kino Springs.

Patagonia Lake continues much less birdy than in previous winters. Highlights from 40 species seen were a few NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS and many COMMON MERGANSERS as usual,  good views of VIRGINIA RAIL, SORA, a beautiful COMMON MOORHEN, many active GRAY FLYCATCHERS, a single DUSKY FLYCATCHER and a couple of TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRES working the Mistletoe.

The feeders in the Paton's Yard had plenty of customers. Most were HOUSE FINCHES and CASSIN'S FINCHES and it was easy to get side by side comparisons of them. Continuing wintering species include several STELLER'S JAYS (the most I saw at one time was 3) and PINE SISKIN. The only hummingbird we saw was ANNA'S, Mrs. Paton last saw Violet-crowned on Friday before the bad weather.

At Kino Springs we were unable to find the Vermilion Flycatcher that has been present here all winter. At least 2-GRAY FLYCATCHERS and 2-TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRES were around the club house area.

Saturday, February 3, 2001    Previous Day    Next Day
Out today with Mary and Bill Parker from Phoenix, AZ. On a casual day of birthday birding for both me and Mary, we made a late morning visit to St. David Monastery and an afternoon visit to the Sulphur Springs Valley. A cloudless sky and bright sunshine produced by far the warmest day of the year to date which encouraged the WHITE-WINGED DOVES in my neighborhood to sing.

St. David was a little less active than normal but we still managed 40 species in 2 hours. Even the super reliable Wood Ducks were not to be found on any of the ponds. At least one LEWIS'S WOODPECKER is still present in the cottonwoods. We saw fly-by WESTERN BLUEBIRDS and a handful of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS were working the fields. Perhaps the neatest sight was a N. CARDINAL and a PYRRHULOXIA sitting side by side atop a mesquite. Although you often encounter these species close together, it's not often that you get such a side by side comparison away from a feeder. Other species included BELTED KINGFISHER, BRIDLED TITMOUSE, AM. ROBIN, GREEN-TAILED, ABERT'S and SPOTTED TOWHEES.

In the Sulphur Springs Valley, conditions at Whitewater Draw were very warm and windless and the water was glassy. Unfortunately, birds were hard to come by. A small flock of SCALED QUAIL near were near the entrance and SANDHILL CRANES fed in the adjacent fields. We saw only a few duck species out on the water -- RUDDY DUCK, AM. WIGEON, SHOVELER and CANVASBACK, beyond that there wasn't much in the way of waterfowl. Landbirds were also at a premium with only AM. PIPIT, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, and SAVANNAH, VESPER & SONG SPARROWS to show for our brief walk around.

On nearby Lee Road, a few YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS accompanied a flock of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS scared up by a COOPER'S HAWK. The large, low-cropped field on Central Highway at Davis Road had hundreds of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS and a small flock of AM. PIPITS. Continuing north on Mormon Road we saw a few LARK BUNTINGS and a pair of GREAT HORNED OWLS roosting together in a regular tree. Our last stop of the day on Rucker Canyon Road produced FERRUGINOUS HAWK, a handful of MOUNTAIN PLOVERS and more MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS. Driving back south along Central Highway a handsome richardsonii MERLIN was sitting on a wire.

Saturday, February 10, 2001    Previous Day    Next Day
After what seemed like blitzkrieg birding in January, I've just enjoyed a week off, completely away from birds. During this time the weather varied from sunny and warm (75) to blizzard conditions, with snow at street level in Sierra Vista. Today I was out with George and Maurice Harton from Glenn Dale, MD. I had to scrape my windshield at 6:30am but, as is typical, the day turned out warm and pleasant. We visited Patagonia Lake, Paton's yard, Kino Springs and several locations in the Santa Rita Mountains. We didn't have any real target birds and our day of casual birding produced 90 species.

We started at Patagonia Lake State Park where 3 1/2 hours produced 50 species. The highlights for me were SAGE THRASHER and LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, both new for the location bringing my total here to 226. The Thrasher was perched up in plain view atop a mesquite near the bathrooms at the west end of the lake. The Waterthrush was another story. I heard the bird calling as we tried to negotiate a way through the mud to cross "false creek" at the east end of the lake. We tried to track it down and I saw the bird fly into a thicket, still calling. Unfortunately, a very large group came by at that time and played an Eastern Screech-Owl tape. The bird fell silent and we neither heard nor saw it again.

On the plus side we had good views of SORA, VIRGINIA RAIL, COMMON MOORHEN, HAMMOND'S, DUSKY & GRAY FLYCATCHERS, BLACK & SAY'S PHOEBES,  CURVE-BILLED THRASHER and ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. Other species seen included EARED GREBE, NEOTROPIC CORMORANT, COMMON MERGANSER, COMMON SNIPE, INCA & WHITE-WINGED DOVES, AM. ROBIN and PYRRHULOXIA.

Although activity in the Paton's yard was quite low during our midday visit, we still managed to see ANNA'S & VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRDS, STELLER'S & MEXICAN JAYS, BRIDLED TITMOUSE and hordes of CASSIN'S FINCHES as well as numerous other common species.

At Kino Springs we looked for Vermilion Flycatcher without success. As I was pointing out the location for WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER, George spotted one which, unfortunately, turned out to be a female. This is certainly one species where the male is spectacular and the female, well, not so much. We recorded about 40 common species including scads of AM. WIGEON, CANVASBACK, BELTED KINGFISHER, GRAY FLYCATCHER, N. ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW, LINCOLN'S SPARROW and SPOTTED TOWHEE.

In the Santa Ritas we added MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD, HUTTON'S VIREO, BROWN CREEPER, PHAINOPEPLA, MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, PAINTED REDSTART and YELLOW-EYED JUNCO to our day list.

Tuesday, February 13, 2001    Previous Day    Next Day
Just a brief note to let all my regular readers know that I am still alive! I had planned to visit French Joe Canyon today, but grungy weather made me change my mind. Very high winds are preceding the approach of yet another winter storm and snow down to 3000 feet is predicted for tonight and tomorrow. Nevertheless, it didn't deter the WHITE-WINGED DOVES -- they continued to sing in my neighborhood today, so I guess spring really is just around the corner.   

Wednesday, February 14, 2001    Previous Day    Next Day
The predicted storm didn't materialize last night, at least in the Sierra Vista area, and I encountered reasonable conditions on the San Pedro river this morning. Although it was quite windy and heavy clouds were all around (mostly over the mountains), the temperature was high enough to make for a pleasant walk.

Many of the Cottonwoods along the river are already budding out, a fact that hadn't escaped the numerous BRIDLED TITMICE, LESSER GOLDFINCHES and CHIPPING SPARROWS that were all feeding at the tops of the trees.

As I approached the area immediately adjacent to the river, the ravages of last year's storms were very much in evidence. We had a decent monsoon season followed by heavy rain throughout October and early November (both normally mostly dry) and the resultant flooding scoured away much of the understory. Consequently, riparian obligate species that depend on this habitat are way down in numbers this year. Even someone who had never visited here before would notice the rather barren corridor along the river and be struck by the lack of birds. 

The birding this morning was mediocre to say the least and there were long periods during my 2.5-3 mile walk when I neither saw nor heard a single bird.  To be counted among the highlights were a GREAT HORNED OWL, roosting in plain view on the lowest limb of a leafless cottonwood, the rather amusing antics of a ROADRUNNER trying to keep out of my way, and a very active HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER working low in the seep willows close to the river.

Most of the activity I found was around the San Pedro House feeders that were being taken advantage of by GAMBEL'S QUAIL, GILA WOODPECKER, HOUSE FINCH, LESSER GOLDFINCH, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS. Also in the area were GREEN-TAILED, ABERT'S and CANYON TOWHEES, LINCOLN'S SPARROW and EASTERN MEADOWLARKS.

In the adjacent grassland I found AM. KESTREL, LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, VERDIN, SAVANNAH, BREWER'S & VESPER SPARROWS and WESTERN MEADOWLARK.

At Kingfisher pond I found only (Mexican) MALLARD, RING-NECK DUCK and COOT. Birds were few and far between along the river and I saw only RED-TAILED HAWK, BLACK PHOEBE, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, BEWICK'S WREN, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT and SONG SPARROW. A few other common species rounded out my list of 40 seen.

Saturday, February 17, 2001    Previous Day    Next Day
Today I was out with Ken Gray from Hereford, AZ who I've birded with on several previous occasions. Except for poor light, a mostly cloudy, windless day and a moderate temperature made for good birding conditions. We had excellent success and were able to find the four target species that we looked for.   However, even though we found all of them fairly easily, we certainly had to spend some time in order to get good views.

In Paradise, JUNIPER TITMOUSE was as elusive as ever;  nearby, we found MEXICAN CHICKADEE and GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, both at relatively low elevations. Among the other species seen during our search were WESTERN SCRUB-JAY, STELLER'S JAY, BROWN CREEPER, WESTERN and MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS, PHAINOPEPLA, HUTTON'S VIREO, YELLOW-EYED JUNCO and several flyover RED CROSSBILLS.

In St. David, LEWIS'S WOODPECKER was a little harder to find than usual. A third female WOOD DUCK has joined the male and 2 females that have been present for several months. Also here were GRAY FLYCATCHER, AM. ROBIN, GREEN-TAILED & ABERT'S TOWHEES.

We didn't find much activity at Willcox pond -- 2-CINNAMON TEAL, 7-REDHEADS, 1-LESSER SCAUP, 6-COMMON MERGANSERS and a flock of circa 80-SANDHILL CRANES were the only birds of note among a dozen or so common species. Also in Willcox near I-10 exit 340 was a PRAIRIE FALCON. 

Sunday, February 18, 2001    Previous Day    Next Day
Out today with Janet Zinn and Alan Baratz from Brooklyn, NW. A mild morning that turned into a very warm day and I was able to wear shorts for the first time in a while.

Our journey into the San Rafael Valley turned up several smart looking EASTERN BLUEBIRDS but the early start and a two hour vigil almost ended in disappointment. However, just as we were about to move on to look for longspurs, we amazingly kicked a BAIRD'S SPARROW out of the grass and onto a fence wire for great 'scope looks!. Definitely another case of being lucky rather than good, although we certainly paid our dues. It didn't take long to find our second target bird -- hundreds of CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPURS were swirling around in multiple locations, and we again had good 'scope looks at many males in breeding plumage perched on fence wires. Other birds in the valley included BALD EAGLE, WHITE-TAILED KITE and PRAIRIE FALCON. 

We then went into casual birding mode and a 2 hour late morning session at a very warm and quiet Patagonia Lake produced 40 species. Highlights were WESTERN GREBE, several DUSKY and GRAY FLYCATCHERS, the return of VERMILION FLYCATCHERS (1 male, 1 female) and a very uncommon here AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. Among the regulars were NEOTROPIC CORMORANT, COMMON MERGANSER, COMMON MOORHEN, a calling but unseen SORA, BRIDLED TITMOUSE and lots of singing BEWICK'S WRENS.

A major surprise awaited us in the Paton's yard where a covey of 6-7 MONTEZUMA QUAIL joined the regular GAMBEL'S QUAIL. This was Paton's yard bird #121 for me and certainly a species that I never expected to see here! At least 2-VIOLET-CROWNED and 2-ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS were present as well as continuing STELLER'S JAYS and CASSIN'S FINCHES.

Monday, February 19, 2001     Previous Day    Next Day
Day one of  two days with Simon Brown from London, England. We spent the day casual birding, mostly in riparian habitat with some oak-juniper and mesquite grassland. The weather continues to look very much like spring, quite warm and not a cloud in the sky.

Compared to yesterday afternoon, bird activity was relatively high during our morning session at Patagonia Lake State Park. Along "false creek" (which may eventually become "real creek") the LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH continues, although we only heard the bird -- a noisy couple with a dog killed our chances of seeing it. Less common species (at this location) were WESTERN GREBE, BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON and AM. ROBIN. We had great views of VIRGINIA RAIL on a couple of occasions, but only heard SORA. Usually, it's the other way round! Quite noticeable were the increased numbers of WHITE-WINGED and INCA DOVES, both singing their hearts out. 

The Paton's yard had plenty of customers, both  people and birds. We saw 30+ species in about an hour including ANNA'S and VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRDS, STELLER'S JAY and a liberal dose of CASSIN'S FINCHES.

A brief stop at the Roadside Rest area confirmed that WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS have returned to this nesting location. Best birds at Kino Springs were RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE and SPOTTED TOWHEE. In the Santa Ritas we added several male and female  MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRDS, a cooperative CANYON WREN and a very reticent ROCK WREN, several WESTERN BLUEBIRDS and a very handsome looking TOWNSEND'S WARBLER.

Our list for the day: 
Pied-billed, Eared & Western Grebes, Neotropic Cormorant, Ruddy Duck, Am. Wigeon, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, N. Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Common Merganser, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, N. Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Gambel's Quail, Virginia Rail, Sora, Common Moorhen, Am. Coot, Common Snipe, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves, White-throated Swift, Violet-crowned, Magnificent & Anna's Hummingbirds, Acorn, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Red-naped Sapsucker, N. Flicker, Gray & Dusky Flycatchers, Say's & Black Phoebes, Vermilion Flycatcher, Steller's & Mexican Jays, Common Raven, Hutton's Vireo, Loggerhead Shrike, Phainopepla, Western Bluebird, Townsend's Solitaire, Am. Robin, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, European Starling, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Cactus, Rock, Canyon, Marsh & Bewick's Wrens, Verdin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, House Sparrow, Lesser Goldfinch, Cassin's & House Finches, Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped & Townsend's Warblers, Louisiana Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Song, Lincoln's, White-crowned & Chipping Sparrows, Dark-eyed & Yellow-eyed Juncos, Spotted, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark and  Great-tailed Grackle.

Tuesday, February 20, 2001    Previous Day    Next Day
Out again today with Simon Brown from London, England. Another beautiful day of which we spent the major part in the Sulphur Springs Valley. SANDHILL CRANES were abundant throughout the valley, soaring and feeding in the corn fields. BENDIRE'S THRASHERS are into their breeding cycle and we had wonderful looks at three singing individuals.

It was quite comical to see numerous folks showing up in the middle of the day at Whitewater Draw and asking where to see the cranes. This is the least likely place to find them in the middle of the day! Among the species that we did see there were GREAT EGRET, several CINNAMON TEAL, a lone AM. AVOCET starting to acquire breeding plumage, a preening and very cooperative AM. PIPIT and a singing BENDIRE'S THRASHER building a nest

We were initially disappointed at a regular GREAT HORNED OWL roosting site where the owls were conspicuously absent! However, about 10 minutes of careful scanning produced a very well  concealed bird in a nearby location. All's well that ends well. A lone and seriously out of habitat WESTERN SCRUB-JAY continues in the same spot and almost had a confrontation with the owl.

Highlights of our tour around the valley included a soaring adult BALD EAGLE on Coffman Road, numerous FERRUGINOUS HAWKS at (and north of) Essary Hay, a PRAIRIE FALCON on Davis Road and MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS in several locations. 

In mid-afternoon we headed into the Huachucas where the log in Scheelite Canyon told the tale of many recent misses on Spotted Owl, with the last sighting on Feb 4. We started up the trail ahead of a large group from Brookline Bird Club and found a fairly well concealed SPOTTED OWL very low in the canyon. Unfortunately, it was too late for the scouting party for the group who had walked past the bird. (I know the feeling, I've done it myself!). The bird was hard too see walking up but easy to see looking down canyon. We waited long enough to point the bird out to the group and walked out well satisfied with our short but successful hike. 

With not much light left we finished the day in Garden Canyon where we found a very elusive and hard to see HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER, a few BROWN CREEPERS and a couple of BUSHTITS.

A visit to the lower canyon fishing ponds ended in disaster as our dinky little rental car became hopelessly bogged down in the mud. Fortunately, we were able to flag down a couple of army guys and they sent people up from Range Control who towed us out. However, not before both we and the vehicle were covered in mud. A trip to the car wash back in town redeemed the situation and our two days of birding came to a successful and eventful end!  

Wednesday, February 21, 2001    Previous Day    Next Day
Out today with Sue McLeer from Buffalo, NY who I've birded with a couple of times before. Yet another beautiful warm day and a strong wake-up call for the hot days ahead, and we're still only in February. Not fair! Our targets for the day were Montezuma Quail, Townsend's Solitaire, Cassin's Finch and Baird's Sparrow. We ended up 3 for 4 - guess which we missed before you read on.

I've had good success with Baird's Sparrow this winter, finding them on all but one or two occasions with the most recent sighting on Monday. When I first moved to Arizona I was "sucked in" by conventional wisdom that says finding Baird's in winter requires lots of grassland walking with very little chance of success at all and generally unsatisfactory looks even when successful. However, this winter I changed my strategy to thoroughly working a territory by listening and waiting for the birds to reveal themselves. I was fortunate to discover "Baird's Sparrow bush" where I've regularly been able to see the birds well as they perch up in the early morning. I'm happy to say that this strategy was never exemplified better that it was today.

We began our vigil in the San Rafael Valley at 7:30am when sparrow activity was minimal and only the HORNED LARKS and EASTERN & WESTERN MEADOWLARKS kept us entertained. Around 8:30am., 3-SAVANNAH SPARROWS popped up onto the bush and I told Sue that the Baird's often follows. About 1 minute later a beautiful BAIRD'S SPARROW perched up in great light and we were able to study it well in the 'scope for several minutes. During the next 5 minutes that little bush was also host to VESPER and GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS, a veritable sparrow workshop. Then, just as quickly as it had begun, the show was over. After a  quick look at a large flock of  CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPURS we left the valley very happy campers.

Next stop was Kino springs to look for the Solitaire, often present near the club house. We immediately found male and female CASSIN'S FINCHES but after almost an hour of walking around, still no Solitaire. We headed over to the Hackberry grove at the first pond, another good spot. This time we were successful and had good views of a very cooperative TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE.  

Sue had to leave relatively early so I decided to spend the rest of our time in the Paton's yard and hope that lightning would strike twice in the same place! No such luck and the Montezuma Quail that I was fortunate to see here for the first time on Sunday were nowhere to be seen. From my standpoint, a far better bird was GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW, Paton's yard bird #122 for me. They are very rare in SE AZ in winter and I've only averaged slightly less than one bird per season. Most of the usual suspects were present including ACORN WOODPECKER, ANNA'S & VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRDS, STELLER'S JAY, CASSIN'S FINCH and GREEN-TAILED, CANYON & ABERT'S TOWHEES.

Friday, February 23, to Friday, March 2, 2001    Previous Day    Next Day
I was in Northern California (Oroville, 70 miles north of Sacramento) for my son Paul's wedding and decided to take a few extra days to do some birding along the southern Oregon and northern California coast. For this trip, I'm departing from my normal daily log and will instead just talk about some of the birds seen/not seen. Just ask if you want more info.

I focused almost entirely on coastal birding and, with few exceptions, land birding was almost incidental. Consequently, my trip list was not very impressive for the number of days afield. Although I spent some of my time looking for three target birds, my objective was to enjoy the coast and I was more than happy to go one for three, especially since the "one" was a North American. record species! 

The long term weather forecast was not very good (rain every day) and I even thought of scrapping the coastal trip. However, as it turned out I had mostly great weather with rain only on Saturday (outdoor wedding day!) and part of Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Screw those weather channel people.

Itinerary: 
Friday was a travel day. After a little birding around Oroville on Saturday, I took all day Sunday to drive north on I-5. From Monday through Friday I  worked my way down the coast on Highways 101 and 1, flying home late Friday night. Birding was from Depoe Bay in Oregon to Bolinas Lagoon in California. Overnight stays were in Florence and Coos Bay, Oregon, and Crescent City, Fort Bragg and Point Arena in California. In the past (in other seasons) I've spent more time on the Oregon coast than in northern California and, since I really ran out of time in California, in retrospect I should have skipped the Oregon section. 

Target Birds:
Target #1: Rock Sandpiper (not seen). This is a bird I never saw while living in Washington so I was determined to give it a decent shot. It has now been officially promoted to nemesis bird. I spent a reasonable amount of time looking for this bird at three good rocky locations and, although they are fairly rare, I fully expected to find one. I checked Seal Rocks south of Yaquina Bay, Point St. George in Crescent City, and Laguna Point in Mackerricher State Park north of Fort Bragg. The latter location was the only place that I know for sure that a bird was present, as recently as last weekend. I checked all three locations twice to hit the evening and morning high tide periods. Unfortunately, not even once did I catch a glimpse of any bird that could have been a candidate. The longest time that I spent in one session was three hours (Laguna Point) and even this didn't seem enough to explore all the nooks and crannies of this extensive rocky area (and obviously, it wasn't!). I found some other expected "rockpipers" -- WHIMBREL,  BLACK TURNSTONE, SURFBIRD and BLACK OYSTERCATCHER.

Target #2: Laysan Albatross (not seen). One has spent the past 6 or 7 winters at Point Arena cove. Since I don't do pelagic trips, this single bird represents perhaps my only chance to see this species. On December 26, 1995, I missed the bird by just 30 minutes when I arrived at Point Arena shortly after the bird had headed out to sea. However, on this trip I probably missed it by several hours. Apparently, it spends calm days in the cove and heads out to sea on stormy days. I arrived at 1:00pm Thursday, just as the rain began after 3 beautiful calm and sunny days. Argghhh! I spent about 4 hours on the pier without success. I know the bird was seen the previous weekend, oh well. The good news is that Albatrosses live a long time so perhaps I'll get another shot. (Skip ahead to February 8, 2002 for a success story.)

Target #3: Greater Sand Plover (seen). This bird, a first for the western hemisphere I believe, was initially located in late January and had been seen almost daily since, so I was hoping that it would stick around until my trip. I arrived in Stinson Beach on Friday morning at 9:00am in heavy rain. I killed an hour in Stinson Beach park (until I could get access to the gated Seadrift community) where I reflected on the fact that even though the tide was in my favor, the weather was probably going to kill my chances. I had also heard that the bird was not seen on Tuesday or Wednesday. Despite the rain, PURPLE FINCHES sang as they foraged and they together with a friendly little band of BUSHTITS kept me entertained. Miraculously, shortly after I arrived at the Bolinas Lagoon viewing area, the rain stopped and gave way to what became a beautiful day. Plenty of other birders were around but nobody found the bird over the next couple of hours. However, I was heartened by the news that the bird was seen late morning yesterday. As a change of pace, I took a brief side trip 1/2 mile down the road where I saw the previously reported CAPE MAY WARBLER but dipped on Palm Warbler. Around 12:10pm. a pretty good size group was now looking for the Sandplover. A newcomer arrived and asked "has the bird been seen yet"? No was the answer, to which he replied "well, what's this bird right here". Would you believe it, just 100 yards straight in front of everyone was the GREATER SAND PLOVER. The bird had managed to sneak in undetected despite many pairs of eyes looking for it!. Essentially, it looks like a big Snowy Plover with a large bill and long legs. To see some pictures and a discussion, with links to opinions on why this bird is a Greater and not Lesser Sand Plover (Mongolian Plover), check the report on Joe Morlan's web site: http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/sandplover.htm 

Some species notes (for complete list, see trip list)
Common to abundant and easy to see everywhere: WESTERN GREBE, COMMON & PACIFIC LOONS, PELAGIC, BRANDT'S & DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, SURF SCOTER, CANADA GOOSE and RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.

GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS and CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES were very common in almost every location along the Oregon coast.

Uncommon to fairly common but still widespread: HORNED GREBE and  BLACK SCOTER.

Very scarce and locally distributed:  RED-NECKED GREBE, GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, WHITE-WINGED SCOTER and COMMON GOLDENEYE  I didn't see BROWN PELICANS in Oregon but noted a few individuals in four California locations.

YELLOW-BILLED LOON - Yaquina Bay, Newport.
BRANT - Yaquina Bay and Point Arena.
EURASIAN WIGEON - several at Bolinas Lagoon
HARLEQUIN DUCK - several at Seal Rocks and at Glass Beach, Fort Bragg..

Gulls: WESTERN and HERRING GULLS were abundant everywhere, RING-BILLED GULLS although widespread were never very numerous, CALIFORNIA GULLS were scattered here and there, MEW GULLS were locally common (plenty at Yaquina Bay, for example), I saw GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS in a several places and a couple of GLAUCOUS GULLS in extreme Northern California. 

Alcids: I saw only one PIGEON GUILLEMOT in Yaquina Bay and many COMMON MURRES in multiple locations with thousands of them roosting on Castle Rock in Crescent City.

NORTHERN FULMAR - offshore, Laguna Point.
GRAY JAY - Van Damme State Park, south of Mendocino. Quite a shock to see the Pacific form again which is much darker than the Rocky Mountain form that I'm used to in AZ.
VARIED THRUSH - many at Shore Acres State Park near Coos Bay. It was a treat to see them foraging in numbers, almost as common as Am. Robins.
RED CROSSBILL - Shore Acres State Park and Cape Arago

If you are planning a similar trip, some places not to be missed are Yaquina Bay, Newport, OR (you can easily spend a day here); Shore Acres State Park near Coos Bay, OR (a small but beautiful place with a Botanic Garden); Bandon Marsh, Bandon, OR (despite the name, good for shorebirds); Crescent City, CA (I skipped Lake Earl on this trip but it's definitely a good place to visit); Arcata Marsh, CA (although it wasn't particularly productive on this trip); any of the many locations along the Mendocino coast, CA; Point Reyes, CA (this and the surrounding areas really need multiple days). Be sure to allow plenty of time - travel on Hwy 1 in California can be very slow.

Some recommended reference books (all available from ABA sales):
The Birder's Guide To Oregon (becoming a little dated).
Joseph Evanich Jr., Portland Audubon Society, 1990

Birding Northern California
John Kemper, Falcon Publishing, 1999

A Guide to Finding Birds in Mendocino County
Kris Carter, self published, 1998

Apart from seeing my son tying the knot, the non birding highlights of the trip were -- a migrating whale sighting from the pier at Point Arena (not too many of those in Arizona!), especially since I thought I would be too early to see any; and the magnificent view of San Francisco as I approached the Golden Gate bridge from the Marin County side. So many times I've been here with the view obscured by thick fog. Also of value was the reality check that I did the right thing in leaving Silicon Valley. Due to flight delays on America Worst, I arrived in San Jose in the middle of Friday night traffic and managed to drive just 7 miles in 40 minutes. Hello! Flashback!

This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Thursday, February 28, 2001.

Species List

Stuart Healy Journal - February, 2001 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

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