October 3, 2004
Third time lucky at Point Reyes
For the last two weekends, I have headed out to Point Reyes with Marcel Holyoak, and have struggled to find even the common migrants. This Saturday, however, everything had changed: the weather conditions were right (high cloud, calm seas) and birds were everywhere!
Just after dawn we had a brief, unsuccessful look for yesterday's Veery and headed into the New Willows. I quickly found a young female Chestnut-sided Warbler, while Marcel found a Least Flycatcher (after dipping 3 of these in CA, a long-awaited lifer for me) and a bright Tennessee Warbler. This week's surprise mammal sighting was a Gray Fox walking around in broad daylight (unfortunately it vanished before I could digiscope it).
After admiring my first state Black-and-White Warbler and a dark morph Ferruginous Hawk at the Fish Docks, we raced over to Mendoza Ranch to see this Blue-headed Vireo (photo by Marcel Holyoak).
Mendoza was hopping with migrants, including another Least Flycatcher and Chestnut-sided Warbler, and I found what turned out to be a fine Canada Warbler. Two Pectoral Sandpipers were on the pools here. A stop at the Mendoza schoolhouse trees was fruitful, as shortly after arriving my life Palm Warbler flew in! We raced on to the lighthouse following a report of Eastern Kingbird. The kingbird had gone, along with most other migrants apparently, save for a Pine Siskin and this obliging Fox Sparrow.
At Nunes Ranch, a long wait for a Worm-eating Warbler failed to pay off, and we had to content ourselves with yet another Chestnut-sided Warbler (trash bird!), Purple Finch, Oregon Junco and this tan-striped White-throated Sparrow among the hordes of Golden-crowned Sparrows.
News of a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher found by Ryan Terrill saw us racing back to the Fish Docks and sure enough, we got on the bird (see next entry for pics). This Magnolia Warbler (photographed by Marcel) finally showed itself in a pine tree...
... along with this Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
This young Cedar Waxwing had presumably just arrived - the bird seemed completely oblivious to the surrounding crowd of birders.
Drake's Beach yielded my first US Tropical Kingbirds. These birds were very showy, allowing me to admire their big bills, bright underparts and forked tails.
Also at this site was yet another Chestnut-sided Warbler (an adult male) and a photogenic Raven.
The Abandoned Ranch was also very birdy - I found this Black-and-White Warbler...
... and another Least Flycatcher in amongst the more numerous Pac-slopes (see next entry for pictures).
Finally, the RCA radio station yielded a rather drab-looking Western Kingbird, a fine Hermit Thrush,
and a Hermit Warbler, bringing my warbler totals to 14 for the day and 18 for the week!
Posted by rjhall at October 3, 2004 10:21 PM