A Brit abroad

White Christmas

Well, here I am back in Essex, where I shall be based for the next month until my new job in France starts next February. Am experiencing a sort of reverse culture shock; words like 'petrol' and 'rubbish' just aren't rolling off the tongue like they used to! The birds are different, too - Carrion Crows have a much deeper, raucous caw than American Crows, and Collared Doves and Blackbirds abound in my parents' yard. No Redwings yet, but apparently snow is on the way, which usually sends them into this neighbourhood in droves.

My best Christmas present was a trip to Southend seafront with Dad, leaving Mum to fuss over dinner preparations. Eurasian gulls and shorebirds (or is that waders?) were enjoying the sunshine (much nicer weather here than when I left California), but the real treat was an obliging flock of ten Snow Buntings, which showed very well for a few minutes until a dog-walker flushed them over the roof of a Chinese restaurant, never to be seen again. Anyhow, I managed a couple of shots of them before they vanished.

And here's Dad failing to be impressed by the Snow Buntings ('They look just like sparrows to me'). Obsessive birding obviously isn't an inherited trait!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Goodbye California :-(

Well, my last week in California has been and gone. Frantic packing, finishing of work, goodbyes and some truly awful weather prevented me from doing a whole lot of birding. On the morning I was due to leave, a break in the weather allowed me to get out on my bike for one last hurrah. I looked at everything that moved, realising that every kinglet, junco and hummingbird could be my last for a very long time... A single Common Merganser was on the lake in the Arboretum.

Along Willowbank Ditch I was able to relocate the wintering Winter Wren (should be brushing these out of the way next week), while a final failed attempt to get looks at the Ovenbird yielded an extremely odd-looking Yellow-billed Magpie, with a bronze sheen to the wings and tail and a White Pelican-like protuberance on the upper mandible.

I raced home, moved the remainder of my furniture to the thrift store (thanks Alison!), and awaited my ride to the airport. As the airporter arrived, it started to rain, and I heard a flock of Tundra Swans calling over the house - a suitably evocative last memory of Davis. As my plane took off over San Francisco Bay, a mixed flock of Bufflehead, Scaup and Surf Scoter were my last US birds. I've had an incredible time out here - I shall really miss the people, places, and of course the birds - I hope it's not too long until my next visit!

Mendocino Harlequins and Laysan at last!

On Friday I set out on my final (for now) birding trip with Marcel and Joan, where we headed for the Mendocino coast. The weather was incredibly nice for this time of year, with excellent visibility all along the coastline.

Our first target was Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, in search of Harlequins. We were rewarded by a flock of at least a dozen birds, mostly exquisite drakes.

The lighting wasn't exactly ideal, so most of my photos were on the grainy side - here are the best I managed through the scope.

Also just offshore were 5 Northern Fur Seals. Prior to this I had only encountered singletons far offshore on pelagics.

After a brief stop at Van Damme State Park where I dipped Gray Jay again, we headed to Point Arena Cove in search of the Laysan Albatross which has been wintering at this site for the previous decade. Happily, the bird was present and we had great views of it sitting on the water.

The bird was not particularly active, and we never got to see it fly, although it did engage in a few bouts of wing-stretching.

The angular shape and pattern of the face give the bird a very distinctive profile. This was my 569th life bird for the US, and unfortunately probably the last before my imminent departure.

Sunday marked the Putah Creek Christmas Bird Count, and the weather couldn't have been any worse, with persistent wind and heavy rain throughout!

A 3am start for 2.5 hours of owling failed to produce a single hoot, and many species counts during the day were at an all-time low. Still, I enjoyed getting to see some new parts of Yolo with Brent, Carlos, Ona and Mary.

We headed back to Davis soaked to the skin, but a break in the weather rallied our spirits and we decided to look for the Ovenbird. Luck was on our side, and within minutes we were enjoying crippling views of the bird (a lifer for all my birding companions), along with the added bonus of a very confiding Golden-crowned Kinglet. That evening at the compilation potluck, I was presented with a book signed by many of the birders who I have been privileged to bird with over the last two years - I'm going to miss you guys!

OVENBIRD!!! And other Yolo goodies

All my good intentions of spending a long day at work were shattered, when Tobias Rohmer called me saying he and Claire Gallagher had just spotted an OVENBIRD at the Mace Boulevard bridge over Putah Creek! I pedalled over as fast as I could, but for at least the next hour we could not relocate the bird. Around midday I finally spotted the bird, and Roger Adamson, John Sterling and I were able to get phenomenal views of it foraging in the leaf litter. Here are the best shots I managed through the scope:

The bird was particularly remarkable in being the second Yolo County and first Solano County record (though it seemed happy to stay in Solano throughout my visit). Equally remarkable was the fact that it was in exactly the spot where we observed the Eastern Phoebe last weekend - amazing to think that 27 of us missed this bird even though it was right under our noses! In a return visit later in the day, we saw a Golden-crowned Kinglet (very scarce this winter) and more spawning Salmon.

A couple of days before, Joan Humphrey and I birded the county in search of surprises. The best we found was this adorable Snowy Plover, which appears to be wintering at the Davis WWTP...

... as does this Western Sandpiper.

Bonaparte's Gulls were present in about as high numbers as I've ever seen in the county.

We ended the day with a customary visit to the North Davis Merlins.

Day of party, and breaking the 250 barrier

With my departure from California looming, I decided I needed to say goodbye to the many dear friends I've made in my two years here. Since I don't live in a mansion, trying to squeeze everyone in for one big party sounded tricky. Instead, I opted for a day of party, starting with a birding trip at 8am, a birder potluck and slideshow at 3pm, a second potluck for work colleagues at 6pm, followed by the more rowdy ecology grad student crowd from 9pm onwards.

The omens were good on Friday: I got Spotted Towhee as a new yard bird, my beloved Swarovski bins came back from repair looking in much better condition than when I bought them, and Brent Campos had emailed reporting an Eastern Phoebe along Putah Creek south of Davis. Since this would be Yolo County bird no. 250 for me, there was no question of our first destination on Saturday's field trip!

On Saturday morning I arrived at the meeting place unsure of how many people would show - imagine my delight when 27 birders showed up, from as far afield as Santa Cruz, Sebastopol and Berkeley! We must have made a comical sight lined up along the bridge as we searched for the Eastern Phoebe...

Matt Brady was the first to spot the phoebe, on the Solano County side of the bridge. Since the bird seemed in no hurry to make the short hop into Yolo, we sent in our bird-dogs Daryl and Cliff, who 'encouraged' the bird to fly under the bridge and onto my list!

After pausing to admire the bird, and the Salmon which have returned to spawn in Putah for their third successive year, we headed off to Lake Solano. By this time, the weather was fabulous and many of us were now down to T-shirt sleeves - not bad for mid-December!

Birds here included good numbers of Hooded Mergansers, a few Purple Finches and a Red-breasted Sapsucker, but the highlight was watching 8 River Otters playing and vocalizing at very close range.

After driving up Putah Creek Canyon and back to the Davis WWTP seeing nothing particularly unusual, I received a phone call from John Sterling who had relocated a Swamp Sparrow in the Cache Creek Settling Basin. Off we charged, and after a little pishing the bird popped up for a few seconds, gave a phoebe-like chip, and promptly disappeared. My second new county bird of the day - life is good!

We returned to my place for a potluck, where my attempts to surprise Joan Humphrey with a birthday cake were scuppered by my complete inability to light the candles! I'm so grateful to everyone that came along and helped make the day so wonderful - click below to see additional photos of the birder potluck...

L-R: Matt Brady, Sid England, Sami LaRocca, Lisa Hug, Alison Kent, Allan Hollander, Ryan Terrill (Leigh Johnson in foreground).

The Davis youth contingent: Ona, Carlos and Mary

The remarkable Jean and Alan Jackman

Leigh, Ryan (who just became the youngest person ever to see 500 birds in the state - good going!) and Daryl

Karen waves goodbye...

... while Cliff tortures Daryl!

Ready for bed at 3am!

Yolo winter fayre

Today Roger Adamson and I birded from dawn til dusk with Jim Beard from Virginia, who was hoping to fill a few gaps in his California list. We started in the Yolo Wildlife Area for the dawn flyout. Visibility was excellent, and we were treated to an excellent view of the sunrise over the Sierra. Birds of note included at least ten American Bitterns, and several flocks of Tundra Swans, White-fronted, Snow and Ross's Geese. The highlight of the day had to be our astonishing encounter with rails. We stopped the car to look at this obliging Sora...

... which disappeared into the cat-tails to be replaced by this Virginia Rail.

The Sora then fed right next to the Virginia, in the same scope view!

I was only able to capture a blurry preface of what was to come next. The Virginia snuck up behind the Sora...

... the Sora took exception, and the two fought for a few seconds before retreating to a respectable distance!

After a fruitless search for a White-throated Sparrow in Davis, we headed out to Winters, where a little perseverance was rewarded with the biggest flock of Lark Sparrows I've ever seen, and nearby 4 Vesper Sparrows.

Putah Creek Canyon was again eerily quiet for passerines, but we did get great views of 3 drake Barrow's Goldeneye and an Osprey plucking a fish. Lake Solano was as birdy as I've ever seen it, with good numbers of Snipe, Yellowlegs, American Wigeon, Common Mergansers and 2 playful River Otters. We paused in Winters, where Jim treated us to a delicious lunch in the Putah Creek Cafe, before getting nice looks at a Rock Wren at the Winters Sewage Ponds.

We spent much of the afternoon in the Dunnigan Hills area in search of longspurs amongst the hundreds of Horned Larks. No joy, but driving up Road 85 gave us excellent looks at 2 fighting Ferruginous Hawks, the returning Harlan's Hawk (camera-shy as ever), and 4 Mountain Bluebirds, including this cobalt-blue male.

We finished the day in north Davis, where Jim found North Pond a very changed place from when he birded there 20 years ago. It did yield his first CA Aleutian Goose: this individual had a very bold neck collar, and was barely the size of the accompanying Mallards.

Two interacting Merlins at the regular spot were Jim's 6th state bird of the day, and rounded off a wonderful day's winter birding.

Groundhog Bay

Since many of the birds we missed last weekend in San Francisco Bay were still being seen, and some new ones found, Marcel and I decided to do a return trip on Saturday. Our first stop was Venice Beach in Half Moon Bay, in search of an adult Slaty-backed Gull. We found the required mass of gulls around the creek mouth...

.. but not out target. We were saddened to see this Western (or hybrid) Gull, which appeared to have been shot through the neck with a dart. In spite of this horrible injury, the bird seemed able to walk and fly without any difficulty - I guess gulls are pretty much indestructible!

When gull-watching got too much, a tame mixed flock of Red-winged and Brewer's Blackbirds, and Brown-headed Cowbirds, provided a welcome distraction.

The next bird on our hit list was the Rusty Blackbird in Bayfront Park. This time we got lucky - we pulled into the parking lot to find several birders watching it at very close range. The bird was much prettier than I expected, with the rust colours really obvious in the strong sunlight.

If you saw this view in Britain, you'd think you were watching a Fieldfare...

Since high tide was approaching, we tried for a Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow near San Mateo. Again we struck out, but I enjoyed watching the local race of Song Sparrow tucking into the seeds of my study organism, Spartina.

A visit to the Palo Alto Baylands was similarly uneventful, while dipping a Clay-colored Sparrow in Lake Merced at least gave us glorious looks at a young Cooper's Hawk.

In the fading light we searched in vain for a drake Harlequin at Heron's Head Park, but instead had to make do with a flock of Mew Gulls, several Horned Grebes and this Whimbrel.