On the weekend of January 19th and 20th, Kimya and I went to San Francisco with Frank and Katharine Severson.  We arrived mid-morning on Saturday near the Yacht Marina and thousands of gulls were feasting on herring roe throughout the Bay.

The pale dots are the roe stuck to the rocks and vegetation exposed at low tide.To quote from this article by the CA Dept. of Fish and Game:  "While the males release milt into the water, the females swim with their bellies near suitable substrates and release up to 45,000 sticky eggs that adhere to the surface of the chosen substrate. For San Francisco Bay herring, suitable substrates include natural and manmade structures that are relatively siltfree, such as eelgrass and the red algae Gracilaria, rocks, shells, pier pilings, jetties, and boat bottoms.

A small spawn, involving a few tons of fish, can go unnoticed and be over in a single tide. Large spawns, however, are truly spectacular. Spawns of larger magnitude can go on for several days and cover miles of shoreline. The water turns milky with milt. When exposed at low tide, the fertilized eggs (embryos) can be seen blanketing the shoreline and structures such as pier pilings, giving them a pale golden color."

Jelly fish were also visible from shore.

We didn’t realize there was to be a giant "pro life" rally starting right where we parked (I think "pro birth" is more accurate, since, so often for these people, it seems that the "sanctity" of life begins at conception and ends shortly after birth).  Politics weren’t on the agenda for the day, so we stayed out of their way and tried to enjoy the birds…

On our walk over to Fort Mason we saw this Black-crowned Night-Heron kickin’ it on the pier.  I’d never seen one this relaxed before.

We didn’t see the reported Orchard Orioles, but there were a lot of Red-masked Parakeets of the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill fame.

We then walked over to the Presidio and saw the reported Rose-breasted Grosbeak in front of the Golden Gate Club.  We saw him eat a few berries.  Unfortunately he’s out of focus here.

That night we stayed at the Hotel California and had a nice dinner at the Millennium restaurant.  Despite the ominous lyrics in the song of the same title, we were able to check out AND leave the hotel next morning.

We headed over to the Sutro Baths in the morning, but failed to find the reported Burrowing Owl.  We ran into Frances, Liz, and Jim at Heron’s Head, and they told us where to find the Barrow’s Goldeneye and Harlequin Duck at Agua Vista Park among the collapsing piers.  We did.  Tons of gulls there too, and more roe visible on the rocks.  We then headed for home and I continued struggling with the first of two bad colds I’ve dealt with in the last month and a half.

On Monday 1/21/08, MLK day, Kimya and I found the continuing Plumbeous Vireo at Elk Grove Park where I had missed it on Friday.

After work on 1/28/08, I was happy to see this Mountain Chickadee that had been found earlier in the day by John Luther and Jim Lomax.  They were looking for the Townsend’s Solitaire that had also been found in the Land Park neighborhood of Sacramento.  This horrible photo was the best I could do… I try to get record shots, especially of the Sac County rarities, but this one is near ridiculous.

This Barrow’s Goldeneye stayed around for a few days on a small pond at the Bufferlands in the end of January.

There is so little habitat left for Burrowing Owls in Natomas (north of Sacramento) that this one was spending most of its time on a lawn in front of a house.

On 2/9/08, I joined John Schick for his 20-year anniversary survey of River Walk (formerly known as Willow Slough Trail) at Cosumnes River Preserve.  It was good to see some of the folks who have been helping with the surveys all of these years.  It’s hard for me to believe that in June I will have been going on the surveys for ten years.

Later that day, I helped lead a field trip for SOS Cranes.  We saw a lot of cranes and many more geese.  We also enjoyed this nice sunset at Staten Island, with Mt. Diablo in the distance.

Back at the Bufferlands, for the first time–at least in many years–good numbers of Sandhill Cranes have been foraging on the property.  I’ve been informed that the red bands indicate Greater Sandhill Cranes that were banded on Modoc National Wildlife Refuge.  I’ve recorded band numbers on about 20 individuals.

There have been a few Lesser Sandhill Cranes as well.  Note the smaller size of the closest bird.  They have rounder heads and shorter bills.  Instead of breeding in northeast CA or OR, like the greaters, they breed north to Canada, Alaska, and even Siberia.

It was a good year for the local Christmas Bird Counts.  With good weather and few misses of expected species, Sacramento, Lincoln, and Folsom had new high counts.  Area 1 (the Bufferlands) on the 1/3/08 Rio Cosumnes CBC had 120 species.  That beat our previous high by 10!  Best were Redhead, Short-eared Owl, Brown Creeper, Rock Wren, and White-throated Sparrow.  Nothing too unusual, just few misses.

For Folsom, on 12/30, we had a new record of 144 species.  We had some good finds, but mostly there were just very few misses.  We rarely get all of the geese, plus Tundra Swan, like we did this year.

On 1/1, Kimya and I headed out to try to find a reported Red-naped Sapsucker, and were drawn to my old stomping grounds at Beek’s Bight along Folsom Lake where we might turn up a Canyon Wren for count week.
On the hike out to Beek’s Bight, Purple Finches were everywhere.
As were "Myrtle" Yellow-rumped Warblers
Along the rocky shore of Folsom Lake, there were many Rufous-crowned Sparrows.
After posing for a while, the itch was too much to resist.
There were many Rock Wrens too.  Kimya got the best shot of one for the day (below).  No luck with Canyon Wren, however.
This dark Merlin was a nice find.
Folsom Lake as low as I’ve ever seen it.


"Nose Rock"
This American Painted Lady was a nice find for the first day of the year.  Nice to see a butterfly in mid-winter. 

We failed to find the Red-naped Sapsucker, but this adult Sharp-shinned Hawk flew in.

On 1/6/08, we tried again for the Red-naped Sapsucker reported near Orangevale.  This Western Bluebird allowed close approach and caught a worm.

Turkey Vulture
Contemplating flight.
Female Brewer’s Blackbird drinking at Nimbus Hatchery.
Mallard drinking.
A lucky shot of a White-throated Swift.  Most were out of focus.

On 1/13/08, this Brown Creeper, eating an insect, was at Larchmont Park.
Nuttall’s Woodpecker at Larchmont.

Heavy winds broke out a big limb on this huge valley oak at the Bufferlands.
While doing some replants in a restoration planting, I found this very cold Pacific tree frog.  It allowed me to pose it for a photo.  After being in my hand for a minute it was much warmer and more lively, so I put it back in some matching green vegetation.

It’s hard to believe that we’re already almost 6% into 2008, but my blog is still stuck in 2007.  Well, knowing my track record, that’s not too hard to believe.

We were told the day before Thanksgiving that Kimya’s uncle was in a coma and probably not going to regain consciousness.   We flew out to Boston on Thanksgiving day.  It was a very sad situation and he passed away on that Saturday.  It’s hard on everyone to see someone they love in that condition.  The only positive was seeing people that we haven’t seen in a long time.

On the flight back, we had great views of the Canyonlands, flying right over the Escalante River–one of my favorite places.

The other trip that I made also covered a lot of miles in a few days, but was a much happier affair.  I joined John Trochet in Zuni, New Mexico to help with his 25th running of the CBC.  He started birding the area in the early 80s when he was a doctor on the Zuni Pueblo, and he has visited each year to document the avifauna on the CBC and other times of the year
This photo was taken just west of the Zuni Pueblo, in AZ, but gives a feel for the type of landscape at Zuni.  That’s red sandstone with a dusting of snow.

Since the count circle is in a sparsely populated area, John often has very few other counters.  Since this was the silver anniversary, as it were, he put out a call of extra help.  Of the 16 counters, which John referred to as an embarrassment of riches, other Sacramento area locals included Ona Alminas, Carlos Alvarado, and Andy Pfeffer.

We tallied 78 species on a very cold, but otherwise very nice day.  As we left the Charles’ house where we spent the night, it was minus four.  When we entered the count circle it was 1 degree Fahrenheit.  The high was only 33 degrees.  As long as I kept moving, I wasn’t too cold.  It was a good thing that it wasn’t too windy.

Best finds for me were Savannah, Lincoln’s, and White-throated Sparrows, which apparently aren’t all that easy to find in the circle.  Other good birds I had for the count, relatively speaking, were Virgina Rail, Wilson’s Snipe, 19 Ruby-crowned Kinglets (apparently a new high), 12 American Crows, and a Hermit Thrush.  The highlights for me were the very scenic nature of the area and all of the juncos of four races to looks through:  Oregon, Pink-sided, Gray-headed, and Slate-colored (in descending order of abundance).  Many were on the threshold between Oregon and Pink-sided–at least for my inexperienced eyes.
Walnut Canyon National Monument, Arizona.  Cliff Dwelling.
Walnut Canyon:  a wonderful layered look to the cliffs with snow and rock.  It was a bit of a homecoming, since my dad and I visited this area in the late 80s.  Walnut Canyon was only one of the sites we visited on a trip that included Mesa Verde, Canyon de Chelly, and the Grand Canyon.

On this trip, I visited the Meteor Crater further east from Flagstaff.  I had never seen this site before and it was very interesting, with a good visitor center, though the entrance fee is pretty steep.  It was so cold in the wind that I could spend very little time on the rim of the crater.

On the way I also visited too briefly with Dan and Trudy in SoCal.  It was nice to touch base with them after too long.

On the return trip, I stopped at Amboy Crater in CA on the old Route 66.  This crater is volcanic in origin.  What a change from NM.  It was 40 degrees warmer, with Rock Wrens singing like it was spring, and flowers blooming from recent rains.

Kimya and I found this horsehair worm on a walk near home.  It was about a foot long.  The adults are free living, but the larvae parasitize grasshoppers and other insects.

This year I took part in five CBCs, with Folsom the biggest task, since it’s the forth year I have served as compiler.  The others were Sacramento, Lincoln, and Rio Cosumnes.

On the Sacramento CBC, Kimya and I had excellent help with our area.  John Trochet and Al Demartini split the area in half with us, so we had two teams and a total of 7 counters.  The biggest surprise for me was this Rufous-crowned Sparrow on the Sacramento River in south Sacramento.  A fairly common bird in the foothills, it is very rarely seen on the valley floor.

Another good find for us on count day was a Red-naped Sapsucker.  I actually had to return on 12/24 to get a better look and photos to cinch the ID.


John and Al found this oriole, which I was able to get a few poor photos of on 12/24.  I’m not sure if it is an Orchard or a Hooded.  More photos here.

At the compilation for the Sac CBC we spoke with Scott Hoppe.  He was leading a trip the following day to Palo Alto for rails during the highest tide of the year.  We considered going with him, but couldn’t spend a long day, since I hoped to get a half-day’s work done.  Instead we headed to Waldo’s Dike in Tomales Bay, and saw a Great Blue Heron chase down and consume this Black Rail.
In flight after being flushed at high tide by two Great Egrets and a Great Blue Heron.
The rail in the heron’s bill.  I had only had one other brief look at a Black Rail.  Not the best way to see your target bird, but it is often the only way to see Black Rails.  Even though the tide was quite high, without recent storms, the water wasn’t high enough to see many Black Rails and have a good shot at seeing a Yellow Rail.

This Northern Harrier hunted nearby.

On 12/24, I finished my last monthly Orr survey at Cosumnes River Preserve.  Best was a Long-eared Owl.  Also of interest was this possible cougar-killed deer.

The highlight for me on the 12/27 Lincoln CBC was six Short-eared Owls at dusk.  More coming up on Folsom and Rio Cosumnes.

As far as birding and other outdoors activities that keep me sane, this has been a relatively dry period.  With that said, I get out for a little bit nearly every day.  One highlight, however, was the Central Valley Birding Symposium.  I led three days of tours to the Bufferlands and Stone Lakes NWR.  They were a lot of fun, though there was nothing unexpected.  Lingering Black-throated Gray and Townsend’s Warblers were nice, however.

I couldn’t believe how cooperative this Green Heron was. 
Clay Taylor had an SLR attached to his scope and was able to fire off multiple shots per second.  At one point the heron had its crest fully spiked and was actively foraging.  With my super slow camera, I was lucky to get what I did.

Earlier in the morning, I stopped along Woodbridge Rd at the Isenberg Crane Reserve.  Off in the distance were 15-20,000 dark geese.  From the closer birds, I could tell that both Greater White-fronted Geese and Aleutian Cackling Geese were well represented.
Also there was this cooperative Loggerhead Shrike
This Prairie Falcon is seen nearly every day at the Bufferlands

More unusual for the location has been a regular Rough-legged Hawk.  I had only seen one before on the Bufferlands–back around 1999.  It has been a good fall/winter for these in the Valley.


A Snow Goose hanging out with the Canadas on the Bufferlands.

This Red-necked Grebe at Lake Natoma was a great find for the Valley and a first in many years for Sacramento County.

About to dive

Kimya and I got to see the bird on 11/25 and then returned for better photo ops on 11/26.  It continued into December, but I’m not sure if it is still around.

The weekend following our quick trip to Cleveland, Kimya and I made a Sunday (10/7/07) trip to Point Reyes.  The birding was pretty slow, but we did enjoy this cooperative Palm Warbler–a regular fall visitor to the coast.
On a 9/22/07 Audubon trip for rarities, we found no unusual songbirds, but this Laughing Gull was a good find for Northern CA.  Thanks to Martin Meyers for walking out to Abbott’s Lagoon to tell us about it!
Back to 10/7, after Point Reyes, we drove down the coast to Muir Woods.  On the walk in, this curious Winter Wren was almost too close to photograph.

By the bathrooms, we noticed this sign.  Free speech…By the bathrooms…What a country!

It was quite crowded at Muir Woods (best to get there in the morning if going on a weekend), but on a side trail we noted an even larger crowd.


Before sunset, we headed up to Hawk Hill.  We were hoping for a flight of hawks before dark.  There were none, but it was a quintessential tourist moment with a great view of the GGB.


This pigeon chick was found at work.  I took it to my parents who already had a pigeon they found with a broken wing and they have enjoyed raising it.  The plan is for it to go in a cage outdoors with the injured bird, but so far it has been living in the house.

This young racer (Coluber constrictor) was at the Bufferlands on 10/9/07.  When young, they look superficially like a gopher snake.  Both the adults and the young are very aggressive.  The young will coil and strike with such energy as to throw their body toward you. 
Here’s a picture of another young racer biting my coworker.  We were trying to reduce the ophidiophobia of other coworkers.  I doubt the therapy worked, but it was too small to break the skin.

Not much of a picture, but this is only the 4th Lark Sparrow I’ve recorded on the Bufferlands–and the first to photograph.  A few miles to the east and west and this species is regular.

My coworker flushed this Long-eared Owl from the road at the Bufferlands on 10/29/07.  This is a long awaited first for our bird list (#226).  I was able to show if to a few people in the narrow window I had after work that evening, but it didn’t stick around.

I spent a couple of weeks trapping ground squirrels from the levees at the treatment plant.  I moved them to a large dirt pile where we have created some artificial Burrowing Owl burrows.  We hope they will take up residence there and do our job for us.

Getting ready for the new home.
Often regarded as a pest, this species is vital for Burrowing Owls in most of the state and provides refuge of snakes and tiger salamanders, not to mention food for hawks, coyotes, etc.

UC Press released a new book on plant galls.
On the 10/20/07 Tall Forest bird survey at Cosumnes River Preserve, I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this valley oak leaf chock full of spined turban galls (created by a cynipid wasp–Antron douglasii).

One of the most interesting is this willow cone gall from a sandbar willow at Cosumnes, created by a willow cone gall midge (Rabdophaga strobiloides).

It’s shaping up to be a good year for acorns, after two very poor years.  These on a live oak near home were particularly abundant
and attractive.

Finally, this female Green-winged Teal photographed on 10/27 at the Yolo Wildlife Area was initially thought by many to be a Garganey.  A possible Garganey was reported a few days earlier, so they may have been different birds.

As I get time, I’ve been trying to archive and organize my photos at Flickr.

Richard Hall just got back from another trip to New Caledonia.  Check out his excellent blog!

This is another of my efforts to catch up.  It’s hard to justify spending time on the blog when I’m so far behind on so many other things, but if I’m going to procrastinate anyway, I might as well get caught up on something less painful than real work…

One of about 100 Blackpoll Warblers on the shore of Lake Erie in the rain on 10/1/07.

Tinker’s Creek Falls

In addition to birds, we saw several of the area’s waterfalls.  This Great Blue Heron was fishing above Chagrin Falls, which is right in town.


In addition to Chagrin Falls, on 9/29/07 we visited Liberty Park near Twinsburg.

This garter snake crossed the trail.

The insects were a highlight, including this Monarch.
Mantis

A life butterfly:  Pearl Crescent

The trail through a damp forest tempted us to turn over a few logs.

There were several red-backed salamanders underneath.

These are the largest wasps I have ever seen (about the size of my thumb)

At the end of the day, we found ourselves at Cuyohoga Valley National Park.  On the board walk along the Beaver Marsh, we enjoyed watching this huge snapping turtle.


Despite getting out in the field for parts of each day, and a couple of nearly full days, we only managed to see 60 species–yet, many of them we would rarely if ever see in California.

On Monday, 9/17/07, I was able to add a new species to the Bufferlands bird list:  Green-tailed Towhee.  The list is now at 225 (I’ve seen 223 of them).  This is only the second Green-tailed Towhee I have seen in Sacramento County–the other was at the Howard Ranch (then owned by the Nature Conservancy) way back in May of 2002.
This bird was foraging in the road at Upper Beach Lake at 1:45 in the afternoon.  I saw it from my work vehicle.  I didn’t have time to try to show it to anyone that evening or the next day, and didn’t find it in quick checks the following two mornings.

On more thing:  Yahoo photos closed so I transferred all of my photos to Flickr.  It seems like a good photo storage site and I’ll continue to add more photos.

After completing a survey of the Orr Forest at Cosumnes River Preserve on Sunday morning (7/29/07) with John Trochet, I received a few phone calls (thanks!) alerting me to a Curlew Sandpiper that Todd Easterla had found at the Yolo Wildlife Area. 

The lighting was a bit harsh, but the bird was only about 40 feet away when I took this digiscope.

Kimya and I didn’t get to the wildlife area until about 4:30 P.M.  It took about an hour to find the bird, which had been moving around quite a bit, and was mostly associating with dowitchers.  In that time, we saw a Peregrine Falcon capture a medium-sized shorebird.  When the Curlew Sandpiper was refound, it was only about 40 feet north of the road, providing excellent looks. 

A Green Heron flew over, flushing the flock a little farther away, but after a few minutes of searching, the sandpiper was found again, and was still there when we left around 6:30 P.M.  Several people were still looking at the bird as we drove away.

The remaining rufous feathers helped greatly with the identification.  Structurally, it appeared slimmer and longer winged than a Dunlin, but depending on the angle and the distance, the bill wasn’t as distinct as I thought it might be (it actually looks more so in the photos than my impression in the field).

Back to the Orr Survey…we had quite a few migrants for the date, with 17 Pacific-slope/Western Flycatchers, three Orange-crowned Warblers (some may have been lingering breeders), two Wilson’s Warblers, and one Western Tanager.  The best bird for Cosumnes was a Spotted Sandpiper.

The birding has been slow and I’ve been busy with a number of projects, so I haven’t gotten out a whole lot.  One thing, though, as I’ve been focusing on learning the local butterflies, I’ve been noticing the dragonflies and getting interested in them again too.

On July 4th, Kimya and I drove Sand Creek Rd to the west of Arbuckle in Colusa County, then up to Bear Valley, and, finally, up Rayhouse Rd.  A Greater Roadrunner was at its typical spot where the pavement transitions to dirt.  The main reason for the trip was to get mileages for Sacramento Audubon’s update of Birding in the Sacramento Region, but we also took the opportunity to see North America’s largest dragonfly:  the Giant Darner.

They were very difficult to photograph, busily patrolling the creek, chasing every other dragonfly in sight.  I managed a few decent in-flight shots as one stayed relatively still for a few seconds.  There were two to four at each place we stopped along the creek.

This Gray Sanddragon was also a first for us.  We saw five or six along the creek.
And there were quite a few Sooty Dancers.
American Rubyspot
This cool little skipper (the species is beyond me) was feasting on this heliotrope.
Earlier, on the way down Sand Creek Rd just into Yolo County, we found this gorgeous king snake, though he didn’t want to pose for a picture.
By mid-day it was very hot, as this panting Ash-throated Flycatcher can attest.  Even the dragonflies stopped flying when the temp reached 106.

On Sunday, 7/8/07, we found this Olive Clubtail along the American River Parkway.
The previous weekend we visited the same area, and found a number of dragonflies, and a few butterflies, like this Acmon Blue.
We are poaching Tim Manolis’s turf, as I’ve seen mention of nice ponds behind Rio Americano High School.  There certainly have been a lot of odes flying when we’ve been there, like this Blue Dasher.
And butterflies:  Eastern Tailed Blue
And this particularly nice Variegated Meadowhawk
Western Pondhawk
Widow Skimmer
Twelve-spotted Skimmer
Flame Skimmer
Common Whitetail–the first dragonfly species to really catch my eye when I started working at the Bufferlands, and still one of my favorites.  I can remember asking Tim about it when I learned that he was working on his dragonfly book–though I think I described it so poorly he didn’t know what I was talking about.
A femaleIn the same area, we came upon this rattlesnake.
Or is it a cottonmouth?
John Trochet joined me on the monthly bird survey of the Orr Forest, at Cosumnes River Preserve.  It was a very nice morning–especially the sunrise.
The previous evening I checked on the status of the trail and found a Oregon Junco family.  There were at least two streaky juvs, plus both parents.  John Trochet first found this species breeding at Cosumnes River Preserve in 2000, which was the first time a nest had been found in the Central Valley.  They have bred several times since, but not every year.
On this same visit, I saw about 25 Lorquin’s Admirals.  These are one of my favorites, and a species mentioned by Art Shapiro as being in a steep decline in many areas in the Central Valley.  This despite no obvious change in the availability of its willow host plants.
This extremely worn Mournful Duskywing was a sad sight to behold.
A spreadwing, but I’m not sure which one.
Near Bannister Park along the American River Parkway, Kimya and I found this Cardinal Meadowhawk.
On 6/24/07, I led a trip for Sacramento Audubon to Martis Valley.  It was the first time I had gotten into the Sierra this year.  We saw and heard at least three Willow Flycatchers along Martis Creek, as well as seeing this dark-lored Mountain White-crowned Sparrow.
This Horned Lark at Martis Creek Lake had a bill full of insects.
Osprey with a fish.
Killdeer chick
We ran into a nice flock of Red Crossbills on the road up to Martis Peak–always a crowd pleaser.
This female Williamson’s Sapsucker was slumming on the side of the outhouse at the Martis Peak lookout.  From there we could see the beginning of the big fire that devastated parts of South Lake Tahoe in the week to come.

Kimya and I spent the morning with John Schick on the Cosumnes Butterfly Count (6/16/07).  We saw several Monarchs,
a Common Hairstreak,
several Mournful Duskywings,
several Common Checkered Skippers,
a few Eastern Tailed Blues,
and Buckeyes (below), as well as over 100 Purplish Coppers, among 13 species for our group.  After Kathy Schick compiled the numbers, we learned that the count itself had a record number of individual butterflies counted (1077), and the second highest species total (24) since it began in 1993.
On the weekend of June 8 to 10, Kimya and I visited the eastern Mojave (mostly in the Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County).  I wanted to show her Clark Mountain, which I have been visiting for the past four years, as well as explore some new areas.  On 6/8, we made a mid-day stop at Afton Canyon, and were happy to see a few distant Bighorn Sheep, even though there weren’t many birds.
This Zebra-tailed Lizard was nice to see along the road to Clark Mountain.  A LeConte’s Thrasher sat up briefly, but didn’t pose for a photo.
These Black-headed Grosbeaks were eating cliff rose on the lower slopes of the mountain.
A Crystal Light powder mixing mishap.
It was very dry and the birding slow.  We did find a couple of Gray Vireos, but climbed only half way up the mountain.  We then headed for the New York Mountains.  We had been given good directions to Keystone Springs, and spent the night at the beginning of the canyon.  We were surprised to find a couple of Cassin’s Kingbirds, though I have subsequently read that there are breeding records for the New Yorks and a few nearby ranges.  The walk up canyon was very scenic, and we found what might be grinding rocks.
As we drove north back to Hwy 15, several Desert Iguanas ran across the road.  They’re very fast, but this one stopped briefly in the shade.

I was planning to spend a quiet weekend at home catching up on various projects, but continuing reports of Horned Puffins at Point Reyes and elsewhere along the coast changed my plans for Sunday, 6/3/07.
Kimya and I got an early start and had brief views of the reported Eastern Kingbird along the road to Drake’s Beach by 8:30.  We were able to get better views on the way home.
After the quick look for the kingbird, we made our way to the Chimney Rock trail.  The fog made it difficult to scan through the 1000+ Surf Scoters, with 100s of Common Murres and many Pigeon Guillemots.  At about 10:30 we finally found this bird just to the right of the point with the bench at the end of the trail.
There was a single Ancient Murrelet just to the left of the end of the trail.  It was close to the bluffs, but hard to get in the scope as it kept diving.

We walked along the bluffs to the right, trying to get a closer view of the puffin and found a second bird (the same as at the top of this page).  Note the cleaner face.  There was a third Horned Puffin farther along the bluffs beyond this bird.
This Savannah Sparrow looks like he has had better days.  Despite the missing head feathers, he was a vigorous singer.
There was a family of Peregrine Falcons at the end of the trail, with a total of four birds seen.
In this cove about 2/3s of the way back to the parking area, there were many Elephant Seals and a fourth Horned Puffin–an individual similar in plumage to the first bird we saw.
This doe and fawn were near the ranger’s residence by the parking area.  Here she is crawling under the fence.
They stood in the open and she gave the fawn a good grooming–the front
and the rear.