Our tour will take us from Monterey Bay to San Francisco Bay and the Central Valley to experience an abundanc of bird life. The region’s mild climate and amazing habitat diversity contribute to outstanding winter birding, and depending on the weather, we could easily tally over 200 bird species. We will spend 2 nights in each of 4 different locations to optimize our habitat diversity and our chance to experience the very best of central California birding.
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (Google Map)
We will meet at the San Jose International Airport and will immediately head south toward Monterey. Our first two nights will be spent in the Monterey Bay area, exploring the tidal estuaries, open waters, and protected harbors of this spectacular region. We will time our visit to Pt. Lobos for the extreme low tide so that we can explore some of the Pacific Coast’s most productive tidepools. While wandering through gardens of anemones, urchins, and sea palms, we will enjoy ‘rockpipers’ galore, with good chances for Wandering Tattler, Surfbird, Black Oystercatcher, and Black Turnstone. We will join the egrets for their low-tide fishing ritual, and we should have excellent looks at harbor seals and California sea lions.
Monterey Harbor always hosts the charismatic California sea otter, and the open bay could produce all three scoter species, Harlequin and Long-tailed Ducks, numerous loons and grebes, and an abundance of gulls, including Mew and Glaucous-winged Gulls. Our final stop in the region will take us to Moss Landing, at the mouth of Elkhorn Slough, where we will sort through a plethora of waterbirds while enjoying rafts of otters loafing in the harbor. We will make a special effort to visit the world-famous Phil’s Fish Market, where we will savor the seafood bounty of the Pacific Ocean.
Our next two nights will take us into the south Bay Area to explore the region’s expansive tidal estuaries and marshlandsand its oases of native upland habitats. Some of the resident birds we can expect in local parks may include California ScrubJay, Wrentit, California Towhee, Oak Titmouse, California Quail, and Nuttall’s Woodpecker
On our main day here, we may visit Shoreline Lake and Charleston Slough for an abundance of waterbird species, including possible Black Skimmer and American Bittern—along with the resident Burrowing Owls. One of the big highlights of the South Bay will be a visit to the Palo Alto Yacht Harbor, legendary for its local population of multiple rail species. We should easily see Clapper and Virginia Rails as well as Sora, with a possibility for the elusive Black Rail. The extreme high tide will push the rails and wintering sparrows to the tops of the marsh vegetation, and the latter may include Swamp and Nelson’s Sparrows among the Song Sparrows and Marsh Wrens. If time allows, we may head into Alum Rock Park for more California specialties, such as Acorn and Nuttall’s woodpeckers, Hutton’s Vireo, California Thrasher, Band-tailed Pigeon, and possible Canyon Wren or Northern Pygmy-Owl.
We will depart San Jose via the eastern bayshore, aiming for Arrowhead Marsh. Arrowhead supports one of the highest concentrations of Clapper Rails in the Bay Area, and the rising tide will force the rails out of hiding. We could see dozens of Clappers, as well as Sora and Virginia Rail, with a chance for the very rare Yellow Rail. The tide also forces skulking songbirds up to easy viewing heights in the marsh vegetation, and we could again see wintering Nelson’s or Swamp Sparrows among the resident songbirds. If it has been raining, the flooded uplands of this regional park can also host Cackling and Greater White-fronted Geese, as well as Eurasian Wigeon and the rare Common (Eurasian Green-winged) Teal.
After Arrowhead, we will head to Oakland’s Lake Merritt, which hosts an amazing diversity of wintering waterfowl. A few of the expected species will include Canvasback, Barrow’s Goldeneye, and Greater Scaup, and the Tufted Duck is all but annual at this urban park. Ornamental trees around the lake may host Red breasted and possible Williamson’s or Red-naped Sapsuckers.
Following lunch in San Francisco, we will cross the Golden Gate Bridge and bird at Las Gallinas Sewage Ponds, then spending the next two nights in Marin and Sonoma Counties.
We will spend this leg of the trip in the vicinity of Point Reyes National Seashore. The birding in the region is some of the best in California and will take us from pine forest to coastal estuary in search of tidal and upland specialties. We will visit Bolinas Lagoon at the high tide, where we could see many Eurasian Wigeon and possible Tufted Duck. Riparian habitats in the area could produce wintering Townsend’s Warbler and Red-breasted Sapsucker, as well as Hermit Warbler, Wrentit, Hutton’s Vireo, and Lesser Goldfinch.
Our first stop after departing Point Reyes will be the marshes at Suisun Bay, where we have another chance to find the elusive Black Rail. We will then course through agricultural Solano County, where we will begin our open-country segment of the tour. Fields in the region traditionally support flocks of wintering Mountain Plovers, along with Ferruginous Hawk and flocks of Horned Larks. Raptors will become abundant as we head into the Central Valley
The last leg of the tour will have us scouring the wetlands of the Central Valley, and specifically the habitats along the northern San Joaquin River and its tributaries. A stop at Cosumnes River—one of California’s only undammed rivers—will give us a taste of what’s to come in the next couple days, with plenty of Sandhill Cranes and waterfowl.
Our lodging will be close to the Merced and San Luis National Wildlife Refuges, which host an amazing abundance of wintering birds—from raptors to shorebirds to songbirds. We should see huge flocks of ‘white’ geese, plus cranes, plovers, Dunlin, sparrows, and much more.
We will leave the San Joaquin Valley and cross the Diablo Range westward, in time to reach San Jose airport by noon for 2 pm or later departures.
