Needles

Heading back to Flagstaff we spent the night of Friday May 15th in Needles, and spent half an hour on the Colorado River in Marina Park from 7:00 to 7:30pm. This wasn't much of a park but there was some river access and we were surprised to find a Ross's Goose, as well as less surprisingly a Wilson's Warbler - both new for the year,

Ross's Goose

En route back to the motel we had another new bird for the year, a Lesser Nighthawk swooping by the area by a petrol station.

We returned to Flagstaff on Saturday morning, May 16th having seen 112 species in California including two that are not countable, with 2 lifers and 2 further ABA birds. This tally included 48 species new for the year, some of which I would surely find later in Arizona but many of which were California specialties.

Malibu

I spent two-and-a-half hours, mostly in the rain, on Thursday May 14th at Malibu Lagoon and at a couple of spots along Malibu Creek between US 101 and the coast.

Malibu Lagoon and the nearby beach had many terns, and unlike those at Bolsa Chica which were always in the air, some posed quite happily for the camera.

Caspian Terns

Elegant Tern

Forster's Tern

Most of the terns were Elegants with a large group near the rocks and the surfers; a notice board said it was grunion time - these small fish cam close to shore to spawn. As well as the terns there were many gulls, including a few Heerman's, and Brown Pelicans. The only new species for 2015 were a couple of Brant.

Brant

A heavy downpour sent me running back tot he car; thankfully I had an umbrella with me, despite the fact that it was hard to carry both this and my spotting scope. I waited in the car for a while before deciding I had probably seen all that I would at the Lagoon, and I headed back up Malibu Canyon Road to a couple of spots on Malibu Creek.

Although it was still drizzling I had some shelter from the trees and I saw my first male Nuttall's Woodpecker of the trip; a Black-throated Gray Warbler and a Lazuli Bunting were the other highlights before the rain got heavier and I headed back to the hotel.

Back to the Coast - Ventura

I returned to the coast in the morning of Wednesday June 13th with a trip to Ventura Harbor with the prime goal of getting Wandering Tattler, a bird I failed to find at Playa del Reyes/Ballona on Sunday.

A look at eBird before I left indicated the presence of two loons at the Marina Park part of the Harbor and I found both birds within seconds of leaving the car! The Red-throated Look was only the second one I had ever seen and, unlike the first, this bird was close and gave excellent views.

Red-throated Loon

Common Loon

I then headed down to a jetty in hope of finding the tattler on the rocks, but found it instead on the beach nearby, where I watched it through the scope for a good twenty minutes. I had seen this bird briefly in Mexico many years ago and had looked for it several times in San Diego, Monterey etc. It was good to finally see this bird.

Wandering Tattler

I then headed to the other end of the harbour and wandered down the beach seeing Black-winged Stilts, Sanderlings and another Mute Swan.

I returned to the hotel around 2pm, but returned to Ventura with my wife in the evening. This time finding Willets, American Avocets and Surf Scoters as well as both the loons.

Male Surf Scoter

California - inland

We spent Monday May 11th and Tuesday June 12th away from the coast. Monday was spent in and around Westlake Village and began with a visit to Lake Sherwood, a community built around a reservoir with private land all around the lake shore. I was pleased to add Oak Titmouse at this place due to my bad luck with Juniper Titmouse back home, but over the next few days I saw dozens of this species! I also saw a Mute Swan at Lake Sherwood but I assume this bird is not countable.
 

Oak Titmouse

My next stop was to walk a trail at the Lake Eleanor Open Space where I added another state specialty - California Quail. At the end of the day my wife and I walked around Triunfo Community Park and onto a connecting trail where I added California Thrasher and Band-tailed Pigeon. But the highlight of the evening's walk was a Western Screech Owl sitting at the edge of his nest box.

Western Screech Owl

Tuesday May 12th was my day to brave the LA traffic and go to Placerita Canyon near the town of Santa Clarita off of Interstate-5. My target species was Mountain Quail, a bird that is not easy as they are more secretive and less noisy than Gambel's, Scaled or California Quail. I hiked 7 miles from the Nature Center along the Canyon Trail and the Waterfall Trail but failed to find this species. I did manage to find a couple of singing Pacific-slope Flycatchers. But the day's highlight was a Western Rattlesnake of the Southern Pacific subspecies.

Southern Pacific Rattlesnake

In fact this was a three-snake day. I had a Gopher Snake cross the trail a mile before I saw the rattler, and my wife and I saw a Ring-necked Snake at the Triunfo Community Park that evening!

California - near the ocean

On Saturday May 9th and Sunday May 10th my wife and I hit some spots on the coast around Los Angeles. Our first real stop was at the Palos Verdes Peninsular, but we took a quick break at the Colonel Leo Washington Park to hear and briefly see a Spotted Dove - familiar to me from Bangsar and Brisbane but an ABA bird here! As we were leaving we saw a small green parrot flying overhead - a Yellow-chevroned Parakeet, a life bird for me!

On the Palos Verdes Peninsular we went to the Nature Center at White Point, and outside the center we immediately found two adult California Gnatcatcher feeding some fledglings. This was my target bird - this time an intended lifer! We also saw a couple of California Towhees, and then perched on a  a wire a Cockatiel - this was not a countable species. We walked down the road to the beach where we saw a Black Oystercatcher as well as a number of birds expected on a southern California beach - gulls, cormorants and Brown Pelicans.

Cockatiel

We spent two hours in the morning of Sunday May 10th at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve in Huntington Beach, one of my favourite spots. The walkbridge area was dominated by terns - a mix of Elegant, Forster's, Least and Caspian - flying around calling. The best bird at this area was a Ridgway Rail that we saw walking among the grass on an island but which then came into clear view at the water's edge. We then drove to the visitor center where we saw a number of waders - Black-bellied (grey) Plover, Whimbrel, Long-billed Curlew and Marbled Godwit.

Black-bellied Plover

Long-billed Curlew

Whimbrel

After lunch we drove to another of my favorite spots, Playa del Reyes, and we walked the jetties at Ballona Creek where I was hoping for a Wandering Tattler. We had no luck with this bird but saw Black and Ruddy Turnstones  and Surfbirds on the rocks, and a group of Sanderlings on the beach. Also on the beach was a young sealion lazing around, and after Marine Animal Rescue  turned up, netted him and took him to their car he 'ran' back down the beach. He had to be persuaded to go into the water, but eventually he swam off.

Birdingpal Visitors

I had two birdingpal visitors from Edinburgh, Scotland to show around on Sunday May 3rd and took them to Cave Springs and to the Kachina Wetlands.

Cave Springs obliged with some colorful birds Bridled Titmouse, Yellow Warbler,  Black-headed Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Bullock's Oriole, Evening Grosbeaks and to my surprise a Red-faced Warbler as we headed back to the car!

The Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Ruddy Ducks were the stars at Kachina, but the only new bird for the year for me was a Bank Swallow - not very interesting for my Scottish visitors who see these, as Sand Martins back home.

A New Yard Bird

On Friday May 1st we added a new bird to our yard list - number 97 - when a flock of 24 White-faced Ibis flew over. This was a new bird for the year too.

Filling in gaps in the Verde Valley

On Tuesday April 28th I found myself free of meetings and on-campus commitments and being caught up with my grading and with final exams under control I spent the day with Rich hitting some spots in the Verde Valley.

I let Rich know that I was still missing Bushtit, Northern Cardinal,  Crissal Thrasher and Greater Roadrunner and he took me to a series of spots to look for these. We had the cardinal at Page Springs, the thrasher at Ogden ranch Road and Bushtit at Chuckwalla Road in Cottonwood. I also picked up some other year birds - Brown-crested Flycatcher, Vesper Sparrow, White-winged Dove, Black-headed Grosbeak and Bullock's Oriole were all likely to be found soon enough, but a Solitary Sandpiper at Page Springs and a Zone-tailed Hawk at Rich and Nanette's were unexpected. To round things off we saw a roadrunner atop a snag in front of the Sedona High School.

Breeding Plumage Golden-crowned Sparrow

The next two weeks were rather quiet. On April 18th a trip out to Lake Mary yielded one Franklin's Gull with a few Ring-billeds, on Tuesday 20th a short trip to Cave Springs added only Painted Redstart and an overdue Red-naped Sapsucker to my year list, and on Thursday 22nd a brief walk around the Kachina Wetlands a few Lark Sparrows and Common Yellowthroat.

But things improved the following weekend when my wife and I spent the morning at the Red Rock Ranger Station near Oak Creek Village. Flycatching birds had arrived and we had western Kingbird, Cassin's Kingbird and Ash-thrated Flycatcher. Scott's Orioles were singing from atop the trees and we found a Black-chinned Hummingbird at the feeder. A Green-tailed Towhee was a bit of surprise and 6 new birds for the year was the highest in one day since we were at the Bill Will in early February.

A posting that day told of a Golden-crowned Sparrow visiting a feeder at The Peaks in Flagstaff, and I popped round on Sunday morning. This bird was my first breeding plumaged Golden-crowned Sparrow - very different from the drab winter birds that I had seen previously.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Yellow-eyed Junco in Flagstaff

The coming of April means the arrival of summer birds and the passage of migrants as well as a few things that are out of place.

On Saturday 11th my wife and I went to Logan's Crossing  but found little, although I added Cedar Waxwing and Bewick's Wren for the year.

But a post on Monday April 12th announced a Yellow-eyed Junco in Flagstaff, and I was able to head over to a yard in the Elden Spring area to see this bird - although I had seen one this year at the Kubo. Chuck was there at the same time to add a county bird to his impressive list of 360-odd birds in Coconino.

Yellow-eyed Junco