On May 18th my wife and I went down to our favorite haunt on the coast, Moss Landing. Our first stop was at the old salt ponds, now named the Moss Landing State Wildlife Area, where much of what we saw was as expected - Harbour Seals, Sea Otters and birds along the shoreline including my FOY Savannah Sparrow. An area had been fenced off for breeding Snowy Plovers and we could see a couple in the distance.
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| Savannah Sparrow |
We then crossed the busy highway and took Jetty Road to park and do a loop of the beach and the mudflats. As ever birds were abundant and we had Bonaparte's Gulls, Elegant Terns and at least one Pelagic Cormorant. Unusual sightings were Common Loons and Surf Scoter sitting on the mud.
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| Common Loon |
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| Surf Scoter |
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| Pacific Loon |
Ten days later, on May 28th we went back to the coast but this time went to the Salinas River NWR. This was not the easiest place to get to, and would have been impossible in wetter conditions as the last part of the road was simply dirt. But the walk down to the beach was nice and I added Caspian Tern, Dunlin and Semipalmated Plover for the year. On the way back we saw a Western Wood-Pewee flycatching from the bushes.
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| Savannah Sparrow |
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| Western Wood-Pewee |
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