The month of November included what has become a regular trip to the northwest to see my son (22nd-24th), with Northwestern Crows and Trumpeter Swans easy to find along the highways. There were no owls this year, but Stanley Park, Vancouver yielded large numbers of Barrow's Goldeneye and three Harlequin Ducks, while a Long-tailed Duck flew past us at Zuanich Point in Bellingham. I also added Golden-crowned Kinglet and Swamp Sparrow for the year.
I did not get to bird too much on a couple of trips to San Jose, but I did chase after an American Golden Plover that had been seen at Alviso EEC entrance road on November 10th. There was a crowd of birders there when we arrived -including Sergio and Garrett, many having searched for the bird for quite some time. I was in luck and someone spotted the bird back towards Spreckles Pond and I added what was possibly a lifer to my list. A Ruddy Turnstone that had also been around eluded everyone that day. Later in the month, on the 21st, Sergio and I spent a morning at Laguna where we had almost given up scanning for Mountain Bluebirds only to find them right along the road itself, and at the water district where Sergio took me straight to the Red-breasted Sapsucker's tree. This was the first time I had seen this species in two years.
Closer to home I did a trip down to Sedona on November 3rd to add some year birds to my Coconino list, and as well as finding Gila Woodpecker, Northern cardinal, Bridled Titmouse and my jinx bird Canyon Towhee, I found a female Williamson's Sapsucker in a juniper in the Brewer Road neighborhood. Two weeks later I headed out on a successful chase, first to Ashurst Lake to add Red-breasted Merganser for the year, and to Mormon Lake to add Ross's Goose to my county year list.
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