(I’m rather behind on editing photos, reviewing restaurants, etc etc., so I’m going with minimal text on my birding reports for the time being!)
Sarah & I visited Point Lobos State Reserve, one of our favorite places on the planet, last Sunday, 11/18, and as always, had a lovely time, even though conditions didn’t permit much in the way of great photography.
View from our hotel room (w/a 420mm lens, anyways!)
After breakfast we stopped by the Pacific Grove Monarch Butterfly Reserve, where many thousands of Monarchs spend the winter. It was early in the season, though, and just a few clumps were visible:
Monarch Butterflies
An appropriate bench for the Monarch Preserve!
Next we drove to Carmel River State Beach , where many interesting and rare birds have been observed. We saw none of these, but I was happy with a distant Bonaparte’s Gull view, my first of the year.
Carmel River State Beach
Next we entered Point Lobos, happy to get in “free” since we have a State Park Pass this year. Whaler’s Cove parking lot was full, as was Sea Lion Point, so we started on the south end of the preserve at Weston Beach, named for photographer-par-excellence Edward Weston, who, along with Ansel Adams, was fond of photographing Point Lobos’ rocky shores.
Black Oystercatcher
Next up we visited Bird Island, which did not live up to its name this time. Although in late spring it is covered in thousands of nesting Brandt’s and Pelagic Cormorants, there was little other than a half-dozen Brown Pelicans this time. I did get a distant, but good, look at a Bewick’s Wren (LIFER!), which was great.
After a quick lunch we returned to Whaler’s Cove to see if the parking had cleared up. Not really, but we did snag a spot, and set out to hike to the northern boundary of the preserve, the only part we hadn’t been to before.
Whaler’s Cove cabin, now a museum
Boiled abalone anyone?
Seals lazing about
White-tailed deer buck
Point Lobos shoreline
Ahh, another day in paradise! The fog was rolling in pretty quickly and heavily, though, so after our hike we hit the road towards home, stopping off at Earthbound Farms’ farm stand in Carmel Valley.
It was a nice stand, but very expensive ($8.50 for a pint of blueberries, yikes! Granted they’re out of season and organic, but still!). Up Hwy 1 a ways we stopped of at a more reasonably-priced (but non-organic) stand and got some artichokes and brussell’s sprouts, mmmmm!
Birds seen:
Gadwall – Anas strepera X
Mallard – Anas platyrhynchos X
Surf Scoter – Melanitta perspicillata X
Horned Grebe – Podiceps auritus X
Eared Grebe – Podiceps nigricollis X
Brown Pelican – Pelecanus occidentalis X
Brandt’s Cormorant – Phalacrocorax penicillatus X
Double-crested Cormorant – Phalacrocorax auritus X
Pelagic Cormorant – Phalacrocorax pelagicus X
Great Blue Heron – Ardea herodias X
Great Egret – Ardea alba X
Snowy Egret – Egretta thula X
American Coot – Fulica americana X
Turkey Vulture – Cathartes aura X
White-tailed Kite – Elanus leucurus X
Red-shouldered Hawk – Buteo lineatus X
Red-tailed Hawk – Buteo jamaicensis X
Black Oystercatcher – Haematopus bachmani X
Black Turnstone – Arenaria melanocephala X
+ Bonaparte’s Gull – Larus philadelphia X
Heermann’s Gull – Larus heermanni X
Mew Gull – Larus canus X
California Gull – Larus californicus X
Western Gull – Larus occidentalis X
Rock Pigeon – Columba livia X
Black Phoebe – Sayornis nigricans X
Say’s Phoebe – Sayornis saya X
Western Scrub-Jay – Aphelocoma californica X
American Crow – Corvus brachyrhynchos X
Common Raven – Corvus corax X
Bushtit – Psaltriparus minimus X
* Bewick’s Wren – Thryomanes bewickii X
Yellow-rumped Warbler – Dendroica coronata X
Song Sparrow – Melospiza melodia X
White-crowned Sparrow – Zonotrichia leucophrys X
(+ = year bird, * = life bird)
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
These are great Adam, 8.50 for blueberries is nuts, looks like you got some really nice images though 🙂
I always love your photo essays! And wow, look at all those Monarch’s! Oystercatcher! Stunning!
I agree with Monarch… the oystercatcher is just gorgeous. I’ve never seen one of those in my life! I guess I knew monarchs overwinter in the US somewhere… But since ours all go to Mexico, I kinda forgot… It would be so cool to see them!
Isn’t the best time to go to the Monarch Butterfly Reserve in January or February? I’ve been keeping it in mind to visit the Reserve at that time, hoping to see many butterflies. It seems the couple of times I visited, it was the wrong time (like spring or summer). I love all your photos as usual, but I think the white-tail buck stands out. Thanks for sharing your photo essay.
That was a great trip. I always enjoy your photos so very much!
Bernie: nuts indeed! With your macro and moving water photography skills, you’d go crazy in Point Lobos – so many interesting rock formations on the shore there! I always 1) have trouble composing a pleasing rock abstract macro and 2) am there midday in the wrong light, except when it’s foggy, which is pretty often.
Monarch: Thanks – I thought you’d appreciate the Monarchs 🙂 I’ll have to make a trip to Santa Cruz in a month or so just for you (there’s another colony that overwinters there that’s pretty spectacular when it’s fully populated!).
Jennifer: This was the closest a Black Oystercatcher has ever let me get – there were about 8 of them foraging together, which is a little unusual, as my experience with the bird has always been with 1-3 individuals. They’re relatively common along the California and Oregon coast, and make quite a racket on the wing.
Mary: Yes, Jan/Feb is the best time. I also rarely get to the preserves then. Although this was my first time to the Pacific Grove one, I’ve been to the one at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz many times, but only once in the height of the colony – it was amazing.
Montucky: thanks!