California

California is a delightfully varied state, from world-class pelagic birding to rocky ocean shorelines, towering coast redwoods, productive marshes and mudflats, and amazing high elevation vistas of the Coast Range. We sample parts of Central California from the Pacific coastline inland to the magnificent high mountain scenery of the Sierra Nevada. Pelagic boatrides out into Monterey Bay are among the most exciting in the world, for the cool California Current brings nutrient rich waters close to land and provide feeding grounds for many North Pacific species and large numbers of migrants from the Southern Hemisphere. Add to this a rich landbird fauna, including several endemics and great numbers of shorebirds migrating south from northern breeding grounds, at Point Reyes National Seashore, Mono Lake and world-famous Yosemite National Park, plus the chance to see once again a California Condor soaring majestically in the wild, and we have a superb and spectacular tour. Central California also hosts a remarkable array of mammals, from sea otters to Tule Elk. Travelling in California is made especially pleasurable by excellent roads and fine accommodations.

Highlights

• Relatively easy and productive birding among the most scenically impressive and diverse of areas
• Exciting and productive pelagic, with potential for exceptional sightings
• Lots of mammals, from Sea Otters and Orcas to Tule Elk and Sea-lions!

Itinerary

Day 1 Arrival and transfer to Inverness
Arrival in San Francisco and transfer north over the Golden Gate Bridge to Inverness for a two night stay, perhaps stopping at Bolinas Lagoon en route to look for our first shorebirds, gulls and terns. Overnight in Inverness.

Day 2 Point Reyes National Seashore
Point Reyes National Seashore is a superb area supporting a variety of pristine habitats of riparian willow and oak thickets, dry chaparral, lagoons and estuaries. The peninsula sticks out into the Pacific Ocean, allowing ready viewing of spectacular shearwater concentrations off the Central California coast. Brackish lagoons and small estuaries attract thousands of shorebirds - Western and Least Sandpipers, Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Curlew, Short-billed Dowitcher, Willet and Whimbrel - many of these can be approached quite closely and hence afford good photographic opportunities. Elegant and Caspian Terns can be found alongside Western, Heermann’s and California Gulls along beaches, and Sanderling, Snowy and Semipalmated Plovers and Black Turnstones forage along sandbars and rocky promontories. Oak and conifer woodlands and riparian thickets provide shelter for resident and migrating landbirds – Anna’s and Allen's Hummingbirds, Steller’s Jay, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Pacific (Winter) Wren, Bushtit - and we look especially for warblers, including Hermit, Townsend’s and Wilson’s. California Quails scurry across clearings, White-tailed Kites hover overhead, Black Phoebes and Western Bluebirds are here, and several species of woodpeckers should be present. In drier chaparral, another distinctive group of birds occurs - the elusive Wrentit, plus Spotted Towhee, Bewick’s Wren and Western Scrub-Jay. Harbour Seals and Tule Elk, an elk subspecies, occur here as well. Night in Inverness

Day 3. Transfer to Sierra Nevada
We spend the morning at Point Reyes, concentrating on species we may not yet have found, perhaps visiting the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, then we travel inland across the Sacramento Valley to the foothills of the imposing Sierra Nevada, through the spectacular Carson Pass and down to Lee Vining, making several birding stops along the way. Night in Lee Vining

Day 4. Mono Lake
Mono Lake is the oldest body of freshwater in North America. It is shrinking in size, revealing unique calcified rock formations along the shoreline. The lake holds large numbers of Eared Grebes, American Avocets and California Gulls, and in September migrant shorebirds such as Pectoral Sandpiper. Ospreys are frequent visitors. We look for sagebrush specialists - Sage Thrasher, Sage and Brewer’s Sparrows, and with luck Greater Sage-Grouse. Coniferous forests support Pygmy and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Clark's Nutcracker, Mountain Bluebird, Yellow-rumped (Audubon's) Warbler, Green-tailed Towhee and the unwoodpecker-like Lewis’s Woodpecker. During the afternoon we cross Tioga Pass to Yosemite National Park for a three nights stay. Night in Yosemite

Days 5 - 6 Yosemite
Yosemite National Park has some of the most spectacular scenery anywhere, a vast wilderness with huge waterfalls, deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant Sequoias and high altitude montane forest covering elevational changes from 2,000 up to 13,000 feet. This superb park contains five major vegetation zones: chaparral/oak woodlands, lower montane, upper montane, subalpine and alpine. Breathtaking vistas are a feature, as are natural wonders such as Bridalveil Falls, Half and Sentinel Domes and Cathedral Rocks. Woodpeckers are particularly well represented, including Red-naped, Red-breasted and Williamson’s Sapsuckers, and Hairy, White-headed, Pileated and Black-backed Woodpeckers. Golden Eagles and White-throated and Vaux's Swifts soar overhead, and passerines include Orange-crowned, Black-throated Gray, Townsend’s, Nashville and MacGillivray’s Warblers, American Dippers are along fast-flowing rivers, and Rufous Hummingbird, Clark’s Nutcracker, Mountain Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Townsend’s Solitaire, Western Bluebird, Red Crossbill and Cassin’s Vireo can be found. With luck we’ll encounter Mountain Quail and Sooty Grouse, as well as Great Grey Owl. Nights in Yosemite

Day 7. Transfer to Monterey
Today we drive to Monterey, crossing flat open basins where Prairie Falcons hunt and foothill woodland and oak savannah that supports Greater Roadrunner, Lewis’s and Acorn Woodpeckers, Oak Titmouse, Say’s Phoebe, Western Bluebird and Phainopepla. Night in Monterey area.

Days 8 – 10. Monterey
The Monterey peninsula will be our base for the next three nights. During our stay we take a pelagic boat trip for seabirds and cetaceans, into famous Monterey Bay and beyond. Monterey Bay is particularly attractive to marine life because of the close proximity to shore of the continental shelf and deep underwater canyons over 3,000 m deep. Upwellings of nutrient-rich water attract a wide variety of pelagic seabirds. Black-footed Albatross, shearwaters, jaegers, Sabine’s Gull, Arctic Tern, auklets, auks, murrelets, Ashy and Black Storm-Petrels, Red and Red-necked Phalaropes – the list seems endless. We should encounter great whales such as Gray or Blue Whales, and sheltered waters hold dolphins and Dall’s Porpoise, and sometimes Killer Whale (Orcas).
The Monterey peninsula supports groves of Coastal Redwoods and cypresses, rocky and sandy shores, and mudflats. Rocky shores are frequented by Brandt’s and Pelagic Cormorants, Black Oystercatcher, maybe an early Wandering Tattler or Surfbird. On offshore rocky outcrops, California Sealions loaf, and nearby among the kelpbeds are Sea Otters. Oak and conifer woods and chaparral have Acorn Woodpecker, Wild Turkey, Bushtit, Bewick’s Wren, Western Tanager and Purple Finch. Range-restricted Tricolored Blackbirds can be found in small marshy areas. Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve is a fine reserve of estuary, coastal marsh, and oak and pine woodlands, supporting egrets, herons, waterfowl, shorebirds, Red-shouldered Hawk, Hutton’s Vireo, California Thrasher, and Barn Owl. One day we travel to Pinnacles National Monument, an area of riparian woodland, canyons and chaparral, with towering sandstone rock formations that resemble pinnacles. Here, we look for the endemic Yellow-billed Magpie, as well as Prairie Falcon, Say’s Phoebe, Oak Titmouse, California Thrasher, Rufous-crowned Sparrow and Lawrence’s Goldfinch. Pinnacles NM is where the re-introduction of California Condors is being undertaken, and we will look for some soaring over the canyons – an exhilarating spectacle. Nights in Monterey.

Day 11. Return to San Francisco
We leave Monterey, and time permitting, we visit the Northern Elephant Seal colony at Año Nuevo State Park, a splendid marine wildlife sanctuary. We then continue back to San Francisco for our flights home.

Featured birds:

• Yellow-billed Magpie
• White-headed Woodpecker
• California Condor
• Wrentit
• California Thrasher
• California Towhee
• Black-footed Albatross
• Pink-footed Shearwater
• Greater Sage-Grouse
• Tricolored Blackbird
• Oak Titmouse
• Sea Otter
• Tule Elk

Date: September 7 – 17, 2012

Limit: 12 people

Duration: 11 Days

Price: $3,475 USD, $3,650 CAD, single supplement $775 USD, $815 CAD

Tours Starts & Ends: San Francisco

What to Expect

• Easy to moderate walking
• Highly variable weather, cool along coast and high elevations
• Good quality accommodation
• One pelagic trip into Monterey Bay and beyond
• Breakfasts and lunches included; evening meals not included
• Good quality roads; short to moderate driving distances
• 4-8 participants with one leader, 9-12 participants with two leaders
• One or two 15-passenger vans

Temperatures vary on our tour. At San Francisco and along the coast, we can expect lows in the mid-50s and highs in the mid-70s, with frequent coastal fog. At higher elevations in the mountains, morning temperatures may be as low as mid-40s, and at lower elevations away from the coast, it will be warm, with highs in the upper 80s. Rain is a possibility along the coast and at higher elevations, hence raingear is advised. Walking will be easy to moderate. At Año Nuevo, if we walk out to the point and back, the total distance round trip is perhaps 3 km, some of which is over sand. At Andrew Molera State Park, an easy walk of about 3 km is involved. Most birding locations will involve much shorter forays away from the van. Our tour includes a daylong boat trip. It is best to prepare seasickness remedies. Plan to wear sneakers or boat shoes and minimally a rain jacket on these boat trips; a rain suit may be desirable to protect from wind and spray. It may be quite cool on the water, so dress in layers. Boat trips are occasionally cancelled due to weather; if so, we bird alternative locations.

You can expect some early morning, before-breakfast walks as we search out migrating passerines, as well as late evening viewing. The tour cost includes continental breakfasts and lunches. Picnic lunches will be supplied on most days, and box lunches will be provided for the pelagic trip. Other meals will be at restaurants. In the evening, we usually arrange to go to a local restaurant. During this time we discuss the day’s activities and review the list of birds seen and heard, and make plans for the next day.