Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline Park, Oakland, CA

I had a moment to before sunset to do some birding at the seasonal pond near Damon Slough tonight. It was very cool to see the breeding plumages of so many birds. First time for me to see a Black-bellied Plover with a black belly!

The cast of characters this evening included:

1. Black-bellied Plover
2. American Avocet
3. Black-necked Stilt
   
4. Long-billed Dowitcher
   
5. Greater Yellowlegs
6. Killdeer
7. Willet
   
8. Cinnamon Teal
9. Blue-Winged Teal
   
10. American Widgeon
11. Gadwall
    
12. Mallard
13. Greater Scaup
    
14. Western Grebe
15. Great Blue Heron
    
16. Canada Goose
17. American Coot

Red is the color of the day in Bodega Bay, CA

This weekend, I finally had a chance to visit Bodega Bay, where I've heard stories of great birding opportunities and that some rare birds had been seen in the area.

By accident, we got there just as tide was going out and it was excellent birding, even from the first parking lot where you could view big flocks of "peeps" and other shorebirds. I was speaking with a birder who reminded me that there had been some rare birds reported by the jetties of the harbor.

I drove down and parked at the end of the road. I found myself a spot on the rocks and started scanning the water for birds. Lucky for me, I got to see the Red-throated Loon and Red-necked Grebe. There were a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers in the bay later. I even got to see reddish head of a Eurasian Widgeon amongst a flock of American Widgeons as I was leaving the area.

Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA

This evening I finally had the first opportunity of the new year to visit my local birding spot and the epicenter of my birding universe - Lake Merritt.

Lake Merritt is one of Oakland's many gems. In 1870, the lake's value as wildlife habitat was so acknowledged that it was designated the first wildlife refuge in the United States. It is an amazing wintering ground for birds and I always stop and look even if I'm without my binoculars or bird book. I especially like watching the channel as the tide goes out.

My main goal for the evening was to spot the Tufted Duck that has been wintering on the lake. Tufted Ducks are diving ducks that are smaller than the Greater Scaups that dominate the lake, but because of similar black and white coloring almost blend in if you're not looking. Luckily, as I was watching the Pied-bill grebes and Clarke's Grebes amongst the scaups near the bird islands, I caught the tuft of the Tufted Duck poking out as its head was tucked under its wing in the cooling evening. Tufted Ducks have been regular visitors in small numbers to Lake Merritt over the years, but it's still fascinating to think this bird made it over from somewhere in Eurasia to our humble lake. I think it would be fascinating to do a satellite track of where it flies back to in the spring.

The other interesting thing I saw was a smaller raptor in the trees of the bird island that normally hosts a lot of Double-crested Cormorants. I couldn't ID the bird because it was getting too dark, but I'll be back to see what it was.

What all did I see in my short evening bird walk?

1. tufted duck
2. greater scaup
3. ruddy duck
4. canvasback duck
5. pied-bill grebe
6. western grebe
7. Clarke's grebe
8. mallard duck
9. coot
10. Canada geese
11. bufflehead
12. great blue heron
13. black-crowned night heron

I'm sure that I missed some others, but not bad for just an hour.

Week 4 - Baja California Sur continues

Still in Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico this week.

I've been out a few times and have added some more birds to the list of what I've seen here-

1. California Least Terns
   
2. Royal Terns
   
3. Common Terns
   
4. Black-crowned Night Herons
   
5. Tricolored Heron
   
6. Little Blue Heron
   
7. Snowy Egrets
   
8. Great Egrets
9. Reddish Egret
   
10. Western Snowy Plover
    
11. Black-bellied Plover
    
12. Willets
    
13. Eared Grebes
    
14. Semipalmated Plover
    
15. Yellow-legged Gulls
    
16. Sanderlings
    
17. Marbled Godwits
    
18. Belted Kingfisher
    
19. Neotropical Cormorants
    
20. White-faced Ibis
21. White Ibis
    
22. Ruddy Turnstone
    
23. Spotted Sandpiper
    
24. Phainopepla
25. Osprey
    

Week 3: Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Hola!  Greetings from Mexico... Yes, not exactly birding locally on my 3rd week of my "little year", but I've been seeing some great birds here in Loreto, a small village near a marine sanctuary in the southern state of Baja California in Mexico.  

Here's what I've seen so far that I haven't seen elsewhere this year:

• Blue-footed Boobies diving after sardines in the harbor here.  It's an amazing sight to see the 50 or more dive in unison into the water.
• Brown Boobies flying amongst the many other birds hunting for sardines, too.
• Heerman's gulls stealing sardines from Brown Pelicans.
• Hooded Orioles in the brushy trees in front of the house where I'm staying.
• Two Gila Woodpeckers that hopped on the fence across the street looking for food briefly.

The marine protected area here must be helping the vast numbers of seabirds that are found rafting off the coast of Loreto.  If I had a spotting scope, I bet I'd be seeing lots more.  I'll keep updating this as the week goes on.  

I'm arranging a birding trip to San Ignacio Lagoon in January next year that will include seeing the wintering gray whales that come to breed and maybe even some sea turtles.  I'm going to come down again in June if possible to set up the trip and check out the birds.  The local guide has a list of over 200 species just in the lagoon.

A Bird Year Resolution

In 2008, I'm making a New year's Resolution to go birding weekly with a focus on learning more about the birds that live here in the Bay Area. Of course, some of my birding adventures will happen outside of the Bay Area, but I'm committed to knowing my local birds better and seeing how many species I can view during my "Little Year" resolution.

What's a "little year"? Well, birders will participate in competitions to have a "big year" or "big day" or the like. Since I'm only in this to challenge myself and to blog my results, I'm calling it my "little year".

As I started off my new year, the first bird I saw as I was driving back from Lake Tahoe was a raven. Once uncommon in the Bay Area, you see them everywhere now because of the impacts development have made urban environments inviting to ravens, but difficult for other native wildlife.

My first official weekly birding outing will be at the kick off event for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area Big Year. It's a great yearlong event to highlight the 33 endangered species that call the GGNRA home and what participants can do to help those endangered species. Participants are challenged to not only find and view the threatened and endangered plants and animals within the boundaries of the GGNRA, but also to complete conservation actions to help those species. The GGNRA Big Year reminds us all that the Endangered Species Act and the National Park System alone are crucial in protecting wildlife from extinction.

I encourage any readers to come to the San Francisco Zoo on January 6, 2008, at 1 PM for the first of many events in 2008. To learn more and to participate, please visit the GGNRA Big Year website: http://www.ggnrabigyear.org/

We will be visiting Ocean Beach in San Francisco to view the Western Snowy Plover, a threatened bird species that struggles to survive on busy urban beaches in San Francisco. This adorable bird deserves a boost in public awareness of how we can all do more to "share the shoreline" with plovers and other shorebirds.