Nora’s 2012 Rich Stallcup PRBO Bird-A-Thon (or, as it turned out, the Red-breasted Nuthatch-A-Thon)

Red-breasted Nuthatch at the Point Reyes Lighthouse observation deck.

 

They were everywhere, and they were plentiful. Oh, little Red-breasted Nuthatch (or Red-Nut, as I affectionately call them), you tricked me every time. Warbler? Nope, it’s another Red-Nut. Wait, something else just flew over there…nope, Red-Nut. Well, you itty-bitty-flitty “yank, yank, yank”-ing Sittidae, I still love you, even though the purpose of my Bird-A-Thon was to see as many species as possible instead of individuals of one species (had I only counted Nuthatches, perhaps it would have increased my final tally!) but you and your brethren had commandeered the Outer Point cypress trees to the point of total domination, letting no other songbird rest their tired wings and fatten up on grubs. I still appreciate your goofy little noises and your awesome stripy head. I’ll look at you any day.

It started in the waning full moon at Five Brooks Pond in Olema. My brother Ben joined me in the surprisingly bright and warm morning that smelled like horse manure, dust, and bay leaves (the smells of our childhood, and, specifically for me, my 5^th birthday party). We wandered around listening to the birds wake up. The first bird of the day was a covey of CALIFORNIA QUAIL exploding out of the bushes near the parking lot. It sounded like a predator was rustling around in the bush, which was exciting. MALLARDS and AMERICAN WIGEON quacked and squeaked from the pond (I love how wigeons sound like squeaky puppy toys). Slowly, the other birds began to wake up. SPOTTED TOWHEEs called from the bushes as horses whinnied from the stables. The persistent simple call of the BLACK PHOEBE stayed with us all day. Ben spotted a BARN OWL swooping towards us in a dark meadow. It perched on a snag, ruffled its feathers, and took off again into the dark.

The dark meadow at Five Brooks, just before the Barn Owl flew up.

The dawn chorus began almost exactly fifteen minutes before sunrise: SONG SPARROWS, HERMIT THRUSHES, PACIFIC WRENS, AMERICAN and LESSER GOLDFINCHES, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS, WRENTITS, and FOX SPARROWS mostly calling rather than singing. A RED-SHOULDERED HAWK called out his repetitive “Kee-ah, kee-ah” and AMERICAN CROWS and COMMON RAVENS began to call as well. STELLER’S JAYS and WESTERN  SCRUB-JAYS called and rattled from the woods and edges. On the pond we found a single AMERICAN COOT and several WOOD DUCKS (what a beautiful and exotic looking bird!).

Wood Duck pair.

I heard a BROWN CREEPER sing from deep in the dark woods and a HUTTON’S VIREO “sneeze”. CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES and BUSHTITS began to gather in flocks and Ben identified a NORTHERN FLICKER calling. A PILEATED WOODPECKER (aka dinosaur bird) flew to a tree close to us. All these birds before sunrise! As the sun hit the trees we watched YELLOW-RUMPED and TOWNSEND’S WARBLERS foraging for insects with hyper RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS. A VARIED THRUSH flew into a bay tree not 4 feet from us! We saw a Woodrat balancing on a bramble bush and a Muskrat swimming through the pond with green vegetation in its teeth. We picked up a DOWNY WOODPECKER, a GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW, a BEWICK’S WREN, a PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, a CALIFORNIA TOWHEE, a TURKEY VULTURE, DARK-EYED JUNCOS, a NUTTALL’S WOODPECKER, and our first few RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES of the day before we took off for the Outer Point. On the drive out, we saw AMERICAN ROBINS, EUROPEAN STARLINGS, EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES, a WHITE-TAILED KITE (while driving by the Olema Marsh), and a DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT (flying over Highway 1). We stopped at a Giacomini Marsh overlook and picked up KILLDEER, GREAT EGRET, and MARSH WREN. We stopped for a breakfast bagel at the Blackbird in Inverness and saw CANADA GEESE, WESTERN GULL, ACORN WOODPECKER, SNOWY EGRET, and BELTED KINGFISHER. On a stop where the road crosses the Drakes Bay Estero we picked up PINE SISKINS and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS. At F Ranch (Abandoned Ranch), we watched WESTERN MEADOWLARKS fly frantically back and forth in the short grazed coastal scrub and HOUSE FINCHES perch on the tips of the cypress trees. We picked up BREWER’S BLACKBIRD, MOURNING DOVE, and watched an AMERICAN KESTREL fly into his old nest and then back out to perch abidingly on a snag. Also at F Ranch were a HAIRY WOODPECKER and a COOPER’S HAWK perched on a fencepost.

American Kestrel at F Ranch.

Cooper's Hawk at F Ranch.

We checked out B Ranch to see if the Ovenbird and Connecticut Warbler were still there, but they had flown the coop. We luckily saw the Ovenbird the day before, so Ben got a great look at this awesome bird then. I’ve seen them in the Southeast, but it was amazing to see one strutting around like a mini chicken underneath the mossy cypress trees in Point Reyes. So, no luck with these rarities, but we did see RED-WINGED and TRI-COLORED BLACKBIRDS, HOUSE SPARROWS, SAVANNAH SPARROWS, AMERICAN PIPITS and our first RED-TAILED HAWK of the day at B Ranch. We continued to the Lighthouse, which, of course, was closed. We scoured the cypresses on the road out to no avail. They were filled with our lovely Red-Nuts, but no new warbler species. From the observation deck, we scoped out BROWN PELICANS, WESTERN GREBES, HEERMAN’S GULLS, PELAGIC and BRANDT’S CORMORANTS, COMMON MURRES, and a young Grey Whale hanging out in the south cove! We watched the whale for a while. It had a large patch of barnacles on its face. I wonder if I’ll see it while I’m out on the Farallones and recognize it. It was hot and sunny at the point, which is bizarre, seeing as the rest of my visits there in the last 22 years have been cold, foggy, and wildly windy. I was actually sweating and fanning myself. What?! The heat of the day probably lowered my numbers a bit, as well as the week of good weather that allowed the vagrant warblers and other rarities to continue with their southward migration rather than hunker down and stay awhile.

Grey Whale at the Lighthouse.

The classic Point Reyes National Seashore shot.

We continued on to the Fish Docks, where we saw COMMON and PACIFIC LOONS, HORNED GREBES, SURF SCOTERS, a BLACK OYSTERCATCHER, a ROCK PIGEON, a WESTERN BLUEBIRD, an ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD, and, best of all, a pair of HARLEQUIN DUCKS that have been hanging out below the pier for the last few days. Elephant seals and their awesome fart-like grunts abounded.

Harlequin Duck at the Fish Docks.

We continued on to Abbott’s Lagoon, where we ticked NORTHERN HARRIER, THAYER’S, HERRING, and RING-BILLED GULLS, GADWALL, OSPREY, RUDDY DUCKS, AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, NORTHERN SHOVELERS, NORTHERN PINTAIL, and DOWITCHER Sp. As I sat down to tally up the species so far, a large yellow garden-type spider crawled across my shirt. Creepy but cool! The day was slowing down at this point, species-wise and my list still had some serious holes in it. I dropped Ben off at home (he had to go to work) and headed out to Limantour Beach for the last segment of my day: looking for shorebirds as the high-tide dropped. In the marsh by the parking lot I saw my one and only GREAT BLUE HERON of the day, along with five foraging WHIMBRELS. I hiked to Muddy Hollow Pond, hoping to clean up my duck list and completely struck out—it was empty, not a frog in sight. After a full hour without a new species, I headed out on the Limantour Spit trail and was rewarded by a COMMON YELLOWTHROAT that popped up to investigate me from the coyote brush.

Common Yellowthroat at Limantour.

In the Estero, I added SCAUP species to my list (they flew by quickly and I couldn’t ID them down to Lesser or Greater). A mixed flock of SANDERLINGS and WESTERN and LEAST SANDPIPERS swirled around the windy mudflats in flashes of white and grey, while one BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER plucked at the mud calmly. SEMI-PALMATED PLOVERS foraged out of the wind, and while I had them in the scope view, I saw something large and brown trundle out of the current. Otters! Four otters, one large and three slightly smaller, galloped along the shore and then back into the water, swimming upstream, frolicking as otters often do. I watched them charge out of the water and musk the vegetation on the shore and run back into the water, endlessly in motion. When the largest otter noticed another otter falling behind she (I’m guessing) would turn around, lift her head high up out of the water as if she was waiting expectantly and then speed towards the lollygagger and join them as if to offer support to get them to catch up. It was an amazing group to watch. Otters! 

Otters! They made me very happy. A definite highlight of the day.

I walked out farther, trying to pick something else, anything else, out of the constantly moving peep tornado, but as the wind really picked up I decided to turn back and walk along the tideline with waves crashing on my right. I found over twelve WESTERN SNOWY PLOVERS, each huddled behind their own little sand hill (more like a lump) to protect themselves from the sandy wind. I drove away from Limantour as the sun was dropping into the ocean and headed towards home. I stopped at the Inverness Store for my last bird of the evening on a tip from my brother—BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS roosting in the trees behind the store. 

Snowy Plover hiding in sand.

Sunset from above Limantour. The Point is in the distance, Drakes Bay in between.

One hundred and five species total for the day! That is only 9 species short of my last two years Bird-A-Thon totals combined! I’m very happy with my day. I had a wonderful time with the birds and other critters, and also with my brother who is an amazing naturalist/earthy dude. Being out all day like that—seeing the sun rise and then set again, watching the tide rise and fall—helps us fully realize the cycles of the earth that we are born from, the earth that we owe gratitude, love, and dedicated hard work for allowing our presence here. Doing a Bird-A-Thon is just a small way to give back to the earth, but it is a step towards a better future because I believe in PRBO Conservation Science’s mission to conserve birds, wildlife, and ecosystems. I will continue to support conservation with my life’s work (and play) by spending my days outdoors, investigating the world that I live in and my place in this ecosystem, and sharing my passion with others.

Thanks so all my donors who have made this endeavor so successful! With your support I raised over $650 that will benefit PRBO’s Eastern Sierra Program (which is in dire need of a new 4WD field vehicle). For those of you who are just now learning about my fundraising efforts and want to contribute, you can still donate online by clicking HERE.

Thanks to Renee, for the use of her scope; and to Diana, Jules, Millie, Jeff, Gayanne, Maggi, and Lorri, who graciously offered their scopes to me as well. I couldn’t have done it without one!

And, lastly, thanks to the birds, for lighting up my life.