Marin

Had a marvelous day out with childhood birding buddy Harriet Davidson today in her "winter home" in Novato! She wanted to take me out to Bolinas Lagoon, but first we stopped by a little trail (technically part of Point Reyes NS) called Five Brooks. It was socked in when we first got there, and not much was stirring; she mentioned that she often got Bufflehead in the little pond, and as if on cue, a pair materialized through the mist! Lots of stuff was calling but not much came out except for kinglets; Pygmy Nuthatches were way up high, a Winter Wren and Fox Sparrow made a fuss, and Chestnut-backed Chickadees chattered. Some Golden-crowned Kinglets were doing their little "see see see" thing but were uncooperative as usual. As the fog lifted and the sun actually came out, we picked up more things on the pond (including a female Common Goldeneye), but what really shocked me was a hoot from the forest that made me think "Barred Owl" (as it's not uncommon to hear them during the day in Florida), but then realized the cadence wasn't that of a Barred--it was a Spotted! I had never heard of them calling during the day before, but they're so similar to the Barred, I guess that's possible... We then had a four-raptor thermal: the TVs were up already, and a White-tailed Kite was doing what looked like a display of some kind, then as a Red-tailed Hawk joined the crowd a Red-shouldered Hawk started yelling, and sure enough, he went after the Redtail!

The pond at Five Brooks with and without the fog!

Robin on the prowl...

After that we headed down to the lagoon and stopped every half mile to scan; nothing unusual, but did pick up a Lesser Yellowlegs for the trip. Even so it was fun sorting through the stuff: lots of Long-billed Curlews, a few Olympic Gulls to confuse us, a Western-type grebe that was in the sun so I really couldn't tell which it was, a couple of Horned Grebes, several more goldeneye (including a stunning male), Dunlins and Sanderlings, and some hauled-out Harbor Seals for good measure (that caused a lot of excitement among the tourists)!

Bolinas Lagoon

Avocet Common Goldeneye

Harbor Seal

We bopped into Stinson Beach for some ice cream (where the siren went off just as we walked in; the lady assured us it was the regular noon test...) and sat on their deck enjoying a couple of Townsend's Warblers foraging in a blooming willow-like tree. We then headed back and went down a little side street that bordered the lagoon where there was a little trail that if you didn't know it was there you'd whiz right by it, part of the Bolinas Open Space Preserve. We didn't go far because most of the trail was muck, but it was a nice little deciduous woodland where we picked up Downy Woodpecker for the day, and actually got a good look at several chickadees and a Sooty Fox Sparrow! A curious Hutton's Vireo gave us a looking-over, but the Winter Wren still wasn't cooperating...

Michigan birding buddy Harriet Davidson describes a "secret" trail she found!

2nd-year Herring Gull

From there we headed up to Bear Valley and took a wonderful two-mile hike through the woods and next to a pasture with feral deer. It was rather quiet because of the time of day, but my body wanted exercise, so we got it! It was just gorgeous: perfect for Varied Thrushes (which we finally saw), and lots of towering flowering eucs that had plenty of Selasphorus hummers buzzing away (that we couldn't spot naturally; I'm assuming Allen's but I suppose Rufous could be coming through, too...). Part of the trail was called the Woodpecker Trail, and a Hairy made a brief appearance along with a Flicker bouncing across the trail (the Acorns were in some isolated redwoods in the meadow). On the way back we had a "boy and girl" Red-tailed Hawk in a tree posing nicely, with a mob of noisy blackbirds in the next tree over!