Christmas Bird Count at Point Reyes National Seashore

Tip #8:  Join a birding event!  This is a great way to meet new people, learn more about birds from experts and explore new places.  Bird counts happen all over the country.  The Audubon Society hosts an annual Christmas bird count and locations for the counts can be found at http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count.  The event I participated in is described here on the National Park Service website for Point Reyes National Seashore under "Plan Your Visit" "Things To Do" and "Schedule Of Events."

Point Reyes National Seashore from Limantour Beach, southern view, photo by Kelly Wohlwend

Point Reyes is a place I have been dying to visit since I first moved to San Francisco.  When I heard about a Christmas Bird Count happening at the Point Reyes National Seashore I knew it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.  The Christmas Bird Count was being held at the Clem Miller Environmental Education Center.  What was special about this event was it was for kids!  I signed up to assist with registration, orient guests to the facility and help out on the bird count.

Snowy egret and American Avocets at Bolinas Lagoon, photo by Kelly Wohlwend (author)

On my way to the count I stopped at Bolinas Lagoon along Highway 1.  Bolinas offers saltwater marsh and tidal mudflat habitat and is a fantastic birding location.  I wanted to spend more time here but I was on a schedule.  I definitely plan to return because the birding I was able to do in a few short minutes was amazing!

Northern Pintail with Wigeons, photo by Kelly Wohlwend

Northern pintail, Photo by Lloyd Spitalnik

The water was teaming with waterfowl, countless American wigeon were the most abundant.  Mixed in were gadwall and a northern pintail, a first time sighting of this species for me!  Unfortunately he was very far away so I wasn't able to get a very good photo (left).  I also spotted some American avocets (above), which are beautiful birds.  I am also fairly certain I saw a group of harlequin ducks before I pulled over.  I wish I had gone back to check but I plan to return to Bolinas so it'll have to remain a mystery until then!  Leaving Bolinas I spotted a belted kingfisher on the telephone wire, another really good sighting!



Stay tuned for a Bolinas Lagoon birding special, coming soon! 

Finally making it to Point Reyes, despite the countless bird distractions, I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful it was.  I have heard countless people say "you must visit Point Reyes, it's spectacular!"  But you really must see it for yourself because those words do not do it justice.

Let's get straight into the birding!  I assisted on the Limantour Beach hike, a trail that travels over and next to expansive tidal marsh habitat (below).   The bird count I'm presenting include some estimations because I didn't write down the specific counts.  I was assisting with bird identification, showing the kids the birds in a field guide and helping out with the scopes.

Bird Count for Limantour Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore, January 5th, 2012

Limantour Beach trail marshes

• 1 male northern harrier
• 1 bewick's wren
• ~10 white-crowned sparrow
• ~5 common raven
• ~25 glaucous-winged gull
• 1 ring-billed gull
• ~10 turkey vulture                       
• 1 peregrine falcon
• 1 black phoebe
• 1 spotted towhee
• 1 white tailed kite
• 1 female American kestrel
• 1 osprey
• 2 great egret
• 200+ American wigeon
• 20-30 gadwall
• 1 long-billed curlew
• ~8 surf scoter
• 2 brown pelican

Male northern harrier, photo by Kelly Wohlwend

The birding was amazing, five birds of prey in an hour and a half is excellent!  The northern harrier was the first raptor we saw and he was soaring just above the ground near the parking lot.  If you've never seen a northern harrier hovering in the air only feet above the brush, it's definitely something to put down on the list of bird events to see.  The way they can utilize the air to stay so low to the ground, while searching for prey and at a moments notice turn and dive and ascend with rather shocking speed, is mesmerizing.

Unfortunately, at this point my camera battery was nearing its end, unbeknownst to me, so I will have to paint a few of the pictures with words.

Another bird we saw manipulating the air streams were turkey vultures.  On the sand dune ridges next to the ocean, turkey vultures were floating in the sky, effortlessly.  Like the harrier, they managed to stay extremely close to the ground, white hardly beating a wing.  There were quite a few of them and I couldn't figure out what sort of carrion they were seeing until after we had walked the length of the beach on the soft sand.  Apparently a decapitated elephant seal was rotting near the grass covered sand dunes, perhaps that is what the vultures had their scent glands attuned to.

I wish my camera battery hadn't died so I could have taken a photo of the open saltwater marsh absolutely covered in ducks.  In some places, it was so thick with American wigeons I could hardly see the water.  Hundreds and hundreds of ducks in large flocks slowly glided along the calm water.  They were at such a great distance it was fortunate we had spotting scopes.  Pass the wigeons on mudflats were even more birds, this time, unidentifiable shorebirds numbering in the hundreds.  I spent countless minutes staring and squinting in the scope trying to identify them.  Some were brown, others were a light grey/white.  They had medium length, straight black bills.  The grey peeps had white bellies with a grey back and a grey collar.  The beaks were too short to be a plover and too long to be a dowitcher or godwit.  The legs were rather short and from what I could tell, black, but it's hard to say from such a distance.  They could have had muddy legs.  My best guess is sanderling and dunlin.  Sanderlings have been seen (according to the hike guide) along the ocean's edge, which just on the other side of the dunes, so it's a likely choice.

 

Sanderling, nonbreeding plumage photo by Gerrit Vyn

Dunlin, nonbreeding plumage, photo by Arthur Morris

That concludes my time at Point Reyes for the Christmas Bird Count for Kids.  I really enjoyed being of some usefulness when identifying the birds and talking to the children and parents about birds.  The end of the event was summarized with a reading of the bird counts for total species and total birds seen.  Among all 10 bird count groups over 80 species were seen and over 900 birds!  Sonoma Bird Rescue brought two of their rescues, a female American kestrel and a female red-tailed hawk for a presentation.  The birds were beautiful.  It is truly amazing to be able to be that close to such a powerful creature. 


I can't wait to explore more of Point Reyes!