California September 2007 - Photo-highlights Page 1.

Birdfinders enjoyed another hugely successful trip to California in 2007. Despite much of the state looking parched and barren due to the ongoing drought, avian highlights were many and included some real spectacles – a raft of over 1500 Black and Ashy Storm-petrels in Monterey Bay, 13,000 Black Terns coming into roost at the Salton Sea, a single flock of 160 Lawrence’s Goldfinches at Julian and a soaring California Condor at Big Sur so close that you could hear the wind whistling through its primaries! On the rarity front we discovered a Common Black Hawk at Big Morrongo which will be only the 4th or 5th state record if accepted. We saw Pacific and American Golden Plovers together at Tijuana River Mouth, and had more than our fair share of luck in Yosemite with Sooty Grouse, Black-backed and White-headed Woodpeckers, and a breathtaking Great Grey Owl at dusk. The scheduled pelagic trip with Shearwater Journeys was quite brilliant with calm seas and some thrilling birding culminating in exceptional views of a Xantus’s Murrelet. The rarest bird of the trip was a mysterious dark petrel that made a brief appearance during the crossing to Santa Cruz Island on the very first day of the tour. At this time, all the indications seem to point to Bulwer's or the little known Jouanin's Petrel. More details with images can be viewed here.

Our traditional tour loop began in Los Angeles, traveling north along the Pacific Highway before crossing the central part of the state to Yosemite. We then dropped down the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada to Mono Lake and the beautiful Owens River Valley. From here we traveled southwards through the Mojave Desert, reaching the Southern Salton Sea and spent two nights in Brawley. Climbing back west through the Anza-Borrego foothills, and passing through Julian we headed back to the Pacific Coast to spend two nights near San Diego. Our trip closed where it began in Los Angeles with 2,300 miles driven and the setting of a new Birdfinders trip record of 285 species.

California specialities were high on our agenda and we had good views of them all, with the exception of Mountain Quail. These included; Black-footed Albatross, Black-vented Shearwater, (Light-footed) Clapper Rail, California Quail, Yellow-footed Gull, Heerman’s Gull, Elegant Tern, Cassin’s Auklet, Allen's Hummingbird (sedentarius), Nuttall's Woodpecker, California Thrasher, California Gnatcatcher, Wrentit, Island Scrub-Jay, Oak Titmouse, Yellow-billed Magpie, 'Large-billed' Savannah Sparrow, 'Belding's' Savannah Sparrow, California Towhee and Tricoloured Blackbird.

Many thanks go to Peter Basterfield for co-leading, Richard Dakin, Helen Heyes, Michael and Johanne Jones, Steve Lister, John Lloyd, John and Rosalind Matthews, Chris Measures, Bob Bailey and Chris Rose, Roy and Linda Harvey and Paula Reynosa for making the trip such a successful one. Helen also wrote a full trip report which can be downloaded from this page.

Birdfinders will again be running this exciting trip for the fifth successive year in 2008, during September 3rd - 19th.

The following images appear don't appear in any particular order.