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| Brants at Limantour Estuary |
Winter Birding around the Bay
One great thing about winter birds is they STAY for awhile! Unlike their migrating Fall and Spring counterparts who are here today and gone tomorrow these feathered friends hunker down.
Winter birding around the Bay Area is great and two of the main reasons are:
1. Winter overing birds. This is time of year that California is happily invaded by shorebirds, geese, ducks, and outliers like the flock of Lapland Longspurs this winter in Point Reyes and the American dipper leaping into a creek near Lake Sonoma.
2. High tides! During winter the earth is closest to the sun and the tides are a little hight. Birds that haul out during extra high tides give you great views. You'll find peeps huddle together on rocks, Godwits on sand bars, Nelson and Swamp Sparrows clinging to bushes and rails up on levees.
Two Great Winter Trips in 2024.
East Bay Trip February 8th. Red knot, Surfbird, Nelson's sparrow.
The birds within a specific species have choices on where to spend their winter. While preparing this blog I looked up the Winter range for Red knots and Surf birds: from Southern Alaska to tip of South America. Wow. Why does one chose to go all the way to Tierra del Fuego when you can stop off in the Bay Area? Is it hereditary, is it population pressure? But for a big year birder, what is also important is I have yet to find Red Knots and Surf birds in my usual go-to Point Reyes this winter, so I headed over to the East Bay.
I was accompanied by a great local naturalist, Natalie Clarke. She's the one who I turn to and say what's this flower. Occasionally, Molly and Natalie refer to each other as sister wives on birds trips.
Now for the East Bay. And when I head over to the East Bay often the first stop is the Emeryville Marina at high tide.
Surf birds 2022 Emeryville Marina. A typical high tide winter day in Emeryville.
The East Bay including the shores bordered by Richmond, Albany and Berkeley has excellent habitats for winter shorebirds and ducks. This year we had four targets to find: Surfbird, Red Knot, Nelsons sparrow, and Tufted duck. Our first stop would be to the Emeryville Marina rocks at high tide. Over the years this has been a reliable spot for all kinds of shorebirds. When the tide is high they huddle together likes pigs in a blanket. We nailed the Surfbirds but we found no Red Knots on the rocks. (Somehow I lost the photos for this day so above are a couple of Emeryville photos from 2022. )
After the Surf bird hunt we went to Elsie Roemer Wildlife Sanctuary. Here the shorebirds haul out onto the sand beach.
Elsie Roemer, conservationist, who is honored at the site. Read more at:
This year Red Knots have been scarce around the bay. Elsie Roemer was my best shot. Peeps, Godwits, Willets and yes a couple of Red Knots huddled together in big numbers to the left of the beach.
The next stop was Arrowhead Marsh. At Arrowhead Marsh on the island of Alameda is the right combination of tide land and vegetation, Is it cord grass or pickleweed I better ask Natalie?
When we arrived at the marsh we saw another birder. I do not hesitate to ask for advice when arriving at a site. Beware if you have binoculars on when we show up. He suggested checking the coyote bush that lines
Natalie spotted the sparrow along the row of coyote bushes. For a Nelson's sparrow it was quite active and outgoing. My photo disappeared after it appeared on the checklist. Here is the checklist with photo:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S160954719
The last stop was Lake Merritt to look for the annual Tufted Duck. Lake Merritt is just west of downtown Oakland. It took two trips but I finally spotted one.
Sonoma County February 7th. American dipper, Hammonds Flycatcher and Red-naped Sapsucker.
Aah, the American dipper, probably one of the most beloved birds of all. John Muir helped bring him to prominence when the bird was then known as Water Ouzel (ouzel meaning black bird like).
"He is the mountain streams' own darling, the humming-bird of blooming waters, loving rocky ripple-slopes and sheets of foam as a bee loves flowers, as a lark loves sunshine and meadows. Among all the mountain birds, none has cheered me so much in my lonely wanderings, --none so unfailingly."
The dipper is the only songbird that dives into the water after aquatic insects. During the winter the dipper will often head down the hills to a clear flowing ice-free stream.
After the dipper run I headed down south to Spring Lake in Santa Rosa. Spring Lake had two excellent winter birds a Red-naped sapsucker and a Hammonds Flycatcher.
Close to home: Winter Rails, Limontaur Brants, and Burrowing Owls
Rails
Perhelion is when the Earth is closest to the sun. This year Perihelion was on January 3rd. Perhelion does not mean the highest tides, but it helps. The highest tides, commonly called King Tides often come with a new moon during winter.
A king tide is the best time of year to look for rails in Northern California. When the tides get really big I try for Ridgeways Rails and Black Rail. I walk a high water line and look in haul up places. Here is a Ridgeways Rail near Las Gallinas this year on February 8th a couple days before the new moon.
A couple of times I have hit gold and seen Black rails on super high tide days. Below is one hiding in Coyote Bush showing its intensely red eyes. I have also heard one on a Spring Day giving its Kickapoo call.
Black rails, especially Eastern subspecies have decline percepitiously over the last fifty years. So far this year Molly and I have not seen or heard a Black Rail.
Winter birds and their behavior lead me to so many questions. In Marin I wonder often about the Burrowing Owl. I consistently find them in Marin County but only in the Winter. Why do they come to Marin? Why do they not breed here. Instead they often choose dry hot ag fields of Southeastern California.
Burrowing owl Commonweal, Marin County. Winters over in hollow logs.
Unlike with owls I look forward to seeing winter Brandts. This small classy geese seems dressed for a he Black and White ball. I took the photo at the beginning of this blog at the Limontaur Estuary on February 2nd.
This blog only touches on parts of the winter birding treasure. This year has also been excellent for all three species of scoter and Long-tailed duck.
Oh yeah and a Yellow billed loon in Bodega Bay in February.
So good luck. It's almost Spring.
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