Greetings,

While attending a Birthday party on Bolinas Beach today, my roomate (John Musina) and I decided to take a break from the party to see what birds we could find north along the beach. While walking we ran into Steve Howell (author of many bird books including a recent hummingbird book of N.A. and the definitive guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America), and he gave us some pointers to what birds he had found along the same stretch of beach. We found the majority of the same birds he spotted, but missed a few, including an Orange-crowned Warbler that was of the subspecies group Orestera, which is commonly found in the Rocky Mountains.

But enought talk of what birds we missed…

Birds encountered included many shorebirds such as a flock of 23 Black-bellied Plovers (Pluvialis squatarola), and a scattering of others species including 2 Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), 1 Sanderling (Calidris alba), 20 Black turnstones (Arenaria melanocephala), 2 Western Sandpipers (Calidris mauri), and 6 Least Sandpipers (Calidris minutilla). The last grouping of birds, particularly the peeps and the turnstones were all seen in great evening light at close distance, making for good looks for my roomate who is from Kenya viewing these species for the first time.

Other highlights for myself included a FOS Bonaparte’s Gull (Larus philadelphia) and FOS Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis).

All in all it was a beautiful day with great friends at a beach party, followed up by great birds on the Pacific Ocean. Truly a hard thing to beat. Until next time…
~Chad (4/22/2006)