Natural History Journal

What better gift than an encounter with a new bird?   Earlier this fall, I spent my birthday exploring the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge complex, which includes nearby Merced National Wildlife Refuge, a popular spot for birders and wildlife photographers nestled in a highly agricultural region of California's Great Central Valley.  The protected wetland habitat hosts tens of thousands of overwintering Sandhill Cranes, Tundra Swans, geese of several species (most prominent are flurries of Snow Geese) and literally millions of ducks and shorebirds.   But on this particular day, one small bird stood out from the crowd: a single, Solitary Sandpiper, foraging quietly along the edge of the wetland. Solitary Sandpipers ( Tringa solitaria ) are the smallest members of the genus that includes Willets and yellowlegs.  Rare in our area, these medium-distance migrants turn up occasionally during fall migration, on their way from arctic breeding grounds to overwinte...

You thought flitty warblers were challenging.  You thought little brown sparrows were challenging.  You thought sandpipers and gulls were challenging.  And then you tried seabirding and realized... you haven't really been challenged at all yet!! Or was that just me? Last November, I spent a few days peering through the spotting scope over Monterey Bay from famed seawatch spot, Point Pinos .  And I was hooked.  There, behind a large objective lens, I met shearwaters and fulmars for the first time, magnified somewhere between 20 and 60 times.  There is something inexplicably mesmerizing about gazing (for hours) out over the ocean, waiting and watching to see what turns up! This year, I returned to the same spot to continue my education, and attempted to make the acquaintance of a few more members of that most elusive and mysterious group of birds known collectively as "seabirds." Seabirding last year, in November 2020... while holding a cup of tea, appare...