Natural History Journal

On a recent birding trip to Merced National Wildlife Refuge, I tallied up a list of sixteen different species of ducks.  Only a few more species, around twenty in total, are expected in the Central Valley of California's freshwater marshes during the winter, so I consider that to be an excellent day for ducks! North American ducks are broadly separated into two categories, largely based on their methods of foraging for food.   Dabbling ducks , also known as "puddle ducks," tend to frequent shallow water, where they are commonly seen tipping bottoms-up to feed on plant matter and invertebrates in the water and on the muddy bottom.  They are most at home in water, but walk easily on land as well, as their legs are positioned near the center of their bodies.  The wings of dabbling ducks are relatively large, which allows them to take off from the surface of the water, straight up into their air.  Dabbling ducks almost all nest on the ground, near water....

Sometimes, birds get lost.  And when they are found by local birders, far from their expected range, their presence causes quite the stir of excitement in the birding community!  (Case in point: the incredibly rare Snowy Owl that turned up in Orange County, California, a few days ago.)   While Southern California is a little out of my range for a quick day trip, the coast of Central California is not.  So, with Christmas behind us and a sunny day in the forecast, Eric and I packed up and headed over to Half Moon Bay in hopes of catching a glimpse of another very special rare bird from the north that has been hanging out on a popular beach for the last five or six weeks.  (Yes, I'm a little late to the party; it's been a very busy fall!) Decidedly smaller than Southern California's famed Snowy Owl, this lone male Snow Bunting is no less charismatic!  Unconcerned by nearby birders, beach-goers and photographers, he has made a habit out of hanging out al...

"The sandpiper is there now, 30 yards from the end of the jetty, on the left." These were the words I was greeted with, without preamble, seconds after getting out of the car at San Francisco's Heron's Head park.  An older gentleman took one look at my binoculars and knew why I had come: to get the bird.  In certain places, a pair of binoculars is like a secret sign to others that you are one of the initiated, a member of the fraternity of birders who understand the importance of getting the bird . I thanked the kind birder enthusiastically, my giddy smile bearing witness to the fact that we had indeed just driven 100 miles to see this one bird. And what a beauty he was! Denizens of rocky Arctic shorelines, Rock Sandpipers breed on mossy tundra in western Alaska and far eastern Russia.  These hardy sandpipers winter farther north than most other shorebirds, along the frigid, wave-dashed rocky coast of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.   That being said, this par...

On February 2nd, a very lost bird joined a flock of common, everyday Mourning Doves at a backyard feeder in Palo Alto, California.  But this was no ordinary lost bird, and it was certainly no ordinary backyard that it chose to plop down in.  As fate would have it, this very lost bird just so happened to land in the backyard of a wildlife biologist and birder who was able to identify it as an extremely rare vagrant, an Oriental Turtle-Dove from East Asia.   When I first heard about this bird, I assumed it was another Mandarin Duck -type situation: an escaped exotic from a zoo or private aviary, pretty to look at but otherwise... kind of ho-hum, from a birder's perspective.  (Only truly wild birds "count," you remember.)  But as the rare bird alerts began pouring in and articles started popping up on the internet, it occurred to me... this was nothing like the exotic duck situation!   This was a much, much bigger deal. No, it doesn't look like much...

What began as a spring break birding trip to Marin County's Point Reyes National Seashore and Samuel P. Taylor State Park quickly shifted its focus to other wildlife and abundant blooming wildflowers .  High winds at Point Reyes made birding difficult, and searching for birds among the redwoods, where we camped at Samuel P. Taylor State Park, is notoriously difficult in the best of circumstances.  In the redwood forest, quite possibly my best birding was done from inside my cozy warm sleeping bag, as I listened to nighttime sounds and the dawn chorus. All told, however, we tallied up 74 different species of birds during our trip, so I would consider that a successful venture!  (For the record, the National Park Service has recorded a mind-blowing 490 species of birds at Point Reyes!) A male California Quail poses on a fence post at Point Reyes Point Reyes National Seashore is renowned for its variety of watchable wildlife.  Not only is it a world-class birding locati...

While renowned for its birds and wildlife, Point Reyes National Seashore is also a treasure trove of botanical wonders, a real playground for California botanists - and spring is the best time to visit, by far, for a wide variety of blooming wildflowers.  Eric and I recently spent an extremely windy day birding botanizing at Point Reyes and, between wiping the wind-induced tears out of my eyes and making sure I didn't blow away, I managed to snap a few photos of some of my favorite wildflowers. If you venture out in search of the best blooms, I recommend the Chimney Rock and Elephant Seal Overlook trails, the trail to Abbott's Lagoon, and, of course, the jaunt out to the iconic Point Reyes Lighthouse. Yellow bush lupine, intertwined with wild cucumber and fiddleneck (along the aforementioned jaunt out to the lighthouse). And without further ado, I give to you: a selection of the wildflowers of Point Reyes! Yellow bush lupine ( Lupinus arboreus ) Pussy ears ( Calochortus tolm...