Natural History Journal

White Wagtails are one of the most familiar species of songbird across much of Europe and Asia, but here in North America, any time one of these Old World beauties shows up as a vagrant, it causes quite the stir in the birding community.  And just before Christmas, that is exactly what happened on the coast of Central California, near the beach town of Santa Cruz. Rare White Wagtail in Santa Cruz, California Earlier this week, Eric and I drove over to Wilder Ranch State Park, where this bird has been reliably re-found almost daily for the last three weeks, to try to get a glimpse of this rarity.  The catch was that this small seven-inch-long black-and-white bird had been hanging out on a beach that is closed to human visitors (to protect Snowy Plover nesting habitat) and viewable only from a cliff-top overlook.  The beach is nearly a quarter of a mile in length, and at times the wagtail was reported to have been spotted only very distantly, way down at the far end of the...

A few weeks ago, one of our best friends texted Eric and me the link to an amusing news story about a rare Yellow-billed Loon that had temporarily taken up residence in the pool of Las Vegas' famous Bellagio fountain.  The fountain show had to be stopped so that the loon could be relocated, but not before a number of birders were able to see this incredible rarity.  ( Read the whole story here. )  When Eric texted back, joking that we should all take a road trip to Vegas to see the loon, I casually mentioned that there had also been a Yellow-billed Loon hanging out in Bodega Bay for the last month... much closer to us than Vegas!  I hadn't made an attempt to see it yet because, while much closer than Vegas, Bodega Bay is still a good three-hour drive away from our home, and, you know, responsible adult things have to get done.   Then our friend's wife (who also happens to be one of my dearest friends) chimed in that she would much rather go to Bodega Bay th...

"What makes a duck a duck?" This question was posed to me the other day by a friendly gentleman who stopped to chat as I stood behind my spotting scope, peering over massive swells and crashing waves at a distant flock of dark specks bobbing on the surface of the water beyond the breakers.  These specks, I had informed him, were ducks.  More specifically, they were a delightful collection of three species of scoter, a highly specialized type of sea duck designed for life on the rugged, wave-battered coast.   Those are ducks?   I could feel the skepticism.   Yes, ducks.  But not dabbling puddle ducks, like the familiar Mallard, or even hardy diving ducks, like scaup.   These are sea ducks! Surf Scoters in Monterey Bay, off the coast of Moss Landing, California.  July. I answered his question the best I could with somewhat divided attention: Biology, physiology, behavior and life history all combine to make a duck a duck, so that even...

What began seven or eight years ago as an innocent enough attempt to learn the birds in my neighborhood and nearby habitats has rapidly ballooned into an all-out, fully-fledged quest to see as many of these incredible feathered creatures as possible.  There is no denying it now: I have well and truly become an unapologetic  birder .     And as such, I've also begun dipping my toes into the thrilling pursuit known as "chasing," that is, traveling away from my local patch to seek out previously reported rare birds.  As a general rule, I only chase the rarities that show up within a couple hours' drive of home, but these are my own personal parameters: serious chasers would never let silly things like time, distance or money come between them and a mega rarity! Chasing rarities is not something I do very often, however, and generally only indulge in the pursuit when I'm pretty sure that I will be unlikely to see that species any other way.  Two years ago,...

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...

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a recent experience with a Rock Sandpiper in San Francisco which reminded me that birding is about more than just the birds: it's about the places the birds inhabit and the work that is being done to protect them.  But there's more.  Birding is about people, too.  It's about learning from those who are more skilled, and sharing with those newer to the field; about coming together, regardless of differences, for a common cause to admire and protect.  Ultimately, it's about more than a love of birds.  It's about humility and friendship and generosity.   I would never have found this lovely male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker if it wasn't for an unlikely friendship, forged through a mutual love of birds and our Creator.  Ed, to whom I was introduced by my father-in-law, is an avid wildlife photographer and recently shared a photo of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker he had come across.  I was excited by his excellent "ac...

"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...