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Monterey County was awarded this crown for its 248 species in 2003, but the 248 species found last year (2004) were good enough for only second place. While counts from other California counties are still preliminary — most of the competitors ran their events the weekend before ours — none appears to have been higher than "somewhere in the 240s." The competition remains open through May to counties in eastern and northern North America, but in previous years none of these has approached the 250 figure. Barring some totally unexpected total, Monterey will again wear the "America's Birdiest County" crown. The event served as the 12th annual birdathon to benefit Ventana Wilderness Society's Big Sur Ornithology Lab (BSOL), and all proceeds from the weekend's entry fees, raffles, silent auction and pledges will provide the core of Monterey Peninsula Audubon's Society grant to BSOL. About 90 people attended our countdown event on Saturday evening (more below), and there were over 110 participants overall, including feeder-watchers. Feeder-watchers proved to be crucial. Observers had found 247 species by the time of the "Countdown" on Saturday night. Three more birds were added the next day: Cattle Egret, Nashville Warbler, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak; the latter two from birders' back yards [there are good stories about each of these three additions; watch for those below]. In addition, two sparrow (Fox, White-throated) were only recorded from feeders, so four species were attributed to efforts of those watching their yards. Los Angeles, for example, had 246 birds, so these four species were important. |
 This
remarkable achievement was reached through the collective efforts of some
of California's best birders. Some of them come for Santa Cruz and the
S.F. Bay Area to help. The county is divided into 16 territories for complete
coverage, but critical to success is the time spent scoping for seabirds.
Shown here at the scopes on Friday evening are (L to R) David Vander Pluym,
Scott Terrill, Linda Terrill, and Steve Rovell. Behind them is Dan Singer
who would do his scoping on Sunday morning. [Matt Brady, Ryan Terrill,
and Don Roberson would also do extensive scoping]. Between them all, we
recorded an amazing 7 species of alcids, including the "bird of the count,"
a Tufted Puffin. The adult breeding-plumaged puffin flew south past Pt.
Pinos at 2:57 on Saturday as Roberson watched, and then ~3 minutes later
it flew past Vander Pluym & Brady (and a British tourist who had stopped
to see what "the lads" were seeing) at Cypress Point! A dozen Black-footed
Albatross were also scoped from shore. |
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 Another
good story involves Rita Carratello. She had been "on the bench" during
the Saturday marathon and therefore didn't feel very useful while birding
that day. We had designated her as a counter for Sunday in case anything
had been missed. Well, Nashville Warbler was missed but one had been photographed
(right) in her yard that very week. So as a good sport she watched
the feeder and backyard fountain all morning and — at noon — what should
arrive? Indeed, a Nashville Warbler. Our final bird for the count:
#250.
Of course, a key to Monterey's success is to get every breeding bird in the county. We were extremely successful at this. The means birding in the dark, getting Lesser Nighthawk (Jim & Helen Banks), Poorwill (David & Jane Styer), and all nine of our regularly-breeding owls, including the tough ones like Flammulated (Craig Hohenberger et al.) and Long-eared (R.J. Adams, also Rovell team members). During the day, it means getting the scarce residents from Roadrunner (photo below by Chris Hartzell) and Golden Eagle (Tim Amaral, Todd Love) to American Dipper (Bob Tintle) and Mountain Chickadee (top of Junipero Serra Peak; Chris Tenney). In fact, the only breeders missed were those that are irregular (e.g., Lewis's Woodpecker, Golden-crowned Kinglet) and those that usually arrive later in May (Black Swift, Black-chinned Sparrow). |
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Territory leaders/participants (partial list at right). The
numbers are linked to the territories shown on the map. Boundaries are
approximate; several key spots were covered by multiple teams at different
times & tides, including all major coastal river mouths. There were
also several special small areas covered at specific times, such as Jacks
Peak on Friday evening (Carole Rose, Judy West) and Pajaro R. mouth on
Sunday (Steve Rovell, Dan Singer, Roger Wolfe), plus a set of backyard
feeder watchers from Pacific Grove (Rita Carratello) to Del Rey Oaks (Nan
Citron) to Royal Oaks (Laura Rodriguez, Betty Cost).
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1: Rick Fournier; Mark Paxton, Inga & Dan
LaBeaune, Caroline Rodgers, Judy Donaldson, Todd Newberry, Jennifer Rycenga,
Cheryl Fournier
2: Don Roberson; Rita Carratello, Dan Singer 3: Brian Weed; Jan Scott, Bob & Eileen DeWeese 4: Steve Rovell; Ryan Terrill, Matt Brady, David VanderPluym 5: Bob Tintle 6: Jessica Griffiths, Mike Tyner; BSOL interns 7: vacant this year 8: Scott & Linda Terrill 9: Jim & Helen Banks 10: Todd Love 11: Chris Tenney 12: Craig Hohenberger; Bill Hill, Dave Werner 13: Chris Hartzell; Anne Wells 14: Tim Amaral; Larry Rose, Judy West, et al. 15: David & Jane Styer (Ft. Ord) 16: R.J. Adams led a public "mini Big Day" for Jill & Jim Himonas, Eric & Kerstin Jones, Sharon Wasson, David Gibson & a dozen more. |
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After a week of showers and wind, the birdathon weekend was gorgeous.
R.J.
Adams (with the Sibley Field Guide) led a "mini Big Day" for
the public from Robinson Canyon to Carmel, the Monterey-Seaside area, and
then Moss Landing (where Mark Paxton took over leadership duties). Michael
Gibson's shot (above) features Jill Himonas (owner of Wild Bird
Center and event organizer) at the scope. It was this public walk that
first confirmed the presence of the long-staying Snow Goose (below;
another Michael Gibson photo) at Roberts Lake for the count total.
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Finding the scarce migrants and late lingering winterers are all critical
to success. Many are rare enough locally to be routinely reported to the
BirdBox. In that category is White-faced Ibis: there was one on
30 Apr in Moro Cojo Slough (Rick Fournier, Jennifer Rycenga), and then
a flock of five near Soledad on 1 May (Dan Singer, photo of 4 of them [above]
Don Roberson). Some of the other birds in this category include:
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 There
are so many highlights and so many people to credit that one almost runs
out of words. Everyone's efforts were important to the group success. So
many of our species are marginal at this date — they are just arriving
or just departing — that each is critical. A complete list follows below.
As many who stopped by Roberts Lake in Seaside discovered, the Heermann's Gull colony there is expanding. A pair is now on a nest — incubating eggs — right next to the parking lot at the southwest corner of the lake (left). This colony started with a couple pairs on islets in the lake on 1999, and it has fledged young in 4 out of the last 6 years. But all prior nests have been on the islets — this is the first one on the lakeshore. We wish them well, although they face many more predators at this spot, not to mention potential disturbance by people. |
| 1 Gr. White-fronted Goose
2 Snow Goose 3 Canada Goose 4 Brant 5 Wood Duck 6 Gadwall 7 American Wigeon 8 Mallard 9 Blue-winged Teal 10 Cinnamon Teal 11 Northern Shoveler 12 Northern Pintail 13 Green-winged Teal 14 Redhead 15 Ring-necked Duck 16 Greater Scaup 17 Lesser Scaup 18 Harlequin Duck 19 Surf Scoter 20 White-winged Scoter 21 Black Scoter 22 Bufflehead 23 Common Goldeneye 24 Common Merganser 25 Red-breasted Merganser 26 Ruddy Duck 27 Wild Turkey 28 Mountain Quail 29 California Quail 30 Red-throated Loon 31 Pacific Loon 32 Common Loon 33 Pied-billed Grebe 34 Horned Grebe 35 Red-necked Grebe 36 Eared Grebe 37 Western Grebe 38 Clark's Grebe 39 Black-footed Albatross 40 Pink-footed Shearwater 41 Sooty Shearwater 42 American White Pelican 43 Brown Pelican 44 Brandt's Cormorant 45 Double-crested Cormorant 46 Pelagic Cormorant 47 American Bittern 48 Great Blue Heron 49 Great Egret 50 Snowy Egret 51 Cattle Egret 52 Green Heron 53 Black-crowned Night-Heron 54 White-faced Ibis 55 Turkey Vulture California Condor (not counted) 56 Osprey 57 White-tailed Kite 58 Bald Eagle 59 Northern Harrier 60 Sharp-shinned Hawk 61 Cooper's Hawk 62 Red-shouldered Hawk |
63 Red-tailed Hawk
64 Golden Eagle 65 American Kestrel 66 Merlin 67 Peregrine Falcon 68 Prairie Falcon 69 Virginia Rail 70 Sora 71 Common Moorhen 72 American Coot 73 Black-bellied Plover 74 Pacific Golden-Plover 75 Snowy Plover 76 Semipalmated Plover 77 Killdeer 78 Black Oystercatcher 79 Black-necked Stilt 80 American Avocet 81 Greater Yellowlegs 82 Solitary Sandpiper 83 Willet 84 Wandering Tattler 85 Spotted Sandpiper 86 Whimbrel 87 Long-billed Curlew 88 Marbled Godwit 89 Ruddy Turnstone 90 Black Turnstone 91 Surfbird 92 Red Knot 93 Sanderling 94 Western Sandpiper 95 Least Sandpiper 96 Dunlin 97 Short-billed Dowitcher 98 Long-billed Dowitcher 99 Wilson's Snipe 100 Red-necked Phalarope 101 Parasitic Jaeger 102 Bonaparte's Gull 103 Heermann's Gull 104 Ring-billed Gull 105 California Gull 106 Herring Gull 107 Western Gull 108 Glaucous-winged Gull 109 Glaucous Gull 110 Caspian Tern 111 Elegant Tern 112 Common Tern 113 Forster's Tern 114 Black Tern 115 Common Murre 116 Pigeon Guillemot 117 Marbled Murrelet 118 Ancient Murrelet 119 Cassin's Auklet 120 Rhinoceros Auklet 121 Tufted Puffin 122 Rock Pigeon 123 Band-tailed Pigeon 124 Mourning Dove 125 Eurasian Collared-Dove |
126 Greater Roadrunner
127 Barn Owl 128 Flammulated Owl 129 Western Screech-Owl 130 Great Horned Owl 131 Northern Pygmy-Owl 132 Burrowing Owl 133 Spotted Owl 134 Long-eared Owl 135 Northern Saw-whet Owl 136 Lesser Nighthawk 137 Common Poorwill 138 Vaux's Swift 139 White-throated Swift 140 Black-chinned Hummingbird 141 Anna's Hummingbird 142 Costa's Hummingbird 143 Rufous Hummingbird 144 Allen's Hummingbird 145 Belted Kingfisher 146 Acorn Woodpecker 147 Nuttall's Woodpecker 148 Downy Woodpecker 149 Hairy Woodpecker 150 Northern Flicker 151 Olive-sided Flycatcher 152 Western Wood-Pewee 153 Dusky Flycatcher 154 Pacific-slope Flycatcher 155 Black Phoebe 156 Say's Phoebe 157 Ash-throated Flycatcher 158 Cassin's Kingbird 159 Western Kingbird 160 Loggerhead Shrike 161 Cassin's Vireo 162 Hutton's Vireo 163 Warbling Vireo 164 Steller's Jay 165 Western Scrub-Jay 166 Yellow-billed Magpie 167 American Crow 168 Common Raven 169 Horned Lark 170 Purple Martin 171 Tree Swallow 172 Violet-green Swallow 173 N. Rough-winged Swallow 174 Bank Swallow 175 Cliff Swallow 176 Barn Swallow 177 Mountain Chickadee 178 Chestnut-backed Chickadee 179 Oak Titmouse 180 Bushtit 181 Red-breasted Nuthatch 182 White-breasted Nuthatch 183 Pygmy Nuthatch 184 Brown Creeper 185 Rock Wren 186 Canyon Wren 187 Bewick's Wren 188 House Wren |
189 Winter Wren
190 Marsh Wren 191 American Dipper 192 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 193 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 194 Western Bluebird 195 Swainson's Thrush 196 Hermit Thrush 197 American Robin 198 Wrentit 199 Northern Mockingbird 200 California Thrasher 201 European Starling 202 Cedar Waxwing 203 Phainopepla 204 Orange-crowned Warbler 205 Nashville Warbler 206 Yellow Warbler 207 Yellow-rumped Warbler 208 Black-throated Gray Warbler 209 Townsend's Warbler 210 Hermit Warbler 211 MacGillivray's Warbler 212 Common Yellowthroat 213 Wilson's Warbler 214 Yellow-breasted Chat 215 Western Tanager 216 Spotted Towhee 217 California Towhee 218 Rufous-crowned Sparrow 219 Chipping Sparrow 220 Lark Sparrow 221 Sage Sparrow 222 Savannah Sparrow 223 Grasshopper Sparrow 224 Fox Sparrow 225 Song Sparrow 226 Lincoln's Sparrow 227 White-throated Sparrow 228 White-crowned Sparrow 229 Golden-crowned Sparrow 230 Dark-eyed Junco 231 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 232 Black-headed Grosbeak 233 Blue Grosbeak 234 Lazuli Bunting 235 Red-winged Blackbird 236 Tricolored Blackbird 237 Western Meadowlark 238 Yellow-headed Blackbird 239 Brewer's Blackbird 240 Great-tailed Grackle 241 Brown-headed Cowbird 242 Hooded Oriole 243 Bullock's Oriole 244 Purple Finch 245 House Finch 246 Pine Siskin 247 Lesser Goldfinch 248 Lawrence's Goldfinch 249 American Goldfinch 250 House Sparrow |
The countdown on Saturday night, in and outside the Wild Bird Center
in Del Monte Shopping Center, was also another wonderful success. Dinner
was cooked and donated by Whole Foods Market; wine was donated by Heller
Estates and Ventana Vineyards; numerous local merchants provided items
and gift certificates for the raffle and silent auction; the Wild Bird
Center and Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society provided birder prizes; there
was an art show by local artists and photographers; and a rousing "countdown"
of the birds seen. Michael Gibson captured some of the atmosphere in his
photo (below):
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| CREDITS: Many thanks to all the team leaders, observers, and
feeder-watchers for the successful effort. Thanks to Michael Gibson and
Chris Hartzell for providing photos. Jill Himonas and the Wild Bird Center
are a major key to this event — exceptionally well done! The birdathon
planning committee was chaired by Bette Mayer, and included Jill Himonas,
Kelly Sorenson, Cathy Keeran, Jessica Griffiths, Nellie Thorngate, and
Carole Rose; Carole also designed our T-shirt. Kristina Westphal and Pete
Scrivani were the primary cooks for the great dinner. Kristina Thompson
at Del Monte Shopping Center helped with many logistics.
We are very grateful to the many businesses who sponsored prizes and auction items: Bahama Billy's, California Pizza Kitchen (Monterey), Carole Rose Design, Deetjens, Del Monte Shopping Center, El Indio Restaurant, Energia Body Centre, Fleet Feet, Green's Camera World, Heller Estate, Kowa Optimed, Inc., Monterey Bay Kayaks, Monterey Bay Whale Watching, Monterey Symphony, Nepenthe, Pizza My Heart (Monterey), Regis Hairstyles, Rio Grill, Rite Aid (Del Monte Center), Sal & Ada Lucido, Spa on the Plaza, The Bird Feeder (Santa Cruz), The Body Shop, The Hearth Shop, The River Inn, UPS Store (Del Monte Center), Wellness Center at Kirby Chiropractic, Theirry Thompson, Uncommon Grounds, Ventana Inn & Spa, Ventana Vineyards, Welcome Back, Whole Food Market, and Wild Bird Center (Monterey). The Ventana Wilderness Society and the Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society were the overall sponsors of the this event, all proceeds of which will benefit the Big Sur Ornithology Lab. |
| CODA: Word comes that birdathoner Todd Newberry, who had come down from Santa Cruz to help in our event, fell on the railroad tracks at Kirby Park and tore his left rotator cuff. We all wish him a very speedy recovery. I note that he had already found the critical Greater Scaup for our count. What a trooper! Many thanks for your efforts, Todd. |
Much
serendipity highlighted this year's event. For example, this was designated
the "year of the grosbeak" as Carole Rose's birdathon T-shirt will picture
a Black-headed Grosbeak (left) and a vagrant Rose-breasted
Grosbeak. [Carole and Larry Rose are shown in the inset, right]. No
one had a Rose-breasted Grosbeak in the first 24 hours but a singing male
did appear in a birders' front yard on Sunday. And as luck would it, those
birders were — you guessed it — Carole & Larry Rose!
Once
again, Monterey County's birdathon highlights were exceedingly well documented.
The rarest bird was this first-cycle Glaucous Gull (right)
at the Salinas R. mouth, found 28 Apr by Matt Brady, and remaining through
at least 1 May. There are only 3 prior records as late as May. Also photographed
(below) were Cattle Egret at Moonglow Dairy (photo 1 May,
D. Roberson); breeding-plumaged Black Tern (30 Apr; photo ©
Chris Hartzell); and Merlin at Salinas wastewater ponds (30 Apr;
D. Roberson). The Merlin was pretty late but there is a record as late
as 11 May.
