North to Bodega Bay

We woke up this morning after a restful night in Novato. The complimentary breakfast offered in the hotel was not to our liking, so we grabbed coffee at McDonald’s and headed about 15 miles to the Point Reyes National Seashore, in Marin County, California.

Our first stop along the road was at the cute little Tomales River. Here we saw three large Turkey Vultures dozing in a tree. We saw three cute little River Otters in the water. They dove and looped around each other, playing in the water. In the Reyes Wildlife Area we saw American White Pelicans paddling together in a line, which scares up fish, which are promptly gobbled by the pelicans. All day long we saw hundreds of Common Ravens, Great Egrets, Double Crested Cormorants and Sanderlings. We found a Chipping Sparrow in the underbrush, several Ospreys and a Prairie Flacon.

Berry identified the Brewer’s Blackbird, which was a life bird for us. We found the Heermann’s Gull, which was another life bird for us. Turkey Vultures and Elegant Terns we have seen many times before. The crashing waves of the blue water of the Pacific Ocean on the rocky shore in the northern California are truly awe inspiring.

We drove to the small town of Inverness. I pulled off the road and stopped behind a general store. We aimed my spotting scope at the water, where we spotted a Mute Swan with two Grebes in the middle of the bay. This was significant to us, because according to the Sibley bird guide, the Mute Swan is actually a very rare visitor to northern California. The Mute Swan is usually seen in the eastern United States. Both of us are certain in this identification. We surmise that this single Mute Swan got off of his migration path somewhere in Canada and migrated anyway, ending up in front of us in California.

We stopped at a hundred birding sites during the entire day. At one stop, we spotted a single gull. It turns out that this gull was a hybrid of the Western Gull and the Glaucous Gull. We saw the Red Tailed Hawk, the Red Shouldered Hawk and the American Kestrel.

Not only do we enjoy the birds we see, but we also enjoy the other animals seen along the way. At Point Reyes we saw the California Mule Deer, a herd of large Elk with impressive racks, two skinny little Coyotes and a herd of shaggy Highland Cattle.

Around 2pm, it dawned on us that we had not eaten lunch, because we were having so much fun. We drove back to Inverness and ate lunch at Vladimirs’ Restaurant. The food was interesting because they served dishes of Czech origin, but we both thought the quality was lacking. The rye bread was certainly not as good as Robert makes at home. The czech dumplings needed salt, the brown sauce was bland. Berry thought the sweetened Czech coffee with chocolate was wonderful. Robert was frankly outraged when the waitress said at the end of the meal that they took only cash. Poor Robert had used his credit card everywhere in Iceland. But, here, no.

After a long morning and lunch, we began our drive north on Highway One, heading to Bodega Bay. We stopped at a small nature reserve along the way and identified the American Goldfinch and the Black Phoebe. Bodega Bay was covered in whitecaps. The Bodega area has many different habitats. Huge windswept cliffs, the roiling ocean itself, long fertile mudflats and thickly populated reed beds.

Our first stop in Bodega Bay was a large mudflat, where we saw a large number of shorebirds. Our favorites were the large flocks of Marbled Godwit. As we continued toward the ocean, we encountered large flocks of hungry Common Ravens. The White Crowned Sparrows and the Red Tailed Hawk we often see back in Tennessee.

Our final birding stop of the day was a huge peninsula called Hole-in-the-Head. The gale strength winds there were very strong. Walking along a steep path along the high rocky cliffs was actually dangerous. Berry looked at the Pelagic Cormorant and correctly identified another life bird. Bodega Head, at the end of the main road into the area, is a popular whale watching spot in winter, when Gray Whales migrate back and forth, from Alaska to Mexico and back. We did not see any whales in late September.

One final bit of local trivia that we learned was that Bodega Bay’s claim to fame is that Alfred Hitchcock directed his film, The Birds, in Bodega Bay in 1963. Neither of us were attacked by birds in Bodega Bay.

Robert and Berry

photos courtesy of wikipedia