Good Afternoon Paul
I lived in the Bay Area of San Francisco for 5 years, birding northern CA. Here’s my 2-cents worth: Monterey is great for pelagic trips. My best ever pelagic was out of Bodega Bay to Cordell Banks (with the Oceanic Society). 2 dozen Blue Whales, 2 dozen Orca and lots of seabirds. I got a Tufted Puffin on a Farallon Islands (off SF) trip in September [only 1 but it’s possible] There’s lots of birding in the SF area. Check out the Golden Gate Audubon Society (www.goldengateaudubon.org) – they run trips around the area. Strybring Arboretum in Golden Gate Park SF is good. Check out the GGAS first-sunday of the month trip. There are lots of National Wildlife Refuges up through CA. If you’re cruising slowly north they’re all worth a visit. Carizzo Plain National Monument (Mountain Plover, Sage Thrasher, Greater Roadrunner, Short-eared, Burrowing and Great Horned Owls). The arboretum at USC (Santa Cruz) had lots of overwintering hummers. [Don’t know what it’s like in summer] Mines Road is a Bay Area classic. Lassen County is good for woodpeckers and sapsuckers [Alas, you’re too late for the lekking Sage Grouse]
Have a nice day. Cheers Peter ===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
