California: Fall Coastal Birding October 1, 2010

Join us for this glorious adventure birding the California coastline from San Francisco to Monterey. We start our adventure in San Jose, as we head off to look for Burrowing Owl, Long-billed Curlew, and many other shorebirds and migrants. From there we drive to the Mt Hamilton area of the coastal Range which has a variety of habitats - forest, ponds, grasslands - where we will look for Yellow-billed Magpie, Golden Eagle, Lawrence's Goldfinch, and Lewis' Woodpecker and many other resident species. AS we travel down the San Mateo County coast we'll encounter many stops for both birds and spectacular scenery. We will see many species of shorebirds (Black Turnstone, Surfbird, etc), several species of gulls and terns, alcids (Marbled Murrelet, Pigeon Guillemot), loons, grebes and many landbirds (Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Wrentit). A major highlight will be a Shearwater Journeys boat trip out into Monterey Bay to experience a plethora of pelagic species (shearwaters, petrels, jaegers, phalaropes, alcids) - sometimes numbering in the thousands, and many marine mammals. This adventure to northern California is timed to catch a large percentage of northern migrants (Golden-crowned Sparrow, pelagics, gulls, shorebirds) as they first arrive, enjoy all the resident species including various owls, and snag a few late summering species like Townsend's Warbler that haven't departed yet. Our hope is to see 175 species, enjoy the majestic coastline and the scenic Mt Hamilton area and, basically, have an awesome time in the process. - - This trip is currently full, but call or email if you are interested in the itinerary or to be put on the waitlist: 781-259-2206 or jriley@massaudubon.org. Registration is required. Call 781-259-2200 for details. See http://www.massaudubon.org/catalog/listing.php?program_code=1593-DFA10FA1 for more information.