End of Winter Break

    On January 4th, I birded in some coastal areas of Half Moon Bay. It was a beautiful day with balmy temperatures, clear sky, and ocean breezes. Unfortunately, good weather often leads to large amounts of people wanting to get out which could mean bad birding but I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. My first stop was at the Pilarcitos Creek Mouth.

    For the past month or so, there were several birds of note for the area reported here, including a blue morph snow goose, Ross's goose, glaucous gull, and cackling goose. Unfortunately by the time I went, only the cackling goose remained according to reports. The bird stood out in a small flock of Canada geese, being much smaller than the others, having a proportionally shorter neck, and having a more stout beak. Although it wasn't a lifer, it was a good addition to my year list and a fairly unusual bird for the area.

Additionally in the flock was a very pale Canada goose

    After observing the goose flock, I walked back along an area of beach and saw a pleasant surprise, 22 snowy plovers, the most I've ever seen in one place! The adorable birds were quite fittingly hanging out in a fenced off dune labeled "snowy plover nesting area", enjoying their governmental protection from extinction. 

Posin' for the camera

    While walking back to the car following the snowy plovers, I saw another pleasant surprise: two beautiful flowerheads of the yellow sand verbena, blooming several months out of season. 

The rest of the plant

Erysimum sp. - some sort of wallflower

 A very fuzzy Artemisia sp.

The bridge over the creek was bordered by this lovely Cape ivy growing on willows. Although the plant is quite attractive and smells pleasant (hence the scientific name Delairea odorata), it is extremely invasive in this area, choking out native vegetation

Closer pic of the vine

    My parents then drove me to Pillar Point Harbor, where I got my first life bird for the day: a diving COMMON LOON. Bird activity was high, always a fun thing to watch.

Common loon - this state bird of Minnesota mainly breeds in Northern freshwater and migrates to both coastlines of the US during the winter

I did not expect to see snowy egrets in the wave-pounded rocks so close to the ocean. My other lifer of the day, the BRANDT'S CORMORANT was also present on these rocks.

Half-eaten kelp crab

Sanderling with a fresh catch of a worm being chased by another

Flying off with his prize

Dainty little mew gull

Western gull trying to eat a kelp crab in peace

Landing somewhere else

Victory at last?

Several minutes later, I saw this juvenile Western gull holding a kelp crab...with another gull in pursuit. The cycle goes on.

At the end of the rock jetty, I got this shot of a distant flying loon. Not sure of the species though.

Several harbor seals seemed to be relaxing, floating in this position

Sunset and gull flock

    As the fourth day of the year ends, my year list closes at 102 species (It somehow took me from July 14th to September 2nd of 2013 to get my first 100 species...), a fairly decent start. Now, however, I must part with my lovely two week winter break and will not be able to get out as much.