Nerds are Cool

    May 9th. 2:45 am on a Saturday morning. Like the majority of my teenage peers, it was time to wake up and go birding, to enter ebird checklists on the first annual global big day, to be as socially acceptable as possible. Like one day last December, I went with a group of other (very common) birders around my age with a group of super cool people named Will Brooks, Rachel Rothberg, and Chris Daw (seriously though, they're really cool people).
    At 3, Chris drove us up to Alpine Road, where we planned on stopping and owling. The first thing we noticed as the elevation rose was the sudden increase in fog and plunge in visibility. It was quite menacing. Also, another human was present jogging up in the cold. Wow Homo sapiens is one freaking weird species.
    Unfortunately for the first 2 ish hours there was very little activity without even a Great Horned. The only things heard were a lone Pacific-slope Flycatcher that gave its distinctive call in the early morning darkness, some frogs, and what we believe were Peacocks. Finally, we stopped by Sam McDonald County Park as light was just starting to show up in the sky.
    A brief walk up and we heard our first and only owls of the day - Northern Pygmies! There were 3 calling from various points in the mixed evergreen forest. Soon afterwards, a Black-headed Grosbeak started singing its melodious song, a few Pacific-slopes joined in, a Wilson's Warbler sung, a few more Grosbeaks joined in, some more Pacific-slopes, a Steller's Jay rattled, and the morning chorus came into full swing.

Very large and charismatic Banana Slug.

First light with the bird nerds.

Redwood Violet (Viola sempervirens), covering the woodland floor together with the native Redwood Sorrel (Oxalis oregana) and invasive Forget-me-not (Myosotis latifolia). And to Will, I'm really sorry that these aren't violet. :( 

Not yet in bloom but a very lovely Andrew's Clintonia (Clintonia andrewsii).

    At the park's entrance, we heard another great bird for the day: a Pileated Woodpecker. Then, we set off to an area where Macgillivray's Warbler was known to breed on a stretch of Alpine Road. To make a long story short: cold, foggy, needed to go to the bathroom, heard only, cold. 

Acmon Blue sparkling in morning dew

California Quail in Poison Oak patch

Cloaked in mist.

Photo nerds.

Oh my god this place is beautiful.

    As we left that cold spot, we made a long and also pretty cold stop at the quite warbly (though all heard onlies) Monte Bello. Thankfully it got warmer towards the end though. The pictures can do all the explaining. I still needed to go to the bathroom.

Spiderwebs are awesome. Unfortunately, I could not find the builder of this piece of art.

Yerba Buena (Clinopodium douglasii). It smells quite buena, with a very strong minty scent.

California and Himalayan Blackberries (Rubus ursinus and armeniacus), respectively, with the latter of course the invasive one.

Checkerbloom (Sidalcea malviflora)

My (finally!) first Lazuli Bunting! Unfortunately, both of my shots of this female consisted of the bird with its head turned. A few moments later, the gorgeous male joined in but then the two flew off.

Horsetails are so pretty. I believe this is Giant Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia) but not fully sure.

Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria vesca)

Some moths seen in the area. In order: Achyra occidentalis, Uresiphita reversalis, and Pyrausta subsequalis.

    As we continued walking, the fog cleared over the hills and nature's grandeur and awesomeness continued to shine to us. By this point, my need to go to bathroom started to subside.

Douglas Firs are quite bae <3

Western Gray Squirrel. Unfortunately, most of the gray squirrels I see around home are the introduced Eastern variety, which are markedly smaller (these guys are enormous).

As we walked into the forest, this perfectly camouflaged Wild Turkey hen got up. Below it were 6 even more perfectly camouflaged chicks.

Sizable shelf of Ganoderma applanatum growing on a California Laurel (Umbellularia californica)

Two-eyed Violet (Viola ocellata)

One of the many California Newts seen in the (still flowing) stream. Watching these guys walk on the bottom of the water was so peaceful

On a moss-covered rock by the stream I spotted these lovelies, a Bladder Fern (Cystopteris fragilis) and Crevice Alumroot (Heuchera micrantha), both first members of their respective genera for my plant year list.

Again, holy crap this place is gorgeous

The beautiful Yellow Mariposa Lily (Calochortus luteus).

    9 hours after we set out, we arrived safely back at Chris's house and I immediately went to the bathroom. I'm still astounded that all three of us went this full length without eating or taking a piss. Anyways, it was a great morning with some awesome people and I guess an 8 warbler day on the West Coast is pretty good. Just a little. I guess. Hopefully this opportunity comes again and until next time, enjoy life and love nature!