Jesse Conklin and I held our seasonal Big Day this weekend. We were on the road by 4:30am and proceeded directly to Alum Rock Park to listen for Great Horned Owl and hopefully see the Rufous-crowned Sparrow. From there we travelled up hill to Joseph D. Grant County Park where we failed to see any Wild Turkey, but had many other interesting species, including 4-6 Grasshopper Sparrows, Cassin's Vireo and a pair of Lawrence's Goldfinches. Next we returned to the Palo Alto area to hit Charleston Slough to see the Black Skimmers and a Wilson' Phalarope, passing also through the Palo Alto Flood Control Basin, the Duck Pond and Bayland Interpretive Center. From there we drove through Stanford Campus before heading over Hwy 84 to Pescadero Beach, Ano Nuevo for Black Swift and Bank Swallow, Pigeon Point with 2 Marbled Murrelet, Gazos Creek Road overflowing with Swainson's Thrushes, Cloverdale Road for a lone Allen's Hummingbird, and Phipp's Ranch where we found nothing. We ended our day at Princeton Harbour north of Halfmoon Bay at about 9:15 pm where we found a huge flock of about 150 Elegant Terns and a Pacific Loon. Our total species count was 131, which is our second best day--the first was 142 last spring. Our itinerary changes from season to season so it is difficult to compare results but it has been suggested that if we did less driving, we might come back with more species because of the additional birding hours. I guess we depend on the vastly different habitats to bring us easy species. Oh, well... we had a lot of fun!

Pacific Loon
Western Grebe
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Brandt's Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Cinnamon Teal
Mallard
Surf Scoter
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
California Quail
Ring-necked Pheasant
Virginia Rail
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Semi-palmated Plover
Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Whimbrel
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Black Turnstone
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Short-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Phalarope
Heerman's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Caspian Tern
Elegant Tern
Forster's Tern
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Marbled Murrelet
Mourning Dove
Band-tailed Pigeon
Rock Dove
Great Horned Owl
Black Swift
Anna's Hummingbird
Allen's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Downey Woodpecker
Hairey Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-pewee
Pacific Slope Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Western Kingbird
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub Jay
Yellow-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Oak Titmouse
Bushtit
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
House Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Western Bluebird
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Wrentit
Northern Mockingbird
California Thrasher
European Starling
Hutton's Vireo
Cassin's Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Wilson's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Western Tanager
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Spotted Towhee
California Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Hooded Oriole
Purple Finch
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
Lawrence's Goldfinch
House Sparrow