I took a road trip to Sacramento with my mom. I just got to Sacramento last night. We took 5 days to travel along the coast and to Sacramento. We took the Coho ferry to Port Angeles from Victoria first which gave me some really awesome birds including a Brown Booby! It was reported in Sooke the day before but there was no way I was expecting this guy. I was not even expecting to see it in California. There was also hundreds of Sooty Shearwater, a few Pink-footeds and one Short-tailed. There was 1 Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel and Tufted Puffins and Cassin's Auklets. There was also a Parasitic and Pomarine Jaeger. Once off the ferry we went to Ediz hook just west of Port Angeles. There was my first brown Pelican of the year. After that we went to a lake in the North Central region of Olympic Park and I got my first ever Hermit Warbler( have seen a Townsends hybrid in Victoria although.) ON the coast there was quite a few birds around. No new life birds but that night there was a Northern Saw Whet Owl near Lincoln city.
The next day we were on the Southern Washington Coast. The first stop was in Grays Harbor and the sewage Lagoons nearby. The highlight was a Spotted Owl in the forest. There was also lots of peeps and a red Knot. I got really close to a Eurasian-collared Dove. There was also a Swamp and Vesper Sparrow which are quite rare in the area. Later was Griffith Priday State Park which got me an Elegant Tern and my first Snowy Plovers with large amounts Pectoral Sandpipers and Semipalmated plovers and Sanderlings. Atr Cape Disappointment at the end of the day I got my first Wrentit and a Long-tailed Jaeger. There was also over 3000 Brown pelican at the mouth of the Columbia River.
The next day we did Leadbetter Point and the North Oregon Coast. At Leadbetter the shorebirds that day were not very good but the passerines were very nice in the forest. There was several Flycatcher and warbler species and a Hutton's Vireo which was a year bird. There was another Wrentit, and dozens of Douglas Red Squirrels.
We then crossed a bridge into Astoria, Oregon. On the North Oregon Coast we stopped in several places including Haystack Rock and Yaquina Head. Highlights were: Tufted Puffin and alcid colonies, Sora, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Great Egret, and my first ever Western Scrub-Jay.
The next day we did a lot of quick stops in the Central Oregon coast. We stayed the night in Coos Bay butalso did a bit of birding and watched the sunset in Bandon. Highlights of the day were a Ruddy Turnstoneand Rock Sandpiper at Devil's Punch bowl State Park( really neat place.) Black-footed albatross off Cape Perpetua. Some really nice looks at Scrub-Jay all over the place. In Bandon I got my first N. Pygmy Owl of the year and my first ever Acorn Woodpecker
The Sand Dunes were really neat and a few cool birds also
Yesterday we travelled east from Coos Bay to Roseburg and along the I-5 all the way to Sacramento( over 700kms of driving.) My body is still sore from all that driving. We stopped at Rogue River, Touvelle State Park, Shasta Lake, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge and Yolo. Highlight was a Red necked Stint! in Yolo. Another bird which Iwas certainly not expecting to see on the is trip. What on earth was it doing in Sacramento? I also got Snowy Egret and Cattle Egret in marshes along the I-5 and on the highway to Roseburg. IO got my first White-headed Woodpecker and Green tailed Towhee ( I missed one that showed up in Victoria this year.) ever in Rogue River. I got a Black Phoebe and Ash-throated Flycatcher in Touvelle. In Northern California I saw my Second ever Canyon Wren. In Touvelle there was also a Willet in the river which I thought was strange. Also in Southern Oregon I got my first Yellow Rail!! At a rest stop in California I got a Pinyon Jay and a Western Fence Lizard. I also saw a couple Red shouldered Hawks while we were driving. We quickly stopped in Sacramento Wildlife Refuge and In 10 minutes I got Common Moorhen, Ross's Goose, Oak Titmouse, and Phainopepla. there was also three species of owl including a Barn Owl which flew right by our vehicle and hundreds of Black-tailed Jackrabbits.
This morning while swimming in my aunt's pool I saw my first ever Allen's Hummingbird and Yellow-billed Magpie.
At the end of the trip I'll post the rest of the report.
The last day in Sacramento my mom and I went to Folsom Lake State Park. New birds included a California Towhee, Nuttal's Woodpecker, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Black-winged Stilt,Common Moorhen,Allen's Hmmingbird,Bell's Vireo, and great-tailed Grackle. Back at my aunt's place there was a Lesser Goldfinch in there yard. We also went to Yolo where we got a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper that was reported there. In the evening we went for a walk along the American River parkway. There I got Blue Grosbeak, Lawrence's Goldfinch, Black-throated Sparrow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, California Thrasher and Least Bittern.
That evening I was dropped off at train station where I would travel to Seattle and then bus to Vancouver B.C. On the train I saw over 120 species and Pronghorn antelope, black bear, Jackrabbits, beaver and coyotes. New birds were Mountain Quail, Greater Sage Grouse, White-faced Ibis, Clark's grebe, and Amercian White Pelican. In a few hours I'll be taking the ferry back to Victoria.