Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Bob D'A
Trad climber
Taos, NM
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2013 - 12:33am PT
|
Great shots Tony...here are a few from my trip to Taos.
|
|
Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2013 - 03:28am PT
|
I've only seen Red Phalarope at Lake Tahoe one other time. Jaegers and Sabine's Gulls are definitely rare, but pretty regular in Sept after a day or two of wind. There were three Sabines off Tahoe City today. I've now seen far more in Lake Tahoe than I did in five falls on the Farallons. My Tahoe high count is 17!! Common Terns can be downright abundant on occasion, plus the occasional Arctic, but I've only heard of one Common Tern at Tahoe all season. Still waiting for an Ancient or Long-billed Murrelet to turn up. I'm sure they've visited, it's just that they disappear in the vastness of this lake; maybe this will be the year!
|
|
dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2013 - 07:09pm PT
|
I'm hoping to see Red Phalarope and Red-necked Phalarope tomorrow on a pelagic voyage.
A couple of boobies wouldn't hurt either.
|
|
mechrist
Gym climber
South of Heaven
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2013 - 07:17pm PT
|
I watched a hawk get a rodent 10 feet away from me. It was cool.
|
|
Bob D'A
Trad climber
Taos, NM
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2013 - 08:13pm PT
|
A few more from Taos.
|
|
Tony
Trad climber
Pt. Richmond, CA
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2013 - 11:54pm PT
|
I gave it another try yesterday to see one of the Blue-footed Boobies that have invaded California. This time I was successful and one was perched on Arch Rock, just offshore of the Cliff House in SF with excellent viewing conditions. We watched it for about a half hour, hoping it would take flight, but it continued to preen. It is often either foggy or very windy there. It has been there off and on for a couple days.
Since we saw the Booby right away and were feeling lucky, we then headed north to look for another rarity that has been around, a Hudsonian Godwit. We again lucked out and it was feeding in a small pond it has been frequenting. The timing was pretty good, as after we had watched it for a while, a train approached our viewing spot on the tracks and the birds flushed (and the birders!) and the Godwit didn't return.
Looking forward to dee ee's report of his pelagic. I'll bet he sees BF Boobies, too.
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2013 - 01:27am PT
|
Damn, I would do heinous things for a booby!
Did see a wondrous sight the other night. I was shooting the alpenglow on Mt Ericsson when the wife said "Turn around." There was some tremendous light on Lake South America (12,200'). Then I noticed something wonderful - about 15 migrating Buffleheads were engaged in trout fishing by alpenglow! They were gone by morning but in the morning I saw a lone Horned Grebe at a nearby lake!
|
|
Tony
Trad climber
Pt. Richmond, CA
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2013 - 02:02am PT
|
Reilly,
You shouldn't have to do anything too heinous. There are BF Boobies all around. That's what you meant, right? Check eBird or here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LACoBirds/
Riley, Where are you these days. Were they Broad Wings?
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2013 - 09:35pm PT
|
I finally got view my shots of the "Buffleheads" at 12,200'. It turns out they were all Horned Grebes. It was so dark that all I was seeing was a flash of white as they turned in the gloaming. So now I wonder why only one of the lot was at the nearby lake the next morning. I suppose the others must have been at at one or more of the other nearby lakes.
|
|
Tony
Trad climber
Pt. Richmond, CA
|
|
|
Sep 22, 2013 - 12:22am PT
|
Reilly,
Where were the Horned Grebes. I looked it up and they migrate at night, so maybe that one was a straggler.
Broad-wings sounds likely. I saw big kettles when we were near Corpus Cristi in the spring. I imagine they may be more abundant in the fall. I have to make it to Veracruz for Rio de Rapaces in October, when 2 million Broad wings pass through along with millions of other raptors and other species.
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Sep 22, 2013 - 12:37am PT
|
Tony, they were at Lk South America (12,200') about 12 miles NW of Mt Whitney.
BTW, excellent shots of the Great Shearwater!!!
|
|
dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
|
|
|
Sep 22, 2013 - 01:27am PT
|
Wow, cool hawk vid. I've never seen any thing like that.
The pelagic was good though maybe a little slow.
birds....
No boobies. I prayed for a Brown or Masked. Had one Blue Footed in July.
Probably 10,000 Black-vented Shearwaters.5 Pink-footed.
One Pomerine and one Parasitic Jaeger.
4 lifers for me, 2 Surfbirds, 2 Wandering Tattlers, 10 Red-necked Phalaropes and one Sabine's Gull. No Red Phalaropes.
Lotsa other gulls, Cali, Heermans, Western.
All the usual suspects on the jetty, Brown Pels., Brandts Corms., Blk. Oystercatchers and gulls.
Mammals and....
Maybe 10-12 Blue Whales.At one point there were at least 5 different Blue Whales visible, pretty cool.
One hammerhead shark (that was a first), one other (blue?)shark.
Many pods of dolphins, common and bottlenosed. One group our captain estimated at 800 individuals.That was rad!
One Mola Mola, a big one.
A good voyage.
Afterwards I went to the Rockreation 20th anniversary party. Margy and I have been members since the first year, she has been a manager for the last 17 yrs.
In the dyno comp one young strong girl did a nasty face plant from about 12 feet up, ouch. That was scary.
Good times.
|
|
Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Sep 23, 2013 - 01:33pm PT
|
dee ee
Maybe 10-12 Blue Whales.At one point there were at least 5 different Blue Whales visible, pretty cool.
One hammerhead shark (that was a first), one other (blue?)shark.
Many pods of dolphins, common and bottlenosed. One group our captain estimated at 800 individuals.That was rad!
One Mola Mola, a big one.
That just sounds wonderful. I've seen a fair number of different wales and sea mammals in really cool conditions, but I've never seen a Blue Whale. What's a MolaMola, I know I should just look it up.
And feeder shots. It's definitely starting to rain in Seattle. Shocking, I know!
+ tons of Bushtits swarming though the yard and completely covering the suet feeder.
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Sep 23, 2013 - 01:39pm PT
|
What's a MolaMola, I know I should just look it up.
That's Dee ee's favorite shipboard cocktail. A couple of those and
you'd be amazed at what you see out there!
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Sep 27, 2013 - 11:15am PT
|
From CalBirds:
Farallones mouse eradication public comment notice
Thu Sep 26, 2013 1:25 pm (PDT) . Posted by:
"Steve Hampton" tertial
The plan to eradicate the non-native house mouse (to benefit Ashy
Storm-Petrels and others) on SE Farallon Island is now out for public
comment.
Commenting is extremely easy on-line:
1) go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!home
2) enter FWS-R8-NWRS- 2013-0036 in the box.
3) click "comment now"
Even a short comment should only take a few minutes.
I've been involved with the funding and design of this project from the
start and can tell you it has the support of all the seabird biologists in
the state. We anticipate the benefits will be as good as when we did the
rat eradication on Anacapa (see an excellent 4 min video on that at
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=yG4mLKN6LT0&fe ature=youtu. be ). Note the
project design (which uses rodenticide) has been used many times in New
Zealand and elsewhere with great success.
The public comment period closes Sept 30, but I hear it will be extended.
At the moment, pro-mouse comments are bombarding the website, so we can
use all the positive intelligent comments we can get.
thanks,
Steve Hampton
Davis, CA
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Unbelievable, I guess we could blame Walt Disney.
It only takes a couple of minutes to show your support
and thwart the rodent lobby.
DO IT!!!!!
|
|
dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
|
|
|
Sep 28, 2013 - 02:50pm PT
|
Reilly, I was unable to check the disclaimer box and submit my comment.
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Sep 28, 2013 - 04:04pm PT
|
Dee, don't know what to say, it was quick and easy for me.
Maybe the site is having issues?
|
|
Tony
Trad climber
Pt. Richmond, CA
|
|
|
Sep 28, 2013 - 09:39pm PT
|
Reilly,
Thanks for reminding me. I need to get my comments in before we leave on Monday. I think that is last day for comments, too. This is a really a crucial restoration effort that is being held up by folks from Wildcare, a wildlife rehab center in Marin. They are making an inappropriate parallel with the widespread inappropriate use of this rodenticide on land. They are using specious arguments to get people to sign their petition, such as this is the "new DDT" and claiming that it is unknown what will happen, when this has been carried out very successfully on numerous other islands, such as Anacapa. I know at least two people that signed the petition without hearing the other side and regretted it.
Here is a nice video showing what it is like on the islands with the huge number of breeding seabirds and other wildlife.
Two Minutes on Southeast Farallon Island/23880275
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!