Birding in Neverland – the full story for 30th April
Yellow billed Magpie gets us off to a great start. All too soon the alarm was buzzing and we stumbled out of bed and made our way to meet Hugh. We obviously looked worse for wear as Hugh suggested a mug of tea and some breakfast before we set off. Needless to say the offer was gratefully accepted. Feeling slightly better we headed inland for some of Hugh’s favourite birding spots. It wasn’t long before we were screeching to a halt to admire a Yellow-billed Magpie on a roadside fence. It turned out this was the boundary of Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. We resisted the temptation to pop in and say hello. Gaining altitude we reached an area of pine forest where we birded a campsite. Here we saw our first Purple Finches of the year. The climate here came as bit of a shock. Inside the car it looked like a beautiful sunny day. Stepping outside, we realised it was in fact incredibly cold with a biting wind. What a contrast to the coast, and of course this time we hadn’t bothered to bring all our thermals, hats, gloves, fleeces etc. So shivering, we continued further up the mountain where we were lucky to find two very special birds, Townsend’s Warbler and Hermit Warbler, both stunning males giving incredibly good views. The Townsend’s in particular was a real beauty and must rank right up there with some of the best birds of the year.Leaving the mountains we quickly descended to the coast and birded a narrow estuary. A confusing flock of gulls was roosting on a sandbank. As is so often the case with large gulls, it was a real headache trying to sort out immature birds but with Hugh’s help we were able to identify two Glaucous-winged Gulls. At one point the whole gull flock was flushed as a Coyote swam across to the sandbar.Working our way south along the coast we checked several sites near Santa Barbara, picking up California Thrasher on the way, a new Thrasher for our collection.Sadly we said goodbye to Hugh and headed south towards San Diego airport, ready for our trip to Canada the next day. A big thank you to Hugh for making time to bird with us and sharing his vast knowledge with us for our California stage.