Turri Road - This Morning I was birding with Linda who was on her very first birding adventure. In mid September migratory birds are just beginning to arrive on the Central Coast. Some stop for fuel and rest before continuing their journey, others stay through the end of the winter season.
Migrating Brant Geese by local birding photographer Mike Baird.
We were slowly making our way up Turri Road when I noticed a white car parked in the road and a woman with a camera. I was hoping she would be a friendly birding photographer. Luck was with us.
I stopped beside her, "Might I ask what you are looking at?" She replied, "Bald Eagles." I said excitedly, "Bald Eagles," stressing the "s." When she arrived two Bald Eagles were perched on a low hill. Coincidentally, the hill happened to be the same one I had taken a photo of a few days earlier. (By clicking on the photo you can see a Bald Eagle, though it does resemble a black and white blob, it is a Bald Eagle.) Now the hill was bereft of Eagles. The women pointed to the Sky - The Eagles were soaring over the landscape. Linda's first sighting was a soaring Bald Eagle.
When we arrived at Hinds Summit a Meadowlark was singing. Notice the sign, the elevation is in chains. In the 17th century an English clergyman and mathematician Edmund Gunter invented a distance measuring devise, a chain that was 66 feet long and had 100 links. It was known as Gunter's Chain and was used in land surveying. It is still in use today in Great Briton and Canada for surveying land in rural areas.
From our comfortable perch on the hand hewn bench we watched a flock of Brewer's Blackbirds. An American Kestrel was perched on a nearby fencepost. Although the Blackbirds were fluttering all around him, the Kestrel was not dislodged from its post.
As we meandered downhill to the ponds we saw Cassin's Kingbird, Western Bluebird, and Lark Sparrow.
Our good luck continued. Several Red-necked Phalarope were feeding in the pond. I find Phalarope amusing as they have a unique method of feeding.
They swim very fast, in tight circles, creating little whirlpools, which brings plankton to the surface where they can grab them with their bills. This unique feeding method is known as "whirling." Feeding on the edge of the pond were the less exciting, but marvelous, Western Sandpiper and Semipalmated Plover.
Our final stop was the Morro Bay Marina. We heard California Quail and the coarse ra-tat-tat of a Kingfisher; saw Great Blue Heron, two Pied-billed Grebe, and a marvelous view of an Osprey. In the estuary were scads of Snowy and Great Egret, Cormorants, Brown Pelicans, and a variety of shorebirds. In less than an hour and a half we identified 20 species. Wow! Linda definitely has great birding Karma. Can hardly wait for our next birding adventure.
