Peace!

Adam

Given that this hike was nearly 3 months ago, I will let the photos tell the story of a lovely little walk Sarah & I did with our friend Linda.  We were happy to see a fairly large number of late-season wildflowers blooming among the dry grasses covering the hillsides.

Trail

Centaury / Centaurium sp.

Royal Rein Orchid / Piperia transversa

Junction

Elegant Brodiaea / Brodiaea elegans

Yellow Mariposa / Calochortus luteus

Dry grass

California Milkwort / Polygala californica

Redwoods

Trail

Goldwire / Hypericum concinnum

Trail

Newt crossing

Lake Lagunitas

Stonecrop / Dudleya farinosa(?)

Sticky Monkeyflower / Mimulus aurantiacus

Redwood grove

Oceanspray / Holodiscus discolor

Lake Lagunitas

Lake Lagunitas & Mt. Tamalpais

Distance: ~2.7mi

Wildflowers seen:
- California Milkwort
- California Poppy
- Centuary sp.
- Chia
- Elegant Brodiaea
- Farewell-to-spring
- Goldwire
* Oceanspray
- Royal Rein Orchid
- Sticky Monkeyflower
- Stonecrop
- Yellow Mariposa

* = life flower

We woke up and finished packing our stuff, then after a quick breakfast, hit the road, destination Big Morongo Canyon.  This preserve, located in Morongo Valley, was listed in “California Hiking” as an excellent birdwatching destination, and it was right on our way to Palm Springs, so we were eager to see what it was all about.

A multi-lingual welcome

We found the preserve easily, parked in its ample lot, and started walking at 9:25.  The entrance kiosk was incredibly informative, with checklist of birds by season, birds seen recently, ID tips, silhouettes, maps, and so on.  After picking up a map we headed out on one of the boardwalk paths that dot the preserve.

Summer Tanager / Piranga rubra

A half-dozen House Finches squabbled noisily in a cluster of plam trees, and as we watched them, a flash of red!  I knew that Vermilion Flycatchers were a target bird here, so I was hopeful that this was one.  A bit of searching refound the bird, which turned out to be a Summer Tanager (LIFER!).  Although not a VEFL, I’m not one to complain about any new bird!

Boardwalk path

A woman with rather a lot of bird-related hat pins approached and I asked her if she had any tips for first-time visitors.  Turned out I asked the right person, as she was one of many volunteers who walk the trails here, helping folks identify birds and pointing them to rarities.  As we talked, a Green Heron flew by, the first I’d seen in a couple of years.  Just a few minutes in and I already had a year bird and a life bird – this was shaping up to be a productive walk!

Meow!

After talking to the docent for a few minutes, we continued on our way.  There are many paths to choose here, and they’re all very well-signed.  Ours traced a hillside along a reedy area.  We saw a Cooper’s Hawk land in its nest atop a nearby tree, stay for a few, and then leave again.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker leaving its nest

Emerging from a tree, we spied a Ladder-backed Woodpecker (LIFER!) coming out from its nest, the first of a bunch of woodpeckers we would see here.  The Ladder-backed looks similar to the Nuttall’s Woodpecker, which we were to see a bit later.

Oops!

A rusty mangled car seemed rather out of place, since as far as we could tell, there were no roads nearby.  The car looked mid-50′s or so, though, so perhaps there was a road here at that time.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker / Picoides scalaris

We came to a clearing in the middle of a reedy patch, with ample benches and a large deck from which to observe the wildlife.  A trio of Ladder-backed Woodpeckers flew to and fro, giving us great looks.

Blue Grosbeak / Passerina caerulea

A beautiful Blue Grosbeak, another year bird for me, posed on a snag for a moment before flying off, and a constant sound of chirping and tweeting told of many unseen birds in the underbrush.  We stayed here for a little while, enjoying the sounds of so many animals all around us, then continued on our way.

Desert Spiny Lizard / Sceloporus magister

A colorful Desert Spiny Lizard ran out onto a rock and did a few pushups, then scampered off behind a stump.

Red-tailed Hawk / Buteo jamaicensis

Plank path

As we strolled along another boardwalk path, we met some more birders.  One elderly woman asked if we’d seen the baby owls.  “No, but where are they?” we replied.  She thought for a moment, and then said she would be happy to walk us to their nest, even though she’d been walking all morning.

Bell’s Vireo / Vireo bellii

Along the way she pointed out a Bell’s Vireo (LIFER!), an endangered bird, and perhaps a quarter mile down the path there it was, a big twiggy Long-eared Owl’s nest.

Long-eared Owl nest

She said there were three owlets, but we saw only two (not that I minded, especially as these were my first Long-eared Owls ever).

Long-eared Owlet / Asio otus

They were terribly cute, and peered at us with their wide yellow saucer-eyes, as if to ask “what are you doing in my wood?”  We spent a fair while here, watching the owlets, and hoping to catch a glimpse of a parent, which we didn’t.

Twiggy woods

We continued looping around, again on a nice boardwalk path with ample benches to rest and/or observe.  This eastern part of the park was quieter.

Western Tanager / Piranga ludoviciana

A colorful Western Tanager, one of many we’d seen, semi-posed.  Although I’ve seen plenty of this bird, I never quite manage to get them in very good light, and they don’t hang around for long.

Desert Hills

Away from the marshy reedy area and its attendant trees, the landscape was decidedly more desert’y (and warm).  Although we were only perhaps 20 miles from Joshua Tree, it was hotter here, as we transitioned between the Mojave and Sonoran deserts.  We soon came back to the entrance kiosk and another birder pointed out some Bewick’s Wrens nesting in the eaves.

Several folks had told us that Vermilion Flycatchers were easy to find at the city park adjacent to the preserve, so we headed over there to see if we could find any.

Western Bluebird w/a meal for its chicks

Western Bluebird chick peeking out from its nest

It was quite birdy in the park’s trees, a cacophony of voices.  We enjoyed watching a Western Bluebird catch a bunch of insects and then deliver them to a youngster in its nest.   There were also nesting European Starlings and House Sparrows and…

Vermillion Flycatcher / Pyrocephalus rubinus

… Vermilion Flycatchers (LIFER!).   The male VEFL is very easy to see and identify, thanks to its flaming red head and breast, and we saw a good many of them flycatching from fence tops and twigs.  We were stoked to have seen not one, but two crimson birds on this walk (the other being the Summer Tanager we saw when we started), as there aren’t very many red birds in the western US.

Cassin’s Kingbird / Tyrannus vociferans

A kingbird perched high on a tree, but it didn’t look right for the relatively common Western Kingbird.  Some thumbing through our field guide showed it to be a Cassin’s Kingbird (LIFER!).

Nuttall’s Woodpecker / Picoides nuttallii

A *knock* *knock* and a flash of black and white led our eyes to a Nuttall’s Woodpecker (LIFER!).  Similar to the Ladder-backed, the Nuttall’s has a much darker black “shroud” over its shoulders.

Hooded Oriole (female) / Icterus cucullatus

Several houses across the street from the park clearly belonged to birders judging by the dozens of various feeders strung along their front yard, so we took a gander and found a bird that took me some time to identify.  I finally (and much later) figured it out – a female Hooded Oriole (LIFER!).  Also near the feeders were American Goldfinches, a Wilson’s Warbler, more Western Tanagers, a Lesser Goldfinch, and an Anna’s Hummingbird.

Vermillion Flycatcher / Pyrocephalus rubinus

We returned to the park and saw yet more Vermilion Flycatchers, doing as flycatchers do – perching on a high point, then flying out to catch a few insects, then returning.

Nest

Somebody’s stringy nest clung precariously under a palm leaf, but we didn’t see anything come or go, so we’re not sure whose nest it was.

Vermillion Flycatcher / Pyrocephalus rubinus

Vermillion Flycatcher (female) / Pyrocephalus rubinus

Right as we were leaving, I saw a female Vermilion Flycatcher up in a tree.  Although much less flashy than their male counterparts, they’re attractively colored and patterned.

Cooper’s Hawk on a nest raid

Lastly some commotion in a tree caught our eye, and we watched as a Cooper’s Hawk jumped from branch to branch, obviously looking for a nest to raid!  We held our breath as it stuck its head into a nest in the crook of some branches, and were relieved to see it come back up empty-beaked (although the likely baby Cooper’s Hawks would be much less enthusiastic about this result!).  Our bird appetite sated, we headed back to the car and continued on our way toward Palm Springs.

Big Morongo Canyon is definitely one of the best places I’ve birded.  Although we did not see a tremendous variety of species, many were nesting, and many are hard or impossible to see in other regions.  This is definitely a must-visit for any birder in the area, and I look forward to returning sometime!

Birds seen:

Location: Big Morongo Canyon Preserve
Observation date: 4/29/09
Number of species: 28

+ Green Heron – Butorides virescens 1
Cooper’s Hawk – Accipiter cooperii 2
Red-tailed Hawk – Buteo jamaicensis 2
Mourning Dove – Zenaida macroura 3
* Long-eared Owl – Asio otus 2
Anna’s Hummingbird – Calypte anna 2
* Ladder-backed Woodpecker – Picoides scalaris 1
* Nuttall’s Woodpecker – Picoides nuttallii 1
Black Phoebe – Sayornis nigricans 2
* Vermilion Flycatcher – Pyrocephalus rubinus 5
* Cassin’s Kingbird – Tyrannus vociferans 1
* Bell’s Vireo – Vireo bellii 1
Mountain Chickadee – Poecile gambeli 2
+ Red-breasted Nuthatch – Sitta canadensis 1
+ Bewick’s Wren – Thryomanes bewickii 1
Western Bluebird – Sialia mexicana 4
European Starling – Sturnus vulgaris 3
+ Common Yellowthroat – Geothlypis trichas 1
Wilson’s Warbler – Wilsonia pusilla 1
* Summer Tanager – Piranga rubra 1
+ Western Tanager – Piranga ludoviciana 4
California Towhee – Pipilo crissalis 1
+ Blue Grosbeak – Passerina caerulea 1
* Hooded Oriole – Icterus cucullatus 1
House Finch – Carpodacus mexicanus 3
Lesser Goldfinch – Carduelis psaltria 1
American Goldfinch – Carduelis tristis 1
House Sparrow – Passer domesticus 5

* = life bird, + = year bird

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Trip Index:

• Part I – Getting there, settling in
• Part II – Twentynine Palms Oasis
• Part III – Oasis of Mara, Noah Purifoy, Key’s View, Cap Rock
• Part IV – Lost Horse Mine
• Part V – Cholla Cactus Garden, Geology Tour Road
• Part VI – Split Rock, Hidden Valley
• Part VII – Barker Dam, Ocotillo Patch
• Part VIII – Mastodon Peak, Cholla Cactus Garden revisited
• Part IX – Big Morongo Canyon, AKA Birding Paradise <– You are here!
• Part X – Tahquitz Canyon
• Part XI – Living Desert, LA, and home

A couple of weeks ago, finding myself flying solo due to Sarah being in a metalsmithing class, I decided to head north to Marin Headlands and wander around some of the parts I hadn’t been to in some time.

Battery Smith-Guthrie(?)

After a pretty drive across the Golden Gate, up Hawk Hill, and the dizzying descent toward Point Bonita, where it feels like you’re about to drive off the edge of the Earth, I parked at a turnout by some of the many abandoned military buildings dotting the hills here.

It was a beautiful day, clear and calm, with the hills flocked in the ultra-green that marks springtime in coastal California.

Headlands

I find the concrete ruins of coastal gun batteries endlessly interesting, and wandered around, pondering the bygone time when our coastline fairly bristled with probably hundreds of large guns, all trained out toward see to keep out enemies real and imagined.

Gun mount and view northwest

Gun mount and view east

Some of the mounts obviously housed large weapons, the above I’m guessing were 16″ or larger.

The paths and road winding around the batteries feature lovely views north to Rodeo Beach and Muir Beach beyond it, with a rocky coast to the west, Rodeo Lagoon to the East, and San Francisco to the south.

Rodeo Beach and Rodeo Lagoon

Few birds were about, primarily the usual Turkey Vulture and Common Ravens with a scattering of White-crowned Sparrows.

Common Raven / Corvus corax

The north end of the knoll features nice views of Fort Cronkhite, Rodeo lagoon, and beyond.  I turned around here, as the only other option is to hike down to the beach, which I was planning on looping around from a different trailhead.

Fort Cronkhite

Rodeo Lagoon

There were flowers a’plenty here,  Bermuda Buttercup, California Poppy, Baby Blue Eyes, Lupine, Iceplant, Scarlet Pimpernel, Wild Radish, and ….

Broadleaf Filaree / Erodium botrys

… Broadleaf Filaree.  This last, a member of the geranium family, is also kown as “Storkbills.”  If you look at the shape of the seedheads to the right of the flower above, you can see why.

On my way back, I moseyed through the ruins of Battery O’Rourke:

Battery O’Rorke

View east from Battery O’Rorke

A nearby sign said:

Construction of Battery O’Rorke was begun in 1902 and completed in 1905.  The fortification was named for Patrick Henry O’Rorke, who had become a colonel at the age of 27.  He was killed in action at the Battle of Gettysburg in 183.

During both World Wars, this battery housed 4 guns with 3″ diameter rifled barrels.  Each weapon could fire shells weighing 15 pounds a distance of almost 5 miles.  These small guns were important because they could be loaded and fired more rapidly than larger weapons.  They were located here to prevent enemy landings on Rodeo Beach.

Battery O’Rorke was abandoned and its guns scrapped in 1946.

I don’t know this shrub – anyone?

Zoomed-out view of the same shrub as above

A puffy white flowering bush caught my eye throughout my stroll.  I thought it was chamise, but upon checking at home, it is not.  If anyone knows what it is, please comment!

Turkey Vulture / Cathartes aura

Vultures continued to circle overhead, providing for a couple of reasonably good photos, and little else continued to be seen, although a loud “Cheek!” announced that a California Towhee was somewhere nearby.

Another unknown bloom, this one from a tree, but not the California Bay I thought it was

As I walked back toward where I’d parked I saw another unfamiliar bloom.  From the leaves I judged it to be a California Bay tree, but yet again upon looking it up at home, it’s not that.  Given that this was an active military base with many humans around, it’s not a given that it’s a native tree.

Rocky coastline

Back at the car I drove a quarter mile further west, past another large former bunker that I will have to check out at a later date, and parked at the end of the road.

Iceplant / Carpobrotus edulis (non-native)

Shore- and sea-birds are sometimes visible from this high vantage point, but not today.  I contented myself with enjoying the clear blue skies and pretty views of the Marin Headlands area in all directions.

Point Bonita Lighthouse

After taking in my fill, I drove down to the Marin Headlands Visitor’s Center to walk around Rodeo Lagoon.  Since this has become a long post already, and I have many photos from the later walk, I will continue in a separate post in a few days.

Continued here

On Saturday after finishing the Top Hat Classic, I drove from Pleasanton to Auburn to meet my father Barry & sister Emily, then we drove to Chico, got registered, and set up camp at the fairgrounds. There was an interesting juxtaposition of country folk & cyclists with expensive steeds. At the arena, there was some sort of monster car jumping thing going on, and we kept hearing the announcer trying to get the audience to chant “WE WANT AIR!” followed by the roaring of what sounded like a very large engine. Thankfully this had ended by the time we returned from dinner at the Olive Garden (it was prom night, and there was a ridiculous stretch Suburban limo – guess the normal Suburbans aren’t big enough for some folks!).

We awoke on Sunday morning at 5:15 and wandered around in search of food – none was to be found! I was surprised that at a ride as well-known as the Wildflower there was no breakfast bagels/yogurt/coffee/juice. I ate a Clif Bar and we headed out. The ride started off with a long, gentle climb to get warmed up (it was pretty chilly at 6am!) then proceeded along some lovely rolling terrain, past a covered bridge, and to the first major climb, Honey Run Rd. The map (printed on a bandana – clever!) said it was 1500′ in 5.5 miles, which didn’t sound very bad at all. After about 3 miles of rolling hills, I was going “uh-oh…” and was soon rewarded with the real climb. It wasn’t a real killer, but it wasn’t all that easy either, especially with 57 miles fresh in my legs from the Top Hat the previous day! There was a lot of chalk writing on the road, which provided for some entertainment. Annoyingly however, there also was a lot of white supremacy/nazi crap – yuk Honey Run wound its way up from a valley with great views of a red’ish butte on the other side.

After the climb up Honey Run it was a short jaunt to the first rest stop in Paradise. There they had yummy muffins & breads galore and one of the worst sports drinks I have ever had (the name escapes me at the moment but it was truly awful). I drank a large bottle of it anyways, because I hadn’t had any breakfast other than a Clif bar and needed the nutrients.

The ride turned downward for the next 10 miles or so before hitting some rolling hills on the way to Table Mountain. I was feeling pretty good at this point, so I went ahead of Barry and Emily and waited for them periodically and took a lot of pictures. I got to the second rest stop at a nice park near Oroville, got some sports drink (same brand as the awful stuff from the first stop, but this flavor wasn’t bad at all – peach I think it was) and muffins and waited for Barry and Emily to arrive. And waited … and waited … and waited. I was starting to worry, since I hadn’t left Barry and Emily very far behind, so I called Barry on his cellphone. Turns out they had assumed that I was going to skip the second rest stop, so they did too! At this point they were a number of miles ahead of me, so I decided to hammer out and catch them. Either I was hammering too hard to notice or it was poorly-marked, but I completely blew past a turn (it should have had someone at it, as it wasn’t at all obvious), taking 4 people with me (silly them thinking I knew where I was going!). After a mile or so, a truck drove by and shouted “wrong way!”, so we stopped and looked at our bandana maps and asked at a gas station and turned around and found the turn we’d missed. I was even further behind Barry and Emily now, so I kept up the pace on some nice rollers along Lake Oroville. The climb up Cherokee Rd, while not too terribly steep (1000′ in 5ish miles, most of the climbing at the end), was rather painful from having been going all out for the past 15 miles or so, so I gave up on catching them quickly and slowed considerably.

At the top of Cherokee (on top of Table Mountain), Barry and Emily were waiting for me and I ran into fellow SunSpots Denise & Catherine. We all rode together for the remainder of the ride. It was then a fun, twisty (and bumpy!) downhill pretty much all of the way to the lunch stop.

At the lunch stop (60′ish miles in), Catherine and Emily were feeling rather fatigued (this was Emily’s second organized ride, and by far her longest – way to go Emmy!), and didn’t want to do the full century. Conveniently, the mechanic at the lunch stop was one of the people Denise and Catherine were staying with in Chico, so Catherine got directions for a shortcut. I’d have been happy to do the full century route, but nobody else wanted to do it, and Denise & Catherine’s hosts in Chico said the last 20 miles or so was rather boring flat roads through orchards with icky headwinds, so I decided to stay with everybody. Oddly, the only non-water drink they had at lunch was hibiscus iced tea – I would have liked to have had cytomax, gatorgag, gookinade, or some other more sportsy drink…

After lunch, we rode on some more rolling hills back towards Chico. It was fairly windy, so Denise and I tried to form a double-paceline to help out, but it didn’t hold together very well, probably because most of us weren’t used to riding in pacelines (myself included). We were behind two other riders for a while and noticed their pace was steadily dropping. Apparently it was a father & son and the father was getting very tired, so we towed them along until our shortcut diverged from the full century route. Our shortcut was remarkably straightforward, and shaved about 22 miles off of the length of the ride for a total of 82 miles (including my 2 “bonus” miles).

Denise and Catherine returned to their friends’ home, while Emily, Barry, and I returned to the fairgrounds, broke camp, and had some food at the ride end.

The ride pointed out to me that I need to work on hills more – the 2 major climbs (and one minor’ish one) really put the hurt on me (though having ridden 57 mi the day before surely didn’t help that!). The Wildflower is aptly-named – they were _everywhere_ along the roadside. I’d never been to Chico before – what a beautiful area it is. Table Mountain is gorgeous. The jerseys are among the nicest I’ve seen, as I’d hoped (couldn’t decide which design I liked best, so I got both . I’ll definitely be doing this ride again! My only gripes (minor) are the lack of food at the start (I’d at least have like to have known about that so I could have prepared!) and the poorly-labeled turnoff onto Cherokee Rd.

Ride Stats: