20070208 PointReyes

Point Reyes is a peninsula on the Atlantic Coast of Marin County, California, some 70 km north of San Francisco. The San Andreas Fault cleaves Point Reyes from the adjoining mainland. On the south and the north the peninsula is separated from the continent by the Bolinas Lagoon and the Tomales Lagoon. Olema Valley connects the peninsula to the mainland.

The peninsula has the status of a “National Seashore”, a particular sort of National Park.

I wake up early at 07:00 am

Looking out of the window the first thing I see is an American Robin Turdus migratorius fighting with a big earthworm. Behind the fence I see something whitish moving. I dress myself and make a walk in the direction in which the white thing moved along the road, in the direction of the Glen Miller Environmental Education Center. It appears to be a white deer, member of a group of about 8 “damhert” alike deer (.... ).
A few moments later I see one more along the road.
I return to the Hostel and I walk along the road in the opposite direction, about 5 minutes, to the place where the Coastal Trail begins. I read an announcement on controlled firing in October 2006 and when I look up I see two young male deer (a bit like our ree Capreolus capreolus) on the trail. I don't move. They don't move either. After a while I start talking to them. They are very curious. Me too. I slowly move in their direction. They move away and keep a distance of some 20 mtrs. After some 100 mtrs moving this way one of the boys decides to get off the road. He waits about 10 mtrs. beside the road. His friend and I continue our walk. 30 mtrs. further the second boy also decides to leave the trail. So I continue the walk on my own. I observe some birds that I can't recognize and after a while I return to the Hostel for coffee.
Wv is woken up already. We have breakfast. After breakfast wv sits on the sofa, on the same place where I did my early morning observations. She sees a Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura in a tree on the other side of the road.

At about 10:00 am we drive to the end of Limantour Road. In a small water between the parking and the dunes we see:
- some Gadwall Anas strepera
- some Cinnamon Teal Anas cyanoptera (?)
- some American Coots Fulica americana

We cross the dunes and walk along the beach to the west. Along the beach we see:
- ca. 20 Willet Catoptrophorus semipalmatus in groups of two or on their own (we see clearly the “zorro”-mark in flight)
- 1 Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus with a very long bill indeed
- some Surf Scoter Melanitta perspicillata on sea
- 1 Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura in a tree on the dunes
- 1 Raven Corvus corax

We walk back along the lagoon. Here we see a lot of wildfowl:
- American Wigeon Anas americana - hundreds
- Northern Pintail Anas acuta - at least 50
- Mallard Anas platyrhynchos - ca. 40
- Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata - ca. 10
- Gadwell Anas strepera - ca. 40
- Scoup Aythya spec. - ca. 40
- Bufflehead Bucephala albeola - ca. 50
- Snowy Egret Egretta thula - ca. 5
- Willet Catoptrophorus semipalmatus - ca. 40
- Black Turnstone Arenaria melanocephala - one group of ca. 20
- Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa - ca. 5
- “bonte strandloper” - few hundreds
- “kanoet” - some 50
- “bontbekplevier” - ca. 5
- Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus - 1 male

In the meantime it has started raining. We're not dressed for it. We get very, very wet, wet, wet.

About noon we have coffee in Olema. After coffee we go straight to the Visitor Center. We see a movie. We get a bit dry. We buy some interesting books:
- Evens, Jules G. - The natural history of the Point Reyes Peninsula (Point Reyes, California 1993)
- Lanner, Ronald M. - Conifers of California (Los Olivos, California 2002)

We drive to Inverness. Along the border of Tomales Bay we see:
- Canada Goose Branta canadensis - ca. 5
- Osprey Pandion haliaetus - 2
- Great Egret Ardea alba - 1
- some common waterfowl

We drive along Sir Francis Drake Hwy to Schooner Bay.
From the Hwy you have a good view over the shallow waters, but especially the little road to the Oyster Farm gives lovely sightings of the waterfowl in the waters:
- Scoup Aythya spec.
- Bufflehead Bucephala albeola
- Willet Catoptrophorus semipalmatus
- Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa
- wintertaling
-Northern Pintail Anas acuta
-Mallard Anas plathyrhynchos
-Gadwall Anas strepera
-American Wigeon Anas americana

During the day we saw on different places:
- White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys
- House Sparrow Passer domesticus

Returning to our homebase we find out that some new visitors have arrived. A group of schoolchildren with teachers. They sleep in a separate house. And in the male dorm 2 new visitors have taken their place. One of them is snoring so loud that I wake up halfway the night, and I don't fall asleep again. I sneak off to the ladies dorm. Take care that the alarm wakes me before Brad is around!