10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2014

I actually have many targets, in a way, a I want to see lots and lots, but there is one species that the reason that the trip is even happening, the animal that has been pretty much the top of my animal bucket list for well over a decade. It’s a species that has bedeviled and bewitched me over the years. California Condor.

Sharks 170

Sharks Leopards Whales Whaling 170

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 28, 2014

Many gringos make their way to Baja California Sur every year, although the majority are probably heading to Cabo San Lucas to party and test the human limit of tequila endurance. Destinations Baja California Sur I Am Birder Mexico' A male Belding’s Yellowthroat. Hecho en Mexico. Especially if you can fit in some birding?

California 214

California San Jose Birds Mexico 214

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 8, 2019

According to eBird, there have been approximately 270 species seen at the hotspot that includes the harbor. Off the coast of northern California, Sooty Shearwater are common and are seen on virtually all pelagic birding trips. Sequoia Audubon Society has an excellent overview of the hotspot.)

San Francisco 126

San Francisco Portland Whales Whaling 126

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2013

A large number of people I talk to believe the island to be next to the city of Santa Cruz, California. It is sometimes hard to think Santa Cruz Island is sitting just offshore from paved, congested, smoggy southern California. In summer and fall, the waters around the Channel Islands can teem with Blue Whales. This is not true.

California 161

California Birds Sea Lions Whales 161

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

One is the sea canyon that comes close to shore, ensuring plenty of pelagic species can be found close to shore. It’s a similar trick to that which makes Monterey in California such a great location. This species really made me work for it, giving us a flyby late in the trip where I managed to get one photo.

Albatross 176

Albatross New Zealand Dolphins Whales 176

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

In California I smelt the breath a Blue Whale as it passed feet beneath my boat. You may not get the species counts that the race delivers, but you’ll have memories burned into your skull. In Hawaii I stood on a beach as albatrosses fledged and Tiger Sharks prowled for the less successful ones.

Uganda 160

Uganda Sharks Africa New Zealand 160

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 17, 2008

According to this AP Newswire issued yesterday: "President Bush exempted the Navy from an environmental law so it can continue using sonar in its anti-submarine warfare training off the California coast — a practice critics say is harmful to whales and other marine mammals. Navy to do so?

Whales 40

Whales Whaling Los Angeles Mammals 40

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

And oh crap, you guys, we really have to do something about the California Condor situation right now, but what? Everything was going to be extinct – the condors, the whales, the Whooping Cranes , the elephants and tigers, the whole shebang, and that was even if we didn’t get nuked. Most species go extinct.

California Condor 194

California Condor United States Guam Whales 194

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2017

I started the year in Florida, traveled to India with the ABA in February, combined family and birding in an August trip to California, and in-between saw very good birds in New York and New Jersey. I tested the waters before my California pelagic, with a brief Atlantic Ocean voyage, a whale watching trip from Montauk, N.Y.

2016 108

2016 India Ducks Birds 108

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2011

Before my trip to Washington the only species of puffin I had ever seen in the wild was the puffin of the Atlantic Ocean, the appropriately named Atlantic Puffin. The first obstacle was getting to the general range of the species, which is the west coast from northern California to Alaska and across to Russia.* I love puffins.

Washington 169

Washington Protection Puffins Rhinoceros 169

10,000 Birds

JUNE 22, 2011

It is a smell, however, that I am barely able to smell anymore, as three years of working breeding seasons on seabird islands of the Farallones in California have apparently dulled my ability to do so. A great place to watch whales and pelagic seabirds. well pretty much roll around in the stuff. And finally, a view from that step.

Breeding 179

Breeding Stray Seals Whales 179

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2013

Now my Queens list stands at a whopping 302, which means I have actually added thirteen species since my last predictions. I was lucky to see it as I had just gotten home from California that morning. My shorebird list in Queens is now at thirty-eight species! (It It is pictured at the top of this post.). Number 300 in Queens!

2012 158

2012 2013 New York City Jamaica 158

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

Eighteen-hour trips are the rule and only about four or five hours are spent in the prime area to see the species most birders are hoping to see. But what I have long wanted to do is get out on a boat in California, the fabled land of albatrosses, murrelets, and auklets. Where the possibilities seem limited only by your imagination.

Whales 108

Whales Whaling Albatross Dolphins 108