Canada Goose CSR

Gadwall PM

American Wigeon PM

Mallard GC

Blue-winged Teal SP

Cinnamon Teal FCRT

Northern Shoveler PM

Northern Pintail LL

Green-Winged Teal FCRT

Surf Scoter PP

Red-breasted Merganser PH

Ruddy Duck CPM

California Quail GC

Red-throated Loon GC

Pacific Loon PP

Common Loon PH

Pied-billed Grebe FCRT

Eared Grebe PH

Western Grebe GC

Clark's Grebe PM

Buller's Shearwater PP

Sooty Shearwater PP

American White Pelican FCRT

Brown Pelican GC

Brandt's Cormorant PM

Double-crested Cormorant PP

Pelagic Cormorant PP

Great Blue Heron LL

Great Egret LL

Snowy Egret CPM

Black-crowned Night-Heron FCRT

Turkey Vulture LL

White-tailed Kite WB

Northern Harrier WB

Cooper's Hawk PH

Red-shouldered Hawk RASMC

Red-tailed Hawk RASMC

American Kestrel GC

Clapper Rail OCS

American Coot CSR

Black-bellied Plover CPM

Killdeer GC

Black Oystercatcher PP

Black-necked Stilt FCRT

American Avocet CPM

Greater Yellowlegs PM

Willet PH

Wandering Tattler PM

Spotted Sandpiper CPM

Whimbrel CPM

Marbled Godwit PH

Black Turnstone PP

Surfbird PM

Sanderling PM

Western Sandpiper CPM

Least Sandpiper CPM

Short-billed Dowitcher CPM

Long-billed Dowitcher FCRT

Red-necked Phalarope PP

Parasitic Jaeger CPM

Heermann's Gull GC

Ring-billed Gull FCRT

California Gull GC

Western Gull GC

Elegant Tern PM

Forster's Tern CPM

Black Skimmer FCRT

Common Murre GC

Rhinoceros Auklet PP

Rock Pigeon PP

Band-tailed Pigeon GC

Eurasian Collared-Dove PH

Mourning Dove CSR

Barn Owl RASMC

Western Screech-Owl BSP

Great Horned Owl BSP

Northern Pygmy-Owl GC

Northern Saw-whet Owl GC

Anna's Hummingbird PH

Acorn Woodpecker GC

Nuttall's Woodpecker CPM

Downy Woodpecker PH

Hairy Woodpecker GC

Northern Flicker GC

Western Flycatcher PH

Black Phoebe GC

Hutton's Vireo GC

Steller's Jay GC

Western Scrub-Jay GC

American Crow LL

Common Raven GC

Northern Rough-winged Swallow PP

Barn Swallow PP

Chestnut-backed Chickadee GC

Oak Titmouse CSR

Bushtit SMP

Red-breasted Nuthatch LL

Pygmy Nuthatch GC

Brown Creeper GC

Bewick's Wren GC

Winter Wren GC

Marsh Wren OCS

Western Bluebird SMP

Swainson's Thrush GC

American Robin GC

Wrentit GC

Northern Mockingbird CPM

European Starling RASMC

Cedar Waxwing SMP

Orange-crowned Warbler PH

Yellow Warbler PH

Yellow-rumped Warbler CPM

Townsend's Warbler PH

Common Yellowthroat LL

Spotted Towhee GC

California Towhee CPM

Savannah Sparrow PH

Fox Sparrow GC

Song Sparrow GC

White-crowned Sparrow PM

Dark-eyed Junco CSR

Red-winged Blackbird PP

Tricolored Blackbird RASMC

Brewer's Blackbird PP

Purple Finch GC

House Finch PP

Lesser Goldfinch SMP

American Goldfinch PH

House Sparrow CPM

This was our big day for the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory's California Fall Challenge (their annual fundraiser). We ran according to standard big day rules. We are entering as "MBB Overdrive" (Mary Wisnewski, Bill Walker, and Bob Power). Our theme this year is "More than a feeling."

Weather began with clear skies and a temperature of 47 F as we drove over Hwy 92 in the dark. Skies continued clear with only light wind from the north at the coast. When we crossed to the bay side, temperature rose nearly 15 degrees to around 85.

Highlights of the trip as posted to Pen Birds by Bob:

4 species of Owl in and around Butano State Park and Gazos Cr. Rd.
Sooty Sheerwaters on the water and Buller's gliding by at Pigeon Pt.
Pacific Loon (1) and Rhino Auklets (3) at Pigeon Pt.
Wandering Tattlers (2) under the Pescadero Cr. mouth bridge.
Parasitic Jaegers (2) @ Coyote Pt.
Black Skimmers (8) at Radio Rd.
Blue-winged Teal (2) at Nob Hill pond (Redwood Shores).

Mary's notes on the route, in case we run it again next year: The route was laid out with two goals: to catch a migrant flock (which we never really found) and to cover as much habitat diversity as possible. We wrote up a detailed plan with times and our hoped-for target birds at each location.

Wavecrest - Barn Owl (missed)
Pescadero Marsh - rails (missed)
Butano State Park - owls
Gazos Creek - owls and dawn chorus
Gazos Creek Mouth - gulls, shorebirds
Pigeon Point - pelagic species and tricolored blackbird
Lake Lucerne - stray shorebirds (missed)
Pescadero Beach - rocky shorebirds
Pillar Point Harbor - divers
Princeton Willows - warblers, etc
Etheldore (south end) - warblers
Skylawn - crossbills (missed)
Filoli entrance - oak woodland species
Coyote Point - passerine migrants and shorebirds, jaegers
Radio Road - ducks, shorebirds, swallows Nob Hill Pond - ducks
Menlo Park - second chance at a Barn Owl (score!)
East PA marsh - for rails and pheasant (missed)