California - Palm Springs, Sierras, Central Coast 2014

July 4 - July 20



Introduction:

I grew up in southern California and went to graduate school in central California. I knew of the natural beauty throughout the area and decided the family should take a nice visit to the area, visiting both places I'd visited in my youth as well as some places I did not visit.

While an attempt was going to be made to add some birds to the life list, a lot of time was spent outside just enjoying the surroundings and not seeking out birds. In the end, a number of great birds were seen and five super birds were added to my life list: green-tailed towhee, Clark's nutcracker, greater sage-grouse, Lawrence's gold finch, California condor.

Overall the trip was great, with a lot of beautiful and memorable places visited. We arrived on July 4 and returned on July 20.

Note: We have birded California in the past and had seen a number of birds, including all the regular gulls and sparrows. Given this, some types of birds were not given our attention and were not noted down. In particular, in the areas we birded there seemed to be a number of sparrow species, but as mentioned we did not take the time to id and note these.


Primary Areas Visited:

Palm Springs

Sequoia National Park

Yosemite National Park

Bristlecone Pine Forest

Bodie Ghost Town

Mono Lake

San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

Pinnacles National Monument

Monterey


Lodging:

El Segundo

Courtyard by Marriott Mariposa Avenue. Stayed here 3 nights: July 4-July 6 and July 19 - July 20. In my hometown. Got a discount from a friend. Decent hotel and convenient location.

Palm Desert

Residence Inn Palm Desert Cook Street. Stayed here 1 night: July 6-July 7. Nice place to stay, good breakfast. Rather empty this time of year. Water in the pool was actually warm enough, from the weather I presume, that it did not help much in cooling off. Got a discount from a friend.

Sequoia National Park

Wuksachi Lodge Stayed here 2 nights: July 7-July 9. Nice lodge in the middle of the park. Great breakfast in a room with wonderful atmosphere.

Yosemite National Park

The Ahwahnee Stayed here 1 night: July 9-July 10. Didn't stay in the primary lodge, but one of the "cabins". Main lodge has a lot of history and a fantastic dining area.
Curry Village Stayed here 1 night: July 10-July 11. "Tent" was fine. Nearby dining and relaxing areas were convenient.

Bishop

Creekside Inn Stayed here 1 night: July 11-July 12. Very nice hotel and convenient for the bristlecone pine forest. Recommend it if you're in the area. Pool was enjoyed in the hot weather and the breakfast was good.

Lee Vining

Lake View Lodge Stayed here 1 night: July 12-July 13. Decent hotel and convenient for the Bodie/Mono area.

Los Banos

Vagabond Inn Stayed here 1 night: July 13 - July 14. Convenient location in going from the eastern sierras to the coast, and next to the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge. Choice of restaurants right outside the door and great rate with breakfast included.

Monterey

Holiday Inn Express Great location just off of cannery row. Stayed here two nights: July 14 to July 16. Good breakfast and very friendly and knowledgeable staff.

Santa Barbara

The Sandman Inn Stayed here one night: July 16 - July 17.Convenient location, not far from the mission, on State St. Basic hotel with fine breakfast included.

Buena Park

Knott's Berry Farm Hotel Stayed here one night: July 17 - July 18. Nicer than some of the reviews would have led one to believe. Room was fine, the pool area was fun, breakfast was good and being on the park property was great. You get in to the park 1/2 hour earlier than others, which was a treat. We bought a package which included breakfast and tickets for the park.

Newport Beach

Newport Beach Hotel Right next to the pier, doesn't get much better. We stayed here one night: July 18 - July 19. Swimming in the ocean and biking on the bike path kept us entertained. Came with breakfast. For a fee, have parking lot behind the hotel.


Auto Rental

We went with Alamo, taking the free Alamo airport shuttle to the nearby rental center. Pretty good experience. Large and modern check-in facility. I had booked it using CheapTickets.com and it was amongst the lowest rates available. We drove a significant amount: 2355 miles. It was a Nissan Altima and drove well.

Flight Information:

Booked two tickets through CheapTickets.com and then used frequent flyer miles to pay for all but a little of the other two tickets. The flights were direct with American Airlines

To California, July 4:
American Airlines flight 25
7:45am Boston - 11:05am LA

From California, July 20
American Airlines flight 202
12:30pm LA - 9:00pm Boston

Books:
Web-Based Trip Reports, Etc.: While we mainly relied upon the book of John Kemper, we did come across some useful/interesting information on the web:

DAY BY DAY:


July 4:

We arrived in Los Angeles, got some Mexican food in El Segundo and headed to the Marriott Courtyard Hotel in El Segundo which we had at a special rate. We relaxed, swam a bit and went to my good friend's home. Here we had an excellent meal and walked down to the recreation park to see a very nice fireworks show.

July 5:

The girls went to Ralphs to buy some breakfast items and then to the Mattel store located in the close by Mattel building. I went to an area where I have some belongings stored and tried to set some aside for the Goodwill. The kids then spent the day with my sister while the wife and I spent some time with our friends from Orange County, spending some time in Redondo Beach and then Huntington Beach. Did some swimming again in the early evening. In these past two days, though not actively birding, did happen to notice: pigeons, loads of crows, house sparrows, mockingbird, black phoebe, and house finch.

July 6:

Headed out to Palm Springs. The southern central California area was in a heat wave and Palm Springs was hot hot hot. It was 113 for a good part of the day and it may have peaked out at 117. We saw a red-tailed hawk en route to the Residence Inn in Palm Desert. Got great views of a greater roadrunner as well as some house sparrows, mourning doves and robins near the hotel where we had a nice swim. We actually ate at a jack-in-the-box. Towards the end of the day took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up to the San Jacinto wilderness area, coming back down after the sun set. Up on top, where it was about 30 degrees cooler. Amongst the Jeffrey Pines, with their butterscotch smelling bark, we saw mountain chickadee, steller's jay, western bluebird, violet-green swallows, dark-eyed junco, pygmy nuthatch, raven, acorn woodpecker, bewick's wren, house wren and an unid'd hummingbird. Also saw gray squirrel. Palm Springs

July 7:

Day 4 found us getting close up looks of the greater roadrunner again as we headed out to visit the Indian Wells Tennis Complex. While driving around the complex parking lot we came across a beautiful vermillion flycatcher perching alternatively on a rock and a tree next to the parking lot. Quite a pleasant surprise.

Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park We then headed onward and drove up to Sequoia National Park. Heading out of the desert we stopped at the Hadley store and eatery and got some trail mix and date shakes; yummy. As we approached the foothills we stopped for a nice dinner at the Black Bear Diner. As we approached the park we saw turkey vulture, acorn woodpecker, scrub jay. We also came across two tarantulas crossing the road. We got up into the park early enough to talk a walk and take a look at the General Sherman Tree, biggest in the world, before darkness came. We also saw mule deer and golden-mantled ground-squirrels within the park. Checked in to the Wuksachi lodge for two nights.

July 8:

Excited to be in SNP, we had a great breakfast and made our way to Moro Rock; this is a huge rock with stairs and railing on it that gives a fantastic view once on top. We first stopped at the lodgepole visitor center to make a reservation for the crystal cave tour. En route to the rock we then stopped at a giant fallen sequoia you can climb around on and also drove through the tunnel: a tunnel made through a different giant sequoia that had fallen. Moro Rock was wonderful and we saw a peregrine falcon cruise by while on top. We then stopped at the Giant Forest Museum which has some great information and displays and is next to the trailhead of some wonderful trails. We walked the Big Tree Trail, including a pristine meadow across the street from the museum. On the trail along the meadow we saw an obliging yellow-bellied marmot, as well as raven, song sparrow and juncos. Outside the museum is a tremendous tree as well as some fallen trees that are arranged neatly in a line. A white-headed woodpecker was nesting in a hole in one of the fallen trees and we saw him fly in and out of his nest hole several times. We then had a late lunch at the lodgepole visitor center complex and headed to our Crystal Cave Tour. After this great cave tour we had superb looks at some canyon wrens that nest near the entrance to the cave; more precisely near the entrance which is next to the tourist entrance to the cave. My experience has been that these birds can be easily heard in the correct habitat but are a challenge to see. We wound up the day with a second visit to the General Sherman Tree. What a day in this tremendous place. Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park Kings Canyon

July 9:

Today we were headed to Yosemite National Park, with a detour down Kings Canyon National Park on the way. We weren't sure what was in store for us as we headed down Kings Canyon and thought it may end short. But as we drove further into the canyon we were taken by its beauty. We went almost to the meadow at the end of the road, having been filled with satisfaction by what we saw. A couple of waterfalls provided welcome respite and a sandy beach along the river let us do some wading to cool off. Near the beach was a lodge and eating area with plenty of steller's jays and a black-headed grosbeak also came through. We then trudged on to Yosemite, getting to Glacier Point about 45 minutes before a spectacular sunset began. The view from this point is fantastic! There were a good number of people here in addition to ourselves. We did manage to get good looks at a coyote who walked near the road as dusk came on. We arrived at the Ahwahnee Lodge and settled into our 'cabin', having not been able to find a room in the lodge proper even though we booked months before our trip.

July 10:

Spent the day in the fabulous Yosemite Valley. Had breakfast at the Yosemite Lodge and took a walk around the lower portion of Yosemite Falls. We then had to check out and move a short distance away to Curry Village, which is a 'tent camp'. After getting settled we took a hike up Vernal Falls. A great hike and great falls! These falls are supposedly primarily spring fed and so run stronger when the snow fed falls slow down. In the evening we ate at the Curry Village center and listened to a nice ranger talk about rescues in the yosemite valley.

July 11:

Got breakfast at Yosemite Village and spent some time in the museum area. Headed back, packed up and slowly drove through the valley on the way to Bridalveil Falls, which is at the entrance to the valley. En route we stopped to observe some acorn woodpeckers and got good looks at a western tanager while doing so. There were also some hummingbirds but we were unable to id them. Getting to the falls, they were simply a trickle. So we headed out to make the drive to Bishop. Going through the Tioga pass we stopped at a couple of gorgeous lakes, one simply to look at and the other to wade in, as the heat wave in progress when we arrived in California had yet to ease up. We also took a walk in the Tuolumne Meadows, a sub-alpine environment, where we observed some Belding's ground squirrel as well as a group of Clark's nutcrackers in the distance. Was surprised how close we got to snow, and it was July 11! Getting over the Sierras we stopped for lunch at Bodie Mike's BBQ and then took 395 to Bishop and settled into the Creekside Inn. During the day we also saw house sparrows, Brewer's blackbirds, a turkey vulture.

July 12:

Had a nice breakfast at the Creekside Inn and headed out to the Bristlecone Pine Forest: home of the oldest trees, or living things, on the planet. Great drive up to the forest, with a stop at Tollhouse Spring. At the spring we saw black-throated sparrow. In or near the forest we saw American kestrel, plenty of not-so-shy mountain bluebirds, sage thrasher, pinyon jay, pygmy nuthatch, red-tailed hawk, rock wren and juncos and golden-mantled ground squirrel. In passing through Bishop we stopped at the crowded, very large Erick Schat's Bakery, got some tasty sandwiches and ate them outside, with the weather very warm and a welcome umbrella shade above the table.

We learned from a flyer at Bodie Mike's BBQ that there was a free 'tufa walk' at Mono Lake at 6pm and made the trip back to Lee Vining, where we checked into the Lake View Lodge, and made our way to the south side of Mono Lake. The Tufa walk was led by a young intern and was a treat for us, especially the kids. We saw plenty of brine shrimp, scooped up in a cup for close inspection, and brine flies. Birds were not so numerous on this side and we saw killdeer, California gulls and brewer's blackbirds. Also was an osprey on a nest. The intern indicated there were no fish in the lake and the osprey go off to other bodies of water to get their fish; the tufa provides a very safe location for a nest. After walking to the nearby market from the hotel to get some breakfast items for the morning, we were thrilled to see a huge moon over mono lake. Biggest I can recall seeing.

July 13:

Headed out with breakfast items in the car and made way to Bodie Ghost Town. Saw black-billed magpie on the highway. When we got onto the dirt road and neared Bodie we made a couple stops and managed to get great looks at a couple of green-tailed towhee. We were looking for greater sage grouse but didn't see any by the time we got to Bodie. There was one car waiting at the entrance to Bodie and still about 20 minutes before they opened, at 9am, so we went just a tad past Bodie on the dirt road and spotted a group of about a dozen grouse walking along the hillside adjacent to the road. My wife quipped that we'll probably see them strolling around the ghost town and we did! I had been to the ghost town years ago and thought it would be neat to revisit it and we spent a couple hours strolling around the streets and buildings. After about an hour we saw one small group of grouse with young ones and a little later saw a second group, which may have been the same as the first but it was not clear. We also saw here the sweet mountain blue birds, violet-green swallows, cliff swallows and cowbird.

After Bodie we stopped by Mono Lake County Park. Here there were loads of birds. A peregrine falcon was on one tufa and an osprey on another. Plenty of avocets and eared grebe, some brewer's blackbirds, Canadian geese, red-winged blackbirds, California gulls and loads of both wilson's phalarope and red-necked phalarope. Spectacular views from the end of the boardwalk at the park.

We stopped for lunch at Bodie Mike's BBQ and then headed back over the Tioga Pass. We made the lengthy drive to Los Banos where we swam a little, got some dinner and slept at the Vagabond Inn. Stopped at a fruit stand in the central valley to pick up some treats.

July 14:

Day 11 found us getting an early breakfast and heading out to San Luis National Wildlife Refuge (SLNWR). We were mainly interested in seeing the herd of Tule Elk. We first visited the neat visitor center. Heading out from the center we saw river otter, great blue heron, great egret, plenty of western kingbirds, ash-throated flycatcher, red-tailed hawk, American kestrel, swainson's hawk (not mentioned in Kemper's book). And we got great looks at the Tule Elk. We first saw a small group of female and/or juvenile and later came across two nearby groups of male. Fantastic animals. We then headed off to Panoche Road. I was going to take Little Panoche Road off of the Highway 5 and head over to Paicines. We passed by Mercey Hot Springs, seeing a cooper's hawk in the parking area. We arrived at a junction that had a clear arrow pointing to Paicines, though it didn't feel right. We took the road, which became dirt and we even forded a small river at one point. After a while we would up back at Highway 5, very frustrated. At least we saw a nice black-tailed jackrabbit on our little loop. We were going to go to Pinnacles National Monument via the Panoche Valley but instead headed up Highway 5 and back down, passing by Hollister, to Pinnacles. At Pinnacles we took the cave trail up to the reservoir, though the cave is closed during this time of the year, and the rim trail back down. It was a real treat to be hiking on these neat trails up to the reservoir; had no idea it would be like this. We saw scrub jays, steller's jays, black phoebe, robin, California towhee, acorn woodpecker, great views of California quails, violet-green swallows, robin and a wonderful little group of Lawrence's goldfinch! At the reservoir we were watching the violet-green swallows skimming the water and a couple of water snakes (Common Gartersnake) swimming around. We then saw what we thought were swallows sitting on a rock at the edge of the water and drinking. To our great surprise they were Lawrence's goldfinches: great surprise! Finished our hike on this great day and made our way to Monterey where we stayed at the ideally located Holiday Inn Express.

July 15:

After breakfast we made our way over to the wharf for our whale watch trip. On the trip we saw California sea otter, California sea lion and harbor seals in addition to some harbor porpoises and a large number of humpback whales. Apparently over 30 of these behemoths were counted in the area. We could see large schools of anchovies swimming around and at least two types of large jelly fish in the water. As for birds on the trip we saw large numbers of sooty shearwater, a northern fulmar, pigeon guillemots, brandt's cormorants, common murres, heerman's gulls and brewer's blackbirds. The whale trip was done by Monterey Bay Whale Watch, departing at 9 am and getting back between 1 & 2 pm. It was $39 per child and $49 per adult. I got a little sea-sick feeling and after the trip we took it easy, hanging out in the hotel and in the area between the aquarium and wharf.

July 16:

Breakfast and off to the world famous Montery Aquarium. We spent 5 hours continually marveling at the exhibits and shows at the aquarium, including a show with a live Laysan albatross. Was happy to see that the aquarium was possible due to funding from David and Lucille Packard. Started heading south. The lady I booked the whale trip with over the phone and I had talked a little on the phone and she said that mile marker 41 in Big Sur was a good spot to try to get a California condor, so we pulled out here. We also pulled out at many other spots simply to marvel at the tremendous views. We did see red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures, as well as a white-crowned sparrow and some steller's jays by the time we were at 41, but no condor. So we started slowly heading south and at one point a bird flew up from the right side of the road, which is a very steep drop. I though it was a turkey vulture, but we stopped at the next pullout and tried to spot it. It had landed in a visible spot on a hill up the road where we had first seen it. It looked intermediate to a young turkey vulture and a young condor, being at a good distance and with heat blurring the image. At one point I saw a purple tag on the bird and thought 'who would tag a turkey vulture?' Eventually the bird flew and it looked big. We headed back up the road to the earlier stop as the bird was going up a canyon which was not currently visible to us but seemed to be visible from the earlier stop. Sure enough, we pulled over got out the binocs and the scope and there were a few birds, at one point I believe there were five, circling up the canyon on thermals towards the tops of the hills. We got on one which was clearly an adult condor and got wonderful views and enough some not so wonderful but great nonetheless photos! Great feeling seeing this condor slowly circling up and eventually heading over the hill. As for what the initial bird was that caught our attention, we were grateful. Arrived to Santa Barbara and checked in to the Sandman Inn.

July 17-20:

Spent the morning at the wonderful mission in Santa Barbara; acorn woodpeckers were banging around in the palm trees. We then passed through Ojai, where my godmother lives, and then on the Buena Park, where we stayed at the Knott's Berry Farm hotel. Had dinner at Pink's hotdogs just outside the park and resulted in the only case of upset stomach during our trip. We had a great time on the 18th at the amusement park and then headed to Newport Beach, where we stayed at the Newport Beach Hotel. Spent some time on the beach on the afternoon of the 18th and on the 19th rented some bikes to enjoy along the beach before heading back to El Segundo. Spent the evening of the 19th-20th in El Segundo, from where we headed to the LAX and flew back to Boston on the 20th.

Miscellaneous:

We saw the brown pelicans at various places along the coast, saw the band-tailed pigeon either at Yosemite or Sequoia National Park. We're pretty sure, but aren't recording, we had a red-shouldered hawk in Redondo Beach, a townsend's solitaire in the Sierras, a harrier in some fields near the coast and some type of tern while on the whale watch.

Summary:

Saw a lot of beautiful places, 70 species of birds, 5 of which were lifers and another 18 were new for California, along with some land animals and sea animals. Didn't list the unid'd lizards and frogs below.




Birds:
eared grebe
northern fulmar
sooty shearwater
brown pelican
brandt's cormorant
great blue heron
great egret
canada goose
california condor
turkey vulture
cooper's hawk
swainson's hawk
red-tailed hawk
osprey
american kestrel
peregrine falcon
california quail
greater sage grouse
killdeer
avocet
wilson's phalarope
red-necked phalarope
california gull
heermann's gull
common murre
pigeon guillemot
mourning dove
rock dove
band-tailed pigeon
greater roadrunner
acorn woodpecker
white-headed woodpecker
black phoebe
vermillion flycatcher
ash-throated flycatcher
western kingbird
steller's jay
western scrub jay
pinyon jay
clark's nutcracker
black-billed magpie
common raven
american crow
violet-green swallow
cliff swallow
mountain chickadee
pygmy nuthatch
bewick's wren
house wren
rock wren
canyon wren
mountain bluebird
western bluebird
robin
mockingbird
sage thrasher
western tanager
black-headed grosbeak
green-tailed towhee
california towhee
black-throated sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
song sparrow
dark-eyed junco
cowbird
red-winged blackbird
brewer's blackbird
house finch
lawrence's goldfinch
house sparrow


Other Animals:
tarantulas
common gartersnake
yellow-bellied marmot
mule deer
tule elk
gray squirrel
golden-mantled ground-squirrel
belding's ground-squirrel
black-tailed jackrabbit
river otter
coyote


Sea Animals:
california sea otter
california sea lion
harbor seal
harbor porpoise
humpback whale