Blue Waves

Today we close out our 3rd and final trek to Ventura, California.  The whole purpose of our trek was to escape the Arizona heat, enjoy the ocean and learn about the Yellow-billed Magpie.  This was a bird I remembered back in the 90's when I lived in the south bay of the San Francisco area. Now as a birder, it was time to go back and have some wine with a friend and rediscover this magpie I first discovered in my backyard when I lived in San Jose. 

And while we had the magpie on our lists, we couldn't stay too far from the ocean.  For an Arizonan, the closest place to find a Yellow-billed Magpie is in the Ventura area.  This is the southern most range for this species.  About 60 miles east of Ventura in the wine country of Los Olivos at the famous Zaca Station Road, we had a lovely time birding along this beautiful road of oak scrub and vineyards. We stopped at one of the places to do some wine tasting.   

The weather was perfect and the wine was great.  And oh yeah, the magpies were a blast!  They reminded me of the Common Mynas that dominate the Hawaiian landscape.  

After we had a lovely time in wine country with great views of the magpie, we headed back to the ocean to enjoy the cooler temps and of course, the beach. 

What a thrill!  Our return trek took us to Santa Barbara.  And it was the last part of our fun California adventures in Ventura. 

Turnstone numbers were great and wonderful views of these 2 species were fantastic!

During our treks to various beach spots, we noticed more Black Turnstones than Ruddy Turnstones.  All the turnstones were mixed in together running around "rock piers" and the sandy beaches not caring that people, pets and kids were also sharing the beach. 

Our missions to the beaches, island and vineyards were a success. 

Any time I bird California, I break down the treks to certain areas.  San Diego and Imperial Beach are wonderful for lots of great birds while Orange County is great for the exotic parrots and a trek out to Catalina Island for the Spotted Doves.  LA is another trip with a trek to the LA Gardens and surrounding areas. Spotted Doves, in smaller numbers, can also be found there, but they are much more enjoyable to find on Catalina Island.  Plus you get a pelagic with that boat trek out of Dana Point, also a great spot to bird. Then there is the Ventura area that we just covered. And all along the coast, there are other great places with specialty birds during certain times of years like in Monterrey.  California is HUGE and it's always fun birding this state.  If you plan well, you won't find yourself on the road all the time and instead, you'll spend most of your time enjoying some quality birding.  

That's how I have dealt with California over the years.  Living in the Bay Area in the 90's, I discovered it was frustrating to try and do too much over a larger area because the traffic killed a lot of precious day outings.  So my attitude is to divide and conquer.  Take it all in over mini vacations over time.  That way you get to enjoy California for everything it offers. So like our trek out to the vineyard, one needs to let that wine breathe. California is wonderful when you slowly enjoy the moments.  Don't rush through it. 

We did try for an unexpected rarity in Santa Barbara, the Curlew Sandpiper.  We had a lot of great birds along the beach, but we often had a lot of distractions.  We didn't find the Sandpiper due to runners flushing the peeps but we did see so many wonderful ocean birds. Plus the beaches there were really really nice. 

The drive was fun as it usually is from Phoenix to Ventura.  It's like a racetrack and always seems to fly by quickly. We wanted to stay a little longer.  The cool ocean temps were so nice.  We're back in Tucson now but I see blue waves happening again very soon.  
 

The year 2020 has been an incredible year here in Arizona.  The devastations that have happened around us environmentally have driven birds into our state from other places.  That report will be coming.  I also hit another landmark for Arizona.  While it hasn't been the year of the lifer, it has been a solid year of birding in Arizona and specifically for Pima County.  Until next time.....