California Thrasher— Photo: Kevin Zimmer

This short tour is centered on Morro Bay, the winter home for more than 200 species of birds. This is an important wintering area for a variety of waterbirds, including Pacific and Red-throated loons, Clark's and Western grebes, Brant, Surf Scoters, and other waterfowl. Vast throngs of shorebirds feed in the pickleweed marshes at the south end of the bay, among them, Marbled Godwits, Long-billed Curlews, American Avocets, Western Sandpipers, and Dunlin. Peregrine Falcons and Merlins keep the shorebirds in a constant state of alert. The wave-battered rocks at Montana de Oro and San Simeon are favored spots for noisy Black Oystercatchers, Black Turnstones, Surfbirds, and Whimbrels, and are usually lined with resting Brandt's and Pelagic cormorants. This is also a great place to study gulls, and we should have ample opportunity to sort through a variety of species and age groups, and in so doing, demystify the entire process of identifying gulls.

The variety of landbirds is equally impressive, and includes such western specialties as California Quail, Band-tailed Pigeon, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Yellow-billed Magpie, Wrentit, Oak Titmouse, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Western Bluebird, California Thrasher, California Towhee, Golden-crowned Sparrow, and Tricolored Blackbird. Traveling a short distance inland, we come upon the Carrizo Plains. This valley contains excellent winter habitat for a wealth of raptors, among them, Golden Eagle, Ferruginous Hawk, and Prairie Falcon.

We will give special attention to techniques of bird identification and the importance of habitat recognition in finding birds and understanding their ecology, with a special emphasis on the identification of waterbirds (loons, grebes, cormorants, waterfowl, shorebirds, gulls, and terns) and raptors. In the field, we will take time to compare similar species critically and discuss field marks, microhabitat, and ecological differences between species. The pace of the tour, combined with the sheer abundance of wintering birds in this region, should allow for repeated good studies of most of the typical birds of this area.

Good accommodations; all nights at one location; easy walking on coastal trails, beaches, and roads; mild climate, with daytime highs probably 55–65 degrees Fahrenheit, cool nights.