June 2024
Point Reyes and Mount Tamalpais - 6/1/2024
Attending Members: Rajan Rao, Eddie Monson, Owen Bowie, Frances Park, Sadie Cosby, Julia Rabkin, Ross Rabkin, Alex Mortimer
Attending Members: Rajan Rao, Eddie Monson, Owen Bowie, Frances Park, Sadie Cosby, Julia Rabkin, Ross Rabkin, Alex Mortimer
This month’s club trip was a fun coverage of the multitude of habitats that Marin County has to offer. The group initially met up at the Point Reyes Lighthouse parking lot and welcomed three new birders to the group. From there the club braved sustained winds of 30mph with gusts up to 60+mph and headed out to the murre colony. Everyone got good views of these abundant seabirds as well as nesting pelagic cormorants. However, Eddie and Rajan also picked up on small flocks of alternate plumage Red and Red-necked Phalaropes flying relatively close off shore—an unexpected find! From there we poked around Fish Docks finding a gorgeous alternate Heerman’s Gull, a migrant Red-breasted Nuthatch, and a pair of singing Swainson’s Thrushes. We also managed to grab a Coast Garter Snake giving everyone great views. From there we headed to Drake’s to look for any vagrants. Although nothing too notable, a very late Red-necked Grebe and a couple raggedy Bonaparte’s Gulls showed themselves. Finally, we headed up to the East Peak of Mount Tamalpais to look for endemic plants. Sure enough gorgeous endemics such as Goldwire, California Torreya, and California Pitcher Sages were abundant in addition to some Hoary Manzanitas and Yellow Mariposa-Lilies. After hiking a bit and overlooking the Bay Area in a stunning 360 view, we headed home with another eventful trip in the books.