These tours have been set up to visit some of the best birding areas in California. A typical day will begin at 9am at a good birding spot and break for lunch at noon. There will be another excursion in the afternoon, and a late-afternoon break to relax. We then gather for dinner and discuss the day's sightings.
Cost per person is $175 for the weekend, not including transportation, lodging and food. Accommodation options and other information will be sent at the time of registration.
2011 Trips
Sierra Valley Tour, Sierraville
June 10-12, 2011 (Fri.-Sun.)
For John Muir the Sierras were the Holy Grail of California wilderness. When you visit, it’s easy to see why: these great forests of pine and fir, pure streams and rivers, mountain lakes and soaring peaks are a revelation of what nature is all about. Our headquarters for this summer weekend will be the Sierra Valley, an area about 25 miles north of Lake Tahoe bordered on the west by the Lakes Basin and the Sierra Buttes. The valley itself is dotted with little villages like Portola, Graeagle and Blairsden. The area’s rivers, grasslands, lakes and forests provide homes to a extraordinary variety of birds. We will visit Lake Davis, the Sierra Valley marshes, the Feather River, Yuba Pass, Plumas-Eureka State Park and other locations. We expect to see Sapsuckers and other woodpeckers, numerous warblers, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Bald Eagles, Osprey, White Pelicans, Mt. Bluebirds, White-faced Ibis, Sandhill Cranes, Black–billed Magpies, Nighthawks, Clark’s Nutcrackers, ducks, hummingbirds and various flycatchers, finches, nuthatches and thrushes. Many species of butterflies also enliven the woodland scenes. The weekend trip begins at noon Friday at Los Dos Hermanos Café in Sierraville on Hwy 89 and ends Sunday at noon. Tour cost does not include accommodations, meals or transportation. I will provide a list of local accommodations. We typically visit at least two locations per day, plus roadside spots, and break for lunch. We meet again in the evening to relax, eat hearty dinners and discuss the day’s sightings.
2010 Trips
Sierra Valley Weekend Birding Tour
Two Weekends: July 16-18 and Aug. 27-29 (both Fri.-Sun.)For John Muir, the prophet of the Sierras, the mountains were the Holy Grail of wilderness. When you visit, it’s easy to see why: these forests of giant sequoia, pines and fir, pure streams and rivers, mountain lakes and unspoiled forests are a revelation of what nature is all about. Sitting in the shade of a great tree or walking the trails, they are witness to a higher reality than the merely human. Our headquarters during these summer weekends will be the Sierra Valley, an area about 25 miles north of Lake Tahoe bordered by Portola, Sierra City, Yuba Pass, Graeagle and Blairsden. The valley has a great diversity of habitats--rivers, grasslands, lakes and forests—which provide homes to a extraordinary variety of birds. Typical locations we will visit include Lake Davis, the Sierra Valley marshes, the Feather River, Yuba Pass, Plumas-Eureka State Park, Antelope Valley, Lake Madora and others. Local birds include Sapsuckers and other woodpeckers, numerous warblers, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Dippers, Bald Eagles, Osprey, Western Tanagers, White Pelicans, Mt. Bluebirds, White-faced Ibis, Sandhill Cranes, Black–billed Magpies, Nighthawks, Clark’s Nutcrackers, ducks, hummingbirds and various flycatchers, finches, nuthatches and thrushes. The weekend trip begins at noon Friday at Los Dos Hermanos Café in Sierraville on Hwy 89 and ends Sunday at noon. Tour cost does not include accommodations, meals or transportation. If you would like information about accommodations, I will give you some suggestions. We typically visit at least two locations per day, plus roadside spots, and break for lunch. We reassemble at dinner to relax and discuss the day’s sightings. Evening strolls include the Milky Way blazing above us.
Monterey Area Weekend Birding Tour
Two Weekends: June 25-27 and Sept. 24-26 (both Fri.-Sun.)
Monterey Bay and nearby Big Sur are among the most scenic areas of the entire California coastline. The area has an almost unique concentration of wildlife, including birds, wintering monarch butterflies, sea mammals and whales migrating off the coast. The list of scenic places to see birds is long: Monterey itself, Elkhorn Slough and Moss Landing, the Salinas and Carmel River estuaries, Pt. Lobos and Julia Pfeiffer State Park, among many. We can expect to see sea otters paddling in the surf, as well as pelicans, terns, herons and egrets, raptors, many kinds of shorebirds, woodpeckers and songbirds, in all up to 100 species of birds. The weekend begins at noon Friday at Elkhorn Slough (near Moss Landing on Hwy 1) and ends at 1pm Sunday in Monterey. Tour fee does not include accommodations, meals or transportation. Lodging options and other information can be sent at the time of registration.
Klamath Refuge Complex Weekend Tour, California-Oregon Border
Oct. 21-24 (Thurs.-Sun.)
In the fall of each year, migrating wildfowl, shorebirds and raptors by the hundreds of thousands pass through the great complex of wildlife refuges at the California-Oregon border known as the Klamath Basin. These refuges and parklands encompass many thousands of acres of wild marshes, grasslands, forests and lakes. Fall in the Klamath region is the greatest spectacle of migrating birds on the West Coast, all in the shadow of snow-capped Mt. Shasta to the south. This is wild, open, scenic country. Birds of all descriptions can be found here, such as Sandhill cranes, Snow, White-fronted and Ross’ geese, shorebirds, Tundra swans, ducks of all descriptions, Bald Eagles, great numbers of other raptors (harriers, falcons, buteos), owls and many kinds of songbirds. We will venture out each day to view wildlife at several refuges, lakes or marshes. I expect total bird species seen to be at least 70-80 species for the weekend. Walking will be minimal, on level terrain. Thursday through Saturday night local accommodations in Klamath, Oregon. Meet at 5pm Thurs. night to check in, have dinner, discuss bird sightings and itinerary; departing time will be late Sunday morning. Drive time 6-7 hours from the Bay Area, car-pooling recommended. Overnight Amtrak service to Klamath, Oregon is available. Lodging and other information sent at time of registration, including optional van transportation for the weekend.
Gray Lodge/Sacramento Wildfowl Weekend
Nov. 12-14 (Fri.-Sun.)
This weekend tour of several of the Central Valley’s legendary birding areas should produce great numbers of raptors, ducks, geese, swans, shorebirds, waders, Sandhill cranes and songbirds. More than 300 species of birds and mammals, both resident and migratory, use the refuges of the Sacramento Valley, including almost half of the Pacific flyway’s waterfowl population. Several million ducks and geese migrate through the area during the fall. The tour will begin at 2pm Friday at the Sacramento NWR, break for dinner at 5pm, and continue Sat. morning at Gray Lodge. Sunday morning we will visit another refuge and depart by early afternoon. Local accommodations will be in Yuba City. Directions and other information will be sent at the time of registration.
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