Heading home

Last day of this trip. Woke to a very misty day and sound recording not much use because traffic noise from the freeway was very loud under these conditions. Not much to note from the garden this morning because I was busy packing. However, the orioles have not gone! Tracey, James and I go to Ormond Beach at mid-day and have a Mexican take-away lunch before I go off to look at the lagoon which was full unlike its condition a couple of weeks ago.

Lagoon at Ormond Beach

Tide was now lower than before but rising. Much less to see this time but the Red-shouldered Hawk was present and about 20 Double-crested Cormorants were loafing. Also 3-4 Pied-billed Grebe were present and a first autumn Horned Grebe was swimming about but not diving. A few Mallard and a good number of gulls on the far E end of the lagoon and out to sea and gathered on the surf beach up nearer to the pier. Probably 1000 birds but I never got round to scanning many of them. I did a bit of photography on a Long-billed Curlew, some Marbled Godwits and a few Willets. A few (ca 20) Western Sandpiper were present on the lagoon and a single Spotted Sandpiper. One Great Blue Heron and a single Snowy Egret was also seen. I was reasonably confident that two cormorants well out to sea were in fact Brandt’s Cormorant. A small number of Brown Pelican were seen moving E along the beach. We came home about 1430.

Brown Pelicans

Long-billed Curlew

Marbled Godwits

Off to catch the plane at 1800 in the Roadrunner shuttle bus. Depart from LA at 2330 tonight. Roadrunner arrives at about 1840 and I get to LAX at about 2000. Check in and security are very quick and I am at gate 41 in no time at all. Flight out was comfortable and the plane not overcrowded. Arrival in Sydney was on time but held back by 0600 curfew so clearing immigration and customs was slow with the simultaneous arrival of several large flights. Transfer to domestic by 0730 and on to the Canberra flight at about 0845 for an arrival in Canberra that was only about 10 minutes late. Katie at the airport to take me home. Relax and go through the mountain of mail. Mrs Cummins has completely re-landscaped her front garden while I have been away! Jim is at the coast. Hailie very pleased to se me!

Red-shouldered Hawk and Long-billed Curlew are highlights.

Paradise Cove

David and Mark in the restaurant at Paradise Cove

Sound recording hummingbirds at first light 0600 using the minidisk and stereo Sennheiser ME64s in vertical plane at less than 1m from hummer feeder. Mostly Allen’s, I suspect, but some wing noises might have been from Anna’s Hummingbird of which at least one is still about. There are now several Allen’s attending the feeder. We (David, Tracey,James, Mark and me) all go to Paradise Cove for breakfast at 0800. I spend the morning trying to get better shots of the hummingbirds and do some journal entries which I am now completing at about 1345!

Anna's Hummingbird

Allen's Hummingbird

It seems that the Hooded Orioles have gone. American Crow roosting flight as normal at dusk. Walked up the hill behind the house with David and Alice the dog in the late afternoon (1830-1915).

California Thrasher and House Wren are highlights today.

Rest and recovery day

Recuperating and catch up on downloading pictures from the digital camera.

I set up the minidisk for recording at dawn tomorrow at the hummer feeder outside my window. American Crows pass overhead as usual between 1900-1930 going to roost in a NE direction somewhere – probably a couple of hundred or more. Mark from San Francisco office came to stay for two nights.

Return to Thousand Oaks

We set off from our Middlefork Smith River cabin at a little after 0700hrs. A Steller’s Jay is about early and some American Robins are working the lawns. A flock of 20 or so California Quail farewell us as we turn out onto the highway. We head up to Oregon on highway 199 to Grants Pass and then on to Medford and down into California again passing Mt Shasta where we make a brief stop at a rest area. Here I find a dull plumaged Western Tanager fossicking in the top of a low tree. All long the way we can spot Turkey Vultures soaring and an occasional Red-tailed Hawk. These continue to be obvious from the car all the way to well south of Sacramento. I see a few flocks of Canada Geese in the valley near Redding. I spot a Purple Martin. We stop at the Riverside Restaurant in Red Bluff for lunch. Sitting behind an array of fine nozzles spraying water as a mist we have an excellent meal and watch 8 Common Merganser drift by preening. They are obviously a brood of l-fg (large-full grown) young with flight feathers about 3/5 grown. Cliff Swallows have a mass of nests under the nearby road bridge. A Green Heron takes off from a bankside tree to fly under the bridge. A Black Phoebe flits about over the river and below the bridge. We press on through Sacramento, see one paddock full of Great Egrets perhaps 100 or more but nothing much else of note and we stop south on a knoll with spectacular views across the San Joachim Valley somewhere about 10 miles S of the intersection with Freeway 580. A large RV passes towbaring a white Hummer!

I have stopped here before some 15 years ago when I was on my way from Sonoma to the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Today we press on with another stop on Freeway 5 just W of Bakersfield at a place called Castro. A tree in the rest area is full of noisy House Sparrows and some European Starlings.

Common Starling

It seems that Brewer’s Blackbirds are always to be found at roadside rest areas. A spectacular fly over of White-faced Ibis in V formations occurred at about 1930. About 85 + 65 + 45 and a few stragglers making over 200 birds, all told, and heading along the same direction as our highway. Later I find they were heading into the Buena Vista Lake bed area and crossing the freeway from the north I saw 50-100 Cattle Egret heading into the same wetlands on the S side of the road. It was now getting towards dark and the Freeway was soon to become a crawl until we were through the mountains and descending into LA. We were home a little after 2200. Very tired.

Western Tanager and White-faced Ibis highlights of the day.

Ossagon Trail

Common Raven

I set off at 0630 and go straight to Lake View Road. The activity is much the same as yesterday except there seem to be fewer Great Egrets (10) and less Blue-winged Teal compared with Green-winged Teal. Today the latter outnumbered the former by at least 4:1 with as many as 50 Green-winged Teal visible. Again some Northern Pintail (4) and this time some Northern Shoveler (4). Mallard not particularly numerous as was the case yesterday. Again some Gadwall. Also fewer Western Sandpipers but they were still conspicuous and about 50-100 present today. Still 2 Great Blue Heron but no Bittern seen. There were 12 Canada Geese but none of the small dark Aleutian form Branta hutchinsii leucopareia. A few Cliff Swallow amongst the many Barn Swallow feeding above the rushes. A single White-tailed Kite seen sitting up on a bare branch. I noticed at least 60 Band-tailed Pigeons sitting in another dead tree or two before suddenly they all came pouring in to the road beside the car. Obviously filling up on grit! Some came right up to the car and ate from the soft mud alongside about 30m from me. Most interesting and a very handsome pigeon with black tipped bright yellow bills and yellow legs and feet; neat white collar across back of head; large iridescent nape patch and clean grey general body colouration with lavender shades on the breast and a distinct band on a long broad tail formed by contrast between dark base and pale outer portion. Remained almost silent except for an occasional soft coo. The loud clapping of the wings as they flew up or came into land and the soft whistling of the wings in flight was much more audible. Today at least 4 Yellowlegs seen and again I assume them to be Greater. Clear tu-tu-tu calls. Fewer gulls and not much else to note.

I drive out to the Lake Earl Wildlife Area down Old Mill Road to the end at a trailhead car park. This is a little past the LEWA headquarters building and car park mentioned by Barron (2001) - continuing left another half mile. The whole area looks very good and worth a walk or two if I had the time. I see a small party of American Goldfinch as I return to go out to the harbour and a White-crowned Sparrow. I take the Pebble Beach road from the turn off on Washington Blvd opposite the airport having missed the turn to Dead Lake which I was going to explore. I then slowly drive back to Crescent City stopping to view the sea and shoreline at several pullouts on the way. The tide is out. Nothing special to note and I eventually park at the base of B pier for a look at the harbour. Here I find 2 Short-billed Dowitcher which I am sure are the same two seen a few days ago! A few Common Loon on the harbour including a remarkable performance by two birds, one still very dark on the head and neck the other in ‘winter’ plumage as far as I could tell. They chased each other with flapping wings propelled by their feet at a remarkable pace motor-boating hither and thither for at least 2 minutes without stopping. They covered a lot of water in that time. Sometimes they were side by side but mostly in line and often close but occasionally 10-20 m apart. On at least two occasions a typical wailing call was given briefly by one or possibly both birds. Eventually they stopped, each dived, wing flapped and preened and both settled without further ado. A sustained effort that must surely have been exhausting. It certainly showed the enormous power that exists in the legs of loons. Was it part of some courtship performance? A testing of fitness? Was it an adult with a full grown young? This latter possibility only came to mind after the experience of later in the day!

I move on to the car park near the outfall of Elk Creek but find that most of the gulls have dispersed onto the wide beach now it is low tide. With the gulls a few Black Oystercatcher on the muds. A party of at least 6 Common Raven give me a chance for a few pictures.

Common Raven

Heermann's Gull

Glaucose-winged gull

It is now nearly 1000 so I return to the cabin in Gasquet ready for the main walk today which will be in the afternoon after we return to have lunch at the Chart Room at about 1200.

Seals on the pontoon while we eat at the Chart Room include at least 30 Harbour Seal and 20 or more California Sea Lions that seem to be mostly mature males; large bodied with very high foreheads and short muzzles. I have not certainly seen any Fur Seals or any Northern Elephant Seals. Sea Otters have also not been seen at any time.

Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway at trailhead, a fern and some fungi on a log

We head down to Klamath and the Newton B Drury scenic Parkway to walk the short Ossagon trail to the beach. This trail starts in tall redwood forest rising a little (to about 800’) before taking a long descent to sea level. We see a few Band-tailed Pigeons and hear a soft cuc-whoo call from at least one of them.

Ossagon beach

The redwoods domination very soon progresses to mixed conifer still of massive proportions then as it becomes cooler and wetter broadleaf components become more conspicuous and it eventually becomes Alder woodland before breaking out onto a broad flat dune system at least 500m wide before the final steep slope onto the tide line. In the wet gully of the Ossagon creek we saw a Varied Thrush. The sea is calm. While still in the edge forest I can hear Murres moaning and their food begging chicks squeaking. Sure enough out to sea are scattered couples of Common Murres an adult and an accompanying well-grown but generally slightly smaller chick. I see one chick fed a large fish that must have been about 10cm long. There are countless numbers of them visible to the limits of our vision in both directions. Mostly about 1 km out from the tide edge. Also present are numerous loons. Both Pacific and Common Loon but many of the latter appeared to have a ‘murre’ in tow! I assume these were recently fledged young Common Murre that have latched onto a Loon as a surrogate parent! How extraordinary! I could find no Pacific Loon with a ‘chick’ in tow. All parents had but a single chick. There were plenty of them!

Also present in large numbers were gulls dominated by Western Gull but the next most numerous was Heermann’s Gull. There were Caspian Terns and many cormorant that mostly seemed to be Double-crested but some were certainly Pelagic Cormorants. Cormorants were sitting on some offshore craggy rocky up and down the coast. There were numerous Brown Pelican. A few Surf Scoter were present or flew past in small groups or singly and a few Western Grebe were in amongst the loons and Common Murres.

Tracey saw an Osprey drop down to the sea and we then saw it fly off with a large fish. The Osprey headed S and into some trees about 2 mile down the beach often shaking itself dry as it flew. Maybe a feeding post but possibly a nest site.

Just before we left we spotted a small dark grey dolphin with a very short rounded dorsal fin. It seemed to be an adult with an accompanying young and the snout on the uniformly coloured body was rounded. After looking at Carwardine (2000) I am reasonably certain that these were Harbour (Common) Porpoise Phocoena phocoena. To quote Carwardine .. 'when it rises to breath, the lasting impression is of a slow, forward rolling motion, as if the dorsal fin is mounted on a revolving wheel lifted briefly above the surface then withdrawn'. Exactly how it was. At about the same time we saw that a seabird feeding frenzy was building up out to sea to the S and just about every gull, pelican and many of the cormorant were gathered in the one spot. Mostly it was a mass of squabbling gulls feeding on the surface close together as a mob. Gulls were flying in from a mile or two from both directions. I take picture of the dune vegetation system and its most prominent colonizing plants for Petrus Heyligers!

View north on dunes

View south on dunes

Strandplants at Ossagon Beach

A Marsh Wren crosses my path as I leave the creek side and enter the woodlands at the back of the beach and we plod uphill back to the car. Again not a lot to see or hear in the forests at this time of the year but we do see many small frogs in the wetter parts near the Ossagon Creek. They were almost certainly Pacific Treefrogs Hyla regilla, mostly as far as I could tell in the brown colouration with none green. I use Stebbins (2003) for this identification. A very good field guide it seems to me.

We take a quick look at Walker Road in the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park on the way out from Crescent City and drive to the river taking the right fork in the road. A Common Merganser bashing upstream at the surface was presumably engaged in chasing some fish. It was thrashing along with the head underwater!

Band-tailed Pigeon and Common Murres with chicks at sea were highlights today.

Jawbone Road and Doe Flat

View of Lake Earl from the end of Lake View Road

I set out for the coast at 0700. I go straight to lake view road and sit there in the car for about an hour. It is exactly as described by Barron (2001). About 20 Great Egrets, 2 Great Blue Herons, 3-4 Yellowlegs that seem to me to be Greater; a very close view of a Northern Harrier in front of the windscreen and good numbers of Western Sandpipers along the shoreline feeding busily on the muds. Probably a couple of hundred in view all told. A few very scruffy gulls that included one or two certain Californian Gulls. The duck were mostly Blue-winged Teal and Green-winged Teal, about 30 of each, with lesser numbers of Mallard and 2 Gadwall and 3 Northern Pintail. A honking Canada Goose eventually came in sight as it flew across the lake towards the N and later a small skein of 8-10 flew off E. An American Bittern seen briefly sitting out on a low clump before it scuttled off into the rushes (Eleocharis-like but tall) was a pleasing bonus.

Cliff edge near Point St George looking west

Next, I drove out to Point St George stopping on the way to look at Castle Rock. Here I saw at close range two Marsh Wrens at the side of the pull out and under the car!

Castle Rock from Point St George

A much better day at the Point with the St George Reef lighthouse now visible, at least partly, with its top still in the mist. A party of about 30 Lesser Goldfinch, glimpsed yesterday in the same area but seen well today, was hanging about one of the fenced off areas near the mast at the point. They flew down to feed on the ground amongst the grasses. Out to sea there was a gathering of about 50 Western Grebe idly drifting on the sea and scattered small parties of Surf Scoter doing much the same. A small group of about 6-8 Marbled Murrelets was identified and at least 1 Pigeon Guillemot and a Common Murre seen flying. Numerous Western Gulls were hanging about in the rock pools below. Also, two Spotted Sandpipers. A few Common Ravens seen. I checked out a few Pelagic Cormorants on the offshore stacks but could not find a Brandt’s amongst them. Double-crested Cormorants were passing in small flights, mostly going N as were Brown Pelican. An Osprey was again present but not seen to take anything. Some Cliff Swallows in flight along the cliff edge.

Panoramic view of Castle Rock from Pebble Beach Drive

I now returned towards Crescent City stopping off to have a closer look at Castle Rock. Several groups of Brown Pelican and cormorants that I took to be Double-crested and Pelagic Cormorants, the latter, it seemed, more often on the steeper cliff slopes. To the E of the Rock on the lower rock stacks and rock shelf a loud gathering of California Sea Lions was present and a few Harbour Seal were hauled out amongst them. Must have been 50-100 Sea Lions and about 10-20 Harbour Seal in view. I see some Surf Scoter along the surf break and note that a male was in full wing moult. Each time it dived or rode through the surf break it would either do a whole body shake or rise up and wing flap when I could see that it had no remiges or they were at least still very short. Certainly unable to fly. Interesting. Suggests they disperse from their breeding grounds before moulting.

Scruffy 'glucose' Gull. Glaucous-winged Gull?

Back in Crescent city I go to B Street pier and then to the Elk Creek outfall and have a brief look at the gulls. It seems about 2% are Glaucous-winged Gulls. Two Caspian Tern growl past. A couple of Western Gulls, of slightly different plumage stages, in pair formation displays in the car park. The more mature bird calling and strutting round the younger. There are some Common Ravens sitting on the backs of park benches and hoards of Brewer’s Blackbirds mixed in with lesser numbers of European Starling on the nearby grassy lawns.

Courting Western Gulls

Collect some pastries from the bakery and head on back to the Cabin.

We set off almost immediately for a drive up Jawbone Road past Bear Basin Butte down to the trail head for Doe Flat. It says in the guide that the trailhead is at 4100’ and Doe Flat is at 3200’. Along the road we seen 3 Northern Flickers but not much else. The trail head is on a superb hillside lookout.

Views from Doe Flat trailhead

Black-tailed (Mule) Deer hinds

There are two Black-tailed (Mule) Deer at the car park. The first part of the trail heads downhill along a road to an old chrome mine. At 1.5 miles and at 3900’ a short branch to the right goes up to Buck Lake. By this point we have entered the Siskiyou Wilderness area. We head on down to Doe Flat. We probably travel at least 1 mile from the Buck Lake fork before turning back. The whole trail is in mixed conifer forest with at least Douglass Fir and Sugar Pine but I suspect at least 3-4 other significant conifers that we do not identify.

'Spanish moss'

Snapshots along the trail

We hear a few birds but only Steller’s Jay is identified on the outward journey. On the return we have much better luck with a good view of a noisy Pileated Woodpecker that flies into a tall fir at Doe Flat and disappears despite still calling for some minutes. Absolutely infuriating! A Pacific-slope Flycatcher meanwhile stays top a dead snag and calls steadily for 10 minutes or more. Probably the soft male tseeweep of Sibley. A little further along we surprise two Varied Thrush and see them briefly at close range. David does the side walk to Buck Lake which was only a few hundred yards off but Tracey and I continue back up the hill to where we left the car. A dull immature Slate-coloured Junco with its distinctive white outer tail feathers is the only other bird identified. Most of the time the forests are silent. We occasionally see a Merriam’s Chipmunk and come across three together when we reach to the car.

Merriam's Chipmunks

We drive home and see two Band-tailed Pigeons just before we get back onto the Highway. We head straight to She She’s in Gasquet for dinner. Home exhausted!

Pileated Woodpeckler and Lesser Goldfinch highlights today

Hope Creek and Ten Taypo Trails

Heermann's Gull

Early in the morning at least 20 American Robins are on the lawn outside the cabin. Some keenly feeding on the berries of a shrub but most are working the lawns as all good thrushes would. The robin I capture on the following picture is obviously a youngster - a bird of the year.

Today we are off to the redwood forests going south of Crescent City into Humboldt County. We head down highway 101 with, of note, only a small party of 10-15 Band-tailed Pigeon crossing the road just before the Klamath River and several Ospreys spotted along the Klamath including a very conspicuous nest site at the top of a dead conifer.

Black-tailed (Mule) Deer stag in velvet

We go S on the highway then backtrack up on the Newton B Drury scenic parkway to the Elk Prairie Visitor Centre where we see half a dozen Mule (Black-tailed) Deer and 4 Elk – all at close range. A party of Vaux’s Swifts with a few Barn Swallows swoop to a fro across the relatively small clearing of prairie grassland near the Visitor Centre.

We decide to walk the Hope Creek Trail and the ajoining Ten Taypo Trail through old growth and regrowth Redwood forests with other conifers including Douglas Fir and Sitka Spruce more prominent towards the back of our loop. Silent and majestic. Massive old butts and many forms of regrowth from them. Lots of signs of fire and may fireboxes. Huge trees with great stature in many cases.

Tracey counting tree rings on a felled Sequoia with the help of James

Along the Ten Taypo trail




Evidence of past forest fire

Dung-like fungus

Very little seen but Tracey claims almost constant calling from the canopy of high pitched sounds that might have been kinglets but could possibly have been insect noises. Inaudible to me! I can see nothing but we do come across a small feeding party in a moist gully that seemed to be two Pacific-slope Flycatchers and a Wrentit. No woodpeckers, thrushes, chickadee, wrens or nuthatches – and certainly no parulid warblers. Three birds and an unidentified chipmunk constitute absolutely all I note in 3.5 hours of walking these trails. Very dull on that score. On the return drive I see a Red-shouldered Hawk on a post in a meadow alongside the road just N of Klamath.

Another large Banana Slug

Sequoia sempervirens

We return to Crescent Beach carpark off Enderts Beach Road for a short stroll along the tideline and I find some groups of Heermann’s Gull, about 20 Whimbrel of the dark rump subspecies that I am reminded occur in N America; 4 Pacific Golden Plover, still pretty much in summer plumage, and a small party of 10-15 Sanderlings, all at the strandline. That pretty much sums up the day.

Leucistic Gull

Sub-adult gulls

Heermann's Gulls

Sanderling tripping at the tideline

Band-tailed Pigeon, Pacific-slope Flycatcher and Pacific Golden Plover are highlights for today.

Darlingtonia Trail and Crescent City

Turkey Vultures in the mist Point St George, Crescent City

A walk to the Smith river after breakfast revealed little except a couple of Barn Swallows foraging over the water and a Cedar Waxwing again in the area. A few Steller’s Jay noisy on the far bank and, later, back near the cabins. For a short while 2 Vaux’s Swifts swooped about close to the river giving excellent close views. Still no Dippers!

Start of the Darlingtonia Trail

We all head N on the highway for a short distance to the Darlingtonia Trail. Magificent spread of pitcher-plants on this small bog. No birds.

Pitcher Plants

The Madrone tree

We continue on up the highway to have lunch at ‘Patricks’ on Patrick creek. Excellent. A walk along a short trail downstream reveals nothing (no Dippers!) but we found a very tired and tatty Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus. Two feral ducks were on the ornamental pond outside the restaurant!

Moribund Swallowtail

Back at the lodge there was an American Robin on the lawns and a noisy Steller’s Jay.

In the afternoon I set off on my own to have a more leisurely look at the north side of Crescent City and its harbour. David lets me have the Subaru WRX on my own!

Two panorama views of Crescent harbour looking south and the sea defence wall with the famous B street pier to the left

First I go to the B Street pier and wander out about half way before I spot a MARBLED MURRELET in non-breeding plumage out to sea towards Steamboat Rock. Easily identified by dark crown and face with white chin and half collar; two irregular white patches on the back and white undertail. The Sibley illustration gets the outline and pattern exactly right. A glimpse of a few more further out and I see at least one of them in dusky summer plumage. They dive and drift about in pairs or small groups of up to 10 or so. Otherwise I can find only a scattering of Pacific Loons and a couple of Common Loons along with a few Surf Scoter – all at a considerable distance off in the harbour mouth. A black and white Pigeon Guillemot flying past far out to sea. A large collection of gulls and a couple of Harbour Seals on the beach up towards Sunset circle. The gulls look mostly to be Western Gulls.

Sub-adult Western Gull

Far too far away to determine more accurately and since I have spent some time with them I decide not to go that way to scan them more thoroughly. Two waders fly by with a clear Tringine-like call (kewtutu according to Sibley would be right), white rumps, barred tails, whitish along inner trailing edges of upperwings and very Redshank-like in flight. I think of Yellowlegs. They turn out to be Short-billed Dowitchers. One still more or less in summer plumage the other almost half way into winter plumage. I return to the car to collect my longer lens and get some record shots of them diligently feeding including their typical sewing-machine actions, which of course I cannot capture without video. Splendid views.

Short-billed Dowitchers feeding

Other waders include at least 12 Black Oystercatchers on the rocks inside the harbour and a few Semi-palmated Plovers, Western Sandpipers and Black Turnstones but nothing else of real note. I move out to have a look at Battery Point and its lighthouse, but not before taking some pictures of Ground Squirrels in the car park. A mob of Brewer’s Blackbird including many dull brown juveniles in this same area.

Ground Squirrels

Battery Point Light Station

At Battery Point lots of people on the pebble beach that cuts it off from the mainland and at the lighthouse doing a tour of the building for $3. I set up the telescope on the N side of the buildings and have further good views of Marbled Murrelets including another good summer plumaged bird with overall dark blotchy brown feathering. Non-breeding birds show a clear collar of white that just fails to meet across the lower nape and a reciprocal black band that just fails to cross the upper breast. With the two white wing patches, the forward scapular patch is irregularly marked dusky and white but the rear patch above the folded wingtips is on the sides of the lower back showing as a clear white patch. The underside of the body is all white. I enjoy watching them with the telescope. An adult Osprey flies in off the sea with something in its talons. On a rock islet to the N of the point I spot at least 4 Pelagic Cormorants. The Oystercatchers disperse into this bay. The tide must be falling. It was gloriously warm and clear when I arrived at about 1415 but by 1530 there were ominous signs of a thick sea mist swirling in.

Gathering sea mist

As I worked along the Pebble Beach Drive I stopped at the turnout above the cliffs at 9^th street and had a look at Castle Rock in the thickening mist. A couple of Wandering Tattlers were foraging below me on the rocks along the tide edge.

Castle Rock photographed on 19th August

It is here at Castle Rock that all of the Aleutian Canada Geese assemble in March before going N. The majority of the world population uses this staging area on the spring migration. This subspecies has rebounded from a low of about 800 birds in the mid 1970s to about 40,000 geese by 2000, according to Barron (2001). There is now an annual ‘Aleutian Goose festival’ held in Crescent City in late March.

Sure enough the thick mist arrived soon after and visibility falls off to half a mile or worse before I can get out to Point St George. The details in Barron (2001) were spot on. I walked to the headland and saw very little except a Turkey Vulture in the mist perched atop the rock at the point. A Surfbird was on the rocks along with 2 Wandering Tattler.

Cliff top vegetaion at Point St George in the mist

It was cold and bleak on the headland and with such poor visibility not much point me staying longer although I did take a few pctures in the misty light before I returned to the car and drove back to our cabin arriving at about 1800. Two American Robin on the lawns this evening though noe seen here all morning. Another a good day. Tracey reports seeing a Red-tailed Hawk when she had a swim in the river near the cabin during the afternoon. Now seen 116 species this trip. Not spectacular but reasonable. Pitcher-plants and Marbled Murrelet highlights today.

Myrtle Creek Trail

At the end of the trail, Myrtle Creek

Up reasonably early (0630) and by 0800 at least 8 American Robin on the lawns outside the cabin with 2 Steller’s Jay. A hummer about and I assume it is Anna’s Humingbird. A cock and hen bantam roam the veggie garden with the cock often crowing! Mist at treetops level on the ridge to the N of Smith River. The pattern of low cloud and cool conditions at the coast only 20 miles away contrasting with the high temperatures back here in Gasquet is remarkable.

Found an excellent local bird guide yesterday –Barron (2001). Best site guide I have ever come across.

After breakfast we walk the Myrtle Creek Trail just N of Hiouchi but see absolutely no birds all morning!

The trail is in an interesting area on a geological boundary between two soil types combined with the climatic transition between cool humid coastal conditions and the warmer interior. The more unusual soil is serpentine derived from iron and magnesium rich rocks. The area is designated a Special Botanical Area – one of six in the six rivers National Forests.

Serpentine

Also of interest is the fact that his area was worked as an hydraulic mining operation for gold between 1894 and the early 1920s. Gold was first found in this area in 1853 when panning was the method used. When pacer deposits were exhausted (gold bearing deposits in sand and gravel in the streams) the hydraulic method took over. Most of the vegetation along this trail has regenerated after intense occupation and clearing.

Flume alongside the ditch used to direct water to outlets below

The ditch with the present Myrtle Trail along its bank

The mining operation was made possible by a long ditch that acted as an aquaduct to bring water from a mile up the stream to provide the pressure on the hoses used to sluice out the alluvial deposits. The pressure was as much as 200 lbs per square inch.

We see a good variety of plants including fruiting Huckleberry, Western Azelia Rhododendron ocidentale (typically found away from the coast) and a true Rhododendron R. macrophyllum (typically found near the coast in the Redwood forests) . Trees include Coastal Redwood Sequoia sempervirens, though none are large due to soil and climate, and an abundance of Tanoak Lithocarpus densiflorus.

Giant Banana Slug

Oregon Myrtle Umbellularia californica otherwise known as California Bay or Laurel gives the trail its name and the colourful Pacific Madrone Arbutus menziesii with its flaky peeling bark revealing rich reddish-browns and yellows is spectacular. In serpentine soils with permanent water we see some insectivorous Pitcher plants Darlingtonia californica.

Pitcher Plant

Conifers include Knobcone Pinus attenuate (a closed cone pine), Sugar Pine Pinus lambertiana and Douglas Fir Pseudotsuga menziesii. We also saw some Port Orford Cedars Chamaecyparis lawsoniana a conifer often ravaged by a spore born root disease.

The spicy Wild Ginger Asarum caudatum was found and California Hazel Corylus cornuta. Riparian vegetation becomes more obvious as we near the end of the trail at about 1 mile. Here there are Bigleaf Maple Acer macrophyllum and Red Alder Alnus rubra.

Red Alder

I spot a California Sister Adelpha bredowii, a distinctive medium size (2-3”) butterfly rather like a White Admiral with two white bands extending across the wings and large oval spots at the
wingtips. Ferns are abundant on moist slopes and along the ditch near the stream abundant five-finger Maidenhair Fern Adiantum pedatum is conspicuous.

No Dippers.