August 21, 2021
Pacific Grove, California is like somewhere out of a storybook. My sister and I walked down the street and a cheerful old lady wished us a good morning. Residents smiled and waved as we drove by. Squirrels and deer nibbled on grass at a local park in harmony while lovers embraced nearby. They even host a butterfly festival for the thousands of butterflies who stop through during migration every year. All things considered, the stellar birdwatching should have come as no surprise.
My sister and I began the day by setting up shop in an area with a nice variety of gulls.
Heermann’s Gulls are some of the most distinct gulls thanks to their coral beaks, cement-colored breasts, and jet-black legs. The gull above will develop an all-white head as the breeding season approaches, but is currently in nonbreeding plumage.
A California and Western Gull took turns perching on the same rock and even positioned their bodies in the same direction, offering an awesome opportunity for comparison. Apparent in the photographs above, the California Gull has a narrower bill and lighter gray back compared to the beefier Western Gull. Their legs are also different colors; the California Gull with dull-yellow and the Western Gull with light-pink legs. Vibrant orange eye-rings surrounding the Western Gull’s pale eyes are yet another distinguishing characteristic.
Contrary to what their names suggest, California Gulls are fairly widespread across western North America, while Western Gulls occur solely along the Pacific coast from Washington to Baja California.
I made my way over to a group of Brandt’s Cormorants to find a Pelagic Cormorant isolated with its wings extended in true cormorant fashion. It was quite a bit smaller than the Brandt’s Cormorants and besides a subtle metallic sheen, was uniformly dark. Mirroring the Western Gull range, Pelagic Cormorants occur along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California.
I love how seamlessly the elaborate textures and colors frame the Black Turnstone’s body in the photograph above. After all, turnstones and rocky coasts do go hand-in-hand.
At some point my sister and I retreated to the car for an afternoon drive. We didn’t make it far before pulling over to inspect a small golf course pond not far from the ocean.
Our pit stop paid off tremendously, as there were several Red-necked Phalaropes wading and swimming in the pond. This bird was a first for me (lifer!). The Red-necked Phalarope photographed above is a juvenile, signified by the buffy coloration on its back.
Someone once encouraged me to check for yellow legs, a telltale Least Sandpiper characteristic, before diving down the shorebird identification rabbit hole. That simple, yet invaluable advice has helped me avoid countless hours of tirelessly flipping through field guides. Like many instances before, I recalled the advice after spotting a petite bird with light-colored legs loosely associating with other shorebirds at the pond. Sure enough, it was a Least Sandpiper.
I wouldn’t feel right if I failed to mention the magical gem of a coffee shop my sister and I stumbled into while we were in Pacific Grove. It’s called BookWorks and is a coffee shop with a bookstore inside. It’s not just a coffee shop and not just a bookstore, though. It’s everything good about a coffeeshop and everything good about a bookstore, all in one. Like I said before, right out of a storybook.
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Gone Birdin' 