field trips

 

Coming Soon - NEW international field trip

to Ecuador in February 2009

Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008
Carmel River mouth

8 am - 11 am

Join Craig Hohenberger of Carmel Middle School for a combined field trip/bird banding workshop.  Todays bird banding topic: "Recording, Entering, and Interpreting the Data."  Field trip topic: "focus on Christmas Bird Count rare birds ." 

To sign up, call Jill Himonas (Wild Bird Center) at 373-1000, or

Craig Hohenberger at 624-1962 by 5 pm Thursday before the class.

Meet at the Carmel Middle School Habitat Project at 8 am.

Limited to 18 people.

Saturday, Feb. 16 - Sunday, Mar. 2, 2008  

Southern Costa Rica

Join Monterey Audubon on its first international field trip!  We will explore southern Costa Rica's west slope and mountains from San Jose to the Panama border.  Our stops include Carara National Park and the Tarcoles River, four days on the Osa Peninsula, the Wilson Botanical Gardens, the Los Cusingos Neotropical Bird Sanctuary (former home of Dr. Alexander Skutch), and Cerro de la Muerte.

Price:  $2,150.00  ($500.00 deposit)

includes meals, lodging, local guides and internal transportation.  Airfare to/from San Jose, Costa Rica not included.

Compare with similar tours at nearly twice the price!

10 birders maximum

The trip is offered to non-members as well as members.

Leaders:

Rich Trissel/831-241-1644; richtrissel@sbcglobal.net

Chris Tenney/831-656-9830; tenneyx2@mac.com

Download the Costa Rica trip brochure pdf for more info:

Costa Rica Trip brochure/fact sheet

Saturday, Jan. 26 , 2008

Monastery Beach and Whaler's Cove

Join us on a walk to explore the wintering birds of Carmel Bay.  Monastery Beach will be our first stop, where we will look for seabirds such as surf scoter and common loon along with a variety of gulls, grebes, and cormorants.  Then we'll move on to Pt. Lobos, where we will walk out to Whaler's Cove.  The pine forest should yield Townsend's warbler, brown creeper, hermit thrush, and ruby-crowned kinglet, along with a variety of woodpeckers.  Additional seabirds and shorebirds are possible at Whaler's Cove and the surrounding rocky shores.  Please RSVP the WBC or your trip leader if you plan to attend.

Leaders:

Larry and Carole Rose/372-2616

Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008
Monterey Wharf/Lake El Estero

February is a wonderful time of year for overwintering waterfowl such as loons, grebes, pigeon guillemots, and possibly the harlequin duck that has wintered near the wharf for the last several years.  Winter storms always provide the exciting possibility of finding something unusual, as some of the pelagic species can get blown in and then take refuge in the bay.  Please RSVP the WBC or your trip leader if you plan to attend.

Leader:

Bill Hill/624-3300

billhill@redshift.com

Saturday, Feb. 16-17 (overnight)

Los Banos/Panoche Valley

We will meet at about 8:00 am at the Los Banos Wildlife Refuge parking lot off Henry Miller Ave., to leave by 8:30 am to the Merced Wildlife Refuge.  We begin birding Saturday at the Merced area wildlife refuges for pre-migration waterfowl, and continue on to our newest find, Stevenson Ranch, a great spot for marsh birds, especially wood ducks and moorhens.  Saturday night we will talk about the day's finds over a meal at the WoolGrower's, then retire to our accomodations. 

On Sunday we spend all day returning to Monterey via Panoche Valley.  We will meet at Ryan's Place Restaurant for breakfast across from the airport at Hiway 152 and W I St., then begin birding our way home by 8:30. We plan to hit all the hot spots for chukar, long-eared owls, rock and canyon wrens, mountain bluebirds, and keep our eyes out for the once-common mountain plover. 

Birders can join us either day, or for both, rain or shine.  Hotel accomodations are self-made.  Lunch needed both days; binoculars, scope, and photography gear recommended.  Beginners and advanced birders welcome.  Please RSVP the WBC or your trip leader if you plan to attend.

Leader:

Chris Hartzell/625-9533

c.hartzell@sbcglobal.net

Saturday, Mar. 8

Hatton Canyon (the "Forgotten Canyon")

Come and explore this seldom-used state park property that was once destined to become a freeway but was thankfully preserved as a greenbelt area.  Bird highlights may include California thrasher, goldfinches, blue-grey gnatcatcher, spotted towheee, and the usual assortment of warblers, woodpeckers, and sparrows.  Please RSVP the WBC or your trip leader if you plan to attend.

Leader:

Robert Horn/372-4608

Saturday, Mar. 29, 2008
Pinnacles National Monument

We will meet at 7 am at the WBC, then rendezvous with RJ at 7:30 am in the parking lot of Nob Hill market at the corner of Blanco Rd. and Highway 68 in Salinas.  We will bird our way down Highway 25 and check for birds at the Paicines Reservoir. From there we continue to Pinnacles National Monument ($5/car entrance fee).  At Pinnacles we hike a moderately strenuous (but with stunning views) 2.5 mile loop along a lush riparian trail up to the Moses Springs Reservoir and back down thru thick fields of chamise and scrub-oak.  Target birds include California condor, bald and golden eagles, prairie falcon, yellow-billed magpie, blue-gray gnatcatcher, "Bell's" sage sparrow and whatever early spring migrants are passing through.  This is an all-day trip.  Please RSVP the WBC or your trip leader if you plan to attend.

Leader:

R J Adams/771-9303

rjadams55@yahoo.com

Saturday, Apr. 5

Laguna Grande/Frog Pond

This trip focuses on one of the true "hot spots" for birding on the peninsula.  With a variety of habitat from marshy areas to riparian and oak woodland, there is a good chance to see peregrine falcon, sora and Virginia rail, green heron, and numerous warblers, finches, thrushes, and woodpeckers.  If time permits, we will try for raptors on Lapis Rd., Marina.  Please RSVP the WBC or your trip leader if you plan to attend.

Leader: Dave Werner/625-2871

dcwerner@redshift.com

Friday, Apr. 18 (evening walk)

BLM nocturnal bird/poorwill search

We will meet at 6:30 pm on the evening of Friday, 18 April at the Wild Bird Center and drive to the thrift shop on Fort Ord.  From there we carpool to backcountry Fort Ord.  We will watch birds until dusk, and then watch and listen for night birds.  We often see great horned owls, sometimes hear western screech-owls and soras calling.  If the day has been sunny, we may see poorwills flying as darkness approaches.  Please RSVP the WBC or your trip leader if you plan to attend.

Leader:  David Styer/633-2590

Saturday, May 3, 2008
Pt. Lobos State Park

This will be a leisurely walk thru one of the Monterey Peninsula's "Crown Jewels," enjoying unparalleled vistas of sea, surf, and headlands.  With a variety of habitats from sandy beaches, rocky cliffsides, Monterey pine, oak woodland, and chaparral, there is never a bad day at this treasure of nature.  A wide variety of seabirds, shorebirds, and landbirds are expected.   Please RSVP the WBC or your trip leader if you plan to attend.

Leader: 

Bill Hill/624-3300

billhill@redshift.com

Wednesday-Sunday, May 14-18, 2008  

Mojave-Death Valley-Kern County Preserve

This route is one of California’s premiere Spring birding trips providing exceptional natural beauty and landscapes. From beginning to end the bird diversity and habitats will be memorable.

This four-night five-day trip will begin in Mojave Desert finishing up at the Kern County Reserve.  Day one we’ll drive to Mojave birding local hot spots.  Day two we will head to Butterbret Springs Wildlife Sanctuary, California City, Silver Springs Resort before overnighting at Furnace Creek/Death Valley. Day three departs Furnace Creek, birding Mesquite Springs, Scotty’s Castle spending the night camping at Oasis Campground.  Day four will find us birding Deep Springs, Westgard Pass,  Kern County Reserve overnighting at Lake Isabella birding Chimney Peak the following morning before heading home. Expect a variety of regional breeding birds and hopefully some exciting vagrants.

Saturday, May 31, 2008  

Peninsula hidden treasures

The Monterey Peninsula offers a wide variety of open spaces, greenbelts, lesser-known parks, and some federal lands that are fantastic bird habitats, but that are relatively unknown and unbirded.  Come explore "hidden treasures" such as Palo Corona Regional Park, Barnet Segal Dr./La Mesa Village, Veteran's Park, Hatton Canyon, Iris Canyon, and others.  Stay tuned for more details.

Leader:

TBA