On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Albatrossity
The day after our pelagic trip, my friend Mark and I headed south and up into the highlands above Carmel, traveling along Carmel Valley Road and then turning off onto Tassajara Road (aka Forest Service Road 18502). The goal was to see and hopefully photograph Mountain Quail, an elusive species that is frequently sighted along that road. Spoiler alert: no Mountain Quail were seen by us. But here are some other sights from that day.
Anna’s Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) are the ubiquitous hummingbirds of California, and we saw some just about everywhere except out on the open ocean. This female was about 5000 ft above sea level, and seemed to be enjoying the beautiful fall weather up there. Click here for larger image.
This route took us through parts of the Los Padres National Forest, which includes the Ventana Wilderness Area. I had not been there since my grad school days, when we backpacked into the wilderness, seeking mountain vistas and hopefully a sighting of a California Condor. This was one of the last places that condors could be found in the wild, before they were all captured so that the captive breeding program could be started in earnest. On that trip we did not see condors, (although we did see Mountain Quail!). On this trip we stopped at one of the Forest Service campgrounds (China Camp Campground), because Mark wanted to show me some old and massive Pacific Madrone (Arbutus menziesii) trees. Generally, these trees are not large; they grow quite slowly. They were truly impressive specimens! Click here for larger image.
A closer look at the base of one of these trees. Obviously, it has lived through some fires. Click here for larger image.
Madrone bark peels away as the tree matures, forming intricate patterns with a lovely color palette. Click here for larger image.
Acorn Woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus) were feeding on some form of aerial insects near the road, so we spent some time trying to get images of them in flight. This is the best I could do, not great but it was just fun to watch them weaving and darting among the sugar pines. Click here for larger image.
Merriam’s Chipmunk (Neotamias merriami) is a cute critter with a range confined to the state of California. Usually they are quite shy and retiring; in five years of graduate school I saw them only once or twice, and only fleetingly. My friend Mark did his graduate research on chipmunks; the link above has some of his excellent pics of this species. This one was concentrating on gnawing that acorn, and seemed unconcerned by our presence. Click here for larger image.
Since our quest for Mountain Quail was in vain, but it was still a very nice fall day, we headed back down to look for shorebirds in Pacific Grove. We found quite a few, mostly loafing on the rocks above the tide line. Here are some Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus ), a pan-Arctic-nesting shorebird that migrates south along the coasts, so I rarely see them in Flyover Country. The generic name numenius is Greek for “new moon”, a reference to the crescent shape of the bill. Click here for larger image.
Another abundant loafing shorebird that day, this Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) obviously has no black on the belly. You have to see them in breeding plumage for that name to be accurate; click on that link above to see some nice pictures of that plumage. This is another shorebird that nests across the entire Arctic; in Europe it is known as the Grey Plover. Click here for larger image.
Surfbirds (Calidris virgata) have the distinction of having perhaps the narrowest and longest ranges of any shorebird. They breed in the interior of Alaska, and winter along the Pacific Coast from Alaska to the Strait of Magellan, rarely wandering more than a few meters away from the water. There are a handful of records from the Gulf Coast of TX and FL, and one from coastal Maine. I do not expect to ever see this species in Kansas! Click here for larger image.
The skittering flocks of small pale sandpipers along North American beaches (as well as beaches in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, New Zealand etc.) usually are Sanderlings (Calidris alba). This is a young bird, hatched this summer, based on plumage details such as the white eyebrow and checkerboard-patterned back. A favorite bird of beachcombers everywhere! Click here for larger image.
sab
California has amazing birds. Not much winter but still not wimps. Birdlife is tough.
ETA : I am still working on telling sparrows apart. Small brown birds all look alike to me.
SteveinPHX
Thank you for the photos. Learn stuff every Monday!
Dan B
Madronas are amazing for their bark. They range as far north as the southern half of Vancouver Island and seem to have trouble with air pollution. One of my first jobs in landscape maintenance was picking Madrona berries out of a wooden deck. The gaps were the perfect size for the berries to get lodged in tight. We used dinner knives to avoid damaging the decking. Three of us took four hours to get most of the berries out of the modest sized deck. They are nearly impossible to grow in pots but from seeds they can easily grow six feet, and gangly, in one year. They’re like many subtropical plants in that they bloom, and fruit twice a year, late Spring and Fall – either end of the rainy season. They also drop year old leaves twice a year although it seems like it’s non stop.
Betty
Chipmunks are one of the cutest mammals. I guess they can be a pest for some people, but a cute pest.
Winter Wren
That Madrone bark is amazing. Great portrait of the whimbrels!
mvr
I’m not sure what fault you find with the woodpecker photo. In any case I kind of like it. Looks very aerodynamic.
Thanks!
stinger
Birds and trees! Thank you!
dilbert dogbert
The photo of the Anna’s reminded me a a climb up Alta Peak in Sequoia that I and my sons did. I was sitting on top catching my breath at 11,000 feet. I saw a hummingbird flying up toward me and headed east to who knows where.
JAM
Thanks for the photos! Also, love the madrone bark.
Madeleine
In the first Madrone shot I see the three trunks dancing.
KatKapCC
Central Coast is IMO the best part of CA…though I may be biased :D
way2blue
Stunning photos. Again. We had California Valley Quail darting around our front yard growing up. A Mom with little ones trailing behind. Papa standing watch over his brood… Sightings are more rare these days, albeit walking the Windy Hill trails I will see them in the late afternoon along with a few little rabbits. Love your closeup photo of the madrone bark. Thanks Albatrossity!
Origuy
I mentioned last week that I would be going to Asilomar, very close to where these pictures were taken. Lots of birds there, but I wasn’t able to identify them. However, as we stood in line for lunch at the dining hall, we were treated to a red-shouldered hawk having a rabbit for lunch only a few feet from the queue.
On my way home, I stopped at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. This is a small museum, but it has a large collection of stuffed birds found in Monterey County. Worth a visit if you’re in the area.
StringOnAStick
I wish I could grow madrone here in central Oregon but it’s a bit too cold. It does well in the western side of the state about halfway to WA. Some call them trash trees because of the constant lead drop and the berries, but I think they’re gorgeous and have elegant shapes.
I think it was a Anna’s that buzzed me because of our colourful climbing ropes when we were near the top of Fairview dome in Yosemite on my now-husband and me’s first travel trip after he got back from climbing Denali. That pink and purple rope was quite a puzzle for the bird for a few moments; 32 years later it’s what I remember most from that long, long rock climb.
arrieve
I love those madrones! I grew up in California but don’t think I ever saw them (or if I did, I didn’t know it.)
hotshoe
@KatKapCC:
It’s okay to be biased in favor of NorCal paradise ;)
hotshoe
Yesterday I was hiking in Del Monte Forest (above Pacific Grove/Pebble Beach) and encountered a couple staring intently up into the pines. They were owl-watching; it was early afternoon and we all heard the owl hooting — which seems a little unusual in full daylight, but what do I know — we all heard but they spotted it and I couldn’t see it even when they described which branch of which tree to look in.
While I am a complete failure at birdwatching, I look at these photos from Albatrossity with joy that I can see birds through someone else’s eyes. Thanks!
hotshoe
@KatKapCC:
It’s okay to be biased in favor of central coast paradise ;)
Albatrossity
@hotshoe: Cool! There are lots of birders in that part of the world, but it could have been my friends Mark and Jana. They live in the Del Monte Forest, and they walk in the neighborhood often. That would be a fun coincidence!
Elizabird
I want to camp in that campground.
KRK
Great photos as always. Love the shorebirds and Anna’s. Hummingbirds just exude sass.