West Marin is a phenomenal place to spend time - the scenery is a feast for the eyes (especially this time of year as it greens up again), the towns have a lot of character (and great local food and produce), and the birding is ideal, with a wide mix of habitats. Pretty much anyplace you decide to go will produce some wonderfulness.
The calm after the storm.
(We were out there yesterday as part of the holiday social whirl, and unfortunately got home at 10pm instead of 6pm as I had expected. So... a rerun of a trip I made out there earlier this year. Back to fresh content next week...)
Our first destination was the Pt. Reyes lighthouse, where the main attraction this time of year is migrating grey whales. Along the way, we stopped at a few well-known spots along the way, including the B Ranch pond, where we had a nice assortment of ducks, including canvasback
... such an elegant duck, and I haven't seen them at Pt. Reyes for quite a while. The small pond also had the usual mallards, a pair of bufflehead and a number of wigeon and green winged teal. At left in the photo below is a Eurasian Wigeon who was in the mix; compare his rusty red head to the American Wigeon at the right.
While we were looking at the ducks, someone else was keeping an eye on us - there were two great horned owls lurking in the cypresses by the road. The rodents on the ranch would be threatened night and day - a pair of redtails were busy constructing a nest in the same group of trees, flying directly over us with their sticks.
From there, it was off to the lighthouse - and another owl.
This one was tucked away in a small opening in the face of the cliff - it must be a good location despite the wind and salt spray, because there's almost always one to be found somewhere along the cliff.
Once again, the owls weren't the only avian predators - there was also a pair of peregrines hanging out on the cliffs on the south side of the lighthouse point, soaking up the early morning sun.
The female peregrine surveys the ocean for careless murres.
We were fortunate enough to spot some grey whales as they made their way south. After seeing one breech and then spotting it again as it dove, my friend Walter dashed down the steps to the lighthouse to see if he could get some photos.
larger version
It's a lot of steps. A whole lot - there are warning signs at the top to dissuade those who might not consider that what goes down must come up, and the Park Service would prefer not to be taking people up on a stretcher. When you get ready for the walk up, there's another oh-so-subtle reminder:
After the lighthouse, we headed to the Fish Docks/Chimney Rock on the other side of the far Point, where elephant seals haul out. The colony is quite noisy, and even though we were at least a quarter mile away, we could hear them loud and clear. There were many young pups among them where they rested on the beach.
larger version
From the Point, we headed to Olema Pond (and heard the chattering of marsh wrens and the grunts of Virginia Rails), then continued south to Five Brooks pond just south of Olema. The pond often has wood ducks, who weren't there yesterday, but even without its flashiest residents, it's still a wonderful spot to spend some time.
Five Brooks Pond, Olema larger version
We continued south to Bolinas Lagoon, where a lovely post-storm sunset capped a relaxing day.