Monday was the day to assess breeding bird activity on our blocks north of Jenner, along the coast. At our first stop, an open grassland area, we stood silently while White Crowned, Grasshopper and Savannah Sparrows serenaded the dawn. American Goldfinches were in abundance, sauntering saucily in their golden garb. There is a reason they are called wild canaries. A very late Golden Crowned Sparrow sang his mournful "Oh Dear Me", and then worried his way further north on his long commute.
Three weeks ago we had a very close encounter in this spot with a badger. Standing on Hwy 1 at daybreak, I looked up the hill with the ocean at my back, and peered directly into a pair of placid brown eyes. I have seen badger once before, but that was in the High Sierra many years ago. This morning, It took me a moment to register what I was seeing. This gal stood glaring at us for a few minutes, then ambled off. As a friend said, badger sightings rank up there with winning the lotto and seeing Elvis!
Later that day, we walked along a logging road in one the fingers of deep redwood forest that flourish down in the canyon bottoms. We had been seeing many logging trucks travelling north with no cargo, then returning south laden with huge naked tree trunks. I was glad to see that these trees were safe, at least for the moment. Pacific Slope Flycatchers and Golden Crowned Kinglets teased us from the dense canopy overhead. We heard, then noticed recently fledged Pacific Wrens down low in a tangle of poison oak. Their huge yellow gapes and begging calls seemed unbalanced by their complete lack of any tail. The Pacific Wren is one of those birds that loves the deepest darkest of forests, and even then hunkers down into a low place near the water.
Climbing the hill from Fort Ross, we stopped at the old orchards. Here, the magnificent force of the 1906 earthquake can be experienced in breathtaking detail. The earth moved some 12.6 feet during that brief, but catastrophic episode. We walked along the faultline, marvelling at the areas of obvious movement. "Dikes" run parallel to each other, with a swale between. Many of the huge redwoods sport deformed limbs and/or are topped at a certain point, only to regrow in a different way. We were informed by the sign in the orchard that these are remnants of the quake. A "sag" pond, also formed by the quake, provided habitat to a Red Winged Blackbird population, and Wilson's Warblers sang their sweet sweet sweet song, while a Pileated Woodpecker honked from afar.
On this day we worked hard to confirm just a few breeding birds. A few days ago in the Russian River/Healdsburg area we confirmed some 17 species! That day, it seemed that everywhere we went, birds were carrying food or nesting material, and the insistent wah-ing of baby birds was not to be ignored. Today was a reminder that despite our best laid plans, we are here to enjoy what is presented us. Expectations can only result in disappointment. Just think of those folks who were expecting a normal day in San Francisco in 1906.
