I recently attended a birding festival in California. My week was filled with adventure, appreciation, laughter and learning. I thought I’d share some of the highlights with you.
The festival was located in Morro Bay, a quaint seashore community with a diverse ecology. The festival offered 260 tours with 138 tour guides. Participants from all over the United States shared in the fun. Keynote speakers with years of experience and inspiring stories topped off the event.
Not long into my first day, we heard a funny cry, “Chi-ca-go, Chi-ca-go”, with the “ca” being higher and accentuated. My guide taught us that this is the sound of a California quail. We followed the call and found the quail sitting on a tree stump. He posed beautifully for us. I couldn’t believe our luck, and I also couldn’t stop clicking the shutter button.
As I looked up from my camera, I found myself eye to eye with an acorn woodpecker resting on a post in front of me. I’ve seen these comical looking birds before but always welcome another opportunity. When I do, I can’t help but think of Woody Woodpecker. While Woody’s looks and laughs were inspired by the Pileated Woodpecker, Walter Lantz created the character after an acorn woodpecker that harassed him at his cabin on his honeymoon.
One of the most enlightening things about birding away from home is that birds that are common to me are rare and exciting to someone else, and vice versa. I had people dragging me away from their “common” California scrub-jay so I could see a “rare” downy woodpecker. As I shouted out with excitement at the sight of a Western grebe, everyone else just laughed.
So when my friend Mary and I spotted a flash of black and yellow as it landed on a branch in front of us, we were happy to see a beautiful bird we identified as a Lawrence’s goldfinch. Thinking it is probably common like our American goldfinch, we didn’t think too much of it, but when we shared our discovery with the tour guide, we were suddenly heroes at finding this uncommon bird.
My favorite tour was a nine-hour excursion in a fishing boat. Nine hours, so we had time to travel far out to sea to find birds that never come onto land. We saw birds with peculiar names like rhinoceros auklet, pink-footed shearwater and ancient murrelet.
My favorite sighting was an unexpected black-footed albatross. It was so large everyone could easily spot it among a colony of gulls. A loud cheer echoed through the boat as each person laid their eyes upon it.
One day we strolled through chaparral (scrubland plants composed of broad-leaved evergreen shrubs, bushes and small trees). As I was looking one way, a California thrasher was seen in another direction. I missed it. It is a common bird in the area so I had hoped to see it another time, but my hopes slowly faded as the days passed.
On the last day, as the sun was setting and the light was waning, I heard it: the song of the California thrasher. I looked up and there it was, sitting atop the brush singing its heart out. I heard the song again from behind me, then again to my right, and again to my left. Thrashers were all around me. It felt like a choir of angels regaling me with the sight of the bird and renewing my faith in the marvels of nature.
Through this experience I’ve become a stronger birder. I learned about new birds, their habitats and behaviors. Because the birds were in their winter plumage, I improved my ability to identify birds by attributes other than color such as wing and tail shape, bill size and flying patterns.
In addition to birds, sightings of breaching humpback whales, blue sharks and Risso’s dolphins at sea, otters in the bay, elephant seals on the beach, and zebras in a cow pasture were exciting highlights.
My experience would not be as successful without the guides. Guides never cease to amaze me with how knowledgeable and devoted they are. They can really up your birding game by not only helping you find and identify birds but also by sharing interesting facts about the birds that help you to appreciate them even more.
Lastly, the dynamic aspect to a memorable festival is the other participants. Birders are fun, smart and encouraging. I was thrilled to see friends from previous festivals and happy to make new friends along the way.
As I reflect upon my experience, I’ll forever treasure the birds, animals, scenery and people I encountered. It is one of those events that forever changes you. It is surely a reminder of the beauty of our natural world and how blessed we are to be a part of it.
Lisa Jansen is a Wisconsin master naturalist, nature writer and award-winning photographer. She specializes in raising awareness of birds and butterflies of the Midwest.
