Day 1 in Cali

After arriving at midnight we crashed out and got up early to head over to Golden Gate Park. After finally finding the spot we spent five minutes before the celebrity bird made its appearance. The Rustic Bunting that has been hanging out with a group of Juncos stayed true to form and dropped in about 15 feet away from us. We observed the bird for a little while as a herd of Brewer's Blackbirds surrounded us, stumbling around like the walking dead, Varied Thrushes poked around the edges and White-crowned Sparrows owned the brush-pile. Amusing at is was, we had big plans for the day. 

We starting driving north and made the obligatory stop for photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

We decided to make a detour to check out Point Reyes National Seashore. Somehow in all my visits to California I had never ventured out there and after today I can say I really love that place. It's vast, beatiful and contains many different habitats from wave crashed shores, rocky cliffs, grassy plateaus, farm lands and pine stands amid coastal scrub. I did not plan to spend the day there, but before we knew it the sun was setting over the Pacific. 

Birds, birds and more birds along with mammals filled the day. Scoping the ocean, hiking trails and glassing basically everything that moved makes for a tired traveller tonight. 33 new birds were added today along with an American Badger for the mammal life list. 

Tomorrow we will continue to head north to Arcata for target #2 since today went a completely different direction than I had planned but I wouldn't change a thing. Even though I love a good chase, I'm a firm believer that spending time outdoors in a beautiful location is never time wasted. It's as much about the journey as it about the trip. Tomorrow is another day...