Mon Day 1: San Jose to San Luis Obispo.
We'll awake early and bird our way south. This will cover some new places, but also revisit some places we birded in the previous week, but this time at a more leisurely pace. We'll spend some time at Point Lobos, seawatching for Shearwaters, Cormorants, Loons, Murres and more, and taking in the Pygmy Nuthatches and Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Townsend's Warblers. Night in San Luis Obispo.
Tues Day 2: San Luis Obispo to Ventura.
This will be another leisurely day with a morning run to Carrizo plain to look for Le Conte's Thrasher, Yellow-billed Magpie and various other birds.
We'll bird a little bit around Santa Barbara before heading to Ventura. Night in Ventura.
Wed Day 3: Santa Cruz Island
This will be a full day-trip to Santa Cruz Island. At the dock it is often possible to spot On the ocean crossing keen birders will be on the look out for pelagic species such as Sooty Shearwater, Pink-footed Shearwater Cassin’s Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots, Rhinoceros Auklet and with luck Scripps’s Murrelet.
Our primary target on the island will be Island Scrub-Jay - endemic for Santa Cruz - but we'll also look for the endemic subspecies of Allen’s Hummingbird, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Horned Lark, Bewick’s Wren, Loggerhead Shrike, Orange-crowned Warbler, Rufous-crowned Sparrow and Song Sparrow. We usually also see the endemic Island Gray Fox.
Upon arriving back at the dock in mid-afternoon, we'll check a couple spots for California Gnatcatcher before heading towards the mountains. Night in San Bernadino or nearby.
Thurs-Sat Days 4-6: San Bernadino and San Jacinto mountains
We'll spend the next few days birding between the San Bernadino and San Jacinto mountain ranges.
Our target birds will be montane species not found at lower elevations.
Among these will be White-headed Woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Mountain Quail, Steller's Jay, Pinyon Jay, Tri-colored Blackbird, Mountain Chickadee, possibly American Dipper.
Sun Day 7: Travel via Bolsa Chica to LA International.
This day will depend on how well we do during the previous days. We will probably bird our way leisurely down to the coast, visit Bolsa Chica for California Gnatcatcher, Elegant, Royal and Forster’s Terns, Snowy Plover, Least Tern, various other shorebirds,and loop our way back to LA International where the tour will conclude.
