Everyone wants to see more Varied Thrush

Redwoods and Rugged Coast: Birding Sonoma County

California is a big place. Indeed, there are many different Californias. I live in a megacity, concrete and roads in every direction covering the chapparal habitat. Further inland takes you to real-deal deserts like Mojave, Death Valley, and Anza-Borrego. Head north and you find the fertile, air-polluted Central Valley, a vast flat expanse of agriculture as far as the eye can see. It sits between the coastal Santa Lucia Range to the west (Big Sur and Pinnacles) and the majestic Sierra Nevadas to the east (Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon). And we haven’t even made it to San Francisco yet, with its massive bay and shorebird habitat.

Northern California is largely unknown to me. So I was excited for a Thanksgiving trip the family was making to Sonoma County, north-northwest of San Francisco. Our destination was an airbnb in a hamlet called Monte Rio. The setting was very Pacific-Northwest-ish, with dozens of shades of green. Towering coast redwoods (the world’s tallest trees!) grew on the property, and we could see the Russian River out the back window. 

Pacific Wren – a brown ping pong ball with a tail and a bill

We took a couple of hikes in the area. Our first was in Monte Rio Redwoods Regional Park. It was a short drive from our airbnb, and dogs were allowed. The hike was a little steeper than we wanted, the redwoods were underwhelming, and it was surprisingly sparse for birds. We did hear some Chestnut-backed Chickadees and eventually had a nice close encounter with a Pacific Wren. We had a much better hike at Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve north of Guerneville. I managed two tips there – an early morning walk with my Dad and then a family stroll in the afternoon. Again, the birds weren’t numerous. But we did manage nice looks at Varied Thrush, and heard a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers and saw them flying away from us. The forest, the trees, the moss, and the clover were the real highlight. 

Coastal Redwoods are so tall they can’t be photographed in a single frame

Scanning the Rugged Coast

Our airbnb was also just 20 minutes from the rugged northern California Pacific coast, so we made it over there a couple of times as well. It wasn’t Big Sur amazing, but it was wildly different from my LA County beaches. I brought my scope along, in the hopes of picking out a lifer Marbled Murrelet. But it wasn’t meant to be. The morning temperatures in the high 40s and wind gave it a real winter feel. The best spot we visited was a place called Sunset boulders near Goat Rock. It’s got a couple of rock outcroppings that are nice spots for climbing (my youngest kid did his first outdoor bouldering). There are some smooth spots where  mammoths apparently rubbed up against the rocks some 15,000 years ago.

Sunset boulders bottom left, Mammoth Rock midground left, Pacific Ocean on the right

There were grebes (red-necked and western), cormorants (pelagic), surf scoters and loons (red-throated and common) out in the water, and Black Oystercatchers on the rocks in the surf. A harrier and White-tailed Kite were flying over the plain. We stayed until sunset (not pictured), which was picturesque.  It was a beautiful complement to the redwood forest hike from earlier in the day. A Great Horned Owl perched in electrical wires on the drive back capped off a great visit.