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| Red-throated Loon |
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| Arctic Loon |
There is great natural history potential along the Oregon coast and the Pacific Coast in winter and it would be an exciting winter trip for Aussie birders. Monterey and the greater area would be an excellent key point in any itinerary. One of the local birders boasted that they recorded over 190 species of birds during a recent Xmas bird count for their county - surely a pretty decent mid winter count. Add to that great scenery plus some cool mammals like sea otter, Common Seals, Californian Sea Lions and the like plus the opportunity for a pelagic off the coast and, I'm sure good birding possibilitities inland it could pretty easily come together. I had some very good luck while I was at one of the Monterey Piers. One of the bigger twitches was in progress. An Arctic Loon had taken shelter in teh harbour and was in residence working its way in and around the piers over a fairly long period. This was an unexpected bird to be sure and someone told me it was only the fourth Californian record so I was lucky. The bird is pictured below showing a tell-tale feature; a large white patch towards the back of the bird's body.
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| Arctic Loon |
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| Megan mid-twitch |
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| Near the Monterey Marina |
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| Common Seal sunning |
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| Anna's Hummingbird aperched upon an apex |
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| Common Seal squashing a rock |
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| Yet another Seal |
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| Monterey Marina |
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| Can you guess I like these Seals showing off their bods |
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| Black Oystercatcher |
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| Wave cut platform, at an ideal time for rock hopping and rock pool watching, at low tide |
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| Same place - deifferent perspective |
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| Say's Phoebe |
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| Californian Ground Squirrel |
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| Californian Ground Squirrel |
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